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Shooting a fight scene

IndieBudget

IndieBudget

Im plodding along here on my upcoming short and Im looking to include a violent scene where a person is being beaten. I have never shot action before. The scene Im planning will have rapid jump cuts so it will not be that critical to sell the action. Im also wanting to play with shooting some shadows in the action and show reactions from the feet and midsection etc.


Im figuring on using a longer lens to try and distort the perspective some to help in selling some of the impact shots. Im also going to have a small amount of blood and sleight bruises as well. I will do some test footage on location and see what I can do. Im also planning on speeding up the shutter and try for a jittery effect as well and see if that works.

Any input or help from experienced hands would be appreciated. If anyone knows of any instructional videos or online resources that would be mucho appreciated



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In my opinion, you'll be best off if you get actors who are formally trained in stage (or screen) fighting. I've worked with both untrained and trained, and the difference is remarkable. All the funky tricks you're planning should take back-seat, and getting qualified actors/stuntmen should be Priority #1.

Since they know what they're doing, let them choreograph it, and all you have to do is add input, and decide where to put the camera.

Rehearse, and rehearse, and rehearse, and get PLENTY of coverage. And make sure you rehearse a bunch. Also, get a ton of coverage.
 
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It would be nice to have a huge talent pool to choose from.

Here in Houston on a no-budget film, I have to go with who will bother to show up. I have some OK talent on this coming project. I figger if I do my job, it will be OK. I know I won't win any awards, but I will learn and better my craft.

I figure I will cheat as much as possible and I have a BIG RULE on my sets.. no one is allowed to get hurt.

HOWEVER, Rehearse and Coverage are the keys.. got it !
 
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Well, you got my #2 and #3 recommendations, anyway.

Dude, I'm in Richmond, VA. Houston kicks this city in the balls. If you want to find local talent that is eager, and willing to volunteer for small projects, I have two words:

College. Campus.
 
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IndieBudget said:
It would be nice to have a huge talent pool to choose from.

Here in Houston on a no-budget film, I have to go with who will bother to show up. I have some OK talent on this coming project. I figger if I do my job, it will be OK. I know I won't win any awards, but I will learn and better my craft.

I figure I will cheat as much as possible and I have a BIG RULE on my sets.. no one is allowed to get hurt.

HOWEVER, Rehearse and Coverage are the keys.. got it !
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In Houston you should be able to find all sorts of experienced fighters just dying to get a chance to show their stuff on film.

If you aren't looking for a particular style, then start canvassing MMA gyms to see if you can grab a few actors, or perhaps an instructor as a "stunt coordinator." If you have any martial training that can fill the coordinator roll. Even barring that, a competent Ju Jitsu or Judo coach would get you some good stuff. Heck, you might be able to trade their services for some videos made for their website or facebook page. Double exposure for you.

I think the big problem with many indie fight scenes is that they don't have anyone with any fighting experience coordinating the action. This helps with the believability as well as safety on set.

As far as cinematographically speaking. You have limitless options. I'd try to go as wide as you can for at least a few shots to sell the close/long lens shots you have in mind. Are you looking for something brutally realistic or beautifully choreographed? Streetfight or Kung Fu?

Millions of examples of the latter, for the former check out one of the early fight scenes in Training Day where the newbie rushes off to save the teenage girl from some street thugs. Very good example of a trained solo fighter against untrained drunken thugs.
 
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We found a local gymnastics/parkour team in DFW that came on as stunt guys in our last short. I talked to them about the basics, they came up with the choreography and I tweaked it to what I liked and they nailed it. Everyone of them could take a fall, roll, flip, fake hit etc and they were comfortable signing a zero liability waiver. They were awesome.
 
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I see that I did not specify what type of scene I was looking to do.

The scene will start out with our lead actress ( Catherine ) dressed in her nightgown is being hunted down by our villain, he kicks the front door in terrifying Catherine who is in the back of the house. Catherine in a dream state comes to the villain in submission ( and lingerie ! whoo whoo ! ) after an initial embrace, the villain, joined by two henchmen, start beating her savagely. Suffering the first hit, Catherine has somehow changed back into her nightgown.


Im looking to do a fragmented, jittery surreal scene w/ jump cuts with staggered action going from fast to slow. I feel doing it this way will minimize the need for mats and the like. No crashing thru furniture or flying across the room from hits. Im not even looking to show a lot of direct hits, but use sound to sell it more than anything. Since Im new at filming action, I want to avoid getting in too deep, and also avoid the time to properly choreograph it safely etc...
 
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IndieBudget said:
I see that I did not specify what type of scene I was looking to do.

The scene will start out with our lead actress ( Catherine ) dressed in her nightgown is being hunted down by our villain, he kicks the front door in terrifying Catherine who is in the back of the house. Catherine in a dream state comes to the villain in submission ( and lingerie ! whoo whoo ! ) after an initial embrace, the villain, joined by two henchmen, start beating her savagely. Suffering the first hit, Catherine has somehow changed back into her nightgown.


Im looking to do a fragmented, jittery surreal scene w/ jump cuts with staggered action going from fast to slow. I feel doing it this way will minimize the need for mats and the like. No crashing thru furniture or flying across the room from hits. Im not even looking to show a lot of direct hits, but use sound to sell it more than anything. Since Im new at filming action, I want to avoid getting in too deep, and also avoid the time to properly choreograph it safely etc...
Click to expand...

You have a t2i right? You could do some amazing stuff for a sequence like this with a tilt/shift lens. Look around for a local shop that might have one, or something like Borrowlenses.com It would also let you focus on say her struggling feet, while the shift pulls the action way into soft and semi-distorted land, shadowy blurs wailing down blows on the struggling heroine.

Another one is to show the action in shadows cast by a motivated light source - maybe the bad guys have flashlights that they drop as they attack in force.
 
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YUP T2i ...I love the flashlight idea.. The lens is prolly not an option since Im bad and broke open my piggy bank to make this happen. HOWEVER, I might be able to pull this off using a wide lens and in post play w/ perspective adjustments and masking & BLURS huh ?

Thanxxx !
 
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In my experience, having trained stunt people help. Also rehearse a lot! But in the end, I shot at 24 frames and in FCP I sped it up to 30. This minor change made a major difference.
 
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Rehearsal is a must. I got a role in a prison movie based on my tiny little bit of professional wrestling experience (I guess they assumed I would know how to bump, and I do) for a somewhat complicated fight scene, and the other actor and I really didn't get a lot of time to rehearse. We worked out a basic idea, built it kinda like a pro wrestling match and had to improvise a lot of the rest.

I'd like to think it would have hurt a lot less if we had.

Thankfully the guy who shot it (name escapes me) did a wonderful job.
 
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