Think Tank Thursday

Actors Rights

In thus business there is often a desire to please the director and serve the show at all costs.

While it is better than the opposite extreme of not.caring at all and serving only yourself, it still represents an extreme and not a more realistic middle ground.

For stage violence, actors have the right to request a choreographer for any violence or violently themed movement. Even with a choreographer, if they still feel unsafe for some reason they still have they right to say no.

Only in rare cases will this be abused and cause problems. When actors feel safe and confident in what they are doing better, richer and more dedicated work follows.

We all have to keep in mind the wonderful brevity that is a live performance. The applause will fade and peoples memory will dim.

A deafened ear from an unsafe slap, a damaged knee from a simple fall, a blind eye, stabbed body part, concussed skull, all last a lifetime.

In the end it lies with the right of the actors to have long healthy careers and lives, whatever the cost in time, man power or finances may be.

Greg

Weapon Wednesday

The human head!

Headbutting someone can be an effective attack. It can also fail miserably causing either mutual pain or more damage to you than the opponent.

Ideally the strike uses hard, curved surfaces of the skull such as the forehead at the hairline, to strike soft tissue on the face. The nose is a good target for its ability to make eyes water and bleed, as is the area right above the eye socket, the hinge of the jaw, and the temple.

If you hit the mouth or teeth both parties wont feel too good. The chin is also no fun unless you come from underneath.

With all that in mind, for stage combat the headbutt target is off to the side of the head. Air doesn't bleed.

The reaction to an intentional or unintentional headbutt is pretty large, its a painful and disorienting experience ( I headbutted a very large Canadian man hairline to hairline and had trouble chewing for the next week.)

It is a dynamic strike to put in choreography and can instantly enhance a characters toughness. It can also add a good bit of humor as well when done as if on accident.

Greg

Heading Home

The past three weeks has without a doubt been one of the best experiences I have had.

The amount I have learned and absorbed is overwhelming.

The bonds made with the other students are concrete.

I have fought wild west style, martial arts flashy, with clubs and knives, flew down stairs, soared off mini trampolines, tackled, rolled, fell, manhandled a car, danced with fire, floated on wire, and fell 40 feet into a giant airbag. All, an extremely large amount of knowledge in a short amount of time.

Above are some of my favorite photos: the mini tramp and crash pad, my fire jacket completely burned through, the wire work pull team working to lift the talent, and the mighty air ram.

While I have come a long way, my training is far from complete. The stuntmans journey has just begun for me. There will always be more to learn and to tweak. It's also an endless job of huckstering and hustling (actually found my way onto a film set at the airport at 3am! Hung out near the kraft services, talked to the costume designer and ended up meeting and exchanging info with the director! All this before even getting halfway out of Seattle. Always have to be ready.)

So while the International Stunt School journey has come to a close, there will be plenty more to come. Thanks for following this adventure and I hope you continue to check in!

Greg

Think Tank Thursday

Human Ingenuity.

Above is the airbag that allows stunt performers to fall from different heights and the rope/pulley system that makes amazing wire work possible.

We as humans aren't built to fall from heights repeatedly nor do we have the ability to float and flip in the air freely. We could have accepted these limitations and not pursued solutions but we didn't.

Through collaboration, innovation, testing and great sacrifice we have created ways of doing impossible things. In movies, television, commercials, live shows or any other arena requiring spectacular performance, real people are jumping from great heights, flying with grace, dancing with fire, wielding multi ton steel cars with ease or anything else a writer, director, or audience can dream of.

If the drive is there (and more practically, the money) nothing is impossible or out of reach for us as a human race. We are an amazing species with limitless potential.

Greg

Weapon Wednesday

I am still on a fire kick so I am going to count fire as a weapon this week.

To weaponize fire, ignite someone.

(it should go without saying, but please don't ignite someone, its a horrible thing).

Fortunately for poor people with pyro needs and unfortunately for others, many accelerants used to get a good fire going can be bought at your local hardware store. The mix that sent my heart a flutter Tuesday was 75% rubber cement and 25% deisel fuel.

It was a beauty.

Rubber cement prevents the accelerant from being absorbed into the fabric which would then become the fuel. Deisel can be replaced with any number of flammable fluids for different colors, sizes, and behaviors of flame.

