How Would You Choreograph a Realistic Fight Between a Woman and Several Men?
I’m preparing for a role in a small budget independent film. Since this is such a small budget film, they don’t have a fight choreographer. I do martial arts and am an amature in kickboxing and some MMA lessons so they ask me to help with the choreography. I play a business woman sent to straighten out a well site/base for a large Oil and Gas company. The settings in northern Canada in the winter months and we’re about to film an important fight scene.
The back story is that I’m there to demand production and will be firing many of the rig hands. An arguement starts and many of the rig hands start a fight with me. The fight starts outside the rig in the snow as I’m walking away to a hellipad after firing many rig hands at a town meeting. I’m attacked by three middle aged man in the snow. It’s suppose to be a very brutal fight where I’m tackled and thrown into the snow, against equipment, and very beaten with a lot of blood. However, in the end I’m suppose to win the fight and humiliate the three men by beating them convincingly in front of their friends, children, and wives. My question is how I can make the fight brutal and still as realistic as possible. There should be a lot of blood, broken bones, and torn clothes.
The back story on my character is that I’m an high level executive that is also an extremely trained athlete. I’m about 5’11" and am suppose to be an imposing figure though I’m model thin at only 125lbs. Though the scene will be filmed in the snow, I’ll be in a black business dress suit and in heels. I’m about 6’3" in the rediculously high heels they’re asking me to wear so I sound look very imposing on film.
My thought is that I would be tackled and thrown against the drilling equipment. The screenplay has me being beaten up with several punches until I’m very bloody.. this happens for about a solid 1 to 2 mintues of the fight. Slowly i’m suppose to get the upper hand by fighting back against the men by slugging it out with them using hard kicks. I won’t be kiccking any men in the crotch and there won’t be martial art style attacks from me… just pure slugging and a majority being kicks and knees.
How can I put together a 8 minute fight scene that would be realistic. Would it be hard to make a fight between an extremely in shape woman in her late twenties and three out of shape but extremely large men in their 40′s realistic?
well that is good. the old kicking them in the nuts is so old. its stupid and im sick of it. but when they tackle you have him grab you by the boobs. and scream because it hurts so bad. let them hit you in the boobs and kick you in the crotch. that would be different. use head butts, bite, stomp on their foot, and do not get hit in the belly. that is stupid.and dose not hurt a girl that bad and if you did that i would buy the movie
An industrial chain, or some similar combat prop, would give you an advantage, or at least even things out.
You’re suppose to humiliate these men? Seeing as it’s suppose to be a slugging match and not really a martial arts type fight then kicks aren’t the way to go. An athlete can’t fight like a martial artist just as a martial artist can’t run like an athlete. In reality it comes down to how you train and what you prepare for. A women in her late twenties wouldn’t be able to beat and humiliate three middle aged men in a fight if all she did was take some kickboxing classes on the weekends. It’s just not realistic.
What is realistic is that she grabs something like a pipe and starts cracking it over their heads. It would be more realistic if she rampaged on them in a spark of adrenaline, bludgeoning them with some sort of hard object. Smashing their heads, stabbing their legs or stomachs, breaking their elbows or knees, choking, eye gouging, fingernail clawing… just wailing on them and tearing into them in order to save her life is what makes the most sense. Not anything technical like kicks or punches. For her, that’d just be cheap looking. For the guys it makes more sense.
However it’s going to be done is up to the director in the end. For eight minutes…. that’s a long time, but I suggest some running and hiding. It’s a good delay and if done right builds some suspense.
Good Luck.
Definitely not a Bruce Lee-type fight. Especially not a head on-fight. Even one guy versus three other guys definitely requires strategy and tactics. Specifically, Divide and Conquer.
As an athlete, your character definitely has good cardio, but since she’s not a martial artist, nor is she dressed like one, any and all martial arts technique goes out the window. That means all but luck prevents your character from successfully pulling off any fight moves.
As stated, Divide and Conquer. Next, this woman has to gain an advantage. She doesn’t have the sheer brute strength (where it counts, at least), nor does she have any training, and nor is she dressed in a manner that is self-sufficient for any type of running, which means that the first priority is out of the question unless she somehow finds time to toss off her heels.
Now, she can divide and conquer through temporarily removing guys from the fray (i.e. kicking them in the gonads), but you’ve stated that you "won’t be kicking any men in the crotch."
Honestly, what you’re asking people to help you do is impossible. There is no realistic or even believable through the suspension of disbelief way that your character could adequately defend herself from three grown men.
A girl can’t "slug it out" with men specifically because it is impossible.
Unless she is lifted off of the ground by one of the assailant’s throwing a mighty upper cut, where, magically, her shoes fly off her feet and she lands in an agile cat-like position, she won’t be in any position to defend herself.
Yeah, it would be hard, athlete=/=Martial artist, they just aren’t the same, three extremely large men will beat just about anyone 3 on 1, fat or not, especially if you are 125lbs. No one can get up after a several minute beating, most fights last about 90 seconds, if you are wearing heels, you’re buggered, tell them to change it to loafers, the scene just won’t work otherwise.
You can’t ‘slug it out’, especially outnumbered by bigger people, either swarm and knee/elbow the face, or repeated jabs/front kicks whilst backing away,
This scene will not logically work, and even if you want to pull some spinning kung fu crap, most people will call bullshite on some beanpole beating up a load of beefy people, maybe if you were 200lbs and in jeans and trainers you could play it, why not lose? that’s what would happen anyway.