If you want to start your day with a shot of adrenaline, you could do worse than to stare directly into this mash-up of POV shots from the original Mad Max trio, made by Rishi Kaneria.
The effect is obvious. By placing the camera at eye level for all of these sequences, George Miller put us into the action, which meant putting us into the seat of cars that were about to crash and/or explode. We speed forward, we get close to the bloodied faces of aggressors, we gaze down at a helpless Max after taking him prisoner.
Miller continued this technique with each subsequent cinematographer – David Eggby, Dean Semler (The Road Warrior and Beyond Thunderdome) and John Seale (Fury Road) – grounding us even as the action got more and more insane. Obviously speed plays a factor. So do fire and smoke and noise. But placing the camera in the driver’s seat straps us down in such a way that we simultaneously feel present in the space and completely out of control. At least twenty years before people started talking about movies being shot like video games, Miller and his team were employing a key component to achieving that style.
Read also: 12 Movies To Watch After You See Mad Max: Fury Road
The music choice on this mash-up (from Girl Talk) is questionable, but the mash-up is definitely powerful. I’d like to see a version with only the original sound effects present, because I imagine it would be even more potent. The music pop-ifies it, but grinding metal and burning engines tend to bring out the ultra-violence in a way that doesn’t need any elements added.
At any rate, it’s not really surprising that both Semler and Seale are Oscar winners (the former for Dances With Wolves, the latter for The English Patient). Aggressive, daring visuals are the main meal in these movies, and this mash-up proves that POV shots are the magic ingredient.
