While prepping an animated genre feature film like Lester, it's a good idea to to study how these kinds of projects come and go. Royal Space Force: Wings of Honneamise was an anime colossus released during the Manga Video heyday with amazing art and zero (almost) story. It was a movie made entirely by animators [...]
filmmaking
Action and Reaction Heroes
onI like action films. I like them so much that I make them. My career started out mostly making action comedies. Then I turned 30, had to pay bills, etc, so I made a depressing one called Death Grip. Comments about the film were usually along the lines of, "I wanted more toilet humor." I [...]
Behind Rope A Dope 2 – The Production Diary
onWritten by Eric Jacobus, star, writer, co-director, and editor of the Rope A Dope series. On January 12, 2015, we released Rope A Dope 2 to the world to commemorate 14 years of The Stunt People. Be sure to check it out below. I promise you'll enjoy it. RAD2 comes after almost a year of [...]
How to Perform the Hong Kong Spin (Video) – Indie Action Essentials
onI'm making action filmmaking tutorials now for indie action filmmakers, martial artists, and stuntmen and stuntwomen, a series I'm calling "Indie Action Essentials". The first skill I'm tackling is the Hong Kong spin, or the "HK". The video includes all the steps plus what padding I recommend when doing the stunt on hard surfaces. If [...]
Choreography as a muscle
onYesterday I shot the first fight scene I've done since finishing Death Grip. It's a videogame parody where I play a Karate man taking on two other players played by fellow Stunt People and Death Grip actors Shaun Finney and Yun Lujhei Yang. Stunt practices have paid off: I could still kick and punch pretty quick, [...]
Navigating the Action Film Industry of the Future
onIn my last post I used Cannes and AFM to take a snapshot of the action industry and predict what the climate will be like in a couple years. Impossible? Maybe, but using some basic principles I think we can be pretty accurate, within fifty percent. So how does it relate to us as indie [...]
The Stunt People Featured in Love Triangle City – Watch Now
onIn the latest episode of Love Triangle City, filmmaker Quentin realizes that if he wants to shoot an action film, he needs to stop spying on unsuspecting "reality actors" and actually hire some stunt guys, which leads him to The Stunt People. Chelsea Steffensen and Nathan Hoskins jump to the task, and they get together [...]
Dennis Ruel and Vlad team up with the 5D and 7D
onDennis Ruel and Vlad Rimburg teamed up to do a couple videos using the Canon 5D Mark II and Canon 7D. Hookah Highya!!! (Canon 5D Mark II Test) Canon 7D Slo Mo/Ramping Test Fight
The Best of Indie Action Filmmaking
onGraeme Noble of the Forum has put together a superb demo reel of the various independent stunt crews who post at our forum. The sheer amount of talent in this reel is dumbfounding, and it's all indie.