fight choreography

One Good Stab Deserves Another In The New Action Short, BATTLE OF THE BLADES!

Just yesterday I shared my most recent article on independent action short clips featuring weapons. Of course, it might have served well to package with that report but knowing me, I can never wait to get a lot of these clips out fast enough sometimes. But anyway, today I bring you the latest action short from independent filmmaker and action director Shaun Charney (a.k.a. Seshiro Kazama) titled Battle Of The Blades: Girlfight/Knifefight. The new short features two gorgeous action and stunt performers I have mentioned on Film Combat Syndicate in previous articles: Peipei Alena Yuan (Star Trek, Step Up 3D) and Michelle Jubilee Gonzalez (The Adventures Of Superseven, Sons Of Anarchy). I spoke to both leading ladies who have nothing but positive words to express on their latest collaboration, including Yuan who tells Film Combat Syndicate. “Shaun Charney is always a blast to shoot with, and this was my first […]

Around The Web: Indie Action Arms Itself In KNIFE FIGHT And KING OF STICKS

Lee B. Golden III

Action actor and stuntman Gui Da Silva returns back to the screen for his latest performance in the new shortfilm, Knife Fight. The shortfilm is Da Silva‘s latest (….ahem…) stab at weapons’ choreography opposite fellow actor and stuntman James Young, exquisitely arranged once again by LBP Stunts Chicago’s own Emmanuel Manzanares, who previously directed Da Silva in the stellar pistol-whip action short, Extraction. Both Da Silva and Young kick off the new year in the independent field just months away from seeing their respective stunt credits unveiled for Marvel’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier, with their next credited work on director Brent Ryan Green’s upcoming sci-fi thriller, The Veil, set to release in 2015. In addition, you can see Young‘s latest work as fight coordinator with Sam Hargrave in director Josh Waller’s newly released film, Raze, out now in select theaters and on VOD. Meanwhile, Da Silva is expected to […]

Check Out This Bloody Set Photo From THE DEAD LANDS

Lee B. Golden III

The #DeadLandsMovie crew are having a bloody good time in New Zealand pic.twitter.com/Z8z5LULG6A — XYZ Films (@XYZFilms) January 9, 2014 XYZ Films took to Twitter this week to share a new photo above, updating the progress on the New Zealand filming of director Toa Fraser‘s coming-of-age period revenge epic, The Dead Lands. A little help from XYZ executive Simon de Bruyn clarifies the item in the picture is called a “patu parāoa”, one of several types of patu representing the ancient weaponry of the Maori, the indigenous people of New Zealand. Further Googling details that this particular kind of weapon, carved from whalebone, would be used to bludgeon an enemy’s head, or thrust into the ribs or jaw. Weaponry, of course, is one of several elements that will be emphasized in depicting an ancient style of Maori martial arts in Fraser‘s new film, with the aid of stunt coordinator Steve […]

Zero Gravity's Andrew Suleiman Features Choreography In New Featurette For YOU CAN'T HEAR ME/YOU CAN'T SEE ME

Lee B. Golden III

The team for You Can’t Hear Me/You Can’t See Me, with Andrew Suleiman (left) and Verdy Bhawanta (right) on the bottom. Upon discovering the world of independent action cinema for myself about a decade ago, I learned who actor, writer, martial artist and stunt coordinator Andrew Suleiman (pictured above, bottom row on the left) when I saw him in a 2004 project for Zero Gravity with actor Larry Leong titled Cha Cha Chinaman. From then on, Suleiman became a name I never let go of – even as my computer burned out back in 2008 and I was left to endure life without the internet for a few years. Well, earlier today, I had the opportunity to acquaint myself with Suleiman in a fun, lively chat about his happenings, his career and what he’s up to now. And though many of us haven’t heard from the team as a whole, […]

Fight Factory 108 Gets SMACK(ED) DOWN With A New Practice Clip

Lee B. Golden III

In the tradition of continuing to introduce short practice fights that bring a sense of cinematic production value, the folks over at Fight Factory 108 took to YouTube this week to share their latest little 1-minute gem, Smack(ed) Down, directed by Michael Lehr. Testing out a newly made prop chair in addition to some new camera equipment, the clip featuring two of the team’s own, Katelyn Brooke and Narayana Cabral, both best known for their roles in Micah Brock’s highly successful action comedy webseries, Slug Street Scrappers. While the clip is very short, it also serves as a noteworthy heads-up for anyone interested in what the world of independent action has to offer. And in the New Year, there will be plenty. Among other projects, Lehr and Cabral will also be seen in an upcoming collaborative action short with dancer, actor, stunt coordinator and filmmaker John Wusah titled Valiant. So […]

