I know that they aren’t really falling down the stairs in the same way that I would, and breaking a bone on every step. Presumably there is a technique for descending the stairs in such a way that it looks like you are falling down them.
Hey guys I am a stunt guy so I can give you an answer to this!
So, it like, depends on the kind of fall that’s needed! The technique for falling down stairs like, where Rocky runs up the steps, or where John Wick falls down the stairs a billion times in Wick 4 are different than if you’re falling down something smaller like a set from a house, or even narrower.
A big part of it is wearing the correct protection when doing the stunt. We have everything from insert pads like these bad boys (https://store.afstunts.com/products/action-factory-polymer-insert-pad-2-0) to full on tactical armor. The latter being great as you can wear both an insert and tactical knee pads and you’re just covered in protection on your hard points.
But back to the narrow vs wide stair fall!
So for a wide stair you literally can lay along the steps, and just ‘roll’ down the steps! You keep your hands to your chest and kind of put your elbows into the L shaped nook of the stair, and place your way down however many you need to fall. For narrow steps, it’s a little more tricky as you kind of have to ‘ping pong’ your way down the staircase, but the concept is the same. You’re just going over your head as well since you can’t fit horizontally down the steps.
The concept though is you get your sharp points (knees elbows etc) into the L part of the step, and kind of control your fall down the steps however you need production to have you fall. You also are generally doing this at a pretty controlled rate. They can speed it up in post-production if they want to.
Fun fact, the way stunts gets their pay is your flat rate, plus ‘bumps’ for doing individual things. So the guy who’s fighting and doing just background action will get one rate, the guy who’s on fire, getting wire pulled across the shot and lands on the hood of a car is getting extra pay for all of those extra things he needs to do.
Wow, that’s great. Thanks for taking the time to answer!
For sure dude! Action is a fun little space to be in for entertainment, happy to share some of the little that I know about it!
There is actually a stunt person who posts on here. I’ll see if I can dig out their username and tag them…
Yep …
Edit: oh he hasn’t posted anything in 11 days unfortunately but hopefully he sees the tag.
Crazy how their last comment was, “About to do a stair fall I’ll brb”.
I think to tag people you put @username@instance instead of /u/username@instance. I could be wrong though
I got it! My laptop with all my user information died, and I had to wait for a charger to get here to get back on this computer. I’ll answer this in the general thread!
I’ve seen actors fall down stairs and over a breakaway bannister live in a Broadway show. It’s clearly highly choreographed, and I also spotted the pads one actor was wearing when his shirt accidentally came untucked. Even though it looked very chaotic, in hindsight it was more of a tuck & tumble than a random fall.
Not an answer but you might be interested in looking up “parachute landing fall,” a method parachutists use to distribute the force of hard landings throughout their body. I guarantee every stunt person knows the PLF and the stair fall is probably somewhat related to it.
I’ve noticed they definitely have a method for rolling down hills in movies, they always do it like this Princess Bride clip. Nothing but their arms and back and knees touch the ground.
This was one of the first things I remember someone teaching me as a small child and then again (correcting some) when I started martial arts. I attribute never breaking any bones as a kid to this.
Knowing how to fall is an important life skill that should not be reserved for people who partake in dangerous activities.
The Prime Minster of Canada was good at this stunt.
Impressed Katy Perry.
Hey, I got a family friend who does stunts and explained this to me. It’s kinda like the ball with a punch of sticks through it. You try and creat contact and slow yourself down as much as possible while also having some concealed restraints to keep anything serious from bending the wrong way. That and not being afraid to get actually hurt, which can and will happen anyways.
