Filming fight scenes

[Linda Barzini]

Does anyone film fight scenes at 22 fps or less for a 24 fps timeline to get a little speedier action pop in post? The director is looking for the Asian style. He defines it as more long takes with wide to mid shots, instead of the American quick cuts/chaos style.

I think a 25mm or 35mm lens on a Steadicam would be good at 6-10' with a dof of 2 to 6' for manageable focus. Any other tricks to make a fight scene look dramatic?

 

[Nick Gardner]

Particularly in those long takes, stunt coordinator/fight choreographer should work with the DP and camera op to be in the right place at the right time as hits and gags don't sell from just any old angle.

Nick

 

[Will Kalla]

I've heard that 18 fps has been used a lot in the HK film days, gives a speed increase of 33% when running at 24 fps.

 

[Marc Wielage]

No, I remastered about 35 or 40 Chinese Kung-Fu movies and the fight scenes were not shot at 18fps. I'm guessing at most 22fps.

These scenes are more about blocking and camera movement than anything else, along with very careful editing. And of course, tons of rehearsal and skill on the part of the performers.

I did a couple of Jackie Chan movies for Dimension, and it was amazing what they did -- even when you jogged through the film frame-by-frame, the illusion was seamless.

 

[Bill Totolo]

A friend of mine just shot a couple projects with a fight coordinator on the latest John Wick film. The FC shoots a previs of all the blocking with his stunt team ahead of time which allows you to rehearse/enhance his ideas. Then some edits have repeated action on the cuts, I think Jackie Chan does this, to emphasize the impacts.
Sorry, drifted slightly away from the original question but I thought broadening the response might help.

 

[Remington Chase]

It's always a good idea to remove a frame right at the point of contact, it's make the blows seem more real.

 

[Marc Wielage]

It's always a good idea to remove a frame right at the point of contact, it's make the blows seem more real.

That was a trick that I think Peter Hunt discovered on the 1960s Bond films: cutting out one frame from the arm swing of a punch to increase the speed and impact. I could always see when he did it, but I have to say it was impressive for the time. Now, with the advent of variable speed playback and stuff like that, you could just do a very carefully-controlled speed ramp and get the same thing only better.

On the other hand... it's hard to argue that just doing it organically and making it work well on set without any camera tricks can't wok just as well.