Holy crap. Apparently French director Claude Lelouch mounted a gyro-stabilized camera onto his Ferrari, then had someone drive the car through dangerous speeds (up to 140 mph) in Paris. I'll quote from wikipedia:

This cinéma vérité film was made in a single take with no editing, using a gyro-stabilised camera mount attached to the front of the car. The length of the film was limited by the capacity of the camera reel (under 10 minutes). There is no dialog, and the actors only appear briefly at the end; the driver's face is never shown.

Lelouch apparently sought an official permit but was denied by municipal authorities. Combined with low traffic, this probably influenced the early-morning hour of the shoot. The driver, purportedly an F1 racer, frightened unwitting pedestrians, scattered birds, ran stoplights, went the wrong way down one-way streets, crossed center lines, and ignored other traffic laws, in addition to speed limits. A close analysis showed the car at times approached 140 mph (220 km/h). Obstacles such as buses, garbage trucks, and small knots of traffic forced detours and abrupt downshifting. Though no police were encountered during the shoot itself, when Lelouch showed his film in public, he was arrested. Apparently no charges were ever filed, but as a result the film remained underground for many years.

The video is a 35meg quicktime, and there's a google map which traces the route.

wow.

Posted by roy on November 22, 2005 at 11:08 AM in Ramblings | 2 Comments

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Comment posted on November 23rd, 2005 at 01:07 AM
Awesome! scaring the shit out of those pidgeons - priceless!! ^^
Comment posted on November 22nd, 2005 at 03:06 PM
PGR in real life! (: SwEEt!!