big screen

top 5 ‘deserted city’ scenes in film

by deputydog ⋅ 28 / 11 / 2007 ⋅ post a comment

there’s a relatively easy way to give the audience a chill during a film: slip in a shot of a deserted city centre, a city centre that’s notoriously busy in real-life, the scene preferably culminating in the camera panning out to prove the crew didn’t just manage to clear 10ft of road for 5 seconds.

it’s a guaranteed talking point. look at vanilla sky: the film was bordering on atrocious but the one thing that always gets mentioned (apart from cameron crowe losing his grip) is the ‘how the fuck did they manage to clear times square?’ bit. if i was a director i’d have a deserted city scene in every film, regardless of the movie’s plot.

here are my 5 favourite goosebump inducing ‘empty’ scenes.

5. philadelphia - twelve monkeys, 1995 (imdb)

the opening shot of terry gilliam’s top-notch ‘twelve monkeys’ is superb, bruce willis’ character coming above ground in a post-apocalyptic philadelphia to be faced with a world deserted but for wild animals roaming the streets. gilliam’s crew were given a corner of the city hall to work with, built a lip around the area to hide surrounding traffic and added snow to make it feel ‘more desolate’.

4. los angeles - omega man, 1971 (imdb)

‘omega man’ was the 2nd film based on the novel ‘i am legend’, the 1st being ‘last man on earth’ and the 3rd being ‘i am legend’, to be released in a few weeks. after coming to terms with the fact that a huge set would be too costly the producer realised prior to filming that l.a. was surprisingly quiet early in the day at weekends so all of the deserted city scenes were shot at that time of the week. the scene below even includes a pan-out for added despair and the echoes of ringing payphones.

3. madrid - abre los ojos, 1997 (imdb)

the gran via in madrid was completely closed off to film the scene below, the inspiration for vanilla sky’s big budget version in times square. it may not have the flashing billboards and an a-list star to run down the street like a maniac but the street’s architecture more than makes up for it. this clip is actually the first 10 minutes of the film, the initial 3-4 minutes being the ‘deserted’ section.

2. manhattan - vanilla sky, 2001 (imdb)

this remake of ‘open your eyes’ was largely disappointing, this scene being the best part of it. the crew were given 3 hours to shoot the times square sequence early on a sunday morning and crowe was determined not to use cg to remove any signs of life. the whole process included lenghty discussions with the new york mayor’s office, the new york film commission and the police department. the result is incredible.

1. london - 28 days later, 2002 (imdb)

it took 6 days to shoot the ‘deserted’ sections of this brilliant film on mini-dv cameras, the crew only able to get permission to close off entire streets in london for minutes at a time, and the effort was worth it. for the empty motorway scenes, they even managed to persuade the traffic police to close off a 10 mile stretch of the m1 for a very short period of time. warning: the clip below has been subjected to a shit soundtrack by the youtube user. turn the volume down.

sources: 1, 2, 3

discussion

49 comments for “top 5 ‘deserted city’ scenes in film”

  1. great movies, great scenes. desserted cities are almost always an impressive thing to use in a movie

    posted by aditive | 28th of November, 2007, 12:36 am

  2. 28 days was creepy as all hell! i always wondered how they got shots of deserted cities and now i know.

    AlienFarmer
    http://www.SolarCoupons.com

    posted by AlienFarmer | 28th of November, 2007, 1:40 am

  3. You have chosen 5 excellent movies, I am not sure which is my favorite as I like them all.
    Regards.

    posted by jsanderz | 28th of November, 2007, 12:10 pm

  4. great scenes… the one thing i didn’t like was that “shit soundtrack” thing. i love that band =( although i wouldn’t have chosen that song for the video.

    posted by Eternal Outsider | 28th of November, 2007, 7:09 pm

  5. 28 days was great, and way to nail the top 5. 28 weeks was pretty weak however, “i am legend” could be good. It’s based on an old novel that was turned into a movie called the last man on earth, ibelieve.

    you can download, or stream teh whole film on google video for free ;)
    Check out my top whiskey quotes for tomorrow and maybe i’ll even make a top 5/10 gadaget for the deputy dog if i get around it to. Cheers!

    -Americo
    http://ThunkDifferent.com

    posted by Thunk Different. | 28th of November, 2007, 10:39 pm

  6. Good, but Devil’s Advocate should have made the cut.

    posted by tedrick | 29th of November, 2007, 12:59 am

  7. I’ve always liked and appreciated deserted city scenes in movies, brilliant topic.

    The one in Vanilla Sky was especially chilling for some reason.

    posted by Ballatician | 29th of November, 2007, 1:01 am

  8. the whole deserted city section of 28 days later made that movie for me!

    posted by Ryan | 29th of November, 2007, 1:03 am

  9. I would have like to see the Resident Evil: Extinction Las Vegas scene on the list.

    posted by andrew | 29th of November, 2007, 1:12 am

  10. The Mouse that Roared (1963)? Peter Sellers antiwar classic could be considered. He and his band of hapless Fenwick archers invade NYC during an air raid drill during the height of cold war madness and find Manhattan empty. Anyway nice list.

    posted by moondancer | 29th of November, 2007, 1:22 am

  11. I agree with Eternal Outsider. 28 weeks later was superb. Rather spooky seeing a deserted London. The soundtrack chosen is also a good song but is out of place here… just keep to the facts not irrelevant warnings.

