{"id":1238,"date":"2014-04-06T01:26:59","date_gmt":"2014-04-06T01:26:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/alfredrocks.com\/blog\/?p=1238"},"modified":"2014-10-24T07:05:01","modified_gmt":"2014-10-24T07:05:01","slug":"action-coordinating-akiko-izumitanis-film-the-other-side-starring-james-kyson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alfredrocks.com\/blog\/action-coordinating-akiko-izumitanis-film-the-other-side-starring-james-kyson\/","title":{"rendered":"Action Coordinating Akiko Izumitani’s film The Other Side, starring James Kyson"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"The<\/a>
The Other Side<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In late 2013 Director Akiko Izumitani<\/strong> approached me to work on a short film she was directing. \u00a0At this point\u00a0<\/span>I had just gotten back from China for a few months.\u00a0<\/span>I read the script and liked the concept. The film is essentially about perspectives and realizing that behind every person is a story. It was called “The Other Side<\/strong>.”<\/p>\n

\"tos<\/a> \"tos<\/a> \"alf<\/a>\"alf<\/a> \"tos<\/a> \"tos<\/a> \"alf<\/a><\/p>\n

I was brought on relatively early in terms of the final cast and production team. It was nice because I got to see the story go through a number of revisions and got to see more and more people join the team. I was first brought on as action coordinator<\/strong> and then later cast as Darrick aka Guard #3 because Akiko wanted some heavy action in her project. The rest of the cast slowly came together and they were all incredibly talented actors. James Kyson (Heroes), Peyton McDavitt (House MD), Tanner Thomason (Sync), Lawrence Kao (The Walking Dead) <\/strong>and Takato Yonemoto (47 Ronin)<\/strong> all joined onboard.<\/p>\n

\"Cast<\/a>
Cast of The Other Side<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Hats off to Akiko because she really went all in on this short film. She spared no expense for her four day shoot. We had all the appropriate departments from wardrobe, set design, ACs, ADs, to stunts. Daniel Cotroneo<\/strong> was our Director of Photography<\/strong> and we were shooting with a Red<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\"DP<\/a>
Director of Photography Daniel Cotroneo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"akiko<\/a>
Akiko Directing<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I guess on every project you learn something. Though I had action directed before on Feature Films, Short Films, Music Videos, etc. there was something that happened at the end of this shoot – I realized I really enjoyed action directing. I think there is always a learning curve. I have been doing martial arts and watching martial arts movies for over 15 years. I have been choreographing and dabbling in 2nd unit action directing<\/strong> for about 4-5 years so I think I finally reached this stage where I got an epiphany, things clicked. \u00a0I knew what I was looking for in terms of framing, angles, cuts, performance, and stunts. There’s still much to learn, but all I’m saying is something clicked.<\/p>\n

\"Alfred<\/a>
Alfred Hsing as Darrick Chan on The Other Side<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

So out of the 4 day shoot there were essentially 2 main days of action. I was on set for 3 of the 4 days as action coordinator and 2 of those days I was also playing one of the mafia members.<\/p>\n

\"tos<\/p>\n

Stunt day 1<\/strong> was more simple action-wise. I brought on Jerry to double Tanner because there were some pretty intense wrecks in the fight scenes. Jerry was great to work with and he was a great sport because he even dyed his hair so it would match more closely with Tanner’s hair color. There were a few shots that I doubled James Kyson. James was a great sport as well. We trained a bit before the shoot and he was in good condition, but the day of the shoot he (along with the director) got a nasty fever so we did everything we could to save their strength where possible.<\/p>\n

\"James<\/a>
James Kyson and Alfred Hsing on TOS<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Tanner<\/a>
Tanner Thomason and Jerry Quill on TOS<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Stunt day 2<\/strong> was much more intense. This day I had to fight and action coordinate. There were a lot of shots to cover in a 12 hour period of time, but it worked out! Daniel, our DP was excellent to work with. He had come during the rehearsals and we went over some shots. I was worried about how long it would take to get each shot since we were on a tight schedule and his area of experience was not in action, but the day of the shoot he really nailed it. We would run through the action a few times and he would follow along and as shooting progressed we could nail the camera movement in 1-2 takes. As time got tight towards the end of the day we really could only afford 1 or maybe 2 takes. All in all it worked out smoothly and was a great experience.<\/p>\n

\"bloody<\/a>
Intense Day of Action on The Other Side =P<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After the “bad guys” got beaten to a bloody pulp, it was a wrap!<\/strong> Shooting on projects like these remind me why I love filmmaking. Not to say there weren’t challenges and obstacles, but overall everyone came together to support Akiko’s vision and there was great energy and camaraderie on this project.<\/p>\n

\"TOS<\/a>
That is a Wrap on TOS!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

Check out this teaser \/ behind the scenes video to see more.
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