When Roger Corman attended the Raindance Film Festival in 1996, I asked him what he thought made a really good script.
[quote]A good script needs a great fight scene (or sex scene) every fifteen minutes.
…pause…
Actually, make that every ten minutes.
— Roger Corman, the King of Independent Cinema[/quote]
Your first movie is likely to be a gritty slice-of-life in and or around your own turf, is it not? And aren’t you eager to spice up your film and make it look like you have a far bigger budget than you actually have?
One of the easiest ways to do this is to throw in a fight scene (or three). The trick is – how do you make a fight scene look real without hurting your actors? This is something you could learn at a specialist film school.
Another way is to hang out with one of my favourite independent filmmakers, Jason Satterlund. His west coast Big Puddle Films makes web series, shorts, corporates and has several different feature projects on the boil.
Watching this four minute video should give you enough information to make your next movie punch out look realistic. And for this one you don’t even need money!
Practice. And be safe.
Want some more lo budget filmmaking tips? Check out my weekend Lo-To-No Budget Filmmaking weekend course for dozens more.
Have you some fight tips you would like to share with our readers? Add them into the comments box below.
Photo Credit: Bertie Watson
I founded Raindance Film Festival in 1993 because the British film industry was closed, polite, and congratulating itself while shutting new filmmakers out.
I co-founded the British Independent Film Awards in 1998 because British indie film deserved more than a shrug, a pat on the head, and a Tuesday night screening.
Raindance didn’t start as a brand. It started as a rebellion: film training without gatekeepers, a festival without permission, and a community built by filmmakers who weren’t waiting to be invited in.
Later, we took it global: Toronto, Vancouver, New York, LA, Berlin, and Brussels, because independent film doesn’t belong to one city, one class, or one accent.
I’ve produced 700+ short films and seven features, including Deadly Virtues (2014) and ALICE, which won the SXSW Grand Jury Prize (2019) not because someone “discovered” us, but because the work earned its place.
I’ve written three books used by filmmakers worldwide because too many courses taught compliance instead of survival.
In 2009, I was awarded a PhD for services to film education, ironic, given that most of my career has been about tearing down the rules that education insisted you follow.
I don’t believe in waiting for permission.I believe in making work, building systems, and forcing the industry to catch up.
Specialties: Independent Film (the real kind) · Producing · Writing · Film Education · Festivals · Breaking Broken Systems
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