RUSH HOUR
September 19, 2014 9:09 PM Subscribe
For a somewhat similar real-life version, check out Figure-8 Racing.
posted by ShooBoo at 9:23 PM on September 19, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by ShooBoo at 9:23 PM on September 19, 2014 [2 favorites]
See rotoscoping, and his other shorts.
posted by intermod at 9:43 PM on September 19, 2014 [3 favorites]
posted by intermod at 9:43 PM on September 19, 2014 [3 favorites]
Yeah, that's a very convincing illusion. Hair raising, too.
posted by notyou at 9:44 PM on September 19, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by notyou at 9:44 PM on September 19, 2014 [1 favorite]
The anxiety I feel watching that makes me really dread the drive home tonight.
posted by Marinara at 9:45 PM on September 19, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by Marinara at 9:45 PM on September 19, 2014 [2 favorites]
Just watching that made my stomach hurt.
posted by lunasol at 9:55 PM on September 19, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by lunasol at 9:55 PM on September 19, 2014 [1 favorite]
Part of my brain has set up this keening eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee of horror at this and it won't stop. STAHP. My hands are actually tingling looking at this.
posted by adipocere at 10:00 PM on September 19, 2014
posted by adipocere at 10:00 PM on September 19, 2014
Loved that. Looks like he has driven in Phnom Penh before.
posted by N-stoff at 10:16 PM on September 19, 2014
posted by N-stoff at 10:16 PM on September 19, 2014
I was reading a Reddit thread tonight about slow left-lane (US) drivers, and it occurred to me, again, how nuts it is that the roads aren't just awash in hair, teeth, and eyeballs.
posted by sandettie light vessel automatic at 10:52 PM on September 19, 2014 [4 favorites]
posted by sandettie light vessel automatic at 10:52 PM on September 19, 2014 [4 favorites]
Oh, and the linked video is great, and also I did not breathe at all while watching it.
posted by sandettie light vessel automatic at 10:52 PM on September 19, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by sandettie light vessel automatic at 10:52 PM on September 19, 2014 [1 favorite]
This makes me think of the guys in t-shirts and shorts on motorcycles on the freeway by my house. I always say, involuntarily, out loud, "I hope he gets home safe." My son says, "Now there's a guy who does not love his mother."
posted by pH Indicating Socks at 11:00 PM on September 19, 2014 [5 favorites]
posted by pH Indicating Socks at 11:00 PM on September 19, 2014 [5 favorites]
Still beats riding the bus.
posted by twoleftfeet at 11:22 PM on September 19, 2014
posted by twoleftfeet at 11:22 PM on September 19, 2014
That video is great as a technical achievement, but made me feel like I just watch an hour of Russian dash-cam near-misses. As a chaser, please allow me to recommend this vehicle-based awesomeness:
“Watching This DC-10 Fire Retardant Drop Run Will Make You Queasy,” Tyler Rogoway, Jalopnik Foxtrot Alpha, 15 September 2014
posted by ob1quixote at 11:41 PM on September 19, 2014 [6 favorites]
“Watching This DC-10 Fire Retardant Drop Run Will Make You Queasy,” Tyler Rogoway, Jalopnik Foxtrot Alpha, 15 September 2014
posted by ob1quixote at 11:41 PM on September 19, 2014 [6 favorites]
With self driving cars that communicate with each other, intersections in the future could actually look like this. It does increase throughput, after all. If so, I'll take mine with a peril-sensitive self-blanking windshield.
posted by penguinicity at 12:38 AM on September 20, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by penguinicity at 12:38 AM on September 20, 2014 [1 favorite]
This reminded me of traffic in Acapulco, Mexico. I would never drive there. Sitting in a cab is scary enough. Heck, even walking across the street there is absolutely terrifying.
posted by SisterHavana at 12:51 AM on September 20, 2014
posted by SisterHavana at 12:51 AM on September 20, 2014
With self driving cars that communicate with each other, intersections in the future could actually look like this.
Open the doors, HAL. Your driving is erratic and I want to get out.
I'm sorry, Dave. I'm afraid I can't do that.
posted by twoleftfeet at 1:12 AM on September 20, 2014 [9 favorites]
Open the doors, HAL. Your driving is erratic and I want to get out.
