Fight Scenes for Motion Pictures (2003)

This instructional presents all the basics of crafting a good screen fight from training and planning to shooting your finished fight scene.

Fight Scenes for Motion Pictures is a fantastic little instructional that takes the viewer through the basic steps in making a successful fight scene for movies with clear and simple explanations. This video is highly recommended for anyone including filmmakers, actors and amateur film hobbyists who are unfamiliar with professional screen fighting, but want to learn.

Fight Scenes is the creation of Patrick Kerby, a professional Jib operator and independent filmmaker, who with his brother Kelly formed Kerby Brothers Productions in 1984. Over the years, Pat has learned many of the tricks of the trade including action choreography through shooting commercials, industrial videotapes and low budget action films in the Las Vegas area.

Hosted by Nevada’s Construction Zone editor Joe Wheeler, Fight Scenes begins with pre-fight preparation including the important need for basic padding and stretching. With stunt actors Joe Wilkerson and Jake Bass providing active demonstration, Joe offers recommendations for pre-fight training that includes a control-building tool known as an “Air Target” that anyone could set up.

Next up, the program describes basic physical techniques used by stunt actors to create the illusion of beating each other up. Specific fighting styles or martial arts techniques are not covered and could be considered advanced techniques. What is covered is basic prop use, how to safely react to a hit, and how to deliver a blow that appears to hit from the camera’s vantage, also known as the “impact line.” The need for correct technique is stressed, particularly in taking a fall.

The next section shows how to make use of cameras, editing and sound effects to give fights added impact. A number of tricks are revealed including the use of “inserts,” a technique of inserting snippets of camera shots from different angles or close-ups into a wider shot. Inserts are described as being the best method for getting the perfect shots with the least potential for anyone getting hurt. This technique is widely used in professional filmmaking today, even to excess, which is in sharp contrast to the long takes used in old school kung fu movies.

Pat closes the instructional by putting all of these elements together for a completed fight scene. Leading up to it, he goes through each of the steps including storyboarding and choreographing. The star of the piece is a stunt actor named Korey Fackler who displays some incredible acrobatic and martial arts abilities. After showing the stunt actors rehearsing some of the moves, the viewer gets to see the finished product, complete with dramatic lighting, costumes and music. However, the environment of a stagy indoor lot with floor mats remains the same. The scene is impressive enough and all the more so considering that it was conceived, rehearsed and shot all in a day. The point here is that with proper planning and physically-capable stunt actors, it isn’t too hard to put together an adequate fight scene. For perspective, some of the very best fight scenes ever shot in Hong Kong could often take months to complete, particularly with the films of Lau Kar-leung or Jackie Chan.

For feature film examples of the techniques explained, the instructional relies on scenes from some of Kerby Brothers’ old, low budget movies. Some of the stunt work they have pulled off in these films is amazing, but most of it is related to pyrotechnics and vehicular stunts. The fight choreography in the actual instructional is far superior to anything shown in the film clips. Unfortunately, there are also no examples from any recognizable films from Hollywood or Hong Kong.

Pat Kerby may not have any blockbuster action film credits on his resume, but it’s just as well for he sticks to the rudiments that anyone interested in action filmmaking should learn before moving on to advanced techniques used in major studio productions. With Fight Scenes for Motion Pictures, anyone with at least a video camera and a couple of friends could begin choreographing and shooting their own fight scenes that look convincing and remain safe for everyone involved.