Rewriting Times Three

One of the most enlightening things I’ve ever heard about filmmaking came from George Lucas:

There are three stages of writing: the first comes when you write the script; the second is when you’re filming; and the third is when you’re editing.

He probably wasn’t the first to say that. I mean, William Goldman said basically the same thing: “Writing is rewriting.” Still, Lucas’ truism has stuck with me, and even more so now that I’m doing action design. In a fight scene, the action director (or stunt coordinator or fight choreographer) must first “write out” the fight prior to filming. The set piece gets altered again when the actors and stunt players are on the set, improvising or improving on the choreography. And finally, the sequence is tweaked yet again in the editing room, where key edits can make a fight scene shine like gold or fail like Barry Bonds at a steroid testing.

Today, I’ve experienced this mantra yet again while working on The Price of Fighting.

I joined my director, Leo, in the editing room, where he had already laid out 2/3 of the movie in Final Cut Pro. The movie was taking shape but it still needed to be refined. So we worked together to “rewrite” the movie for the third time. Leo had been editing most of the day without eating lunch or dinner, so I brought him some spam and rice (really, I didn’t have much to offer, but he was still grateful nonetheless) so he could take a meal break. Then I took over.

Part of an action director’s job is to make sure the cinematographer and editor has all the right footage to craft a stellar fight scene. Because Leo and I shared those duties and because I use the efficient Hong Kong style of action directing called “in-camera editing,” the work in the editing bay is less complicated but nonetheless still difficult.

I had to take what Leo had set up and refine the transitions, ensuring that each hit, each reaction, looked realistic. Leaving an extra frame or two in a sequence or shaving off a couple of essential ones could be the difference between having a fake-looking action scene and a hard-hitting jaw-dropper.

I likened the experience to a sculpturing metaphor Bruce Lee used to describe simplifying his fighting style, Jeet Kune Do: “Hack away at the inessentials.” Like a potter, I stripped away at the excess clay that was our footage until the truth was revealed. Or at least a first-cut truth of The Price of Fighting.

The movie’s still not done, but what I finished today looks pretty darn good. The choreography is kinetic and fresh, the comedy works, and the hits look painful (they were, just read my entries below!).