Title: Shell V-Power Staying Ahead Series – Stuntman
Duration: 2:01 minutes
Description:
A stuntman talks about why he wanted to get into his profession and why it’s so important he takes
good care of his vehicle.
Shell V-Power Staying Ahead Series – Stuntman Transcript
[Background music plays]
Atmospheric, storytelling and soft background music.
Kory
When I was a kid I was involved in a high-speed accident with my Dad.
[Visual transition/change]
Screen fades up from black to a close up shot of a swinging hammock, then hands turning the pages of
a black and white hand drawn storyboard of a car chase, and the top of Kory’s head as the hammock
swings, shot through the webbing of the hammock. Kory is a stuntman, and our narrator.
Kory
It was a head-on car collision. We hit, flipped the car, slid upside down. Chaos.
[Visual transition/change]
Cut to an external shot of Kory’s beautiful two-storey log cabin in the woods, with his grey truck driving
past the camera in the foreground of the shot. Cut to a long shot of the same truck driving up a hill,
then footage of the truck driving, taken from a camera car following the truck. Cut to a long shot of the
truck driving across the screen in stunning landscape, mountains in the background, reflected in a lake
in the foreground. Cut to a close up of Kory’s face as he swings on his hammock, studying the
storyboard.
Kory
But I actually liked it, I enjoyed it. It was the first moment in my life that sparked something.
[Visual transition/change]
Cut to Kory driving his car, shot from the passenger seat, continuing his story as he drives. Cut back to
Kory on his hammock – this time a full view, shot from above showing the hammock hung in the centre
of Kory’s cabin.
Cut to a woods, shot through the windscreen looking up towards the gleaming sun, we catch reflected
glimpses of the storyboard sat on the dashboard of the car. Then a close up of Kory tightening a nut on
his motorbike, followed by shots of him mounting the bike.
Kory
I was watching movies where I realised, actors don’t do their own stunts.
[Visual transition/change]
Quick succession of shots cutting between the rear wheel of the motorbike, the handlebar guard,
Kory’s foot kicking the bike into life and then settles on a front-facing upwards-looking shot of Kory on
the motorbike, revving the engine.
Kory
I wanted to be the guy who got to jump out of the plane. I wanted to be the guy who fell down the
stairs. I wanted to be the guy doing all the fun stuff.
[Visual transition/change]
Cut to the woods, as Kory edges his way down a rugged track, his black dog alongside him, barking.
Cut to Kory exiting his truck and slamming the door, shot over the bonnet of the truck, with film
production trucks, crew and equipment in the background. As he walks off screen he waves to
someone a crew member.
Kory
A good stunt man looks at the whole picture and sees everything. First off I lay out all the equipment
that I need, check everything, go over it in my head – what’s going to happen, how it’s going to
happen.
[Visual transition/change]
Cut to Koby’s hands sticking a yellow ‘air bag pulled *’ label onto a mahogany dash panel, followed by
footage of Kory testing his equipment is working – clicking a button on a metal box with wires and
gauges, turning the nozzle on a gas canister, screwing a karabiner and laying out the straps of a safety
harness before picking them up. We then watch Kory attach the safety equipment to the inside of the
car, tugging to make sure it’s secure and we cut to a car wheel, Kory checking the air.
Cut to Kory driving his truck again, shot from the rear passenger seats and we see Kory’s face in the
rear view mirror, while his right hand signals that he is going over the sequence in his head.
Cut to a concrete floor, people standing around marking a mock scene with chalk and using model cars
to show how the sequence will happen.
[Background music plays]
Tempo becomes faster, some lower drum-like beats and strings in the background of the music
building tension.
[Visual transition/change]
Cut to two shots of bridges, shot from below from a moving vehicle. Cut to Kory’s hand on the gear
stick as he shifts down. Quick transitions through footage of the city centre, a suspension bridge and
close up of the suspension cables as the car drives past before settling on a Shell keyring hanging from
the key in the ignition.
