Drone Chase Scene [Final Draft]

Imagine floating around in zero gravity. What if time is a physical dimension where you can climb a mountain and see the future or just plain travel to outer space where there are so many questions and experiences that only a few people in the world get to experience and tackle head on. I don’t see myself traveling to space anytime in the near future, so Hollywood is the closest thing I have to experiencing outer space. Yes, most films aren’t scientifically accurate but this is not the case for Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar (2014). Kip Thorne, a theoretical physicist helped make this movie as scientifically accurate it can possibly get. The theme, story line, sound, cinematography, symbols/motifs all tie in together to create this masterpiece, which is arguably my favorite movie of all time.

During the beginning of the movie, there is a scene where Cooper/Coop, (portrayed by Matthew McConaughey), chases down a surveillance drone with his son, Tom (Portrayed by Timothée Chalamet) and daughter, Murph (portrayed by Mackenzie Foy). This scene to me is the most important as in this sequence, as we learn about our characters as well as the storyline in a matter of minutes.

The scene starts off with a medium close-up shot of Coop driving his kids to school. The setting is a beautiful sunny day with a clear blue sky, driving on a gravel road surrounded by endless fields of corn. The movie takes place in the near future where corn and water are the last two resources human beings have to survive. There are massive and frequent dust storms. Corn and water are a major symbol. The date and location is not referred to throughout the entire movie. While Coop is driving, he asks Murph to change gears, which she does and shortly after they get a flat tire. Tom blames it on Murph and teases her, which upsets her. Tom is given the task of repairing the flat tire while Coop comforts Murph.

During their conversation, music starts playing in the background and is the cue for the entrance of the drone. It is an old Indian Air Force surveillance drone that flies directly above them at a low altitude. This startles Cooper and the camera changes its focus from Coop and Murph to the drone. The angle as well transitions from a medium close-up shot to a long-shot of the drone flying in the blue sky with cornfields beneath it as well as a glimpse of Cooper’s truck. When Cooper sees the drone, he changes his roles from being a parent to being the kid, the look of enjoyment and awe he gets, you can tell his love for the aircraft, his love for his true passion, flying. He tells his kids to get in the truck and they start chasing the drone. An extreme long-shot captures the truck following the drone surrounded by cornfields. Coop has Tom take the wheel and starts operating his laptop as Murph points an antenna towards the rogue drone in an attempt to get it under his control. The camera transitions between a medium close-up shot of the trio in the truck and a POV angle of the trio watching the drone throughout the scene. They weave in and out of endless cornfields in pursuit of the drone. Tom yells at Cooper and Cooper tells him to keep on driving, he yells again, Cooper looks up and sees that they are heading towards a cliff with a huge lake below and yells at Tom to stop. Murph thinks the drone got away but it is in Cooper’s control. He helps Murph land it on an empty field past the water body. You can see the enjoyment in the trio’s face as they land the aircraft. An extreme long shot captures this moment as well as the large body size of the water.

Cooper explains to his children that the drone is one that has been flying around for possibly a decade, this can be before the dust came in and there resources needed to live started vanishing. It was an era of science where technology still flourished. Murph asks what will happen to the drone, and Coop responds by telling her he is going to give it something socially responsible to do. Murph asks if he can let the drone go as it didn’t harm anyone, to which he responds that the drone needs to learn how to adapt like the rest of us. This little exchange of dialogue tells us a lot about the character’s morals. It shows Murph has empathy, for others, even though it is just a machine and shows Coop thinks about taking care of the whole world, not just himself or his immediate family. The scene ends after the exchange of dialogue.

The drone represents Cooper’s life and personality.  Cooper was a pilot for NASA who never got to experience outer space but deep down that is what he wants, he refers to himself as an explorer. The drone has been flying endlessly with no purpose as it has malfunctioned but has “solar cells that can power an entire farm.” This also represents Cooper as he couldn’t go anywhere with his passion for flying as well as his want to help others, mainly driven by the love for his children. The ending of this sequence is very important due to the symbolism. Throughout the sequence, there was corn and at the end there was water, the two resources that they have left to survive, could’ve possibly killed them. I say this because they were driving through the tall cornfields blindly and could’ve fell into the water body.

The cinematography in this scene is exceptional.  A technique called tracking was used to film the scene due to the tall crops. The truck had very low visibility of what lied ahead, so the driver communicated with a helicopter with a camera attached to it and navigated the truck as well captured the beautiful shot. An interesting fact about this movie was that not much of a green screen/CGI was used, in turn giving a more realistic approach in the scenes. The scene switched its cameras often using both 70 mm film and IMAX to shoot the scene. The music for the film was composed by Hans Zimmer who has previously worked with Nolan. Personally, I believe the sound has a major impact on the way the movie is viewed. The sound intensifies as the scene does, it captivates you and makes you feel what is going on in the scene.

Christopher Nolan does an amazing job directing this movie. The use of both 70 mm film as well as IMAX, cinematography and the sound together give the viewer a feeling of emotional connection, like you are there in person as the scene unfolds. More importantly, this scene gives us a understanding of our characters and the bond between them.  

Sources

Barsam, Richard Meran., and Dave Monahan. Looking at Movies: An Introduction to Film. New York: W. W. Norton, 2013. Print.

Interstellar - Christopher Nolan - Cornfield Drone Chase Scene [1080P HD]. 18 Mar. 2015. Web. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmz9lMP6aQU>.

Interstellar. Dir. Christopher Nolan. Perf. Matthew McCounaughey and Anne Hathaway. Paramount Pictures, Warner Bros. Pictures, 2014. DVD.