Hey, everyone.
This is the writers desk.
My name is SC Lannom .
I'm a writer and director and I also
produce content here for StudioBinder.
And today,
we're going to be looking at.
How to write a fight scene?
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Their tends to be some
confusion on this topic.
How to format?
How much detail do you add?
How much do you leave
up to the director?
And the good news is that
it's relatively simple.
Referencing other screenwriters
who write fight scenes in some
of your favorite action films
can really help.
So StudioBinder has asked me to show you
how to write a fight scene from scratch.
And we're going to do
it in five minutes.
Our fight scene today
is going to be inspired
by everyone's favorite dog lover
- John Wick.
Now, "John Wick" fight
scenes are very unique.
We're going to tell you why,
all throughout this video.
Before we get started,
make sure to subscribe below so you
can see more videos just like this one.
You know, man.
I don't think I can do this.
It just doesn't feel right.
It's just I can't do it.
I'm sorry.
That's better.
Since today's fight scene
is inspired by "John Wick"
we've decided to create our
own character Sean Cord.
Sean is going to do the same
thing that John Wick does,
he's going to go through a wave
of gunmen in stylish fashion,
and then afterward he's going
to get into a one-on-one fight
with someone a little
more formidable.
So today for this video,
we're going to be using StudioBinders
free screenwriting software.
Ready?
Let's go.
Alright, so.
Interiour Nightclub.
Penthouse.
Night.
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And is disabled by
an elbow to the face.
Time out.
What I did was, I made it so
that Sean is beating up people
but he's also shooting people.
That's a big part of
a "John Wick" fight
is that he mixes melee
combat with gunplay.
Let's get back to it.
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Okay, time out.
One of the things
that both John Wick
scripts and I like to do
is when you have a
big group of people,
you want to show
how many are left.
It keeps the reader understanding
and tracking the action
but it also allows the stunt coordinators
to understand how many people are left.
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Okay, time up.
So one of the things
that you want to do
is have forward momentum.
That's one of the things
that John Wick always does
as he`s always moving
forward and he's very calm.
So it's nice to add
a little qualifiers
like calmly or quickly.
It's something that
gives it a real layer.
It gives it some style.
John Wick always reloads
during the scenes
and in fact he`ll
reload in between kills.
It`s much more realistic
and you also get a little
bit of extra style.
Let's get back to it.
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Two left.
Okay, so then.
Sean then fights with.
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Okay, time out.
So what he's done now is
he's beaten the eight people
but we want to have
our one-on-one fight
because it's in line
with John Wick style
and in our case Sean Cord style.
So what we're going to do is were
actually going to transition.
From our setting
to a new setting,
so that we can have a moment
that really gets to
breathe in a new place
with some set design
and things like that.
So we'll do interior.
Night Club.
Kitchen. Continuous.
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Okay, time up.
One of the other things
that you want to do
is you want to be
using onomatopoeia,
whenever a big moment
in the fight happens,
so slams the gun into the wall,
snap when it comes to a neck
break, something like that.
That really sells it, it makes the
reader enjoy reading your script.
Snap.
Okay.
So, as you can see,
we just finished
in five minutes.
We've got a nice setup where
we have a bunch of people,
who get taken out by Sean
in sort of quick fashion,
and then it gets a
little one-on-one fight,
but we just got a comment
from one of our producers.
"Just make sure Sean actually gets
shot in the scene at one point."
Now, when you get notes
from the producers
you can't resist,
you can't fight
what you need to
do is incorporate.
Figure out a way to take your style,
their note and put it in your script.
Okay, ambushed by Igor,
pulls a gun and shoots Sean
in the shoulder.
Add some pain to
your main character.
You have to create an
obstacle for them to overcome.
Igor, say, dashes through
a set of double doors.
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To, say, trade blows.
He breaks Igor's neck.
And we'll go with fade out.
Okay.
So now we're done.
The basic idea is
that you want a minute of
screen time to take up a page
in your screenplay.
This should maybe take about
30-40 seconds of screen time
this entire fight scene.
So we'll go up here.
We'll check out the comment
because we're done,
we incorporated it.
And now we've got a happy
producer, got a good script,
we've got a great movie.
So now you know how to
write a fight scene.
I hope you found this helpful.
Now, obviously you're going to have more
than five minutes to write your scenes,
but it's good to get in the habit
of working within a deadline.
That's what professional
screenwriters have to do.
So what are your
favorite fight scenes?
Tell us in the comments below.
Maybe you have your own
script that you want to write.
Why not try StudioBinder
screenwriting solution.
I used it all
throughout this video.
It`s completely free,
and we have a link in
the description below.
So scroll down, click,
and start writing.
See you on the next one.
