Lesson Notes

In this lesson we’re going to learn all about How to Shoot a Fight Scene, from start to finish. And we’re going to take you with us as we do just that for our short, Special Effects project, called Clocked.

Make Sure Your Actors Know the Choreography

This is vital. If your actors are not completely knowledgeable with your Fight Scene Choreography, you’re in for a very long and frustrating day of shooting. So, make sure you actors know the choreography like it’s second nature to them. Have them go through it a few times while you’re setting up your cameras and lights.

Shooting in Sections

Just like we learned our fight choreography in sections, we also want to shoot our scene in sections. Choose the first scene you want to shoot and have your actors go through it 4 to 5 times while you move around with your camera and get shots from all different angles. Remember, not all angles work for every single punch so you’ll need to get quite a few. But don’t wear your actors out in the process. Limit your takes to no more than 5.

Properly chosen angles are a MUST for shooting. You MUST (in all caps) get good angles. But since this is so very important, we have an entire lesson on how to film proper angles for your fight scene.

Make Sure Your Actors Are Safe

Make sure your actors are safe. Remember, your actors are throwing punches at each other, so there’s always a chance someone will get punched. Accidentally, of course. So be very careful.

Don’t Forget to Capture Audio

Be sure to capture audio. Now, you don’t want to capture them grunting and making sounds. You will be adding all of that later. Why? Because you’ll need to be able to coach them on how you want the grunts to sound. So they need to be silent during the fight. All you want to capture is footsteps, clothing sounds, etc.

Even though there will be music in the background, your viewer’s brain expects to hear some sound effects during the fight (grunts, rustling of clothes, footsteps, punches, etc.). So be sure to capture as much of that as you can on the field. But if you need more, we’ll be showing you how to add additional sound effects in another video lesson.

Summary

So the biggest thing you’ll need to know is: (1) stay safe, (2) take breaks when you need to, and (3) have fun.

Next Step Challenge

Now for the fun part. You’ve already choreographed your fight scene in the last lesson, so go out and shoot what you’ve practiced. Make it just like your storyboard.

Or, take your favorite fight scene from your favorite movie and try to recreate a section of that scene. See what you can do and practice until you feel really good about filming a fight scene.

Once you’ve filmed your fight scene for your own short film, then upload it to YouTube and post a link on the Tomorrow’s Filmmaker’s Community so we all can see your work.