Fight Scenes: How to make a Short Film with Stunts

Hey guys! As you all know, I’ve been getting really busy with my stuntman career over the last couple of years, as well as teaching How to do Stunts on my YouTube channel, which has been growing exponentially.. hence the lack of blog posts. But I recently had a Film School student send me a series of questions about fight scenes for some research she was doing, and I would like to share my response with you!
Rustic Bodomov playing a samurai with armor made out of books for a music video.
Book Samurai on a Music Video
Below is my brief email interview with this Film Student, as I answer questions regarding all aspects of Stunts and how it pertains to a short film she is planning on filming.. Enjoy!
——
State your name, age, profession and years of experience.
I’m Rustic Bodomov, 26 years old, Hollywood Stuntman and Stunt Coordinator with 7 years experience in the industry. My physical training background started with Taekwondo at 7 yrs old, and Judo at 12 yrs old.
 
What are the important skills required for performing fight scenes?
The most important skills are air awareness, body conditioning, knowing how to fall, and the ability to learn new skills quickly. The skills and conditioning levels required take years to master.
 
What are the risks of being a stunt performer?
Stunt Performers risk serious injury, and even death.
 
Are there any differences when conducting stunts such as car crashes, falls from great height, explosion and fighting?
Yes, those stunts are all different. They all require good body awareness, but each one uses different skills and equipment.
– Car Crashes require knowledge of your whole vehicle and years of training, as well as specialized seat belts, helmets, roll cages, and pads..
– Falling from heights requires EXCELLENT AIR AWARENESS and specialized Air Bags and landing equipment..
– Explosions require highly skilled pyrotechnics technicians, stunt riggers, and safety people. The performer must have a good sense of timing, and a special awareness of everything in the moment in order to make adjustments..
– Fight Scenes have a whole other set of skills which require full control over your body, the ability to learn and perform fight choreography quickly and safely, and the ability to work with any partner effectively (whether it’s a seasoned stunt performer, or a brand new actor) to make a fight scene look good.
 
PRE-PRODUCTION:
1) Rustic, I will make an action short film next year for this research study. Can I conduct my own stunts in a short period of time? If yes, what do I need to prepare for my film production?
It depends what kind of stunt you are talking about. If you are doing a simple fall onto a crash pad that is out of frame, or doing a simple fight scene, you can definitely learn it in a short amount of time. In this case, I would recommend watching my tutorials on Youtube on how to learn basic stunts…. if you are planning on having bigger stunts like Car Crashes, Car Chases, Falls to the Ground, etc, I would recommend you hire a professional Stunt Coordinator to help you out. When working on a low budget, you still might be able to find people in your area who are starting out, who will work with you to build their resume.
 
2) How to direct fight scenes with my team?
You need to start with your script, and design your fight scene choreography based on several factors. Take into account how your characters move, what your location will look like, if they have any props or weapons… and most importantly, if you’re working with actors on a  low budget, pay attention to what your actors can actually do! Don’t design anything for them that they will look awkward doing. Again, I would recommend getting a stunt coordinator or fight choreographer involved as early on as you can, and they will help you out immensely.. (I have several tutorials about how to perform fight choreography, but I will make another one on design soon.)
 
3) What kind of equipment is suitable for filming fight scenes and stunt movement?
You can film on anything, as long as you understand how to set up your framing, where to hide pads, and how it will edit together.
 
4) How do I apply camera movement in fight scenes and how does it relate to fight choreography?

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Watch my tutorial on Camera Tips (episode 2), but if you’re asking how to do camera “shake”.. you need to imagine your camera is someone who is actually watching the fight, and trying to follow it from the inside. Try to keep the action (your stunt hits and reactions) in the center of the frame, while adding a little camera movement in the direction of the impacts and fight choreography… don’t shake, but float with the fight.
 
