The first Fast and Furious movie looks a little different from its later films, but one thing has always been special in it: Awesome stunts and great effects. The final race between Dominic Toretto's 1970 Dodge Charger and Brian O'Connor's 1994 Toyota Supra has inspired models and dioramas. Now the YouTube channel Movies Miniatures Effects has created a short version of this race. This race was done in 1:24 scale, but the result seems so true that you will not believe that the real film was not made like this.
The YouTube team is in France and they made a small set in the open to look like the Port of Los Angeles, but it was not easy. The filmmakers created backgrounds that resembled the real atmosphere of San Pedro. Then they put these behind a very carefully constructed set, which included train crossings and shipping centers, just like in the movie. The truck that comes in front of Dom also had a hidden ramp so that the little charger could jump over it correctly.
This final product seems unrealistic, but it had to be carefully planned and shot multiple times. Editing was then done to give the scene the same hazy, over-lit, and hot look as in the original film. If the angry faces of Brian and Dom could be shown on small mannequins, the result would look almost indistinguishable from The Fast and the Furious.
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The project is not just a good take on a famous scene from automotive cinema history, but it also shows how big stunts were done in Hollywood before the advent of computer-generated imagery (CGI). For example, in Jurassic Park, very real-looking miniature models and robotic figures were used with CGI. Because of this, he looks more real than later films that relied mostly on virtual effects.
First of all, the surroundings and small models of cars should be created very well. The team had already screwed up the Charger model so that it looked real as it broke from behind the camera. Filling it with dirt also made it look like rubble, which makes it look like a real car accident. And finally, the scene's multiple camera angles allowed the film editor to connect it, hiding behind-the-scenes tasks such as the sight of large human heads in the sky.
Source: Movies Miniatures Effects on YouTube
