The Fifth Element is one of my favorite movies because of the strong female lead.

If you’re a regular here, you know that I’ve been studying fight scenes this year.

The research is the result of working on a new short film, which I wrote and plan to direct in early 2016. I’ve been having a lot of conversations about it and feel very lucky that things are falling into place. We still have a long way to go, though.

It’s not enough to say, “I want to shoot a fight scene.”

Far from it.

There’s so much that goes into writing and making an action movie, even on a small scale. I’m learning a lot about writing the character, how this influences her fight style, and how both dictate the camera movement.

I’m also learning how to better communicate my vision, both on paper and in person.

The screenplay I wrote is lacking in a lot of the details, so I have to revisit it and fix a bunch of stuff. I’m also working hard on the nitty gritty details: shoot locations, shooting style, and fight choreography. Plus, safety is a huge deal so I’m working on ways to cover that as well.

Without further ado, here are some styles I’m eyeballing.

Into the Badlands sneak peak: Widow Gets Ambushed

Totally gorgeous. So incredible. I love so many things about it.

I’m probably biased since I took a workshop with Shane Hurlbut, the show’s director of photography, last year. It has changed everything about the way I want to make movies. I can’t wait for the show to premiere this month.

The fight scene, however, is a bit different than what I want for our short film. It’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and that doesn’t really work for this character, setting, or motivation – despite how cool and gorgeous it may be.

Our character is more street fight style.

Old Boy Hallway Fight Scene (2003)

Love the steady camera movement so you can appreciate the fight. The lead actor is like a magnet, pulling the camera forward or backward down the hallway. So great for so many reasons.

This style might make it harder to choreograph. There’s no way to “hide” the fact that the punches aren’t really landing by moving the camera quickly. This could kill the believe-ability of the fight, which I definitely want to avoid.

Transporter 3 Fight Scene

What I like about this scene is that Statham’s character uses what he’s wearing to fight back. Jacket, tie, and shirt all come off and become weapons. Since my hero is a woman, she could use so many things on her: purse, scarf, keys, shoes, etc.

The new film is going to be really great.

If you want to be a part of it or hear more behind-the-scenes (BTS) details, please let me know in the comments. I can share more info about how we’re shooting it and how you can help out!

In the meantime, be sure you sign up for my monthly email updates!