Directing fight and action scenes....

F

FilmBoy77

Veteran
does anybody have any good tips for directing REALISTIC fight and action scenes?

i'm looking to do a short next month, something real quick for practice, and wanted to know if you all had any advice on filming fight and shootout scenes. i have access to a warehouse and will be using that open space.

dont want my stuff to end up looking like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1eFdUSnaQM
 
I did a short last month where we had a pretty intense fight sequence between two of our characters. Like you, I was hesitant to try it because I hadn't ever done a fight sequence before and unfortunately, they're really easy to do poorly. However, it turned out really, really well and realistic looking - especially when the sound effects were added in post production. The keys to having a good fight sequence, in my experience are as follows:

1. Preparation. Our fight crew spent an entire week choreographing the fight on location before we even brought actors on to do blocking. During this time, safety crew was training the actors to take glancing blows and how to fall realistically without hurting themselves. Special effects was preparing the props that were going to be destroyed on set during the fight - lamps that would be smashed over people's heads, and things of the like. Then, we spent two days going over punch for punch and step for step the blocking with the actors before we even pulled out the camera. We rehearsed it to the point where the actors knew which blows were coming and how fast, so that they could take close but ultimately glancing hits.

2. Coverage. We decided we wanted four main shots to work with that'd make up the majority of the fight scene: medium, super wide, a full, and a handheld medium close up. So we shot these four setups over and over again until we were sure that we had everything we needed, then we did inserts and closeups of the punches, hits, and whatever else we needed.

3. Blocking. For the actors to really make a blow look real, the camera has to be in a position where if the punch is short by 6-12 inches, it still looks like it lands. The thing about faking blows is that you can't fake blows to the face. With rib shots and stomach shots you can put padding inside the actor's clothing so that the blow can land and not hurt he actor - can't be done with the face. So for shots that are focusing on punches to the head or face, you gotta put the cam in a clever spot as to not emphasize the distance which the punch is missing by.

4. Pace. This comes with preparation. Your actors have to know the scene and actions well enough to be able to throw punches full speed and know that their target is going to dodge it. You practice with them slowly, and increase the speed through each practice until you're sure that it will look fast enough to seem real on camera.

Hope that helped out. I wish I could show you my fight scene but the film is going to film festivals so it's not really legit for me to put it online until it clears. Maybe I can put a clip or two up.
 
ya thanks man that was real helpful, if you could put up a short clip or two that'd be great too, if not then it's cool
 
You could shoot it with 20 linked cameras, then in post automate the editing so you just cut from one angle to another ever 15 frames. Then you get noticed and hired by Michael Bay as an editor. :beer:
 
Realistic? In reality 99 per cent of fights are a punch or two and then just grabbing and wrestling. Ever been in a fight yourself? It's not exactly Ali-Foreman. An actual real fight would look boring on the screen. The most realistic fight I've ever seen in a movie was in John Cassavettes "Faces." Two middle-aged guys grabbing each other and gasping for air and not really knowing when the fight was supposed to end. That's reality.
 
kookooframe said:
Realistic? In reality 99 per cent of fights are a punch or two and then just grabbing and wrestling. Ever been in a fight yourself? It's not exactly Ali-Foreman. An actual real fight would look boring on the screen. The most realistic fight I've ever seen in a movie was in John Cassavettes "Faces." Two middle-aged guys grabbing each other and gasping for air and not really knowing when the fight was supposed to end. That's reality.
Click to expand...


Well... "reality" and "realism" are different concepts, you know.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top