- What's up guys?
It's Rustic.
In today's video, I'm gonna be answering
a really great question about working with people on set
and how to get ideas for fight choreography.
As always, I'm a trained industry professional.
Take my advice for entertainment purposes only.
If you do take my advice, you do so at your own risk.
Remember, filming action is fun,
but it can be dangerous, so make sure you stay safe.
So today I'm going to be answering a question.
This is part of the weekly Q and A type of videos
that I'm doing, so, if you guys have any questions
about stunts, or filmmaking, or fitness, that kind of stuff,
make sure and leave them down below.
But anyways, let us jump right into the question.
So, Melvin Achanzar asks, "Hey Rustic!
I have started to work with a YouTuber on fight scenes,
and it's somewhat new for their channel.
I'm new to working with them and so I wanted to know
the best practices for preparing choreography
and camera work beforehand to present to them,
and how to help direct the shoot
without being a total control freak."
Now, Melvin, that's a really great question.
And it's good that you're aware that
when you're working with people
that are new to fight choreography
and you know more about it,
that you can kind of seem like a control freak
and especially when you have a good vision in your head
of how exactly it's gonna work.
I actually have experience of doing this
and being a control freak in the past.
So, great question, and now let's answer it.
So basically, I see it
as, there's a two part answer to your question.
The first part, I wanna say, is that
the more homework you can do beforehand
before the shoot, the better.
If you can design a fight in your head,
you can shoot a Pre-Viz if you have a couple people.
It's just like a really basic example
of what you want, like the reference
of the fight that you wanna shoot.
Or if you don't have those resources,
if you even just like, look at different clips on YouTube
and pull a couple moves from here and there,
and maybe cut it together to a little sizzle thing
where, like, just show like,
two or three things you wanna try.
Setting the groundwork by doing your homework like that
is actually going to help add to your credibility
on set, as well as give you
an actual blueprint to go by on the day
and make everybody feel more involved
and more into the process,
'cause they kind of know where it's going.
So now, the second part to answering your question
actually revolves around on the day
when you're on the set.
I actually got this advice from a couple
of good stunt coordinators and directors
and have seen it work in my own life,
when I was directing stuff or stunt coordinating.
But basically what you wanna do,
is if somebody else is directing, and for example
you're stunt coordinating,
you wanna make it so ideas seem
like they were the other person's.
And let me give you an example really quickly
to illustrate what I mean.
Last week, I was stunt coordinating
a little student project, right?
So they sent me the script and I show up
to set, and I kind of have an idea
of how to shoot this fight scene
that they wrote in the script.
But I made sure that when I got there
in the morning, I went over to the director,
and I talked to him on the side.
I pulled him over, and I said,
"Hey man, how do you see your fight being shot?
Just show me, tell me exactly what's in your mind."
Remember, at this point I already have it in my head
how I think they should shoot it.
But, kind of went through
and just gave them these ideas for shots.
And it was actually pretty close to what I already had.
Because he wrote the script.
But once he went through, I actually asked him
if I could suggest some shots myself
which would make it simpler, like,
there was a couple places
where I could consolidate some shots.
There was another shot I could add
to make it more safe for the performers
because none of them were actual stunt people.
So basically I went through and I gave him my ideas.
He liked those, and that was that.
So, we had the conversation.
We both had the confidence for the day,
and then later, when we got to the fight,
we only had like, a small window of time to shoot.
And they were running behind,
so what happened, was, I just kind of asked him
in front of everybody on the set.
I just kind of was like, "Can I make a suggestion?"
And he was like, "Sure."
And then I basically said, "Remember,
when we were talking earlier, like, we had this idea
for this one shot of the guy getting tackled
out of the frame, which was actually an idea
I had in my head of how to shoot that before.
But I made it seem like it was his,
and I was saying, like, "Let's do that here, right now."
And he was like, "Yeah, great idea, good job."
So, to make a long story short,
to answer your question is, when you're working
with creative people, it is always good
to build up the people around you
and make it seem like things were their idea.
And so to wrap up your question, man,
do your homework.
Do as much preparation as you can.
If the director doesn't really care about the fight scene
if, even if you can just write out a couple of beats
that would help you on the day,
that would help you pitch it to the director.
If you can get a PREVIS done, that's a great.
If you can get a couple of clips,
just to kind of show a reference, that's great.
And on the day, remember, you gotta work with people
and make things seem like it's their idea
and if you have an idea for a shot,
just, just be nice about it, just be like, "Hey."
First hear them out, and then just be like,
"Can I make a suggestion".
And people are usually open, because that's where
we're all deemed creatives and working together.
(breathes out loudly)
So that was a really long answer to a very good question,
so hopefully you got what you needed from this.
Hopefully you guys watching learned something as well.
If you wanna see more fight scene tutorials
and different tutorials, make sure
to check out the playlist below.
If you enjoyed this video, pass it onto a friend.
If you wanna see more videos like this, smash subscribe.
(mumbles), stay safe.
Thanks for watching, and I'll see you on the next video.
(intense techno music)