That’s entertainment! Motorcycle movie stunt riding
Posted: Fri Nov 03, 2006 5:21 am
That’s entertainment! Motorcycle movie stunt riding
Friday, November 3, 2006 - BMW Press Release - worldofbmw.com
Choreographing massive car crashes, head-on collisions and death-defying motorcycle and helicopter stunts is all in a day's work for the team at Action Concept, one of the world's largest full-service production companies. Andy Dukes took his life in his hands and met the team that destroys BMW cars and motorcycles - and all in the name of entertainment.
As I slid into the spare seat in the cockpit, the helicopter pilot sensed my nervousness and my fear of heights. I knew that Marcus was more than just a helicopter pilot and that his stunt flying had helped create some of the most memorable action sequences in television and film. As we took off I prayed that he hadn't been briefed to 'show me what the chopper could do' and I tried to think of anything that would make me forget that I was hovering several hundred metres above the ground in a 'whirly bird'.
All I could think about was a British television comedy sketch show character called Chip Cobb. As a deaf stuntman, he would memorably and regularly end up on a stretcher in the back of an ambulance as a result of mishearing the director's instructions ("Take five, we need to reset the wire…" "Set myself on fire? Ok!").
Joking apart though, the next time you are sitting at home watching the TV or at the cinema experiencing the latest blockbuster action movie, spare a thought for the stunt teams who put life and limb on the line to bring you the best and most realistic high-speed action sequences.
In the Cologne area of Germany, a company is making a name for itself in the film and television industry for its "nothing is impossible" approach to business. Action Concept's talented team has crashed, blown-up and jumped more BMW cars and motorcycles than they care to remember. And they've got the stunt Oscars to prove it.
A look around the 25,000m² campus near Hürth reveals a dedicated and talented workforce whose job is to plan, prepare and perform first-class stunts. In this age of 'green screen' technology (real actors on a digital set), visual effects departments and post-production facilities, it's good to know that there are still people around who never say "never" - even if it means catapulting cars high enough into the air to cross the flight path of a helicopter, with the help of a liquid-nitrogen-fuelled rocket!
It was this 'can do' attitude that helped realise and build the FTL (Film and Test Location) - Europe's largest film set for high-speed motorway scenes. Former stuntman and FTL Managing Director Volkmar Balenseifer was "fed up renting highways" in Düsseldorf, Cologne and Belgium, and decided to build an exact replica of a German Autobahn at a cost of €3 million.
Although it's just a 30 minute drive from Cologne, the best way to approach the FTL (or so I'm told) is by helicopter and as we descend towards the four-lane motorway I can make out a couple of motorcycles, a ramp and what looks like a BMW pick-up! With two 1,000-metre lanes in each direction, hard shoulders, a concrete barrier and two turning loops at each end, the track is an authentic Autobahn, with access and exit ramps. It can quickly be made to resemble a motorway typical of any country by equipping it with appropriate signage and road markings, and of course any kind of background can be added in during post-production by the visual effects department.
As soon as I am on terra firma, a black 7 Series BMW pulls up. My eyes hadn't been deceiving me - it has been converted at great expense into a pick-up, with special bars and rigs to fit and carry a multitude of cameras, sound equipment and crew for filming high-speed action scenes. Smooth, automatic transmission and 12-cylinder BMW power is just what's needed to keep ahead of and help capture the action.
In the distance I can see a rider performing burnouts, wheelies and stoppies on an HP2 Enduro. It turns out he is Toni Rossberger, who has just broken the vertical 'high jump' world record on a motorcycle. He's warming up his tyres by power-sliding the 105 hp boxer twin around the FTL's curves and is preparing for some practice jumps over the head of stunt coordinator Christopher Domanski. Christopher is a multi-talented marshal arts expert and the proud recipient of a Taurus World Stunt Award for a chase that featured in The Clown movie.
This film sold in more than 40 countries and the stunt involved a car jumping over a helicopter as well as a chase involving 24 police cars and a powerboat. It beat opposition such as Jackie Chan's Police Story 2 to win the award. Today Christopher is riding a 167 hp BMW K 1200 S but manages to keep both wheels on the tarmac - unlike Toni.
"I think I could ride before I could walk," comments Toni, who started riding a motorcycle at four-years-old and by the age of eight was a promising motocross rider in the German youth championships. "I gave it up after a while though because I preferred the jumping than the actual racing and the more difficult it was the better!"
True to his word, Toni has since amassed several motorcycle world records, including jumping 78 metres off a ski jump at Garmisch-Partenkirchen in Germany, home to the BMW Motorrad Biker Meeting. Although Toni did this jump in summer, he also returned in winter and set a record of 80 metres on snow! Although he had jumped even further in practice (92 metres), the world record attempt was made difficult by poor weather conditions. Adding to the pressure was the fact that more than 18 million people were watching it live on prime time television.
