MovieChat Forums > 10 Items or Less (2007) Discussion > what the heck were the bumps?

what the heck were the bumps?

posted 17 years ago by tim-wilde-1
14 replies | jump to latest

Totally innocuous question of the day.

As Vega's character was driving Morgan Freeman into his affluent neighborhood and he began getting her to follow his lead in a made up song, they drove along for quite some distance and kept hitting bumps in the road every 10 seconds or so that jolted the camera. It was quite distracting, and my wife and I started wondering what the heck they were hitting on the road time and again. Railway tracks one or twice maybe, but over and over again with such frequency? And they looked like they were on a main road, so it hardly seems likely they'd be hitting speed bumps.

Anyone else notice it?

[–] picante007 17 years ago

i noticed them too, I kept thinking she was gonna crash while they were driving.

[–] the_sculptor_1 17 years ago

Those could be potholes.

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[–] tenderalvlock 17 years ago

I don't know about California, but here in New Jersey and I've noticed in PA and DE some roadways there are seams and they are spaced perfectly apart and when you drive on those roads, you'll feel them. I haven't gotten to that part in this particular movie yet, as I'm watching it now and they are in Target...but that's what I'm guess it is. If they are the seams, they are quite sedating when you are a child. I used to (and sometimes still do) love the bump...bump...bump....

[–] betsybmu 17 years ago

In L.A. we refer to them as "speed bumps"- they're purposely put on residential streets to keep people from speeding through neighborhoods.

[–] TheWalkingLost 17 years ago

Where have you been where a car doesn't bounce while driving? Unless you've only ever been in brand new cars, a car will pick up every bump on the road.

"Like the Batman villain?"
George looks at him funny.
"Yes, if that helps you."

[–] tim-wilde-1 17 years ago

To HomicidalClown

Do tell? There really are bumps on the road system? Who'd have ever figured that? You are truly one in a million. I take my hat off to you for pointing such a salient point out to me.

And talk about learning something new every day! Why, Until I read your post I had never been aware that a new car would sail over every bump in the road and leave the occupants blissfully unaware of every surface irregularity (potholes, seams, ripples, truck tire debris, etc). Sounds like heaven. How new does it have to be? Maybe they should have used a new car for filming the sequence I described to eliminate the bone-jarring jolt that made the camera jump so dramatically?

One of the other more intelligent responses might be correct and it could have be seams on the roads, though I tend to associate those with concrete roads, and if memory serves me correctly the footage from the film shows that they're driving on a tar-sealed roadway. Besides, I'm not sure that seams would cause the camera to jar as much as it did.

As for the other poster who suggested speed bumps, no, not on a major thoroughfare. They're used strictly on suburban streets to physically enforce low speed limits (ie 25mph).

[–] boltonam 17 years ago

Glad they weren't in a lowrider...

Dan

[–] rval 17 years ago

Yeah, those "bumps" bothered me, too. They weren't potholes because they appeared at regular intervals, which is the reason they bothered me. I've driven over highways with seams, so this is a valid explanation. Otherwise, I would consider it sloppy editing where the filmmaker didn't edit out those noises.

[–] MAD-xy 16 years ago

There were construction signs on the side of the road, maybe that was the cause of the bumps. Could have been repaving the road.

[–] modgirl-3 16 years ago

They were also in an industrial area and went over at least one set of train tracks. Could have been any number of things. I know that in my 97 Pontiac sunfire without ever having a change of shocks, etc., the car did that constantly. I would often think I had a flat tire, only to realize the road really did have strange intervals of bumps. Some just do, but you don't notice them in newer cars (which, thankfully, I now have).

[–] badsideefex 16 years ago

I think she messed up her rear-end when she backed into that skanky girl's car. In that little car, it would cause it to bump or shake at times.

[–] Desertman84 14 years ago

That was used to control the speed of the car while doing the stunt while they were filming.

[–] keith-lofstrom 12 years ago

I've never been to Carson. Other parts of LA, and some parts of Phoenix, have shallow gutter-like concrete channels that cross streets, continuations of the concrete gutters that run along the sides of streets. Imagine an inch-deep, four foot wide triangular channel to carry very infrequent storm water, in communities too cheap to build real storm sewers. A car with working shocks and suspension will pass over these with a small jiggle. A clapped-out Gremlin with no remaining springs and shocks will go bang on every small dip in the road. A bang every block or so, regularly.

You bet they could have filmed on streets without these, or voiced over the noise, but they wanted to convey poor neighborhoods and broken-down 30 year old cars - and two people so interested in each other's company that they did not notice. That was part of the quirky charm of the movie.