AROUND THE WEB: Christmas Edition

Lee B. Golden III

It’s been a vivacious year for independent action cinema, and likely moreso than what I can keep up with, with so many teams out there in the world looking to create inspired and ambitious short films and projects to get their content circulating. And today, I have at least four new clips for what I am dubbing as this year’s Christmas Day edition of my Around The Web series, with two of the clips attributed to the holiday season. The first two come straight from Italy, by way of two teams – the first being D-Unit’s new fan-driven shortfilm, Gift Revenge: A Star Wars Christmas Special featuring actors Loris Ripamonti and Mirco Cazzol. The piece is directed and edited by Cristoforo Cervino, with whom all three are currently working on a recently aired YouTube action webseries titled C9DES (Codes) – click the tags at the bottom of the article to […]

Feast Your Eyes On A Full Fight Clip From Lunar's FAIR GAME

Lee B. Golden III

Lunar Stunts founders, independent filmmakers Eric Nguyen and Irvin Nguyen are looking to end 2014 with a bang in the form of their latest epic action short film, Fair Game. The piece was filmed around four months ago starring actor and stuntman Jeffrey Griffith and the team’s newest member, Mikey Arce, from a script written and directed by Eric about a consulting agent hired by a security agency to aid an escaped prisoner, only to learn the truth of his mission later on. I contacted Eric on Monday to talk a bit more on the project, which has already seen its first teaser airing back in August. Eric has some pretty big ambitions to up the antee on a lot of the stunts and action for his future films, ambitions you can clearly see in the teaser as well as the video below. Furthermore, Eric expresses his experience with Jeffrey […]

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Hybrid Academy Unleashes Its 'Wrath' In A New Campaign Video

Lee B. Golden III

The folks over at Glasgow-based Hybrid Fight Academy are continually putting out some impressive independent skits to further showcase the athletic, stunt and screentalents talents of its students, along with its instructors, George Johnston and Mandy Bhari. As the two continue their long-running practice of instructing their pupils with a variety of martial arts styles incorporated in their brand of hybridized training, they have also incorporated screenfighting classes in their syllabus and are open to teaching anyone with a shared interest in fight design and action performance, which brings us to their latest campaign video, Hybrid Fight Academy Wrath – Part 1, shot and edited clean and crisp by the folks from Controlled Image. The two companies recently collaborated on several short videos before during the year, including Trapped and Hybrid, featuring Bhari and Johnston respectively. The latest video showcases the two demonstrating choreography and coordination, along several brief confessionals […]

TEAM NRG Kicks Into Action With A New Showreel

Lee B. Golden III

You may recall back in May that I shared an action packed revenge thriller short film from independent filmmaker Trey “Showtime” Drysdale titled The Enigma, with actor Craig Canning. Well, if the names sound familiar, then you’re likely aware of the live-action stage stylings as the dynamic martial arts performance duo, Team NRG. Based out in the U.K., Team NRG presents an eclectic hybrid array of extreme martial arts, weapons, dance, tricking and fight choreography, which they edit themselves. Their performances are documented in such previous events as the Bodypower Expo, the Open Yorkshire Classics Bodybuilding Show, the Arnold Carnival at Nottingham, and most recently at the 2013 Unity International Games at the Ricoh Arena in Coventry. Formerly of the now defunct international demo troupe, Team GBR, Drysdale and Canning came into NRG bringing their own formidable skill sets, with Drysdale, a 3rd degree black belt and eleven year Taekwondo […]

Mandy Bhari Fights Her Way Out Of Captivity In ROUGH HOUSE (2012)

Lee B. Golden III

Mandy Bhari has been practicing martial arts for over 25 years. She co-owns and operates the Hybrid Academy Of Martial Arts in Glasgow where students practice physical fitness, learn self-defense and ultimately train in the same field of martial arts philosophy founded on the inspiring principles founded by the late iconic martial arts legend and Jeet Kune Do founder, Bruce Lee, of whom Mandy is also a devoted fan. Having just recently gotten back into acting in the last few years, Mandy is also an accomplished stuntwoman and actress who applies her versatility while engaging in screenfighting workshops with her students, choreographing and executing skits, and even shooting shortfilms. I recently managed to catch one of Mandy’s shortfilms by writer/director Johnny Herbin, Rough House, where she served as the producer and starred as the main actor along with fight choreographer George Johnston’s stunt team. I got to talk to Mandy […]

DARDREX Takes Its New Style UNDERGROUND

Lee B. Golden III

Independent action film company Dardrex Productions debut its most recent experimental short film called Test Fight: Underground. The video clip illustrates actors Darren Holmquist and C.J. Thoms, illustrating the company’s latest efforts to deviate from its previous observances of Hong Kong-stylized action scenes, and into a newer, more brutal, grounded-in-reality style of fight choreography and stuntwork (otherwise known as the “Dardrex New Style”) to signify Dardrex Productions as a pivotal milestone in evolving the independent action film industry since their video announcement late last year. Description via Darren Holmquist “…The main goals we were going for with this fight scene was to tell a story through the fight and make sure the fight never went into a pattern. No move repeats and the pace changes throughout the fight. We hope you guys found our acting decent as well. :-)” Click HERE if the embed fails to load, and don’t forget […]