Ring of Steel - Final Fight

Final sword fight with Gary Kasper, Katana vs Rapier and Dagger. We had two takes to shoot this particular fight scene and shot the other 22 fights in a single day. The entire shoot was 14 days. Our saving grace was a full month of rehearsal.

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• sword
• fight
• rapier
• katana
• stage
• combat
• martial
• arts

[rchapin]

I wish I had any of that footage. We knew that fight top to bottom and shot the whole thing in about three takes. I actually have the original trailer we shot for the film that I'm planning on digitizing which shows more of the fight.

[ari2u]

lol It depends on your prespective I suppose. I've only worked with steel weapons, and the speed only comes with live blade, never quite got it with choreography. The fights in the film choreographed in real time with steel weapons - that's a different animal than the artificially induced fights. From the skill standpoint it takes a lot more to make it look good.

[rchapin]

@ari2u problem with a heavy steel blade is that if you do get it going fast enough, stopping it or redirecting it can be a problem. And control is essential for fast but safe choreography. I was against aluminum weapons until I tried one. Then I found out films like "Willow", and "Pricess Bride" all used aluminum blades. I bought my first aluminum blade from the man who made those weapons - Alan Meek. Not as strong as steel, but light, shiny, and ring like a bell if made correctly.

[ari2u]

The speed of the fight scenes blows me away. The group that I work with, we stop all blade work when it gets dark - flickering firelight really messes with depth perception. How did you compensate for that in the rooftop shots? This movie is a wild ride from beginning to end - definitely a keeper.

[rchapin]

@ari2u Funny, I see those fights now and I kinda cringe. I suppose they were as fast as they could get considering we were using steel weapons instead of aluminum, and none of they fights were undercranked as is typically done with action films. I was extremely thankful for the rehearsal time we got, since the whole film was shot in 2 weeks with 20 of the fight scenes shot in a single day.

[ari2u]

Point taken. I wouldn't mind trying a lighter blade except my venue would not allow it.

The final fight with Jack in the arena has a lot of cutaways. Any chance you can show some uncut footage?