Staging
and Shooting a Fight Scene
Peter D. Marshall
Almost every film today has some sort of
obligatory fight scene between the good guy and the bad guy.
In this issue, I will share some tips on how to stage and shoot
a simple fight scene between two actors.
SCENE: Goodguy enters a dark room and looks
around. Badguy steps out from the shadows behind Goodguy and
points a gun at him. Goodguy stops and raises his hands - he
does not turn around. Badguy walks up to Goodguy and shoves the
gun in his back. They talk. Goodguy turns around quickly and
knocks the gun from Badguy's hand. They fight it out and after
a few punches, Goodguy wins and walks out the door.
1) Prep - make sure you have a meeting
with the Stunt Co-ordinator about the fight scene. You should
give him as many details about the fight as you can so he can
go away and work out some moves for you.
2) Shoot the beginning of the scene first
-following the block/light/rehearse/shoot scenario, you block
and shoot everything up to the fight first.
3) Blocking the fight - on the set, the
two actors, two stunt doubles and the Stunt Co-ordinator block
out the fight sequence with everyone watching. You then discuss
the first shot with the DOP and rehearse that specific shot with
the actors and/or doubles. Once this has been done, the DOP will
light the shot while the Stunt Co-ordinator takes the actors
and stunt doubles off set and practises the fight.
4) Off Set Rehearsal - the Stunt Co-ordinator
practices the fight scene with the actors and the doubles. You
should watch this rehearsal process for specific camera angles
and make comments
regarding action and movement.
5) On Set Rehearsal - The Stunt Co-ordinator
shows the crew the fight sequence with the stunt doubles and
the actors. He then sets up the first part of the fight and you
rehearse that with the camera.
6) Shooting - you shoot the first part
of the fight and continue through the process until the fight
is done. You then shoot the ending of the sequence where Goodguy
walks out the door.
SHOOTING TIPS - Here are a few tips on
shooting a stylistic fight sequence using the least amount of
set-ups. (I will use the 35mm aspect ratio for reference):
Tip One: shoot two takes of every set-up and just change the
lens size and speed of both cameras for each take. This means
you can shoot each set-up twice (assuming no technical problems)
and give your editor 4 different angles to choose from - without
moving the cameras! This technique is a good way of shooting
a well covered action scene with only a few takes and without
spending a lot of time.
a) use 2 cameras for each shot
b) For Take 1, Camera A can have a 25mm
lens (wide) at 24fps. Camera B can have a 75mm lens (tighter)
at 40fps
c) for Take 2, reverse lens size and speeds
on each camera. (You don't have to move the cameras.) So, Camera
A is 75mm at 40fps while Camera B is 25mm at 24fps
Tip Two: try and shoot from at least three
different positions for your fight using 2 cameras. That could
be as simple as two over-shoulders and a 2 shot. By using the
techniques in Tip One, you will have at least 12 different angles,
lens sizes and camera speeds to choose from!
Tip Three: punches look the best from over-shoulder
shots (OS). Make sure you always shoot "overs " with
your 2 cameras.
Tip Four: If you have two cameras, you
should also have two monitors to watch. For Take 1, you should
watch one monitor and have someone else (DOP, AD, Stunt Co-ord)
watch the other monitor. After you cut, you discuss each shot.
If the shot worked, you switch monitors. This gives you a good
look at both shots since action is, by its nature, very fast
and you may miss something if you try and look at both monitors
at the same time.
Tip Five: slow motion creates an action
sequence that has the qualities of a ballet (re: John Woo). As
long as you have the exposure to shoot slow motion, shoot slo-mo
on the set with your cameras. You can also shoot normal speed
on the set and slow down the shots in the editing room but there
is a different quality of the picture when you do this. (it has
a certain "ghosty" look to it.) I usually have the
camera with the longest lens (closer) shoot slo-mo.
Tip Six: Once the camera rolls, everyone's
adrenaline pumps up and a actor may be afraid of hitting the
other actor or of hurting themselves. One way to solve this is
to use the Actor/Double stunt system when shooting a fight. Say
you have an OS shot of Goodguy as he punches Badguy. What you
do is shoot the two actors first then switch Goodguy (he has
his back to the camera) with his stunt double:
a) first: shoot Goodguy-Actor OS as he
fights Badguy-Actor Then switch Goodguy-Actor with Goodguy-Stunt:
b) second: shoot Goodguy-Stunt OS as he
fights Badguy-Actor
When your turn around for the reverses,
you repeat the process:
a) first: shoot Badguy-Actor OS as he fights
Goodguy-Actor Switch Badguy-Actor with Badguy-Stunt:
b) second: shoot Badguy-Stunt OS as he
fights Goodguy-Actor
You can see how this process works by looking
at the end fight scene in "Bird on a Wire" between
Mel Gibson and David Carradine when they were swinging on the
ropes in the zoo. We had each actor fight each other then we
did the switch with the doubles. This worked very well here because
the actors were also attached to ropes so they had a lot on their
minds.
| If
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