We encounter some problems on the day of shooting- our camera operator had something going on last minute and we have to find someone else to film this for us. It was week 10 in and we are running out of time to delay another week. Speaking of time, our time was very limited during shooting too because our camera operator had something going on at 9pm. We started shooting at 6pm so we only have 3 hours to shoot. Definitely not enough! We went on with the plan and started shooting. It took longer than expected because we were not really in sync during the performing. And in my head I was trying to remember what to do next after this kick or after that punch etc. My camera framing anxiety faded away and I was really trying to focus on the choreography.
Ultimately, in three hours time, we finished filming- but only one scene. Initially I was thinking of filming two same scenes but of different kinds of styles. Due to the lack of time, I am still going to edit this scene with whatever I have. I wish I can film this again, unfortunately I sprain both of my wrists from falling. Even though I was injured, I went on- not sure why. I believe it was that adrenaline rush I felt while performing. I believe Jackie felt this as well- c’mon- his is insane stunts and mine is basically kicking, punching and pushing and a little bit of falling. I remember in one of his interviews he talks about a scene where he fell from a clocktower; He took two shots of the sequence because he thought the first shot was not good enough. He also mentions that he is actually afraid of performing these stunts but he also said that once he hear the cameras are rolling, his thoughts about pain and potential death went away. I injured my wrists from one of the first few takes but went on for the next three hours. I didn’t felt any pain until we wrap it out. It hurt so bad that on the first day I could not do anything- I’ve never felt so useless in my life. But it was all so worth it. Although the whole scene was not good at all in my opinion, I thought I learned and experience something. It is definitely not easy to film a fight scene especially if you were to have it choreographed, and performing stunts is never a fun thing. But we are all doing this for entertainment, for research, for film!
Speaking of pain, healing takes time… A LOT! The studios Jackie works with gives him months to shoot a fight because… injuries… perfection… choreography… etc. And I only have 3 hours limit of production time. But, I am only here for this research in this course on how to make an exciting fight scene and also how the framing and editing can affect how it looks.
Because of this unfortunate event, I am unable to prove much point from this fight scene due to lack of shot coverage, I will be attempting to plan another shoot, hopefully I will be able to impress myself with the improvement.