With three days of the first ever Interterm Stunt Class under our belt, I'm now thrilled to share our overall plan to show you exactly what it's like behind the scenes of a Dodge Production class!

The deets:

  • The class meets every day, on our soundstages, from 10-2
  • Every day features a guest speaker, prominent in the stunt/effects industry
  • The class has a rotating cast of directors and cinematographers in the initial weeks
  • Two permanent producers coordinate the class' shooting schedule, call sheets, and producer-related business
  • The class will shoot two short films which will involve some stunt action

The frequency of awesome guests, special stunt scenes, and hands-on demonstrations, means I can keep you up to date about the most exciting aspects of the class throughout the week.  I'll be posting at least twice a week to show you what life is like onset, complete with Flickr slideshows and albums of the guests/stunts/shooting, and we'll have a brand new YouTube channel set up where we'll be uploading clips of the most exciting action in class.  I'm also coordinating with some students involved with the project to get brief guest blog posts about their experience onset, so you don't have to take my word for how amazing these classes are.

 

Take a look behind the scenes of the first few days on set: (Click on the pictures to check out the description of what's going on, within our Flickr album)

 

Here's a taste of what happened the last few days:

  • Buddy Joe Hooker and his wife Gayle led the class in hands-on demonstrations of some of the most dangerous-looking stunts I've ever seen, let alone seen in person!
  • We met Ashton, a twentysomething professional stunt actor, who wowed us with full gainers (flips), double gainers (double flips!), a move he invented called "the salmon", and your run-of-the-mill 15-foot jumps through the air
  • We watched a man set on fire and discussed the safety regulations around this rather dramatic technique
  • We witnessed a working demonstration of the RAM, a computer-assisted "air lift" which allows operators to safely control how far and high a stunt actor can be hurled into the air, led by Buddy Joe's main machinery whiz (who invented the device!)
  • We listened to details for the directors (each day, a director is assigned and gets to control all the action) about how to work effectively with stuntmen and stunt effects teams

As you can probably imagine, there's so much interesting footage to see, we can't pack it all into one blog post.  So I'll be creating a YouTube channel early next week, just for this class.  In upcoming semesters, you'll hopefully be able to tune in and watch other production classes, PR campaign presentations, club and alumni life, and much more.  As Buddy Joe would say, the "sky's the limit!"  — or at least, in Ashton's case, our 35-foot high sound stage ceiling!

Next week, I'll be showing you the highlights of some of the video shot during these initial stunt scenes as well, so stay tuned!

 

If you're interested in contributing to the blogs as a guest author, whether you're in the class, just an observer, or about any other aspect of your experiences at Dodge, don't hesitate to email me personally.  We want to hear your stories!