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!

Longevity in your Parkour Training

Longevity, responsibility, and sustainability.. Today I’d like to share an inspiring video with you and talk about the importance of sustainable practices in your parkour training.

My example is Beau, the 47 year old freerunner from London, UK. Check out the video that Tim Shieff (Livewire) made for him below..

Beau didn’t start parkour until after turning 40, and over the course of the last 7 years has achieved arguably the best shape of his life. You can tell by his mannerisms and movement through space that he is in it for the long haul. For someone like him, it is paramount to practice intelligently in order to keep his knees undamaged and enjoy unrestricted movement throughout his whole life.

So how is he able to move like that at 47? Beau focuses a lot on ground work in his training, which means when he goes to learn bigger moves, he does so safely with solid muscle memory to fall back on. You can read more about Beau here.

When I lived and taught Parkour back in Scotland, I often trained with the guys from Parkour Generations and Glasgow Parkour. From them, I learned many parkour workout possibilities requiring almost nothing but flat ground..

Rustic B doing a handstand in the middle of a road in Jordanville, NY

If you want to do a certain huge roof gap, why risk your life while training it 6 stories up when you can do it safely on the ground?

Thanks to GPC, the workouts we did with Dundee Parkour started getting more creative..one example is a long set of rails we had to train on. What we came up with was to try and balance in different positions (walk, cat crawl, pistol squat) all the way down the rail. If someone fell off, they had to do 10 pushups and start from the beginning. In this way a simple set of rails became a several hour long workout, with a satisfactory burn of the quads and triceps for days afterwards.

If you can really push your patience with the basics, then you will almost certainly be ready when the time calls for that roof gap, cat leap.

In contrast, I see too many kids destroying and getting ahead of themselves in their training habits today. After watching amazing compilation videos, they are running for the gyms and training spots with a limited view on the discipline..I know, I used to be one of them. These people inevitably jump into trying moves they aren’t ready for.. that’s when training gains become unsustainable, and injuries are bound to happen.

How to cialis properien icks.org relax muscles after a workout? Anytime you stress your muscles during a workout, you create microscopic tears in the muscle fibres.
It’s hard to focus on personal benefits and internal meditation when your mind is blinded by exciting new possibilities, but remember that consistent training and drilling will get you further than bursts of excitement.

Rustic B doing a flashkick, a back flip kick, for an Urban Fist Stunt Team, UrbanFistTV video.

Take Jackie Chan as another example, he is 59 years old and is still going strong! He had a very tough career and has put his body under a lot of stress..but he did it all with longevity in mind. Jackie diligently practices Tai Chi to relax and replenish his body.

If we love parkour, tricking, martial arts, or any sport, we need to remember the importance of maintaining healthy joints, muscles, and tendons. We need to make a conscious effort to take precautions against needless injuries, and put the time into stretching, warming up, centering ourselves, and understanding technique.

Anyway, to sum up my points..
– Take care of your body and you will thank yourself in the future.
– Always center yourself and come back to why you are doing something. This will help you to continue training and to avoid plateaus.
– Realize you don’t need to impress anyone, and small consistent goals will get you further in the long run.
– Always strive to stay consistent in your training.

Until next time,

Rustic B balancing during a parkour workout on a wall outside of the Dundee University Student's Association, DUSA.

– Rustic

Stay Consistent in your Training

The biggest step-up you can give yourself above the competition in any field, is to be consistent in your approach. Today I’d like to briefly share with you the importance and benefits of staying consistent in your training.

Rustic B doing a handstand in New York. An example of staying consistent in your training.

Whether your pursuits are Physical (Working Out, Martial Arts..), Mental (Writing, Drawing..), or Spiritual (Meditation) ..one thing that is paramount in accomplishing your goals, is consistently giving yourself goals that are reasonably achievable and form a clear path to success.

It’s too common for us to start crazy new workout routines and burn ourselves out after a couple of days. Likewise, a fledgling painter might overzealously purchase a bunch of paints and canvases, yet never use them to their full extent.

When I was first teaching myself backflips, they would always be inconsistent. To me that meant gambling every time with how the landing would turn out. Would I ram my knees into the ground, would my ankles suffer, or would I over rotate? Due to fear of being injured, my tricking sessions would be few and far between..and I was stuck in a vicious cycle of bad tricks, due to not training, due to being afraid of bad tricks.

How did I over-come this problem? Instead of looking at training sessions as 2 hour long ordeals, I gave myself a simple goal of doing 5 minutes a day. Not even that..I gave myself the goal of doing at least one back flip per day. I spent the next two weeks training every day, with sessions ranging from 5 minutes to 2-3 hours, depending on how I felt.. and what was the result? I am now able to back flip anywhere, anytime.

Rustic Bodomov doing a backflip on the beach, in Florida

Giving yourself small, achievable goals with room to expand is the key to success. Don’t let yourself get scared of the task ahead of you. Just show up and teach yourself to enjoy!

