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VIDEO TRANSCRIPTION – How to perform stunts for beginners tip 7. How to perform the belt choke or hair grab and drag stunt. hat’s what we’ll answer in today’s video.
Hi my name’s Dillon Wilson with CBT Stunt Alliance. Train Hard. Perform Easy. We help actors, stunt performers, filmmakers and content creators learn professional stunt training to leverage in film, TV and live action entertainment performances.
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Now we get a lot of questions about how to get started as an action actor or stunt performer. So we’re gonna share a few things with you.
Last thing before we go to the training, the video instructionals in this free video series are actually taken from our online master course.
These are meant to be done after you perform the full -body warm -up, which we teach how to do in a master course.
hair grab and pull movies and tv shows tip 1:
All right, now we’re going to learn how to do the belt choke and floor drag or the variation to hair grab and floor drag. Now this is something that tends to be a staple in a lot of different genres.
And these are the kind of things that we would, as professional stunt coordinators, teach actors. A lot of stunt performers would say, oh, can you cast me on these projects? And it’s like a lot of this stuff production wants actor training done.
And these are, again, why it’s beneficial to be an action actor. So the both of these techniques, these action sequences are actually used a lot in horror movies, slasher films, you know, action movies, you know, anywhere, any and everywhere.
They’re very versatile, especially when there’s any fight scene, whether it’s being done to the lead or someone that the lead cares about. So take a look at the video. This is BTS video, actor training that we did actually on set on shoot day for a film I stunt coordinated a while ago.
For now, it’s a bit too calm. Yeah, right. OK, I can do more. Ready? I love it.
All right. So how to do this, it’s actually quite simple. We’re going to demonstrate your part first as the actor or stunt performer in this getting choked or getting their hair pulled and then the part of the person actually who’s pulling this is my partner today is going to be choking me and actually grabbing my hair and dragging me.
hair pulling stunt, hair pulling stunts Tip 2:
So just remember, most important thing to remember from all this stuff is that all stunts is an illusion. You’re giving the illusion of being choked, the illusion of being dragged. And you must remember this because otherwise you’ll go into this too aggressively thinking that you can just plow into something.
It was very common, especially for newer stunt performers and action actors. Yet then they think they did a good job on the first take and they realize it’s about another eight takes of this or more.
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Right? So here are the how it works. So we’re gonna say that this belt is the one that my partner is gonna choke me with. So it starts off by the partner taking the belt and looping it over the head of the person so they loop it over like this.
You see that? Now what you do is you’re gonna reach out with your hands you’re gonna grab the belt and you’re gonna flex your arms so that they’re rigid right? And you’re gonna pull this up towards your neck like this.
So you see that? I’m here I grab it I pulled up towards my own neck yet it never gets any tighter and the last thing is I tuck my chin over it right? And that’s it because what’s gonna happen next is your partner is gonna pull the belt yet you don’t want to be like this is why you have it up here and you tuck your chin over it.
belt choke stunt, Garrote choke stunt video Trick 3
As your partner pulls the belt what they’re doing is the belt you’re not being pulled by the belt being around your neck that’s the illusion you’re being pulled by your, your flexed arms. So just like if you were here and then they pulled you it would drag you could drag along the floor just like this.
See that? That’s how far away it is from my neck. That’s the technique the only difference is we’re generating that illusion by just putting the belt against our neck and tucking our chin over it. So at no time should the belt be tightened around your neck. It’s just like that and once you tuck that chin you keep it here and you’re flexed that’s it I mean you’re you’re safe and you feel it and you actually practice it a few times with your partner.
The last part of this is the act out from here you start making you know the faces and you’re like thrashing side to side like this and you’re kicking your feet this could also be from a standing position like someone’s doing a garat attack or something same thing so you’re here and you’re kicking around and kicking walls trying to get loose and the whole time the belt isn’t even around your neck right so those are the key things to remember we’ll demonstrate that next just with the with the fighting dummy or fighting mannequin just you can see though you saw it again before in the video.
