This past weekend, I wrapped my fight choreography and stunt performer services on the set of Experiment 7, the latest film from Joe Davison (100 Tears). Here’s the description of the film from IMDb.com:

 Dr. Felix Copper is a doctor of Biological Sciences and is on a quest to find a solution to purifying radiation from water in the year 2022, ten years after the fall of humankind. He has to travel to the far outreaches of every city known, trying to make his way to the coveted underground lab, if the Mutants don’t get him first. Along the way he meets some unwarranted friends, Sam and William, two off the cuff heroes who cause more problems than they fix, and Aco, a super-model turned weapons expert. Together, Dr. Copper just might survive long enough to find a cure.

It was an exciting experience working on this film and a nice change from the typical vampires and zombies, although almost everyone was mistakenly calling the mutants ‘zombies’. Being on this type of set reminded me how easily you can make the most of the resources you have. Joe had some of the best skill and talent around… all to be apart of a great film. Joe had great energy and was fun to work with, Chris Rish had great vision as the cinematographer to turn great fight scenes into epic ones, and working with the talent of Candice Rojas for the second time and Dwight Cenac for the first time made me wish I would have been more involved in this film somehow. As with every film project, big or small, there’s going to be some times where things don’t go exactly as planned. Behind the scenes, Jori and Karaly helped keep everything moving along nicely and kept everyone sane under some stressful times.

Since this was the first time working with Joe Davison, working under stunt coordinator, Jonathan Tilley, was seemless and his input and adjustments on the fight scenes helped give Joe exactly what he was looking for. It was refreshing working with someone like JT where egos did not get in the way of making great fight scenes. Some people made some comments about ’stealing thunder’, but I set that straight real fast. Fight choreography is a specialty under stunts. That means that when there’s a stunt coordinator, I report to that person. Jumping out of windows and setting people on fire is not my thing. I’m not trained or certified to do it and I don’t really care to do it. I choreograph a fight scene, present it to the stunt coordinator who may make adjustments as needed, then we take it to the director and cinematographer.

Finally working with professional boxer Jenna Shiver was a pleasure as well. She’s been training with Marrese Crump on and off between fights and may be a great addition to our team. She took direction well and after just a few rehearsals, her movements and timing were pretty sharp. I look forward to training and working with her more in the future and helping her use that potential and energy for film.

Although I’m listed as the fight choreographer on my website and on IMDb.com profile, I only worked on two major fight scenes. I have been extremely busy with my new son and a few other projects so I wasn’t as involved as I’d like to be. I’d tell you which scenes they were, but I’d rather everyone go see the movie and tell me which fight scenes you enjoyed the most. Word is, it will be premiering at Screamfest in Orlando this year so I’ll be there and hope to see all of you there as well! I’d have some pictures for everyone, but they are keeping everything under tight wrap until the release of the movie. However, you can head over to Fangoria.com to check out some exclusive photos and comments they have. Enjoy!