Those of you who look at our Facebook page will be aware we have been collaborating in making our own bit of fiction through a student film/scene which we have been choreographing. Essentially a 4 vs 1 fight scene.
Well after several late night practices we finally got to do the filming yesterday and great fun it was, and very tiring even though we kept starting and stopping and still managed to get it wrapped up in an hour and a half.
Despite the fulfilling of a childhood ambition to act like Bruce Lee for the day, and my fellow conspirators enabling me to quite dramatically and brutally defend myself from 4 attackers, the key thing i took away from the experience was how even in a controlled and scheduled spate of mock violence – fighting is chaotic, unpredictable and messy.
To make things appear ‘real’ we really had to give it some welly, which got the blood racing and the adrenaline pumping, so actually remembering what move I was supposed to use to defeat my attacker in dramatic style was actually quite hard, and instead I found myself flowing a slightly different set of moves nearly every take.
The timing had to be just right else the predetermined move was either stifled or rendered inappropriate due to range and positioning, thus the need to flow and improvise was made even more necessary.
I came that afternoon with some cinematic and dramatic additions I wished to make to a couple of the set pieces, but when it came to filming the time needed to insert these extra elements simply was not there. The reality and speed of a multiple person attack limited the ability to add in flourishes and fine detail and resulted in more crude and aggressive core movements and strikes. Had we been paid celebrities we would have spent the last week at least solidly practising our timing and placement, but we did not have the luxury.
It was a great experience not only for the fulfilling of a few dreams but also the truths experienced of a high pressure confrontation, the speed, the difficulty in thinking, the need to react and flow, and conversely the limitations on how violent you can be and still expect your friends to make it through to the next scene.
A lot of truth in a fictional piece of work and bloody good fun. So thanks to Gary the broken armed warrior, Steven the bin banger, Andy the floor dweller and Steve the bicep basher, and to John and Rich for giving us the opportunity and the mysterious girl for running out of shot every two minutes.
Watch this space for the upcoming film!
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