The information in this article on how to shoot a martial arts video is good for any martial art, be it kung fu, karate, aikido, or whatever.
Shooting a Martial Arts Video can be rough. Your kung fu partners timing is off, you hit him too hard, one of you falls out of the scene, the scenery falls over...a lot of things can go wrong. However, there are things to do that will help you pull it off. You might not get an Oscar, but at least you wont be getting all thumbs down on youtube, and thats what it is all about these days. That martial arts video you shot for youtube for advertising purposes might just go viral, and then where are you going to spend all that cash that is pouring in, eh?
First, it helps if you are familiar with a camera. My first camera was a Brownie Instamatic, and I lived through the Polariod phase, and these earlier experiences taught me things about lighting and scenery. Simply, you dont shoot a polar bear in a snow storm and expect to get something, nor do you shoot a white karate gi against a white wall.
When I finally started shooting pictures for my first book (1974), I understood that I needed to get a brace of clamp lamps (you get them at an auto parts shop, they clamp on the hood of the car so you dont work in the dark. It was quite interesting experimenting with moving the lights around so I didnt create shadows on the backdrop. I must have learned something, because when I started shooting pictures for national magazines like Inside Karate and Black Belt I never had one returned because of the photos.
There is a magnitude of difference between shooting a still and shooting a moving picture. The camera moves, and follows the actors, and it is quite interesting when one of the actors falls against the scenery, and the scenery falls over. What is much more likely to happen, however, is that the actor will step out of the range of the camera. So you learn to keep the bodies together so the camera can keep both actors in the film. Unless, of course, you want to kick somebody out of a scene and have some falling pots and pans. Zowie!
Another thing that happens when you shoot your martial art videos, and this is a killer, is the fact of off set noise. I cant tell you how many scenes I have had ruined by a passing car, or even a passing plane. I was shooting once and the washing machine, right behind the garage I was shooting in, kept going off. I thought that was bad until I realized there was a bathroom back there, too.
Now, after you have the costumes color coordinated, and the scenery fixed in place and color coordinated, and have told the baby not to cry, and gotten a feel for where to point the camera to keep the actors in the scene and keep everything center stage, there is one other thing you have to know.
The most difficult thing I have found, when shooting videos is how to present the technique to the audience. I cant tell you how often I have watched a take, wonderfully done, only to find out that the arm obscured the wrist and the secret of the technique was hidden. So you have to figure out how to angle your technique so the camera picks it all up. Frequently, you can just do the technique from different angles, but one of my favorite things is to simply stop in the middle of the technique and move my partners and my bodies so the camera can see. Mind you, this frequently involves some pain for my partner, but we do what we must for hollywood, eh?
When you break it down, shooting a martial arts youtube video is pretty simple, and, I will admit, the audience is pretty forgiving. But, watch the costumes, watch the set, watch the lights, watch the sound, watch the camera angle, and most of all, watch the martial artists configure their technique for an angle that might not be right for fighting, but sure does show off that technique. Do all those things, and, who knows, that martial arts video youre shooting might just go viral, and the world might just learn that you really do know kung fu, or karate, or taekwondo, or what martial art you have been working at these last twenty years.
Shooting a Martial Arts Video can be rough. Your kung fu partners timing is off, you hit him too hard, one of you falls out of the scene, the scenery falls over...a lot of things can go wrong. However, there are things to do that will help you pull it off. You might not get an Oscar, but at least you wont be getting all thumbs down on youtube, and thats what it is all about these days. That martial arts video you shot for youtube for advertising purposes might just go viral, and then where are you going to spend all that cash that is pouring in, eh?
First, it helps if you are familiar with a camera. My first camera was a Brownie Instamatic, and I lived through the Polariod phase, and these earlier experiences taught me things about lighting and scenery. Simply, you dont shoot a polar bear in a snow storm and expect to get something, nor do you shoot a white karate gi against a white wall.
When I finally started shooting pictures for my first book (1974), I understood that I needed to get a brace of clamp lamps (you get them at an auto parts shop, they clamp on the hood of the car so you dont work in the dark. It was quite interesting experimenting with moving the lights around so I didnt create shadows on the backdrop. I must have learned something, because when I started shooting pictures for national magazines like Inside Karate and Black Belt I never had one returned because of the photos.
There is a magnitude of difference between shooting a still and shooting a moving picture. The camera moves, and follows the actors, and it is quite interesting when one of the actors falls against the scenery, and the scenery falls over. What is much more likely to happen, however, is that the actor will step out of the range of the camera. So you learn to keep the bodies together so the camera can keep both actors in the film. Unless, of course, you want to kick somebody out of a scene and have some falling pots and pans. Zowie!
Another thing that happens when you shoot your martial art videos, and this is a killer, is the fact of off set noise. I cant tell you how many scenes I have had ruined by a passing car, or even a passing plane. I was shooting once and the washing machine, right behind the garage I was shooting in, kept going off. I thought that was bad until I realized there was a bathroom back there, too.
Now, after you have the costumes color coordinated, and the scenery fixed in place and color coordinated, and have told the baby not to cry, and gotten a feel for where to point the camera to keep the actors in the scene and keep everything center stage, there is one other thing you have to know.
The most difficult thing I have found, when shooting videos is how to present the technique to the audience. I cant tell you how often I have watched a take, wonderfully done, only to find out that the arm obscured the wrist and the secret of the technique was hidden. So you have to figure out how to angle your technique so the camera picks it all up. Frequently, you can just do the technique from different angles, but one of my favorite things is to simply stop in the middle of the technique and move my partners and my bodies so the camera can see. Mind you, this frequently involves some pain for my partner, but we do what we must for hollywood, eh?
When you break it down, shooting a martial arts youtube video is pretty simple, and, I will admit, the audience is pretty forgiving. But, watch the costumes, watch the set, watch the lights, watch the sound, watch the camera angle, and most of all, watch the martial artists configure their technique for an angle that might not be right for fighting, but sure does show off that technique. Do all those things, and, who knows, that martial arts video youre shooting might just go viral, and the world might just learn that you really do know kung fu, or karate, or taekwondo, or what martial art you have been working at these last twenty years.