Now that the fun part is a roasting the important part needs to be ready. To put out fire you need to take away one of the three parts of what makes fire happen; fuel, oxygen, and heat.

Take one of those away and the fire dies.

A CO2 extinguisher takes away heat and oxygen. Water takes away heat, and a fire blanket takes away oxygen.

Fire is definitely more complicated and you can't truly control it. Basically don't try using fire as a weapon at home.

Greg

Tech Tuesday

Nomex! That and a very special gel allowed me to be set on fire... and live!

Nomex was developed by DuPont and is used by firefighters, race car drivers, NASA, the military and any other profession that needs protection from high heat.

The Nomex fabrics are not fireproof, they are fire resistant. Any object will ignite at a certain temperature, by the time Nomex ignites, however, you will be soup.

I tip my cap to to the material that allowed me to fall in love with being up in flames!

Greg

Disrespecting Fight Directors 1 - Credit Where Credit is Due

A little while I ago I had an unfortunate theater experience.

My friend and I decided to go see a mutual friend in a play he was performing in at the time. We got to the theater, got our seats, started reading the program waiting for the show to start. I quickly went through the artistic credits and dramatis personae, then browsed the bios of the actors and designers, and finally came to the back page where they had the ‘Thank You’ section.

While reading this section of the program I had a pleasant surprise. I knew two more people involved and they were being thank for the ‘violence’ of the show. Now at first I thought that was kind of odd. Not that they had worked on the show but that they were being thanked instead of credited. But there are many reasons that one could be thanked instead of credited – i.e. they were consulted, asked to come in for one minor move, loaned them weapons or other stage violence props. Plenty of reasons why two active fight directors would

This was not the case.

As I watched the play I kept an eye out for the violence in the show. There wasn’t an epic battle royale but there was enough to have needed a fight director/choreographer. The play used knives, guns, and had three separate moments that were clearly choreographed by someone.

Still wanting to give them the benefit of the doubt I emailed one of the people I knew who had been thanked. Sure enough, he had choreographed those moments, but had been brought in last minute and was, in his words, “out of the loop.” He didn’t even know that they were using guns! A point that was obvious when the actors pointed the guns directly at the audience several times during the play. Major stage combat no-no.

Even though it was a small storefront production this behavior is unacceptable. It shows a lack of respect for the artists that have been brought in to help your show. Thanks are appreciated but this is not our hobby. This is our craft and we should be respected as craftsman.

Small storefront productions aren’t the only ones guilty of disrespecting fight directors and choreographers.

In the summer of 2008, I like all Batman fans and fans latest film Batman Begins, eagerly awaited the release of The Dark Knight. There was much to look forward to in the film – Heath Ledger’s dynamic performance, the use of Chicago as a palette for the Cape Crusader’s Gotham City, the fact that it was a Batman film. But unlike most adoring fans I had one more tidbit to look forward to – I knew the Fight Director!

As Gary Oldman’s Commissioner Gordon’s final words of his dual eulogy for Harvey Dent and The Batman came to a close and the credits started to roll, I remained in my seat (unlike most theater goers) to see all the names involved in this remarkable film. I looked and looked for the one name I really wanted to see.

I found him listed generically under the stuntmen. I thought that was odd. Was I mistaken? Did he not have a larger role in creating the fights? Turns out the mistake was the studio’s as he did in fact arrange the fights in the movie. I would find out later that after a screening of The Dark Knight and seeing his named credited as such he immediately got his agent on the phone to voice his anger. As he should.

Now maybe that was an honest mistake. (Although I went to my DVD of The Dark Knight to see if it had been fixed. It was not.) But mistake or not it is wrong.

Give fight directors their credit where credit is due. They make your shows/movies better. They want to make them better. They have a unique set of skills that have been acquired spending hours training and honing the craft of stage combat. They do this so that they can come into a rehearsal prepared, ready to use those skills to create a moments of incredible danger while keeping the actors completely safe.

Monday Martial Arts/Movies: Temporary Delay

Hi Everyone,

Just wanted to give a very big mea culpa since MMA/M will be off this week, as the author is off dealing with giant fighting robots and a former X-Men star.

Peace,
Dwight

Fun Fact Friday

The record for the highest fall in a movie goes to a stunt man named A.J Bakunas for a 232 foot leap from a helicopter in the movie Hooper.