CASTING:
1) How to stage the cast or stunt performers in fight scenes?
Make sure your actors are adjusted differently for every new angle that you film. The “stacking” will work differently depending on where you’re seeing the choreography from. A general rule is to keep at leas 6 inches of space between someone’s attack and the other person’s reaction.
 
2) What if the cast doesn’t know about performing stunt choreography? Would they need special training from a stunt coordinator, and how long would that take ?
If your actors don’t know anything about fight choreography, I would DEFINITELY take them somewhere to train. The more they can prepare, the better.. the most important thing is for them to look like they’re actually comfortable throwing punches and taking reactions. If you have a qualified fight coordinator training your cast, you can expect your actors to have the basics down within 3-4 training sessions… but if you need a complicated fight scene, they would likely need 3-4 weeks.
 
3) Who casts the Stunt Doubles for Actors? How?
The Stunt Coordinator and is in charge of picking the Stunt Double. Once you know who your Actor is, the stunt coordinator looks through his network of stunt performers, and picks someone with the same Height/Weight, and body build. Then the stunt coordinator sends that stunt performer’s info to Production to be confirmed.
 
4) Are a Stunt Performer’s training background and physical fitness important? Why ? How ?
– YES, as a stuntman it is very important to have a background in what you’re doing. If you have someone who has trained in Martial Arts, they will look better in a Martial Arts style fight scene, than someone who doesn’t. If you need someone to do a chase on a motorcycle, you want to hire someone who has raced motorcycles.
– Physical Fitness for stunt performers is also VERY important. Professional stuntmen and stunt-women go to the gym, and train their bodies every day for years, in order to be able to perform stunts over and over without hurting themselves, and be safe to go to work the next day.
 
5) Is the staging of your cast, and the application of camera movement in stunt choreography related to each other?
YES! And a good stunt coordinator will help you choose the best angles for your action.
– In Fight Scenes, the body placement and footwork of your actors, the fight choreography, and the camera movement all need to work together to get the best angles.
– In other Stunts, such as High Falls, Car Hits, and any other impact. Camera placement ALWAYS works in tandem with your stunt performers to make the action look best.

 

POST-PRODUCTION:
1) How do I edit fight scenes in post-production?
This is a complicated question, that I will be answering in my next couple of editing tutorials (I am planning 4 of them). But the quick answer is.. you have to do it at least 5-10 times to get the hang of it… so go shoot some practice fights, and start learning!
——-
Rustic B dressed as a character from Assassin's Creed, doing a wallflip.
Wallflip for a Rap Battle I did as Assassin’s Creed
Let me know if you guys enjoyed this type of article and would like to see more!
Feel free to email me at rusticbfights@gmail.com if you have questions or feedback!

Stunt Reel 2017 – Rustic Bodomov

A stunt reel is something Stunt performers use in order to showcase their work to Stunt Coordinators and Producers who may be looking to hire them. We gather our work together from past footage, and spread it around our networks. A common running time for a stunt reel is around 1 minute. This lets us showcase our movement and talent abilities without boring the viewer, as casting directors and stunt coordinators often don’t have too much time on their hands when looking to hire people.

As an example, here is my current stunt reel:

Along with a stunt reel, a stuntman needs to also have a good headshot and stunt resume. With these tools, we go “hustle” sets and introduce ourselves to the stunt coordinator. The key to a good hustle is to show up looking professional, have your resume handy, and don’t hang around too much. Just be professional, get in, say hi, and get out.

Stunts is a dangerous job which must be done safely for both the people doing the job, and the production insurance. This produces a tightly knit group of professionals who rely on knowing each other’s strengths to get the job done. The stunt community is therefore a hard shell to crack for anyone first starting out, as you have the catch-22 situation of wanting to gain trust by working jobs, but not being able to work jobs until people trust you. This is where having a good reel and a good personality comes in.

If you are a person who wants to get into stunts, be prepared to do A LOT of networking. There are stunt networking events and parties you will find out about once you start meeting people and asking questions. Bring your best self, and BE HONEST. You don’t want to fake your way into a job that you can’t physically do.

