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SAE Magazine 12-2

S tunts are one of the most exciting parts of the film business. But how do you get to do these things safely and on a no budget pro- duction? Sometimes it’s a synergy between experts in their field, such as stunt coordinator Chris An- derson from Ozstunts Pty Ltd and Morgan Evans stunt man and their co-director. This article pro- vides a description of a recent music video shoot involving some of SAE Melbourne’s film students. These students got to experience and witness the exhilaration and creativity of shooting car and mo- torbike stunts, along with learning the importance of on-location management and safety. As an old film school friend, Evans asked me if I would be interested in co-directing a music video for the band “Welcome To The Numb”. I jumped at the chance to be involved and thought it would be a brilliant opportunity for a small number of pas- sionate students to come along and help shoot the footage, which included car and motorbike stunts. “It was great being part of a professional produc- tion. Seeing how Chris Anderson and his Ozstunts crew planned out and executed such a violent car roll and bike crash without any hitches was remark- able.” (Ben Horton, Melbourne SAE student) Over a seven-week period Anderson, Evans and I planned and devised what was needed in regards to organising the stunt, beginning with breaking down the action into smaller components. This in- cluded running through potential scenarios with toy Matchbox cars, so here is a reason to keep a hold of or buy some toys! Even though this seemed like kid’s play, it was a great tool to visualise the action. Finally, we locked down the story: A car on a country road blows a tire and becomes out of control going into a roll. Another car fol- lows close behind. The driver of the pursuing ve- hicle gets out to assist the trapped driver while the car’s passenger runs back up the road to warn on coming traffic of the accident up ahead…but it is to late. A motorbike comes around the blind cor- ner and locks up. The bike skids on the gravel road and doesn’t have enough time to get out the way, smashing into the back of the second car. The mo- torcyclist is thrown into the air and smashes down hard on the upside down rolled car. Anderson and I worked through the insurance is- sues regarding safety checks. This is obviously a very important step in any film production, but es- pecially integral when dealing with stunts. It cer- tainly needs more space for attention than what I can give in this instance, as it lies outside the scope of this particular article, however I cannot stress its importance enough.As a part of the pre-production phase, we also found a country farm location that was suitable for the crew to have control over the traffic on the road that ran beside it. ➤ 93 Production & Know How // Stunts Index

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