CMU School of Drama


Friday, January 18, 2019

Simulation Training: Action Director Lawrence Ribeiro on Exercises That Help Prepare for Stunts

Filmmaker Magazine: Due to the speed and the nature of stunts and my overall point of view (shooting with the intent of making the images visceral or dynamic), I have come up with some exercises.

Scenarios, locales, speeds and context of the story will dictate how I train. Sometimes you need a supply of guts, sometimes you need to overcome your fears, but the truth of the matter is that my feet rarely touch the ground when shooting. It’s more mental than physical, as a few close calls can throw you off your game.

1 comment:

Nicolaus Carlson said...

This is quite an interesting perspective for this article. Written by someone who is dealing with camera equipment through intense scenes. He lists some very interesting scenarios and how he prepares for them from a more physical and mental state than a artistic or camera point of view. What I think is interesting is that these are all tricks and methods of preparing that athletes use to train or people use to generally stay fit, get fit, etc. These are all things that I actually do but for a different reason than he does and to a lesser extent of course. The trick he uses for gaining reflex response while it does indeed do that it also works to tighten your core and create a much better structure to your body as the muscles learn to balance and rapidly adjust minutely. These sort of go hand in hand with reflexes as the bodies ability to respond and it catching the need to respond are both vital. It is intriguing to hear how there is more to consider within a job that can be easily interpreted as point camera and press record. While it is never that simple, this article describes another side to the job and sends the message that it is important to be prepared for the job in whatever ways you need to be.