Hit in face with shovel

[stinkpot]

Does anyone know of a good online resource for stunts? I need to figure out a convincing way to have one character clobber another character in the face/head with a long handled shovel at full swing.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

:beer:

 

[Kholi]

Creative Cutting and Blocking. You can go old-school and mask the shovel hit by placing the camera behind the shovel so that you can't see it actually hitting. The rest is up to sound and acting, the latter being the most important part of selling the attack.

Frame Composition plays heavy on selling attacks, as well. Especially brutal ones such as hitting someone in the cranium with a gardening tool.

Another way to accomplish this, if you want to get visceral, is compositing: you would wrap a log or something in green material, grab your clean plate, grab the footage of your attacker swinging the shovel and hitting the log-with-chroma-paint on it, then take the log out and place your "victim" in it's place and have him react.

Sew them all together.

 

[stinkpot]

Thanks Kholi. I think creative blocking is the way I'd like to go. Do you know of any resources that show examples, etc. ?

 

[Kholi]

I think EVIL DEAD has some of this in it. Check that movie out. I'll try to remember other movies.

What you want to do is really "force" the perspective. If you stand behind a friend at a distance, have another friend face him but at more than arm's length away you can't really tell that they're too far away to hit each other. You can sell a hit like this so long as the actions and reactions are timed well and "emoted" well.

The rest is up to sound and cutting.

 

[clang]

or a rubber shovel?

but yes, so long as you can block your shots appropriately, you can fake the whole thing with no real impacts at all. I just watched the making of Sin City, and actors were 'hitting' each other with sledgehammers when in fact they weren't even on stage at the same time.

 

[Hunter Hampton]

You could also run the camera at something like 20 fps, It would give it more of an edge when you see it played back at normal speed. (This will also help your talent from not hurting them selfs or each other as they can swing the shovel and react at a controlled speed)

 

[RobinFrank]

take a look at the film "Irreversible" (If you can stand the gruseome violence). There is a scene at the beginning where one character bashes another character's head in with a fire extinguisher. What they did was, use a painted mask while the actor was actually bashing in the face and then superimposed the other actors head onto it later. It might sound tricky, but really, if done carefully, it can look more than realistic. And post editing effects like that are not as hard as they may seem.

 

[stinkpot]

I think EVIL DEAD has some of this in it. Check that movie out. I'll try to remember other movies.

What you want to do is really "force" the perspective. If you stand behind a friend at a distance, have another friend face him but at more than arm's length away you can't really tell that they're too far away to hit each other. You can sell a hit like this so long as the actions and reactions are timed well and "emoted" well.

The rest is up to sound and cutting.

I was thinking this is what I would like to try (will test it first of course). Will using a longer lens help them appear closer?

or a rubber shovel?

but yes, so long as you can block your shots appropriately, you can fake the whole thing with no real impacts at all. I just watched the making of Sin City, and actors were 'hitting' each other with sledgehammers when in fact they weren't even on stage at the same time.

If I use a static shot I may be able to do something like this with masking, etc. A rubber shovel would get a more realistic reaction though.

You could also run the camera at something like 20 fps, It would give it more of an edge when you see it played back at normal speed. (This will also help your talent from not hurting them selfs or each other as they can swing the shovel and react at a controlled speed)

I am considering ramping up the frame rate in post just for the swing and hit for an enhancing effect so I can combine this with the proper blocking and I may be in business.

take a look at the film "Irreversible" (If you can stand the gruseome violence). There is a scene at the beginning where one character bashes another character's head in with a fire extinguisher. What they did was, use a painted mask while the actor was actually bashing in the face and then superimposed the other actors head onto it later. It might sound tricky, but really, if done carefully, it can look more than realistic. And post editing effects like that are not as hard as they may seem.

I can stand and do like gruesome... but my particular scene will be quick with minimal blood shed. I will put that flick on my list though.


Thanks all.

:beer: