Part 9

Episodes 35-38

Stunt : Woman falls of high rockface
From episode 36 : 'Die Anhalterin'

A woman jumps of a high rockface. Fortunately André can grab her just in time, but he can't hold her long and she falls. This stunt consists of two parts. In the first part you see how the woman falls. To film this a stuntwoman is attached to the Decelerator-system (see part 6). So the woman falls down, but is stopped by the system before she hits the ground. The cable with which she is attached to the system is removed from the pictures with the help of a computer. This computer has also been used in the second part of the stunt. In this shot you see the woman fall down from the viewpoint of André. Of course the actress never fall down and so there has been used some tricks to film this. The stuntteam has used a blue-screen (see part 8). The woman is placed in front of this screen and acts as if she falls down. During this the camera is being pulled away from the woman. The blue background is then replaced by a shot into the abyss. Now it seems as if the woman really falls into the abyss.


Stunt : Man falls of a high bridge and lands on the bonnet of a car
From episode 37 : 'Der tote Zeuge'

In this scene you see how a man falls of a high bridge and lands on the bonnet of a car, which drives under the bridge. Just as in the previous stunt the Decelerator-system (see part 6) is used. The stuntman is attached to this system and so his fall is stopped just before he hits the ground by the cable which is attached to the system. The moment that the stuntman lands on the car is filmed later. This is less dangerous for the stuntman, because he can better land on the bonnet from a low height than from a great height. After editing the pictures it seems as if the man falls from the bridge and lands on the bonnet of the car.


Stunt : André is thrown away from an exploding car
From episode 38 : 'Der Joker'

During a chase the driver of the fleeing car loses the control over his car, flies via the crash barrier to the other carriageway and crashes into a truck. A few seconds later André and Semir arrive at the place of the accident. André gets out of the car and runs to the wreck. At the moment he steps on the crash barrier the crashed car explodes. André is trown away by the explosion and lands in the verge. To let this scene look as realistic as possible, actor Mark Keller has to run from his car to the crash barrier. When he is on it the shootings stop. Next a flame is held between the camera and Mark. The viewers think that the flame is the explosion. Then Mark is replaced by a stuntman. He is going to stand on the crash barrier, while he is attached to the Ratchet-system (see part 5). The cameras start and the car explodes. The stuntman is pulled away from the explosion by the cable which is connected to the Ratchet-system. This cable is removed from the recordings with the help of a computer. This removing has to be done picture for picture and in one second there are 25 pictures. So it is much work to edit the recordings to the desired result. But that result is a spectacular scene.


Stunt : Speedboat travels into shed and explodes
From episode 38 : 'Der Joker'

A woman flees in a speedboat and during her escape she runs into a police-boat. To avoid a collision she has to steer to the left and is launched by a ramp. She lands in a shed which immediately explodes. So it looks like the speedboat is destroyed during this stunt. But the viewer is fooled. A speedboat is expensive and the stuntteam don't want to destroy such a boat if it doesn't have to. So this stunt is filmed and edited in a smart way. First a stuntman travels with the boat via the ramp into the shed. The causes little or even no damage to the boat. When the boat disappeares into the shed you see some little explosion in the shed. In the episode these little explosion are immediately followed by a great explosion which destroyes the whole shed. In reality there was some more time between the little explosions and the big one. Enough time for the stuntteam to remove the boat out of the shed. So eventually there was no boat destroyed, however the pictures from the episodes let the viewer think something else.