"I used motocross tyres with spikes and had to change the angle of the ski ramp," explained Toni. "This is because ski jumpers take off from a fairly flat trajectory and although they are travelling at about 90 km/h, they are never more than about four metres off the ground. Theirs is a mix between jumping and flying but a 175 kg motorcycle is more difficult to hold in the air, so you have to keep it up with power. My take-off speed was 125 km/h and my landing speed actually increased to 145 km/h, so I had to keep my concentration levels high as there wasn't much margin for error."
In addition to the many stunt shows that Toni performs for the general public, his duties as the specialist motorcycle stunt rider for Action Concept are taken very seriously. "I plan all stunts meticulously and work them out scientifically. I'm very aware of the physical parameters and we 'storyboard' every scene. Fortunately, I've never broken any bones. The HP2 Enduro is a powerful bike and the best BMW for jumping, but I use harder springs in the front suspension and also pump up the air suspension at the rear for landing safely."
Toni has also performed many stunts on BMW's F 650 range of motorcycles, including a 'green screen' jump towards a helicopter: "This was my favourite stunt and it was used in the Alarm for Cobra II TV series. The helicopter was hovering in the air and I had to hit a moving ramp at 85 km/h. The only problem was that the ramp was moving at 25 km/h, so it was a bit tricky with the speed differential! I had to get as close to the helicopter as possible and then land the bike safely. The idea was that the bike rider jumps and then catches hold of the helicopter's feet. This special effect was naturally achieved in post production, because it is physically impossible to catch hold of anything at that speed!"
Tony likes to push the limits of his motorcycles and of course himself. One of his stunts last year required the front wheel to be reinforced, which is understandable considering that he had to jump 28 metres in length at a height of about three and a half metres, with a 'dummy' actor on the back.
"It was another moving ramp and I had to jump over two moving cars with the 'person' on the back then landing on the car in front. It was on TV a couple of weeks ago and looked good, but I needed a new front wheel afterwards!"
Toni had just heard the breaking news of the new G Series hard enduro, street moto and scrambler motorcycles that BMW had unveiled at the Intermot Motorcycle and Scooter Fair just an hour away in Cologne. He believes that with these lightweight single-cylinder machines, he'll be able to do things that people have never seen on a BMW before. For now, we'll just have to take his word for it and keep our eyes glued to the silver screen.
Friday, November 3, 2006 - BMW Press Release - worldofbmw.com
Choreographing massive car crashes, head-on collisions and death-defying motorcycle and helicopter stunts is all in a day's work for the team at Action Concept, one of the world's largest full-service production companies. Andy Dukes took his life in his hands and met the team that destroys BMW cars and motorcycles - and all in the name of entertainment.
As I slid into the spare seat in the cockpit, the helicopter pilot sensed my nervousness and my fear of heights. I knew that Marcus was more than just a helicopter pilot and that his stunt flying had helped create some of the most memorable action sequences in television and film. As we took off I prayed that he hadn't been briefed to 'show me what the chopper could do' and I tried to think of anything that would make me forget that I was hovering several hundred metres above the ground in a 'whirly bird'.
All I could think about was a British television comedy sketch show character called Chip Cobb. As a deaf stuntman, he would memorably and regularly end up on a stretcher in the back of an ambulance as a result of mishearing the director's instructions ("Take five, we need to reset the wire…" "Set myself on fire? Ok!").
Joking apart though, the next time you are sitting at home watching the TV or at the cinema experiencing the latest blockbuster action movie, spare a thought for the stunt teams who put life and limb on the line to bring you the best and most realistic high-speed action sequences.
In the Cologne area of Germany, a company is making a name for itself in the film and television industry for its "nothing is impossible" approach to business. Action Concept's talented team has crashed, blown-up and jumped more BMW cars and motorcycles than they care to remember. And they've got the stunt Oscars to prove it.
A look around the 25,000m² campus near Hürth reveals a dedicated and talented workforce whose job is to plan, prepare and perform first-class stunts. In this age of 'green screen' technology (real actors on a digital set), visual effects departments and post-production facilities, it's good to know that there are still people around who never say "never" - even if it means catapulting cars high enough into the air to cross the flight path of a helicopter, with the help of a liquid-nitrogen-fuelled rocket!
It was this 'can do' attitude that helped realise and build the FTL (Film and Test Location) - Europe's largest film set for high-speed motorway scenes. Former stuntman and FTL Managing Director Volkmar Balenseifer was "fed up renting highways" in Düsseldorf, Cologne and Belgium, and decided to build an exact replica of a German Autobahn at a cost of €3 million.