From that height he was in the air for close to 4 seconds and moving close to 83 mph when he hit the airbag. (Time squared = distance/gravity; final velocity = gravity * time)

His momentum was 564 pounds force or 1/4 ton! (momentum = mass * velocity)

Had his technique not been perfect it very easily could have been a stunt gone bad, even with an airbag. That pretty much explains why the record hasn't been broken.

Greg

Think Tank Thursday

Before I start this weeks Think Tank Thursday, the found weapons fight my group and I performed today went amazingly well. That is in large part because of deep commitment to the characters and intention.

This weeks Think Tank deals with one of the reasons why intention and characters are so important: the Gestalt Theory of vision principle of Continuation.

Continuation theorizes that our eyes and brain automatically follow the direction of a line. This is one of the reasons why when we deliver a punch or attack on stage, we have to cue online with the target. A strong straight lined cue will allow the audience to figure out where the attack is going and move on to figuring out the story from the actors faces and body language.

If the cue isn't strong, or is bent and muddied, not only will your partner not be sure what is next but the audience will be spending energy trying to figure out where the attack is going instead of what is going on or how the story is progressing. This may feel awkward at first because it is not how to fight in real life, but the importance is evident.

If you want to get something across in the story physically, make your movements, lines of motion, and characters clear and specific.

Greg

Weapon Wednesday

This Weapon Wednesday will cover Found Weapons.

Just about anything can be used as a weapon. As I work with my stunt colleagues tomorrow we will be using a blanket, a phone, a rolling pin, a magazine and a frying pan. Each weapon has its own strengths and weaknesses, discovering those is what makes fighting with found weapons so exciting and challenging.

First it is good to determine what type of weapon you have: Sharp, dull, heavy, light, flexible, and/or rigid. When you know what type of weapon you have you can narrow down the possible logical and interesting moves available.

The hard part after figuring out what you want to do is making sure you keep the "found" energy in the fight. It it looks preconceived then the fight will lose some or its excitement.

It should go without saying but some found weapons can be extremely dangerous. Sharp things are no good, neither are really heavy objects.

Found objects can add a lot of spice to a scene, as long as the weapons are chosen wisely and specifically. Hopefully my group and I did just that.

Greg

REVIEW: Peter Pan (Theatre-Hikes)

http://chicagotheaterblog.com/2010/08/10/review-peter-pan-theatre-hikes/

Check it out. There's still several weeks left in the run.

Plus, I had to highlight this part: "[A]nd the fight choreography by Dwight Sora following Hook’s capture of Wendy and the lost boys is thrilling to watch. "

-Dwight Sora

Tech Tuesday

This Tech Tuesday will deal with padding.

More specifically we will look at back pads. The pad shown above is a hard complete spine/back pad. It is a life saver for throwing yourself down stairs. It is also great if you need to take a big impact on your back or need to be hit in the back.

The complete hard pads are a dream to use and can fit snugly to your body while showing up surprisingly little under clothing. They aren't the only option, however. I used a smaller hard pad that covered my lower back, football shoulder pads that protected my shoulders and upper back, motorcycle jackets with the back pad and elbow pads inside the liner, and even a baseball catcher's chest protector worn backwards.

Basically if it is a layer between you and what you are impacting it is your friend.

For the stair falls I did yesterday I had elbow, knee, and hip pads on as well. I did eventually give a backwards roll a shot with no pads at the end of the day. It was a huge rush and surprisingly I came out unscathed (i wasn't so fortunate with the unpadded forward roll). While I will wear pads every chance I get in the professional world, it is good to know that I can go without if needed (stuntwomen often have to do stair falls in heels and mini skirts which lessens the amount of pads they can wear!)

There are plenty of options for a variety of needs so if you can use them don't hesitate, nothing hurts like bruised vertebrae.

Greg

Martial Arts Monday: ABCs of Asian Martial Arts

So, one of the hit films of summer 2010 has been the remake of the 1984 flick "The Karate Kid." Knowledgeable movie-goers (namely martial arts film fans) have been quick to note that in the remake - set in China and featuring Jackie Chan in the Mr. Miyagi role made famous by Pat Morita - they are clearly NOT PRACTICING KARATE. Interesting to note, the U.S. is the only territory in which the film is called "The Karate Kid." It China and elsewhere it is known by the much, much more appropriate title of "The Kung-Fu Kid" (Though in Japan, it is called "Best Kid," which was the title given the original).