Now the variation of that is a hair grab and floor drag, again this could be standing though doesn’t have to be the floor drag. Though a lot of directors tend to want the floor drag because it looks a lot more dramatic Yet it could be something done in a fight scene. You know where the person is standing either way the technique is the same.
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So the way this one works again, we got our stunt dummy here is your partner grabs your hair not my twist I’m gonna grab my twists right and so they grab the hair yet is lightly. All right, so it’s not like if this is it the hair. They’re just grabbing it like this holding it.
There’s no tension in the hair, right? And so they’re just holding on just like if I were doing this with my own hair See that? Says no tension and then what you do is you reach back with your hand and you grab their wrist See that? Then you grab right above your hand with the other wrist and that’s what it looks like, see? So all they’re doing with their hand It looks they could be grabbing my shirt like this,
Right? It’d be the same thing right doing a shirt grab because all they’re gonna do is just hold a little bit of the shirt in Your hand and not have any tension on it. And that’s what you’re gonna do.
Garrote choke stunt youtube, Garrote choke stunt reddit Trick 4
Everything else is as before. You’re here, you know, you start thrashing around kicking your feet kicking walls screaming. Ah, you know all types of things screaming at them saying all right. All right, I’ll tell you the code, give you the code to the safe, you know, whatever and the whole time your arms are flexed and you’re they’re dragging you By your flexed arms and you’re actually grabbing onto their wrists the same way you grabbed into the belt before.
So everything is the same as before these type of things directors love and you’ll get plenty of usage in these again across a lot a lot of different genres of film and TV. So take from this how to generate that illusion because sometimes especially if you’re creating your own content.
You’ll be able to kind of combine things together and come up with really cool action sequences. Stop the video now and give this a try.
All right, so if you’re the one actually doing the hair grab or the belt choke, say remember broken down step by step to ensure that you learn it safely, easily and quickly. Lastly, we’re going to share with you a few pro tips and before we do, check this out.
So if you want to get started as a Stunt Performer or action actor, definitely head on over to our website and take a free video tour.
Now we’ll finish up by sharing a few bonus pro tips with you.
Remember is you have the belt behind them and kind of cross it with your hands so your wrist kind of crossed. Yet you there’ll always be some space between the belt and the back of your neck see that? so if we were gonna cross it it looks fake doing it like this at the moment.
We do this or we do this you see that? Hold it like that it looks fake because they’re gonna take up the slack right now from here they’re hanging on to the belt so you are still guiding the direction of the drag, think more of doing it with your hips right? So wherever my hips are going is where they’re getting dragged right? And they’re just along for the ride.
Now, that’s how you determine the direction of the drag what sells it and they’re the ones selling the victim always sells this yet what you have to do you’re you have to do your part as well and what you do is move your shoulders and whatever direction they’re thrashing.
So it looks like you’re thrashing them in that direction not themselves because if you just hold your arms here and they’re thrashing around like this and you’re not even moving. That look I mean it could still work because it looks like they’re struggling trying to get out of it, it does usually not what directors want.
So if they’re going in this way let your shoulder go that way so whichever way they’re thrashing you see that? It looks like you know they’re doing the moving and yeah it looks like you’re the one doing it like you’re tossing them around literally like a rag doll kind of like how a predator does.
When they’ve caught its prey and they’re trying and they’re killing it. So again one look you could be here and they just struggle that’s not as powerful yet if they go left take your shoulder left. If they go right take your shoulder right and as you’re doing this you know and you’re moving around it looks pretty brutal you know even if again if it’s a fight scene.
So that’s the key thing you’re always like a fly resting on them, you’re not the one giving pressure you’re not the one choking.
They’re the one doing everything and you’re just essentially just a fly on them so go ahead and stop the video and practice doing this you can grab anything you got a pillow or something else just practice you know doing like this and you’ll get the feel on how to generate this illusion.
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Again, my name is Dillon Wilson with CBT Stunt Alliance. Train hard, perform easy. Don’t miss our next video. We share with you another professional stunt performer training tip. See you next video
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