I'm sorry, Dave. I'm afraid I can't do that.
posted by twoleftfeet at 1:12 AM on September 20, 2014 [9 favorites]
I guess he filmed it in slow motion and speeded it up. But still quite hair raising. Can you see how calm people are?
posted by TomDunn at 1:13 AM on September 20, 2014
posted by TomDunn at 1:13 AM on September 20, 2014
This reminds me of a lot of cities I've been to in Southeast Asia. My personal take on riding in some sort of transportation while traveling around here is just to go to sleep. Nothing I can do will make it any less frightening!
posted by astapasta24 at 1:35 AM on September 20, 2014
posted by astapasta24 at 1:35 AM on September 20, 2014
I guess he filmed it in slow motion and speeded it up
nope - he's taken a much longer piece of footage (and yes, it does feel odd calling it footage when most everything is filmed digitally these days) and composited all of the different elements (cars, bikes, people) together so it looks like it's all happening at the same time. This is really well done! it takes a lot of very careful timing to make sure that none of the moving objects appear to collide.
pretty much anytime you see an impact or a near miss in a film, it has been done the same way - they'll film the car going past, and then separately film the actor pretending to be hit, or almost hit, and then the two scenes are put together digitally.
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 1:53 AM on September 20, 2014 [3 favorites]
nope - he's taken a much longer piece of footage (and yes, it does feel odd calling it footage when most everything is filmed digitally these days) and composited all of the different elements (cars, bikes, people) together so it looks like it's all happening at the same time. This is really well done! it takes a lot of very careful timing to make sure that none of the moving objects appear to collide.
pretty much anytime you see an impact or a near miss in a film, it has been done the same way - they'll film the car going past, and then separately film the actor pretending to be hit, or almost hit, and then the two scenes are put together digitally.
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 1:53 AM on September 20, 2014 [3 favorites]
Now do one with a sleep-groggy person trying to get to the bathroom to pee before feeding the cats. The precision darting from all directions will be very similar.
posted by GenjiandProust at 3:11 AM on September 20, 2014 [7 favorites]
posted by GenjiandProust at 3:11 AM on September 20, 2014 [7 favorites]
I feel like this is a remake of something I have seen before, maybe as an extra feature on a Jaques Tati DVD? I remember the original is in black and white, and included behind-the-scenes footage of how they coordinated the shoot.
posted by apparently at 4:00 AM on September 20, 2014
posted by apparently at 4:00 AM on September 20, 2014
Ah, got it -- I was thinking of the featurette on the Criterion release of Tati's Trafic, describing how they shot the chain-reaction car accident. So, big difference in that none of these folks ran into each other! Here's Tati's accident (at 2:02), and here it is re-enacted with Lego.
posted by apparently at 4:20 AM on September 20, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by apparently at 4:20 AM on September 20, 2014 [2 favorites]
I like his AR 1304, especially the pedestrians casually watching the plane landing on the busy avenue.
posted by MtDewd at 5:03 AM on September 20, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by MtDewd at 5:03 AM on September 20, 2014 [2 favorites]
Well it does confirm my hypothesis that like cars and motorcycles travel in packs looking for food/fuel and social interaction/traffic jams.
posted by 724A at 5:12 AM on September 20, 2014
posted by 724A at 5:12 AM on September 20, 2014
or maybe India yt
That was the clip I was reminded of, maybe partly because of the perspective. There is other crazy traffic footage on youtube that I think I encountered in an old FPP or comments here that shows an even faster, more dangerous intersection than this Indian one, too.
posted by Dip Flash at 5:13 AM on September 20, 2014
That was the clip I was reminded of, maybe partly because of the perspective. There is other crazy traffic footage on youtube that I think I encountered in an old FPP or comments here that shows an even faster, more dangerous intersection than this Indian one, too.
posted by Dip Flash at 5:13 AM on September 20, 2014
Looks like a Michel Gondry video.
posted by zardoz at 5:31 AM on September 20, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by zardoz at 5:31 AM on September 20, 2014 [2 favorites]
Watching that video reminded me of playing the I Love Traffic game once you get into the higher levels. Nausea-invoking.
posted by fuse theorem at 6:00 AM on September 20, 2014
posted by fuse theorem at 6:00 AM on September 20, 2014
Meskel Square, Addis Ababa was making the rounds a while back.
