Action / Violence Shooting

Jeremy Ordan

Jeremy Ordan

Major Contributor
So I have been storyboarding very specific shots for a violent assault scene for a short that I am doing (essentially to help me learn how to shoot scenes like this). As part of my research I am watching everything I can from great 'fight' or 'beat down' scenes, looking at the angles, lighting (when possible), and camera movements. Like if someone is laying on the ground and I want someone else to kick him, I film the foot coming in towards the person laying and then cutting to more of a reaction shot at actual impact. I'm still struggling with some of the details of how to pull this off (it's more than just a kick) so, I was wondering if anyone had any experience they might be able to share about going about getting the right shots...
 
Good Idea to storyboard how others do it, just remember that is only the finished product. The could have shot twice as many angles, but just left the unusable shots on the (now proverbial) cutting room floor.

I like to shoot one master shot from as many angles as I can get, then go in and get specific foot, punch, knife shots. Don't forget to get ECUs of the actors faces throughout. Their reaction to the punch tells us more than the punch itself.

Also, shoot the fight scene early in the shooting day. Nothing is worse than it taking longer than expected and having to short change a critical scene like that.
 
Check out Ong Bak...ok. don't, because they just actually kicked the crap out of some rugged stunt guys. You could check out my "Fightscenes for Motion pictures" tutorial DVD though. It sounds like you're going about it the right way. study some great fights, then storyboard the heck out of it. Do some experimenting with your talent in rehearsals. i call them moving storyboards, so that you've basically practiced every angle before you do the actual shoot.
 
One of my favorite movies for fight scenes to learn from is "The Warriors". Watch the subway bathroom brawl. SPECTACULAR!
 
Hey, turns out that I have some experience here! You should try to make your camera angles hide the action as much as possible, and the person receiving the hit is more important than the person giving the hit. They receiver really has to sell that he's been hit.

For kicking someone on the ground, what we did was have the person kick the ground right beside the actor, and then the actor pretend like he got hit in the stomach and recoil with the blow. The main thing is to cheat the angles as much as possible so it looks like a real blow on camera, but the actual blow comes no where close to actually hitting the actor.

Safety first!

You can check out a five minute "sneak peek" for the movie I did which has a lot of fights in it at www.backlotrebels.com/Wonderland.htm. Make sure you schedule yourself a LOT of time to do the fights.
 
Hey, thanks for the compliment! You can check it out at the New England Film and Video Festival this weekend if you're in the area. To tell you the truth, I really wasn't sure if people would like the movie or not, so I didn't really plan on selling or making any copies available so.... ummm....... I dunno. Email me at clewis at backlotrebels.com and I'm sure we can work something out.
 
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