Kory
It’s critically important that the vehicle I use is in the best possible condition. Look after the engine,
and it’ll look after you.
[Visual transition/change]
Cut to Kory driving the stunt-car, shot from the passenger seat. Out his window we see he is pulling
into a Shell station. Cut to a shot across the top left quarter of his steering wheel, looking into his wing
mirror with the forecourt of the Shell station seen out the window as he stops his car.
Cut to footage of Kory pouring oil or petrol into his red stunt-car through a funnel from a red, Shell
branded fuel can.
Kory
Failure is not an option when you’re performing a precision stunt. Bottom line, it’s just me and the car.
[Visual transition/change]
Cut to an interior shot of the stunt-car, Kory strapped into the driver seat checking his safety
equipment is secure. The doors of the car are open letting light in, and we can see a person outside,
checking the car too. Quick transitions through shots of someone slamming the BMW boot shut, the
steering wheel with ‘air bag pulled’ label and Kory’s hands gripping it tightly, a man giving Kory the
thumbs up, shot from in front of the car. As the engine revs, the footage focuses on Kory’s face,
focussed and intense, followed by his hands gripping the steering wheel.
[Background music plays]
Dominant sounds over the background music of engines revving as they engage in the car chase, tyres
screeching.
[Visual transition/change]
Cut to the car chase in action, Kory in the red BMW on the left, edging ahead of a black car. Quick
transitions through footage of a gear change, the two cars rounding a corner shot from in front and
behind and the two cars racing past an alley exit followed by a camera car, shot from the other end of
the alley – brick walls on both side of the screen providing perspective.
Cut to widescreen movie-style footage of Kory’s stunt-car, smoke billowing from the screeching tyres.
Then the two cars shot from behind, still involved in the chase as they handbrake turn around a corner;
new shot from ahead of the corner.
Quick transitions between Kory palming the steering wheel as he straightens the car and external shots
of the cars screeching round the corner and whipping back onto a straight path, cutting between
normal and widescreen footage. Cut to the front grilles of both cars, headlights on as they continue to
race, engines revving. The black car begins to move left into the slipstream of Kory’s car. Cut to a closeup gear change, followed by a shot out of Kory’s windscreen as we look out onto a ramp, his car racing
toward it. As he mounts the ramp, we cut to a shot from ahead, watching as he speeds up and the car
jumps, sparks flying from the undercarriage. The black car veers to the right of the ramp, about to
crash into flammable barrels.
Cut to widescreen, slow motion footage of Kory’s car as it flies through the air, shot side-on. This is
followed by footage of the camera car as it films the jump and a series of shots of the car landing, shot
from various points of view – the rear wheel, the dashboard, ahead and side-on.
Cut to side-on footage looking across the ramp of the black car crashing into three flammable barrels,
fuel bursting from them. One blue barrel flies towards the camera, just passing it to the right.
Cut to Kory’s stunt-car from ahead as he brings it to a halt, with an interior shot of him turning the
wheel followed by another external shot as the car stops, crew members and equipment in the
background.
[Background music plays]
Returns to soft, slower background music, sound of a barrel rolling along the ground at that point.
[Visual transition/change]
Cut to a shot underneath the car, smoke rising and the black car seen through the gap. Cut to a shot of
the black car on the street set, now still apart from a black barrel rolling across the screen from the
right.
Kory
I think I’m the luckiest guy in the world.
[Visual transition/change]
Cut to footage of a crew member running across the screen towards Kory’s car. Kory winds the window
down as the man arrives. Cut to an internal shot of the man extending his hand through the window,
Kory takes it and shakes it, both men looking pleased.
Kory
I get to do things that nobody else gets to do.
[Visual transition/change]
Cut to an external side-on shot of Kory’s home, he is stood on the balcony with the woods in the
background, his motorbike below him. He is studying a storyboard. He lowers it and raises his head,
looking out into the woods.
[Text displays]
When Performance Matters Choose
Shell V-Power Nitro+
[Visual transition/change]
Cut to white screen with the text, followed by the Shell pecten