Build Plans: How to plan a fight scene

POSTED BY Erik Beck, 03 September 2007

How to plan a fight scene

Hey, everyone, and welcome to the technical blog for Episode #17 (Kung Fu). I had the honor of working with Justin and John from Westhavenbrook on this one. This will be a very short technically blog considering we didn't actually build anything. I will try my best to write down and organize the wisdom John and Justin bestowed on me. Send in your butt kicking videos and remember you can submit your project ideas here!

Shopping List (what you'll need)

1. Some friends.
   (Preferably in good shape and able to flips.)
   
   
2. Prop weapons (optional).
   (Believe it or not the night sticks in our test film were real, DO NOT try that at home.)
   
   
3. A safe place to "fight".
   (Backyards are great, but big open fields are even better.)
   
   
4. Plenty of water.
   (Don't mess around with this, if you're outside shooting a fight scene BRING WATER!)
   
   
5. Loose or stretch clothing.
   (Doing high kicks in tight jeans can be a real pain...literally.)
   
   

The plan

The difference between having a successful fight scene instead of 5 minutes of unwatchable crap is a PLAN. Know where your fights is going to start and where it is going to end. Plan out the moves and storyboard if you can. At the very least have a shot list.

Example: "Erik is running at John, who looks bored and unimpressed. Erik throws a right cross at John who dodges it and punches Erik in the ribs with his left hand. Erik doubles over in pain, then spins around and tries to backhand John in the face, but John blocks it."

Obviously, you can simplify this even more. As long as you have some kind of road map to where the fight is going.

The structure

So you're sitting down to plan you fight scene, but need some pointers on what type of moves you should use and in what order. Well, John explained to me that the fight should progress like a story. Be very observant of pacing. Have a beginning, middle and end. Save your coolest moves for the end.

The shoot

Now that you have a plan, some friends and water, it's time to shoot. Shoot it in chronological order and from lots of different angles. We seriously only had a few moves per camera angle. This will assure your finished product is not boring to watch, and require you to only memorize a few moves at a time. Actions scenes are all about movement of combatants and movement of camera. Justin had a great saying, "Have the camera be a third person in the fight". While your actors are practicing the moves have your camera person moving all around, trying different angles and movements. In a way the camera person needs to have there own choreography.

The timing

Out of all the things I learned from John and Justin, I found the counting method the most interesting. So your fight is already broken down to 2-5 moves per camera angle. Assign a number to each move. The director/camera person calls the numbers out and the actors perform each move at that specific beat. This helps the camera person time his movements to the fighters and helps remind the fighters of their moves.

Editing and sound FX

Since you already have this whole scene mapped out on paper or storyboards editing it should be easy right? Maybe not, but just remember that a successful fight scene is just like a successful "anything" scene. It has to have good pacing and substance. The last thing you're going to add in post production is your sound fx. Sound is always important, but IMMENSELY important in a fight scene. Soundtrack Pro and most other sound editors will have a decent library of punching and fights fx's. You can find some free sound fx at The Freesound Project and SpinXpress. Or you can just make your own. Try smacking different things together in front of you camcorders microphone. Maybe that perfect punching sound fx is nothing more then you smacking a cold steak with big wooden spoon. EXPERIMENT!

Conclusion

Just have fun and be careful. The guys from Westhavenbrook are totally self taught. You and your friends don't have to be black belts to make a cool fight scene.



Check out this build in action, from Episode 17 of Backyard FX