    28 weeks was very poor in comparison to the original film. Plot was thin and I didn’t care who lived or died unlike the strong character development in 28 days later.

    posted by John | 29th of November, 2007, 1:32 am

  12. I love abandoned scenes. I really enjoyed a scene from The Tripods movie that is either London or Paris abandoned.

    http://www.ecobeater.com

    posted by car lover | 29th of November, 2007, 1:38 am

  13. don’t leave out the Shell Ferrari tv ad where they closed down city streets in New York, London and Sydney, in the middle of the day

    Shell spent close to ₤2 million to produce a television commercial where different F1 race cars are shown speeding around the corners and down the streets

    posted by quinrado | 29th of November, 2007, 1:45 am

  14. Strong set of movies - one other scene that came to mind was during the final act of ‘The Devil’s Advocate,’ where K. ‘Whoa’ Reaves walks around a deserted downtown Manhattan. In contrast to Vanilla Sky, this one was probably all CGI.

    posted by amathews | 29th of November, 2007, 1:59 am

  15. George Romero’s Night of the Living Dead was also based on I am legend. Which beat Omega Man to the punch. Great frackn’ movie though.

    posted by Shawn Kirkby | 29th of November, 2007, 2:37 am

  16. how about resident evil … ???

    posted by subcorpus | 29th of November, 2007, 2:58 am

  17. That’s a zoom-out in Omega Man, not a pan out. :)

    posted by Cam | 29th of November, 2007, 3:50 am

  18. I used to be a homeless rodeo clown but now I am a world class magician !

    posted by FPM | 29th of November, 2007, 4:41 am

  19. Closing off roads and other public places to shoot film scenes is so … last century. Surely there are digital film techniques by now that allow you to edit out all the moving parts in a scene? If you keep a camera trained on Times Square for long enough you will have data on all the inert background - then just digitally subtract the moving parts and overlay the actor/action you want to keep… easy peasy

    posted by boesman | 29th of November, 2007, 6:21 am

  20. Good call on the list however you really need to find a true 28 Days Later because the way they used God Speed You Black Emperor made the screen so much creepier

    posted by reservoirdog | 29th of November, 2007, 6:34 am

  21. Devil’s Advocate also had a decent deserted city scene

    posted by Toris | 29th of November, 2007, 6:38 am

  22. none of the videos work.

    posted by MEredith | 29th of November, 2007, 6:46 am

  23. @boesman: CGI is not the be-all end-all of special effects. Look at Peter Jackson’s LOTR for movies that have great effects with little or no CGI. Then compare that to the garbage Lucas spewed out in episodes I, II and III of the Star Wars series, or worse still the updates to episodes IV, V and VI (Han stepping on Jabba’s tail is all the proof you need that CGI doesn’t always improve a scene).

    That doesn’t even take into account the love some directors (and movie watchers) have for a more organic and authentic experience rather than opting for eye candy just for the sake of using/watching cutting edge technology just to say you did.

    posted by Bobthetroll | 29th of November, 2007, 2:19 pm

  24. What about the movie “The Quiet Earth”? A quintessential last man on earth movie from Australia…

    posted by exploramental | 29th of November, 2007, 4:20 pm

  25. I miss “The Quiet Earth” (NZ, 1985) on the list. The “deserted city” scene in “28 Days Later” definetly pays homage to this sadly overlooked movie. There’s lots of analogies: From both main characters waking up naked in a bed, to street settings and the way how the characters gather supplies…

    The whole sequence doesn’t seem to be on YouTube, but the trailer gives a little impression: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsLoeWBFeW8

    If you’re into post-apocaliptic cinema, I can’t recommend “The Quiet Earth” enough. It can get a bit esoteric at times, but apart from that it’s a brilliant movie.

    posted by dannybwoy | 29th of November, 2007, 4:38 pm

  26. It has to be “post-apocalyptic” of course… ;-)

    posted by dannybwoy | 29th of November, 2007, 4:40 pm

  27. Bikini Party Massacre (2001) is considered the second worst movie of all times, but featured a six minute scene on the soon-to-be opened highway 407 in Toronto, Canada.

    posted by rdolishny | 29th of November, 2007, 4:51 pm

  28. Flight 405 is a short film that does the “film it for awhile then remove until you’re left with an empty street” technique to great effect.

    posted by Avatar | 29th of November, 2007, 6:32 pm

  29. For number 6 of five I submit for your review “The Quite Earth.” It’s not a particular deserted city but New Zealand in general. Interesting movie.

    posted by Deliverator 3000 | 29th of November, 2007, 8:15 pm

  30. Ooops. Hey… a bit late, but I second dannybwoy’s recommedation.

    posted by Deliverator 3000 | 29th of November, 2007, 8:17 pm

  31. A nice, interesting idea would be accompanying each sequence with its making of, if existed :-)

    posted by jotape | 29th of November, 2007, 10:23 pm

  32. No mention of Washington DC in Logan’s Run? WTF! :P

    posted by Casey | 29th of November, 2007, 10:28 pm

  33. What a great list!!! That 28 Days Later scene is a modern day classic.

    http://scifijournalist.blogspot.com

    posted by SolShine7 | 30th of November, 2007, 12:38 am

  34. Great list, nice video for “The Omega man.” Wow. Dystopian future movies rule– here’s the Top 10 Movies That Prove the Future Will Suck: http://www.scene-stealers.com/top-10/top-ten-movies-that-prove-the-future-will-suck/

    posted by Eric Melin | 30th of November, 2007, 1:30 pm

  35. I’m going to have to agree this one.

    posted by sir jorge | 16th of December, 2007, 8:20 pm

  36. Shit soundtrack. Damn right ! What’s the idea, Youtube user ?

    posted by Robert | 14th of January, 2008, 10:18 am


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