As a martial arts student myself, I've often been asked "What's the difference?" between one art from the other. Now, I could get philosophical and say something like, "Water is water, only the glass changes shape," but there are distinct differences tied to each art's history and cultural background. So, here's a very brief breakdown you can use for future reference.

A List of Popular Asian Martial Arts by Country

CHINA
Kung-Fu
Wushu
- It should be noted there is no actual martial art called "Kung-Fu." Kung-Fu is a generic term that has been applied over time to all Chinese fighting arts. Wushu is the official sport of the Peoples' Republic of China, which incorporates various armed and unarmed traditional styles into routines similar to Olympic gymnastics.
When it comes to China, given that it beats all the other Asian nations in size, it shouldn't be surprise that it has the largest variety of traditional martial arts. So, when we're talking about kung-fu, we're actually referring to a wide variety of styles and techniques. These include:

Baqua (Demonstrated to good effect by the "Good" Jet Li in "The One")
Choy Li Fut
Hung Gar
Praying Mantis
Tai Chi (Yes, this was a martial art before becoming largely a mind-body exercise)
Tsing-Yi (Demonstrated by the "Bad" Jet Li in "The One")
White Crane
Wing Chun (Studied by Bruce Lee)

JAPAN
Aikido (Modern grappling and throwing art based on jujitsu. Some weapons involved.)
Judo ("The Gentle Art." A grappling and throwing art based on jujitsu. Now an Olympic sport)
Jujitsu/Jujutsu (Traditional grappling, throwing and locking)
Karate (Striking and kicking art. Some weapons involved. Actually Okinawan in origin)
Kenjutsu (Sword fighting)
Kendo (Fencing. Sport form based on traditional swordfighting)
Ninjitsu (Art of the ninja. Martial arts employed by traditional assassins/spies)
Sumo (Traditional wrestling)

KOREA
Hapkido (Grappling and throwing art similar to Japanese aikido. Some kicking and striking)
Tae Kwon Do (Striking and kicking art. Some weapons. Similar to Karate)
Tang Soo Do (Striking and kicking art.)

THE PHILIPPINES
Escrima (Traditional stick fighting)

THAILAND
Muy Thai (Traditional kick-boxing)

Shout Out Saturday/Sunday

There's nothing going on in Chicago. Really.

Because if there was it'd be on this blog. And you'd know about it. And you'd go to it. And you'd love it because you knew about it. And you'd thank us Scrappers at Fight Jam for sharing your project/show/art/play/reading/film/screening/adaptation/installation/creative piece with the entire world.

Okay, you got me, I'm being facetious. There's PLENTY going on in Chicago and we want to HELP!!!

We will be posting happenings around town every Saturday/Sunday on this blog. These will mostly be connected to stage combat but not exclusively. So if you have any projects that you would like to share with the world, tells us and we will share. Every Saturday/Sunday

FREE Advertising. What a fucking deal. And everyone knows everything is better when it's free. So be sure to check back each weekend for happenings.

Here's something you might be interested in:

Theatre-Hikes Presents:

Peter Pan Or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up
Written by J.M. Barrie
Directed by Lavina Jadhwani
Stage Manager Danielle Defassio
Costumes by Sarah Haley
Fight Choreography by Dwight Sora


July 24th and 31st at 1PM
At the North Park Village Nature Center
5801 N. Pulaski Blvd
Chicago, IL
July 24th & July 31st at 1PM

Til' next week!

Fun Fact Friday

A colloid is a substance that is in between liquid and solid in a sense. When left alone it is a liquid, but if you strike it, the surface tension quickly multiplies and it becomes solid.

Currently the military is looking at creating body armor with a strong enough colloidal mixture. One prototype is activated by electricity, just like the cape in the new Batman movies.

This technology is also being explored with padding for sports and stunts. This makes the pads super thin so they can fit under clothing well but still strong enough to provide protection. Right now the pads are expensive, but as time goes on the price should come down and more feedback on performance will be available.

Greg

Think Tank Thursday

This weeks Think Tank Thursday deals with the fascinating cells in your brain called Mirror Neurons.