Learning to drive a motorcycle in a city with traffic laws like this is probably the most dangerous thing I've done.
posted by Kutsuwamushi at 6:03 AM on September 20, 2014 [3 favorites]
Learning to drive a motorcycle in a city with traffic laws like this is probably the most dangerous thing I've done.
posted by Kutsuwamushi at 6:03 AM on September 20, 2014 [3 favorites]
In contrast: British drivers are generally very proficient and have a low accident rate, but some of the road planning relies on their proficiency to avoid carnage: notably at junctions like the Magic Roundabout at Hemel Hempstead (which I assure you is a total bundle of laughs if you approach it by mistake for the first time after dark in heavy rain that obscures the road markings).
Indeed, the UK is notorious for having some very bad junctions ... and remember: you'll be driving on the left, and probably using a stick shift!
posted by cstross at 6:07 AM on September 20, 2014 [2 favorites]
Indeed, the UK is notorious for having some very bad junctions ... and remember: you'll be driving on the left, and probably using a stick shift!
posted by cstross at 6:07 AM on September 20, 2014 [2 favorites]
Reminds me of crossing the street in southeast Asia. Moving steadily forward is your best bet for survival...
posted by sonic meat machine at 6:14 AM on September 20, 2014
posted by sonic meat machine at 6:14 AM on September 20, 2014
I once stayed in a hotel overlooking the Beijing fourth ring road - in UK terms, basically a motorway. I watched open-mouthed as the driver of a small green car realised they had missed their exit, stopped, and reversed twenty metres down the road (other traffic at full speed dodging them all the while). This exit, too proved to be the wrong one, so they reversed a little further until they'd found the right one. Somehow nobody was killed. Watching this video brought that memory quite strongly to mind.
posted by gnimmel at 6:47 AM on September 20, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by gnimmel at 6:47 AM on September 20, 2014 [2 favorites]
Ha, India. I honestly thought I was going to die on the taxi ride to my hotel from the airport in Chennai. And it took me about a month before I could cross the street without waiting for a big group to cross with. As terrifying as it is though, people aren't *usually* going all that fast, which makes it in a way less terrifying than some traffic in the US which happens at 60 mph.
posted by geegollygosh at 6:48 AM on September 20, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by geegollygosh at 6:48 AM on September 20, 2014 [1 favorite]
I am also having flashbacks to a month spent in Kuala Lumpur last spring.
In KL they love to pour concrete. Maintaining it: not so much. And they do the SE Asian entire-family-on-one-Honda thing: nobody wears a helmet, Daddy drives, Mommy perches behind him riding side-saddle (because protecting your modesty with a long skirt is obviously much more important than protecting your brains).
posted by cstross at 6:59 AM on September 20, 2014
In KL they love to pour concrete. Maintaining it: not so much. And they do the SE Asian entire-family-on-one-Honda thing: nobody wears a helmet, Daddy drives, Mommy perches behind him riding side-saddle (because protecting your modesty with a long skirt is obviously much more important than protecting your brains).
posted by cstross at 6:59 AM on September 20, 2014
Indeed, the UK is notorious for having some very bad junctions ... and remember: you'll be driving on the left, and probably using a stick shift!
I drove a stick shift in England and Wales for a few days a while back. I had two problems. The first was remembering that *right* turns are the ones where I have to scan ahead for oncoming traffic. Yikes.
The second was that whenever I wanted to shift, muscle memory would kick in and I would reach to the right with my right hand--slamming it into the door every time.
posted by A dead Quaker at 7:27 AM on September 20, 2014
I drove a stick shift in England and Wales for a few days a while back. I had two problems. The first was remembering that *right* turns are the ones where I have to scan ahead for oncoming traffic. Yikes.
The second was that whenever I wanted to shift, muscle memory would kick in and I would reach to the right with my right hand--slamming it into the door every time.
posted by A dead Quaker at 7:27 AM on September 20, 2014
I once stayed in a hotel overlooking the Beijing fourth ring road - in UK terms, basically a motorway. I watched open-mouthed as the driver of a small green car realised they had missed their exit, stopped, and reversed twenty metres down the road (other traffic at full speed dodging them all the while). This exit, too proved to be the wrong one, so they reversed a little further until they'd found the right one.