If you are a filmmaker who wants to find a good stunt performer / coordinator ask around your friends first, then be prepared to do some of your own searching. Stunt Reels are also a good way to find coordinators, as many stunt performers (after about 5 years experience) will start having coordinator credits show up on their IMDB and resumes. Hiring a stunt coordinator is the safest move when you are planning any sort of action in your project, as they will be able to provide the knowledge and equipment for everything to go smooth and safely. Also, a stunt coordinator may be able to help you out with how to film your action.

And with this I want to say thanks for reading, and feel free to send me any questions by email or a comment on my youtube videos! I just started releasing an action filmmaking tutorial series, which will focus on everything stunt related. We are currently teaching how to film a fight scene

I’m very happy with how this year’s stunt reel turned out, and I’m looking forward to the work I have ahead of me in 2017!

This year my stunt reel has footage from:
– Grimm (TV show)
– Smosh: The Movie (movie)
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– Mighty Med (TV Show)
– Six Gun Savior (movie)
– Six Feet Down Under (webseries)
– Primal (video)
– Dark Agent (video)
– Pokemon Go vs Street Fighter (video)
– Parkour Pacman (video)
– Levi’s Jeans (spec commercial)
– Madden 2016 (promo)

Here is my IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm4493407/

If you’re new to my site, I am a Los Angeles based stuntman, and I specialize in fight choreography, parkour, wirework, wrecking, judo, taekwondo, and martial arts tricking. Watch my stunt reel below and leave me some love on my main focus, youtube!

Thanks for watching, and watch out for more videos to come soon! 😉

Rustic Bodomov stunt reel 2017

My 10 year YouTube Anniversary!

HEY GUYS!

January 22nd was my 10 YEAR youtube anniversary! That is amazing…

Granted, I haven’t been working on the same channel the whole time, I skipped around quite a bit before I decided to focus on “Rustic B” 2 years ago.. but this means I’ve been making videos for 10 years! Wow…

Rustic B celebrates his 10 year youtube anniversary

What follows is a summary of my Youtube Journey.. 🙂

It all started with “kellock71” (my current channel). One of my first videos, before I had a video camera, was a stop motion project called Origami Rave: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rkoS2V-aNag

After playing around for a while, I started teaching myself Parkour (in order to make what I thought were “cooler” youtube videos), and I made friends! I got some people together from an online Martial Arts Tricking forum and we started a “tricking team” (which didn’t get too far..) but we had a showreel! https://www.youtube.com/user/TeamKouro

Then I moved to Scotland for college, and started a Parkour team over there, where I taught classes twice a week for 3 years. We had Parkour meetups from all over the country, and were featured in some newspapers..I made a TON of friends and learned a lot about filmmaking. Here’s a channel I ran to document everyone’s progress, and our Parkour Jams: http://youtube.com/dundeepk

As I progressed in my filmmaking, I started wanting to play around with Action and Comedy skits.. so my friends Andrew Keiller, Sam Lewis and I created Kouro Media! (note the name similarity from “Team Kouro” above.. Kouro means “the way” in japanese). This channel got subscribed by Ubisoft when we made a parody webseries about “assassins creed”, and it was a pleasant creatively experimental space for all of us: http://youtube.com/kouromedia

Pokemon Go vs Street Fighter fight scene with Rustic B and Darren Holmquist

Kouro Media got me to start doing action and fight scenes, and I soon stumbled onto Eric Jacobus’ stunt people forums.. where I got inspired to move to Los Angeles to pursue stunts as a career. I made the move in May 2011, and quickly met a group of guys who were in a small stunt team. We started hanging out and training, and I quickly created a YouTube channel for us, where I was putting showreels, training days, and fight scenes. Urban Fist TV: http://youtube.com/urbanfisttv