So to recap, how can we stay consistent with our training? I will give you some examples pertaining to working out, but these can easily be transferred into any other field.
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1) Start now, and change your mind-set to think of everything as a process. Don’t tell yourself “I will start..on Monday”, this gives your mind a psychological break in space-time and a chance to have a last “hurrah” with bad habits..but why not just start today? Remember, it is a LIFE-style choice.

2) Never skip two/three days in a row. You can take rest breaks, but until your self discipline is truly built up enough (a process of months/years), there is always the danger of ‘falling off’.

3) Set up your training with easily manageable time slots. When I must be brief, I think in half-hour slots (10 mins workout, 10 mins stretch, 10 mins shower). If you have more than half an hour, then you can always elaborate.

3) Give yourself achievable goals and set reasonable expectations. We all want to improve fast, but just because you can’t do a set of 15 pull ups today, doesn’t mean that you won’t get there soon. Break up your workout into simple steps. Do 5 pull ups, but stay consistent..

4) K.I.S.S. (Keep It Simple, Stupid!) …just listen to your body, focus on how good your exercise makes you feel, and do what you find works best for you. Enjoy your life, apply some self-discipline for true happiness.

I hope you found this post helpful and I didn’t go off on a tangent..now let’s all stay consistent in what we do!

– Rustic

Pittsburgh’s budding Parkour scene

One visit to almost any district in the city of Pittsburgh, and you will be as convinced as I am; Pittsburgh is an amazing place to learn Parkour & Freerunning.

Parkour training spot in Oakland, near the University of Pittsburgh

Steel City is known around the world for the steel industry that was bustling here in the 20th century. It is also known as the “City of Bridges”, with almost 500 different bridges throughout the area..and some that haven’t even been counted. This industrial background set a precedent for the elaborate, Neo-Gothic influenced architecture we see around the city. Luckily for us traceurs, these spots lend them selves extremely well as training spots for Parkour!

Also, the city provides great backdrops for parkour videos.. (you can find some video examples here)

Pittsburgh's neo-gothic architecture in Oakland

So what is parkour?

Parkour – The art of getting from point A to point B as quickly and as efficiently as possible.

Let’s imagine you’re getting chased, and you are running in a straight line away from your attacker (a logical assumption).. all of a sudden your escape is blocked by rails, walls, drops, etc. What do you do? Do you waste time by going around the obstacle and risk being caught? HECK NO! You gotta use your awesome parkour skills to get over, under, through the obstacles (eg, you gotta parkour that sh*t).

University of Pittsburgh campus parkour spot

Back to Pittsburgh.. A couple of weeks ago I re-visited my home and got a chance to re-connect with the amazing parkour environments of this city! I grew up in Pittsburgh and started learning Parkour at 16. FIrst, I started learning by just jumping over trash cans and the like, until my eyes opened to the possibilities of the unique training spots in this city. I was able to find a spot to train just about anywhere.. from the University of Pittsburgh’s campus in Oakland, to Allegheny Square, Mt Lebanon, any of the CCAC Campuses, and even the Mckees Rocks bottoms.

parkour rooftop spot in oakland, pittsburgh, pa

When my interest was first sparked in the direction of this discipline, I met up with the Pittsburgh-based parkour group, Team Sanjuu (formerly PKFR International). I trained PK with them for about a year, and then left for college in 2008. Back when I left there was only a handful of people trying to learn the fledgling art of parkour.

Today there are many more practitioners in Pittsburgh, and the community is growing every day. Between the University of Pittsburgh’s own Panther Parkour club, Team Sanjuu, and other groups that spring up every day, parkour & freerunning jams and events are being hosted every couple of weeks. These are usually open to all levels of Traceurs (parkour practitioners), and the “real” global parkour community is one of the most welcoming to beginners. Since learning parkour is a lot about self-realization, fellow traceurs share tips and insights openly with each other.

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University of Pittsburgh parkour spot in Oakland

University of Pittsburgh parkour spot in Oakland

If you are in or near Pittsburgh and want to learn parkour and freerunning, I encourage you to just get outside and explore! If you would like some guidance from experienced practitioners, get in touch with one of the groups I linked to above. Or if you prefer to learn on your own, YouTube (and the internet at large) has a lot of good tutorials!

Below are some more pics I snapped of parkour spots in Oakland, near the University of Pittsburgh campus.

University of Pittsburgh parkour spot in Oakland

University of Pittsburgh parkour spot in Oakland

University of Pittsburgh parkour spot in Oakland

University of Pittsburgh parkour spot in Oakland

I will write an in-depth article on Parkour/Freerunning sometime in the future, so stay tuned! For now, perhaps consider liking my facebook page or subscribing to my mailing list in the sidebar?

– Rustic B

ps
Pittsburgh is also a great place to learn Martial Arts Tricking! (Click on the picture to learn how)
The campus green in front of the University of Pittsburgh's cathedral of learning