Movie Stuntmen

all right [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] thank you [Music] when you see an action movie you watch a kind of filmmaking that is not only unpredictable but often genuinely dangerous the staging of action sequences requires the skills of a team of Specialists carry out legal tasks without getting a scratch during his career stunt coordinator Bob Woodham has died for a living countless times his films include Fahrenheit 451 Adams woman the James Bond Thriller you only lived twice he heads a team of stuntmen who are rarely out of work Rampage four years of the Commandos skydiver a rope specialist Graham matric 12 years experience is a stunt Rider Kirby Nelson Chief safety man a veteran of the team his films include Cleopatra and the guns and Navarro and Campbell he's been with the team less than a year encrypted into stunt work after a tour of Duty in Vietnam his experience came in useful during the filming of the war sequences you've just seen foreign most War films are made with a cooperation of the army apart from supplying Amish personnel carriers and troops the Army Engineers provide some very realistic explosions [Music] three pounds of plastic explosive two gallons of petrol make a stimulating bang and a long lens on the camera make the stuntmen appear closer to the explosion than they really are thank you [Music] when the script calls for man to be literally blasted into the air a trampoline is often used here it's concealed from the camera by a mound of Earth [Music] small Satchel of flash powder mixed with aluminum powder is placed in a concave metal plate which will direct the blast into the right area has the stuntman hits the trampoline the charge is detonated electrically and he Somers all through the explosion creating the desired effect foreign [Applause] [Music] on August 20th 1857 HMS Dunbar was wrecked here with a loss of 121 lives the Macabre reputation of the place has been enhanced over the years by a number of people who have committed suicide by jumping off the cliff the police Rescue Squad pulls 12 bodies a year off the rocks or out of the treacherous Waters around this area Bob wouldn't last no plans to become a statistic he will jump 100 feet onto a carefully prepared rig made up of 500 cardboard boxes and 14 mattresses the air trapped in the boxes will cushion his fall provided of course that the boxes don't get wet from the flying spray the wind has increased considerably since the start of the filming and one big wave could ruin everything Bob keeps an eye on the safety man if they lash the boxes together with rope position the mattresses the architecture of the rig has to be perfect there's no room for error because Bob will hit it at a speed in excess is 70 miles per hour the rigney is completion paw protects the most vulnerable parts of his body with special pads [Applause] [Music] [Applause] foreign [Applause] [Music] how are you going to set about this oh when you're all cameras I'll count two which will give you enough time for your high speed to get going I'll get to the edge and then I'll go and land in the rig I hope a bit worried about the wind there's a bit of updraft and winds very good tastes good yeah yeah I'm scared what we've ever done oh yeah it's a high fall okay let's go [Applause] [Laughter] [Applause] foreign but the stuntman's twin goals are achieved survival and a good shot [Applause] the boxes have burned to make way for the next stop the simulated free fall sometimes call a flying Fox Rampage has been doing it on and off for 10 years a little late the simulated Free Fall is is done as a complete drop it's almost as if you've got no braking at all in the initial part and all braking is done by friction on the Rope by your Brakeman down below to prepare the Rope for this stun preliminary jump is necessary the slow speeds take the Kinks out of it the Rope actually goes straight through a carabiner with one twist on the side this gives a completely free run until there's tension on the bottom side of the road and as soon as the tension this creates friction around the carabiner and the size of the Caravan is important the size of the rope and the type of the Rope is also very important because it must give the right amount of friction and from this and only from experience you can judge how fast your braking will be because if you're coming in at about 30 maybe 35 miles an hour and you don't judge properly you can be caught too high and this will give a Twist in the Rope which will lock against the Carabiner and could break it back quite easily [Applause] something you'd never want to do unless you had expert Brakeman on the bottom that have to know what you're trying to do you've got to work as a team and if you don't work with him uh either you get killed or they get killed because you might hit them at about 30 40 mile an hour and that was precisely what very nearly happened the Rope became wet and all of a sudden friction found [Applause] Ed he would take a few close shaves the most hazardous stunt of the sequence was the tandem slide [Applause] the takeoff point was 175 feet up [Applause] first the nylon slide rope had to be rigged from the top of the cliff crossed the gap to the rocks on the other side once secured it had to be tensed as much as possible to prevent stretching under the combined weight of the two men foreign worsened the preparations became almost as difficult as the stunt itself [Applause] [Music] [Applause] finally the Rope was ready well that is the whole connection to the to the slide rope all you do is you just come in your spin is undone and you just clip into the main road as soon as you've flipped in grab a hold of both of the toggles and it's important only to have a finger grip like this because if you've got your hands here if you put your hand through like that it'd be too hard to get your hand out you get caught so it's a light finger grip like this so you can just release very quickly and uh in this particular one that we're going to do it's going to be a tandem I don't believe it's ever been tried uh I don't know whether it'll ever be tried again after the day either but uh all it's going to be is exactly the same thing but uh Bob's going to be across my shoulder and draped over there and it's the same judgment again you just let go and this time it's just a case of both of us falling at the right in the right place on this occasion once they hit the water their problems are not over there is a 10-foot shelf under that ledge and a strong undertow get sucked under that you don't come out alive so they have to gauge the swell of the waves in time their moves precisely quite an ugly moment when they hit an overhanging ledge the slide went off