I don’t know as I have not worked in the field but story time. When I was young there was a cheap judo class taught at the Y. I did that for at least a year I think. I actually came back to it and quit again. Anyway I did like it and like martial arts in general. I would pick up free classes at tae kwon do places (influenced a bit by a korean freind) heck even hop ki do (forgive spellings please). Degerberg would have free things and then lastly in college there was a jujitsu club and I did that for awhile. Anyway I was with a friend and the library had this thing of concrete stairs that lead up to it. Not real steep and kinda a path but the one set was standard steepness I think. Well I was not watching where I was stepping and kinda caught part of the edge with too much momentum. It all happened fast but my brain figured out what was happened and I guess I did the classes enough to have a bit of a reflex and I did a forward rolling fall down the stairs and the distance was perfect enough for me to end up standing at the base. My friends start laughing and I was yelling at him that I could have been really hurt. He replied it looked like I did it on purpose the way it came out. Ok so neigher hear nor there but I can say in learning to fall its a combination of being active enough to make sure you don’t hit vital things like your head and generally your bones. You basically want your meaty bits to absorb the shock. In addition though you basically want to relax into the fall. The more relaxed your muscles are the easier they can take the hit. Again not in the field so I can’t say for sure but many martial arts teach falling and honestly I think its about the most practical thing to learn in martial arts.
Not that I am a stunt person, but as far as I know:
- training (there are ways to fall that are more controlled and less harmful)
- hidden safety gear (thick clothing, hidden protection)
- hidden set safety (fake floors that are soft, mattresses that are removed in post, etc)
- and finally, getting actually hurt, a lot… All stunt people get hurt often, it is an actually dangerous job
This. And sound editing afterwards for crashes and blows adds a lot.
One of the things I love about all the old Jackie Chan movies is that they always include stunt outtakes in the credits. You can see how some things go wrong. Bloody nose here, broken foot there. Even the best of the best get hurt. I don’t think you’ll find a professional stuntperson who’s never broken a bone.
I’m not a stunt person but I do a lot of dangerous stuff as a circus performer. Same for us, we’re always healing random shit. A lot of the time we end up injured when things go right, we just control the level of injury lol
Deserves top comment spot!
But I feel like speeding the material up is a major point you missed. It used to be comically apparent back in the days, but I am sure (with 0 proof) that they continue to do it so the stunt can be performed just a bit slower.
Padding and learning how to prat fall.
Yup. I remember seeing a behind the scenes clip once where the stuntman got a Styrofoam insert on his back under the sweater, as well as pads for knees and elbows. Probably other stuff too that I didn’t see or remember.
In the clip of him actually falling you can see him rolling in a manner that ensures only the padded parts of his body are the ones that hit the stairs particularly hard. His head never touched anything.
Fun fact: stunt women cannot wear much padding because they usually wear tight dresses.
Stunt women are just stunt men wearing extra padding in the chest and hip area under their dresses. 😌
That’s not always true, especially these days.
Back in the day it was much more common to have men dressed as women doing stunts, but stunt women are extremely common now.
In the 2012 London Olympics opening ceremony, there was a video in which James Bond takes the Queen skydiving. The Queen’s stunt double in the skydive scene was a bloke with a beard (which was invisible from the distance it was shot at)
That gag will never get old to me.
Some* There are definitly stuntwomen
Learning? Sounds like a whole lot of work. I just take the medical leave.
There’s a lot of overlap with tumbling but with the added twist of making the maneuvers look accidental. Some of it is misdirection, making it look, for example, like you are falling on your butt while sneakily breaking your fall with your hands. It takes a lot of practice to do it safely and it’s still somewhat risky even if you’re skilled in it (because ultimately a lot of it is actually falling and then catching yourself safely), which is why stunt doubles are frequently employed.
Come to think of it, the way people fall down the stairs dramatically in movies look the same to me. I mean how they roll on the upper part of their backs without letting their heads hit anything and not trying to stop with their hands, because that’ll lead to injury.
Kind of like how people fall in Jūdō, but down the stairs continuously.
Continuous fall is my new band’s name
Athlete level fitness, padding, rolling rather than falling, and smart camerawork, editing and sound editing. And a willingness to get bruises for money.
Training on how to fall properly to avoid injury, soft stairs that looks hard.
Having some muscles is a very good measure to protect your bones.
The other is very specific training.
Carefully
One step at a time.
There it is
Have you seen The Prestige?