It is theorized, and has been demonstrated through experiments, that these cells will fire in areas of your brain associated with the action you are watching. For example; if you watch a person reaching for a hot cup of tea and bring it to their mouth to drink, your brains mirror neurons will fire as if you were reaching for a hot cup of tea.

This response has been found to be intensified in people observing something they are familiar with. Dancers watching dance will have a heightened response in their brains and their neurons will be synapsing as if they were dancing themselves.

The fighting application is that specific, clean technique, and fully engages intention are even more crucial than they already were. The catch with mirror neurons is that they don't fire as intensely if the action the viewer is witnessing doesn't have any intention. Intention in your movement activates a whole body of micromuscle movements that the brain automatically registers. The more mirror neurons you can get to fire in the audiences brains, the more intense their experience will be. The more specific the movements, the deeper the audiences understanding and believability of the choreography will be because they will be living through each moment in their minds and comparing then to their own experiences and beliefs.

So, get specific and get detailed physically and intentionally. The more you put out there the more material the audience has to work with and the richer their experience becomes.

Greg

Why We Fight... Direct.

So while Greg takes note of the daily updates, blogs, info and Dwight has all things movies and martial arts covered, I will be writing a monthly/bi-monthly blog on various thoughts on the Fight World called:

Broad Eye for the Fight Guy

soon to be rechristened as Musings from the Motherland

I thought I start with why stage combat and fight direction are essential to the theater world.

They are… but maybe not in the way you think.

We all know that when any act of violence happens on stage having a fight director to choreography, create a illusion, perform a little magic, toss some pixie dust on helps out the production. He or she will keep the actors safe (hopefully) and make it look cool (also, hopefully). But many times theaters do not work with fight directors. This can be because they don’t have the money, don’t see the use, don’t understand what we do, gotten burned.

This is unfortunate because the skill set possessed by any decent fight director is going to give an invaluable perspective to a theater company. And not just in scenes that call for some sort of violence but for their entire productions.

Let me give you an example.

A couple of weeks I went to see TimeLine Theater Company’s production of The Farnsworth Invention with my mom. I had been wanting to see this play for a while because it is written by one of my favorite contemporary writers – Aaron Sorkin. Being a huge fan of all things Sorkin I loved the play. And the production was very well done, set in an alley seating style with audience members on opposites sides of the playing space.

For those who don’t know the play it deals with the invention of the Television by Philo Farnsworth and the subsequent political/business battle between him and David Sarnoff, the country’s first media mogul and head of RCA. Much of the play pitts these two against each other in a fantastical setting considering there is no proof that the two actually met face to face. For any good theatrical production you need drama (duh) and this play did not disappoint with both Farnsworth and Sarnoff going back and forth at each other battling over the rights to the creation of television. Long story short Sarnoff won because he was more powerful, had more money and thought like a businessman as opposed to Farnsworth who had no money, wasn’t polically giftend and most importantly thought like a scientist. They duke it out over the course of the play going back and forth, arguing incessantly and, to their slight detriment, shouting. A lot of shouting.

When my mom and I exited the theater and started discussing what we had just seen, as theater goers are wont to do after seeing an interesting piece of theater, one of the first comments my mom made was that she thought they shouted too much, especially TimeLine Artistic Direct PJ Powers in the role of Sarnoff. Nothing against Mr. Powers or his performance, it was quite good, but what happened was it made a harsh listening experience. This is unfortunate because part of the joy of anything written by Aaron Sorkin is the musicality he is able to create with his texts.

Now what does this have to do with stage combat and fight direction?

Imagine if you will two combatants, let’s say Prince Hal and Hotspur from Henry IV part 1, battling it out with two big broadswords. And instead of a nuanced carefully crafted fight they just bash each other over the head again and again and again. Cut 5, Cut 5, Cut 5, Cut 5 and on and on and on. After 10-15 seconds of that an audience will immediately tune out. The actors could have amazing chemistry, commitment, presence and it wouldn’t amount to dick because all the audience is getting is a one note over and over again. Now, martially bashing an opponent over the head repeatedly might be a good tactic if you were the stronger fighter and could keep up that barrage (see Luke Skywalker in Return of the Jedi) but theatrically it is not interesting.