Over the next couple of years, my focus shifted away from youtube and onto my stunt career. I learned a lot, and collected footage from training and working. During this time I was putting up showreels on what is now “Rustic B”, and I also made a second channel with my full name, to show my parkour/martial arts progress.. that’s right here: https://www.youtube.com/user/darustic

I then worked for a while as an editor for my friend Brady Romberg, and I started the channel “Action Academy” for him. I filmed/edited a couple featurettes with Johnny Nitro (of WWE fame), which helped raise money for a feature film we produced 🙂 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JQyMGGRNAc
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At the end of 2014 I worked for my friend Shawn Crowder on SMOSH: The Movie, and got inspired to get back into youtube. Youtube has been my passion, and i realized it was the driving force behind what I was doing for the 7 years prior.. so I went back to my smallest channel, kellock71, and I renamed it with my abbreviated name “Rustic B”. I am still contemplating changing the name to something more easily remembered (open to ideas).. but I am very happy to say that this channel is here to stay 🙂

Rustic B (note the URL): http://youtube.com/kellock71

Rustic B celebrates his 10 year youtube anniversary

In 2017 I am aiming to create one video per week, and I want to grow both as a skilled creator, and as an influencer. I am SO grateful for all of the wonderful people I got to collaborate with last year, and to everyone who has been helping me on my journey.

THANK YOU for watching and sharing my content. Thank you for your motivation and helping me learn. THANK YOU and LET’S CONTINUE TO GROW!

Here’s to another 10 years!

– Rustic

<3 <3 <3 Here’s my other current Social Media:
Instagram: http://instagram.com/RusticB
Twitter: http://twitter.com/rusticb
Facebook Page: http://fb.com/RusticB
Have a wonderful day everyone!

Real Life Mario Kart 64 in Stop Motion!

We just made a Real Life Mario Kart 64 video! This is a sequel to the first Stop Motion Mario Kart that we did almost 2 years ago, but this time we included more items and effects!

Check it out below:

We had a ton of fun making this real life mario kart video.. Kyle (stop motion camera) and I scouted the location for this Mario Kart race a couple of months ago. Then, I wrote up a simple shot list with ideas for items I wanted to include, and set the project on the shelf… with the new year approaching though, I got inspired and assembled the troops for the shoot!

Real Life Stop Motion Mario Kart power up boxes, green shell, and a banana. Nintendo 64 style video items!

The filming of Stop Motion Mario Kart took 6 hours total. The editing process (adding sound effects, visual effects, colors, music) took me 2 days. That’s an improvement from the first video (below), which took me 3 days to edit!

BTW if you’re curious, check out the first Stop Motion Mario Kart that we did a while ago, which inspired this one! (You can read an article about the first one here..)

I was happy that I finally got to include pixelated looking item boxes, green shell, and a banana! I made these video game items myself, when I got inspired to schedule the video shoot. Nintendo 64 was my favorite console, and I wanted the items to have that Mario Kart 64 retro feeling..
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The Star Power effects was achieved by changing shirts every two frames. I had the idea to do this effect on the first Stop Motion Mario Kart video, and I was happy to finally try it out on this one 🙂

Real Life Mario Kart. Rustic B and Shay Gibson race in this stop motion mario kart race with power up boxes, green shell, and a banana. Nintendo 64 style video items in real life mario kart!

HUGE thanks goes out to my friend, actor Shay Gibson, for racing me in this whacky real life Mario Kart 64 race. This was Shay’s first ever stop motion video, and I think he did a fantastic job! Check out his instagram @shaytgibson

My friend Tim Neff (Nash from our Street Fighter Video) came out on the day to help out also, along with my wonderful girlfriend Mary Vincenti!! Thank you for your help guys, we couldn’t have achieved this without you!

2017 is going to be an amazing year, I can feel it. I’m committing to uploading a new video every week this year, and putting in some consistent work, and I am already seeing the positive patterns starting to unfold. What video do you guys want to see next?

Thanks for watching Stop Motion Mario Kart, leave us a comment on the video, share if you feel like it, and see you on the next one!

– Rustic