I'm getting closer to shooting and editing my first sword fight in my upcoming short called Past Life. The thing is, what's keeping me up at night is the possibility of anyone getting injured on set!
I want a full out sword fight with strikes and near misses but be safe at the same time. I decided to utilize green screen sparingly in some of the sequences. I'll have an actor go crazy swinging his sword and weapons wildly with an imaginary foe and for the close up near miss shots I will add an opponent in post. I want 90% of the action sequence to have both actors there. But that 10% will use green screen for those really dangerous near miss shots. I tried this myself with a fist fight. Striking an imaginary opponent that I added in post. Me versus me, know what I'm saying? I've got the puncher and the punchee (that really should be a word!) green screen clips and then combined them.