That Ken Block Phenomenon

by Neill on July 9, 2009

If you’re into cars and video, you’d have to be dead not to have heard of Ken Block and his Subaru Gymkana videos. He seems to be replacing the late Colin McRae as the Subaru promotional tool of choice. Regardless of your opinion of Ken’s driving (and there are plenty of “I could do that” voices out there), you’ve got to say that the camera work speaks for itself. None more so than the typically polished presentation by BBC’s Top Gear crew when they travelled across to the USA with James May. Take a look at the video and tell me your views, mine are just below



Superb camera work from the crew and Ken’s clearly getting his act together too, as unlike previous movies, in this one, there’s no evidence of black lines showing his practice runs. The killer ingredianents to the shoot, IMO?

    Great location – an aircraft graveyard, every car shooters dream
    Time of day & post production – the colour and light is stunning, pa combination of the time of day and probably grading in post
    A driver who it appears can now repeat reliably, giving the camera crew confidence
    Great rigging of remote cameras, not just in-car, but also rigged in imaginative locations inside aircraft wrecks etc

No doubt they will eventually to a Behind The Scenes edit, which will be great to see. Top Gear sometimes get hammered on car forums for heavy grad filter use and other production values. My view is that it’s just their current style and I like it because it’s distinctive, but what’s your views on this ?

{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }

Dave C July 10, 2009 at 4:05 pm

Personally, I like the Top Gear work, but I know a few mates who aren’t into photography who just don’t get it. They don’t like the whole detail shots of engines routine and just want to get straight to Clarkson doing big skids… But then, all they ever look at is YouTube stuff of one Nurburgring lap after another.

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