Back to The Farnsworth Invention, the drama between Farnsworth and Sarnoff is the same as the battle between Hal and Hotspur just on a different scale. Sure Mr. Powers’ Sarnoff can overpower and overwhelm Rob Fagin’s younger and physically smaller Farnsworth but it becomes uninteresting to the audience after a while. We don’t hear the finely crafted language provided by Mr. Sorkin. All we hear is bash, bash, bash. While an average audience member might not realize why they disliked some of Mr. Powers performance, a properly trained fight direct could and should.

Fight directors choreograph the violence that erupts when words are no longer an option. They work at the highest of stakes in a play. I mean, the stakes don’t get much higher when I’m trying to kill you with a three foot piece of sharpened steel. The skills that a fight directors posses in order to create those high stakes moments can and should be applied to fights that aren’t physically violent.

That’s why we call ourselves Fight Directors. We direct the fights. And in fights the combatants use different tools and tactics to achieve their objective. Those tools are not always a three foot piece of sharpened steel. They can be a finely crafted insult, a witty comeback, an overwhelming argument.

The more and more theaters around the country begin to realize the value of a fight director the more theater we will have that is both fun and fascinating to watch.

Plus, we’ll all start getting more work.

And be able to bash people over the heads with three foot pieces of ‘sharpened’ steel.

The rough and tumble

So far the stunt training has been the gruelling and essential moves of the business. We were able to do a few flashy body slams and diving at people WWE style today... but that was after spending twenty minutes getting kicked in the crotch.

And that has been the general way of things.

Intense repetition of punches, kicks, head snaps and reactions. It's all about fundamentals. If I can nail the techniques taught over the past few days I will be able to work as a stunt man.

That is the catch though.

In this business I can't just be good, I have to be 110% on every time. Especially if I do get a job. It costs $100,000 a minute to shoot a film. If its my turn on the set and I screw up, I just lost the production between 50 - 100 grand. I don't imagine anyone being to happy about that.

So while it has been tough to slog through and stay focused through 24 hours total of pounding, punishing, repetition, it has been worth it.

Greg

Weapon Wednesday

Weapon Wednesday deals this week with you, the Human Weapon.

A little tip I picked up from my massage friend Rachel Stubbs (soon to be Massey! She is amazing at what she does by the way) for working out sore leg muscles:

Take a rolling pin and use it to roll down your legs to work out some of the kinks. It has been an absolute necessity here at stunt school to help my muscles recover from the constant punishment they have been taking.

Solo works pretty well, but if you can find a partner you can get a little more pressure into it. I also found it to be nice on my lower back.

Cheap, easy, and it goes a long way towards keeping you going injury free longer.

Greg

Tech Tuesday

This weeks tech Tuesday will deal with the new athletic footware craze, the Vibram Five Fingers.

I bought these specifically with stunt school in mind. They claim to be good for running, climbing, boating, yoga, martial arts, etc.

While they are nerdy as hell and definitely get wierd looks when you wear them in downtown Chicago (i have had a few people touch my feet both in Chicago and in Seattle, total strangers) but they are hands down the most comfortable things I have ever had on my feet besides being barefoot.

Truth be told, there is a break in period where your feet need to get used to they lack of cushion and absorbing walking force on the side of the foot and rolling in. After your feet get settled in, it is walking, running, jumping gravy.

How do they work for stunts?

The one thing I have noticed so far is that break falls are hard on the impact on your feet. These shoes are definitely not the best choice for that. All other fighting so far has been awesome. I actually tried to switch back to tennis shoes today and it was way too uncomfortable, I had to switch back the first chance I got.

So, if you are curious I would say try on a pair where you can find them, they work for me so far.

Greg

Have you ever had an inner ear problem?

I haven't either ... but after spending 9 hours falling down over, and over, and over again I can imagine what it may be like.
That leads me into day one of stunt school: falling, rolling, dive rolling and the ubiquitous picture punch (right cross).

Things are going extremely well. It is exhausting and punishing but that is what makes it great. Also, to give you a flavor of how international this school really is we have people here from Denmark, Australia, England, Barbados, Israel, Austria, Chile and Japan, all great and interesting people.

Hopefully the stretching helps with lessening the soreness for tomorrow, if not its gonna be a long three weeks...

Greg