When I was stationed in Germany, part of our orientation training was "How to drive on the Autobahn." The instructor told us, very seriously, "If you take nothing else from this class, remember this: If you miss your exit on the Autobahn, Do. Not. Back. Up. To. It. Everyone got that? Okay, moving on..." We heard it from most of the other instructors as well. I asked whether there was a recent rash of incidents, and that was why they were emphasizing it, and one of them told me that they had been emphasizing it for a decade, but there were always idiots who did it anyway. Their vision of the U.S. (most of them lived full-time in Germany) was a hellscape of morons reversing on the freeway all of the time.
posted by Etrigan at 7:30 AM on September 20, 2014 [3 favorites]
When I was stationed in Germany, part of our orientation training was "How to drive on the Autobahn." The instructor told us, very seriously, "If you take nothing else from this class, remember this: If you miss your exit on the Autobahn, Do. Not. Back. Up. To. It. Everyone got that? Okay, moving on..." We heard it from most of the other instructors as well. I asked whether there was a recent rash of incidents, and that was why they were emphasizing it, and one of them told me that they had been emphasizing it for a decade, but there were always idiots who did it anyway. Their vision of the U.S. (most of them lived full-time in Germany) was a hellscape of morons reversing on the freeway all of the time.
posted by Etrigan at 7:30 AM on September 20, 2014 [3 favorites]
Their vision of the U.S. (most of them lived full-time in Germany) was a hellscape of morons reversing on the freeway all of the time.
I saw a family in a minivan doing this on I-84 just the other day in an 80mph speed zone. It wasn't my definition of safe parenting, but traffic was fairly light and no crashes ensued.
posted by Dip Flash at 7:42 AM on September 20, 2014
I saw a family in a minivan doing this on I-84 just the other day in an 80mph speed zone. It wasn't my definition of safe parenting, but traffic was fairly light and no crashes ensued.
posted by Dip Flash at 7:42 AM on September 20, 2014
“Watching This DC-10 Fire Retardant Drop Run Will Make You Queasy,” Tyler Rogoway, Jalopnik Foxtrot Alpha, 15 September 2014
The scariest part are all the goofy trainspotter types loitering near brush fires to get video. I was more scared for them than the plane!
posted by winna at 9:29 AM on September 20, 2014
The scariest part are all the goofy trainspotter types loitering near brush fires to get video. I was more scared for them than the plane!
posted by winna at 9:29 AM on September 20, 2014
Crossing a street in Hanoi, a few years back (self-link YT)
posted by elgilito at 9:32 AM on September 20, 2014
posted by elgilito at 9:32 AM on September 20, 2014
What a neat video, OP! I'm glad I watched that.
posted by Too-Ticky at 9:42 AM on September 20, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by Too-Ticky at 9:42 AM on September 20, 2014 [1 favorite]
In case anyone else is still confused about what this video is, the second link explains it quite simply. Fernando Livschitz of Black Sheep films is a master at live video editing, mashing up multiple separate films into a single setting. It's really beautifully done, although I think adding the shaky-cam and slight zoom pulls is a bit of a cheat to distract you from any visible editing seams. Looks great though.
posted by Nelson at 11:28 AM on September 20, 2014
posted by Nelson at 11:28 AM on September 20, 2014
I love how the intersection has a sweep of sand right there in the middle.
posted by mistersquid at 9:39 PM on September 20, 2014
posted by mistersquid at 9:39 PM on September 20, 2014
That's where the pariah dogs sleep.
posted by BinGregory at 3:10 AM on September 21, 2014
posted by BinGregory at 3:10 AM on September 21, 2014
The first time I visited Paris, I was unaware that there was a tunnel that runs underneath the traffic circle that surrounds the Arc de Triomphe. So I dragged my wife through this, in the finest jaywalk of my life.
posted by malocchio at 9:47 AM on September 22, 2014
posted by malocchio at 9:47 AM on September 22, 2014
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posted by figurant at 9:16 PM on September 19, 2014 [3 favorites]