Filming a Fight Scene

Staging a punch in video came up in my media class the other day.  I was trying to explain how a punch is faked in film and that most fight scenes are blocked out and practiced like a dance routine.  We pulled out the camera and filmed a few punches and they all discovered that it was a little harder than they imagined.  I remembered a YouTube video that demoed how a scene was blocked out in the movie Serenity.

I brought these two clips in the next day.
First the stunt group working it all out. (Main stunt woman is Bridget Riley)



Second, watch the actual scene from the movie with Summer Glau.

[Image: "Punch:Day2"; http://www.flickr.com/photos/chaparral/ / CC BY-NC 2.0

Zombie Make-up Results

In between trick-0r-treaters last night, I decided to mess around with the zombie makeup trick I posted about earlier this week. I had none of the materials but I did have some white glue.

The results were OK.

Main problem was trying to get a good look with my wife's makeup. She just doesn't have a good selection of stage makeup. The white glue worked but I think latex would look more like skin when you tear it?

In good lighting, it looked pretty fake. Turn the lights down some and the results were much more creepy. Of course, isn't everything just a little more creepy when you turn down the lights?

Zombie Make-Up

Quick easy tutorial on how to create a Zombie using liquid latex, toilet paper and some makeup (about $20 worth of materials). They say you can substitute white glue for the liquid latex if you are in a hurry or can't find the latex.

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Here is a amazing piece of film making. It is one continuous dolly shot through the middle of a bank robbery where the action has been stopped. First watch the clip. Then watch the "making of" video. If I understand this correctly, it was created as a showcase piece for the new Cinema 21:9 television.

"The world’s first ultra-wide TV that perfectly matches the original 2.39:1 movie format used by directors. Be blown away by movies the way they’re meant to be seen. No more black bars in your movies."

I was blown away by the video.





[Image captured from the video]

Learning After Effects

As a guy who is going to soon tackle Adobe's After Effects, I found this article encouraging. Kevin McMahon did the same thing recently and came up with these "5 tips for learning After Effects".

1. Know your DV basics first.
2. Know what After Effects is (and is not) for
3. Know just enough of theAE keyboard shortcuts to be dangerous - and realize that this does not mean that many.
4. Start simple, and I mean super simple.
5. Use the wealth of AE resources - and take a class.

This is my summer learning project. Thanks for the plan of attack.

[Image: "Al Gunn pondering the computer"; Modified in Comic Life: No rights reserved]

Gryphern YouTube Index

No Halloween week would be complete without looking at the YouTube video's put together by Gryphern out of Washington State. Gryphern is a graduate student (or possibly a graduated masters-type person by now..) that has put out many how-to videos over the past couple of years. Her instructions on how to create a werewolf costume first caught my attention last year and since then, I've been a frequent visitor to her YouTube page.

Check it out.

[Image captured from Gryphern's YouTube Video Index: http://gryphern.googlepages.com/]