The Stunt People on Discovery’s ‘Time Warp’

This week, Eric Jacobus and Ray Carbonel, both leading members of Southern California-based screen fighting and stunt team The Stunt People, will be featured on The Discovery Channel’s science of motion series, TIME WARP.

Back in October, the pair flew to Boston to shoot for an episode entitled “Stuntmen” where cameras designed for high-speed cinematography captured them performing some of their Hong Kong-styled stunt moves.

The idea behind the series which premiered back in October is to showcase the science and beauty behind motion by analyzing high-speed photography that slows down the action. It’s the opposite of undercranking, whereby feature filmmakers often slow down the capture rate of cameras in order to speed up carefully orchestrated fight and stunt sequences.

The series has already shown the body in motion while performing free running, as seen in films like DISTRICT B13 (2004) and CASINO ROYALE (2006). A clip is available on Discovery Channel’s official site.

High-speed photography has become something of a trend of late with various amateur digital video and photos appearing online now that gains in camera technology has driven costs down. I’m not sure what the widespread appeal is for an entire series on the science of high-speed photography but it used to dazzle me when I first saw apples getting blasted apart on PBS programs like NOVA many years ago. It certainly beats crap like THE BACHELOR.

Jacobus and Carbonel can currently be seen in their feature-film debut, a low-budget and self-produced indie actioner titled CONTOUR (available at HKFlix.com). They’ve also starred in DOGS OF CHINATOWN, their second indie feature which is finished but currently awaiting distribution.

The “Stuntmen” episode of TIME WARP is scheduled to premiere on Wednesday, December 10th at 8pm on the Discovery Channel. It will rebroadcast on Dec. 11th at 12am, Dec. 14th at 9am, and Dec. 21st at 1pm.

Tags: Eric Jacobus, The Stunt People