beautifully [Music] [Applause] there will always be westerns Love Story spy drummers gangster pictures come and go but westerns go on forever [Music] in 70 years the movie going public has not grown tired of them the significant part of the Western's appeal is the stunt work foreign bulldozer prepares the ground on the set of a decaying western town the stuntmen organize themselves for their respective scenes [Music] has taken original situation where the stage carrying the gold shipment is being hotly pursued by the local wildlife and is heading for the safety of the nearest town [Music] thank you [Music] meanwhile the Eva Vigilant Sheriff has heard the approaching gunfire and has organized an ambush [Music] enemies [Music] [Applause] foreign [Music] like that is as much an act of faith on the horse's part as it is on the Riders it is essential that the animal and man know each other well and trust each other completely [Music] through rehearsal in deep sand the horse can be taught that when he falls he's not gonna hurt himself [Music] in the end he actually comes to enjoy it a straight fault in the saddle is accomplished with the Ada step stirrups there is no chance of the foot getting entangled and the rider has a secure platform from which to bolt cleanly onto the rake same sense of timing was needed for the leap off the stagecoach and the rig was hidden from camera view by a bush for the double fall in the town the rig had to be hidden below ground and covered over with sand as the shot called for one body to be seen hitting the Earth foreign was half sewn through to enable Warren Campbell to break it easily [Music] [Applause] [Music] Warren's next task was a tough shot he had to double for one of the bandits who was to appear to be blasted backwards clean off his horse this effect is achieved by wearing a harness that is attached by a wire to a fixed base [Applause] the rider gallops forward till the wire Runs Out not quite satisfied and called for retake the safety man prepared the landing spot once again [Music] I find that once everything's taken into account I don't think there is a chance and it's getting hurt or killed but there is always a time that there could be that accident on the retake the wire from the heart is broken Warren fell badly and cracked three ribs before a stuntman starts working on a picture he signs what is known as a blood release he absolves the production company from all liability in case of death or injury one of the disadvantages of the profession the most dangerous of all horse stunts comes next the Stirrup drag such scenes are particularly hazardous because the instinctive reaction of a horse is something brushing its hind legs it's the bucket lash out at it so stunt Horsemen gray metric had to get the horse used to dragging something close behind it first to sack then himself foreign with a short length of cord then rigged it so that he could release himself from the horse as soon as he needed to this horse weighs around a thousand pounds a kick from him will pack the combined punch of four heavyweight boxers [Music] thank you [Applause] he could have used a special Breakaway Stirrup work by the foot alone but he favors this method which he feels gives him more control [Music] for the audience a pretty picture the Contemporary action picture is where the stuntman finds most of his work and a good Stunt Driver is always in demand to give you an idea of a few of the stunts he could be called upon to do let's take a situation where two criminals have planned to rob a bank Courier it should be a perfectly simple hit and run grab but they didn't bargain on the result of two unfortunate coincidences a can of gasoline in the back of that car and a righteously uptight passerby [Music] thank you foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] as you can see crime does not pay stunt work however does for a small group The Elite at the profession will go regularly from one film to the next conditions vary from country to country but in general a stunt man has paid a daily retaining fee equivalent to an actor's daily rate car crashes require the same degree a split second timing the drivers have to maintain precise speeds and aim for precise spots yes it's pretty dangerous but um it's my form of art so you know I've got a carpet I suppose uh I'm a little scared right now because I have something to do this afternoon that I've never done before in my life and that's totally on fire and I'm a little bit scared right now thinking about it for protection from the fire bottled water and use a new product on the market water gel invented in Australian water gel is a fire retardant contact with it will put out a flame faster than any other known method it's the only fire extinguisher medically approved to be used on people [Music] the stunt men wear a set of clothing soaked in water gel beneath their costume for the scenes shot inside the burning car the vehicle was stationary and was rocked from side to side to simulate movement [Music] kerosene soaked Rags attached to the outside of the car combined with gasoline ignited on the inside produced the desired wall of flame the heat was intense and after a while the stuntman indicated that they were no longer acting the blanket soaked and water gel was quickly applied [Music] the shots of Bob and Warren smashing through the windscreen on fire had to be taken several times to get the necessary number of different angles [Music] here the shop required is a Tumble from the hood onto the ground foreign [Music] [Music] gel blanket is applied the effect is that of being hit with three gallons of hard water it must be very welcome I'm not a bad [ __ ] I worry more about getting badly hurt and killed I've been close to uh being killed many times even on this picture a couple of times I'm very lucky to hit the rig you know lots of close ones like that where I've just caught the interaction of such an uniably dangerous profession the one thing I like the money um secondly uh after learning a lot about the work of Bob I find that it's uh very interesting and also very exciting I found that getting the adrenaline running in the body really turns me on yes you do you get you get a terrific feeling of exhilaration a hand before when you're preparing say you hang on the edge of a cliff ready to go there's naturally a fair degree of as I said nurse anticipation but once you've gone and it's it's the the action's on and you can you can feel everything working properly there is a terrific ceiling uh feeling of exhilaration in it and the the feeling after when you you hit the bottom you a smile breaks out there you can you couldn't stop it's just a a beautiful feeling then [Music] thank you foreign [Music] [Music]