Although it's just a 30 minute drive from Cologne, the best way to approach the FTL (or so I'm told) is by helicopter and as we descend towards the four-lane motorway I can make out a couple of motorcycles, a ramp and what looks like a BMW pick-up! With two 1,000-metre lanes in each direction, hard shoulders, a concrete barrier and two turning loops at each end, the track is an authentic Autobahn, with access and exit ramps. It can quickly be made to resemble a motorway typical of any country by equipping it with appropriate signage and road markings, and of course any kind of background can be added in during post-production by the visual effects department.
As soon as I am on terra firma, a black 7 Series BMW pulls up. My eyes hadn't been deceiving me - it has been converted at great expense into a pick-up, with special bars and rigs to fit and carry a multitude of cameras, sound equipment and crew for filming high-speed action scenes. Smooth, automatic transmission and 12-cylinder BMW power is just what's needed to keep ahead of and help capture the action.
In the distance I can see a rider performing burnouts, wheelies and stoppies on an HP2 Enduro. It turns out he is Toni Rossberger, who has just broken the vertical 'high jump' world record on a motorcycle. He's warming up his tyres by power-sliding the 105 hp boxer twin around the FTL's curves and is preparing for some practice jumps over the head of stunt coordinator Christopher Domanski. Christopher is a multi-talented marshal arts expert and the proud recipient of a Taurus World Stunt Award for a chase that featured in The Clown movie.
This film sold in more than 40 countries and the stunt involved a car jumping over a helicopter as well as a chase involving 24 police cars and a powerboat. It beat opposition such as Jackie Chan's Police Story 2 to win the award. Today Christopher is riding a 167 hp BMW K 1200 S but manages to keep both wheels on the tarmac - unlike Toni.
"I think I could ride before I could walk," comments Toni, who started riding a motorcycle at four-years-old and by the age of eight was a promising motocross rider in the German youth championships. "I gave it up after a while though because I preferred the jumping than the actual racing and the more difficult it was the better!"
True to his word, Toni has since amassed several motorcycle world records, including jumping 78 metres off a ski jump at Garmisch-Partenkirchen in Germany, home to the BMW Motorrad Biker Meeting. Although Toni did this jump in summer, he also returned in winter and set a record of 80 metres on snow! Although he had jumped even further in practice (92 metres), the world record attempt was made difficult by poor weather conditions. Adding to the pressure was the fact that more than 18 million people were watching it live on prime time television.
"I used motocross tyres with spikes and had to change the angle of the ski ramp," explained Toni. "This is because ski jumpers take off from a fairly flat trajectory and although they are travelling at about 90 km/h, they are never more than about four metres off the ground. Theirs is a mix between jumping and flying but a 175 kg motorcycle is more difficult to hold in the air, so you have to keep it up with power. My take-off speed was 125 km/h and my landing speed actually increased to 145 km/h, so I had to keep my concentration levels high as there wasn't much margin for error."
In addition to the many stunt shows that Toni performs for the general public, his duties as the specialist motorcycle stunt rider for Action Concept are taken very seriously. "I plan all stunts meticulously and work them out scientifically. I'm very aware of the physical parameters and we 'storyboard' every scene. Fortunately, I've never broken any bones. The HP2 Enduro is a powerful bike and the best BMW for jumping, but I use harder springs in the front suspension and also pump up the air suspension at the rear for landing safely."
Toni has also performed many stunts on BMW's F 650 range of motorcycles, including a 'green screen' jump towards a helicopter: "This was my favourite stunt and it was used in the Alarm for Cobra II TV series. The helicopter was hovering in the air and I had to hit a moving ramp at 85 km/h. The only problem was that the ramp was moving at 25 km/h, so it was a bit tricky with the speed differential! I had to get as close to the helicopter as possible and then land the bike safely. The idea was that the bike rider jumps and then catches hold of the helicopter's feet. This special effect was naturally achieved in post production, because it is physically impossible to catch hold of anything at that speed!"
Tony likes to push the limits of his motorcycles and of course himself. One of his stunts last year required the front wheel to be reinforced, which is understandable considering that he had to jump 28 metres in length at a height of about three and a half metres, with a 'dummy' actor on the back.
"It was another moving ramp and I had to jump over two moving cars with the 'person' on the back then landing on the car in front. It was on TV a couple of weeks ago and looked good, but I needed a new front wheel afterwards!"
Toni had just heard the breaking news of the new G Series hard enduro, street moto and scrambler motorcycles that BMW had unveiled at the Intermot Motorcycle and Scooter Fair just an hour away in Cologne. He believes that with these lightweight single-cylinder machines, he'll be able to do things that people have never seen on a BMW before. For now, we'll just have to take his word for it and keep our eyes glued to the silver screen.