Any tips on shooting this fight scene?

harmonica44 · Dec 5, 2011

I am finished every scene of my first short, and have the final fight scene left. I have to find a replacement actor, hopefully soon, so the others don't have to keep waiting. But since it's been difficult I want to do everything right for this last scene, which will be the most difficult to shoot. Have never done any fight choreography before or anything and all I have to rely on is my instincts of how to do it.

So I am using the canon T2i which has the rolling shutter jello effect problem. I want this flaw to come off as stylistic and don't want it to ruin the whole short. I can't shoot the fight scene with the cam on a tripod, which greatly lessens the rolling shutter it seems. The problem with shooting a fight on a still camera is that the actors go out of frame to much, so the camera must constantly be movie with them in almost every take. So I will shoot it on a steadicam, but the question is, will the rolling shutter on a steadicam ruin it?

Another thing is the fight scene itself. All I have are my instincts on how to shoot it at what angles, and how to edit it to look much more real. Any tips on that? Thanks. I have already watched some tutorials on that as well, which helped somewhat. And of course we will have to rehearse before just jumping in and shooting.

dlevanchuk · Dec 13, 2011

what sort of short film are you making that requires a freaking STUNT doubles??? holy crap, man

harmonica44 · Dec 13, 2011

Well it has a fight scene in the climax, and originally I intended on directing and editing to propel the realism, with the actors, and not originally intending to use stunt doubles.

PaulGriffith · Dec 13, 2011

You don't need to use stunt doubles. Work with what you have access to man. You don't need death-defying stunts for a good fight. You don't need triple backflips or falling down stairs. It's one of those things you write/direct around. Postponing committed people to find doubles that you shouldn't be using anyway. The reason being, if it's too dangerous of a stunt for an actor, you better have insurance and a for real, trained stunt coordinator with all proper safety equipment. It's not a smart no-budget, first time director thing to do.

harmonica44 · Dec 13, 2011

For sure. I want the fall down the stairs, but that's as defying as it gets.

Murdock · Dec 13, 2011

Got any dragons in your fight scene??? No!?! Get some.

Modern Day Myth Prod. LLC · Dec 13, 2011

Shoot when you feel you are ready.

I believe Video Mongrul has a tutorial video on youtube on how to make a dirt cheap stunt dummy. You can get old clothing for cheap from the Salvation Army and a roll of duck tape and make a stunt dummy to roll down the stairs.

PaulGriffith · Dec 14, 2011

harmonica44 said:
For sure. I want the fall down the stairs, but that's as defying as it gets.

In the old days they'd shoot the actor going really, really slow -like turtle slow- faking a tumble down the stairs and speed it up 10x (or more, whatever looks real) in post.

Actually, they were seriously under taking taking a frame or two a second, but the way you'd do it is to record a normally video and digitally speed it up. there's a shot in "McLintock" with John Wayne and his on screen ex wife doing this technique. I remember it looking pretty good.

Try it yourself on a short 4 step staircase. Lock the camera off on a tripod and go to town. See if you like the footage and if it's something you'd feel comfortable asking an actor to do.

Alternatively, showing the person's head duck out of frame, cutting to a reaction of the person who pushed or a bystander and hearing a sack of potatoes or two fall down the stairs then cutting to shot of the poor victim sliding down the last stair onto the carpet would be a really effective (and safe) way of shooting it. Still suspenseful, add good music and sounds and you'll be good to go.

There's no way I'd ask someone to take a real fall down stairs for a movie. Plenty have died or ended up paralyzed or dead because of that. Only if an experienced stunt coordinator said it was ok and brought in his gear and his expert stuntman would I consider it. It's like asking someone to get hit by a car.

dlevanchuk · Dec 14, 2011

Well it has a fight scene in the climax, and originally I intended on directing and editing to propel the realism, with the actors, and not originally intending to use stunt doubles.

your major climax of the movie should be the climax of the story, not people are getting into the fight, and falling down the stairs...
I would never want to watch a movie where your climax is about two dudes getting into a fight ...which WILL be poorly performed, and edited because you're a first time director with NO experience

Do the smart thing. Its OK to go weird and "let me try this awesome shot" by yourself by climbing a tall ladder, while balancing the camera....but when its other people's health risk gets involved, especially volunteers, because of your stubbornness - that's just plain STUPID.
Sorry if that sounds harsh, but i do take safety extremely seriously.

and no, Bob Joe from your local martial art school of wanna-be-ninjitsu with $20 black belt is NOT a qualified fight instructor or stunt coordinator.

harmonica44 · Dec 14, 2011

yeah. Well the fight has to do with the plot. It's not long but I figure a short fight and fall down the stairs is worth it, to generate suspense. I mean how exciting would most movies in the thriller genre really be, if the good guy came towards the bad guy with a gun pointed at him, bad guy goes quietly and that's the end of the movie. That ending is rarely used cause it's just not that tense. So I have to have something.