Fight choreography
The combat-shooting choreography style codified by 87Eleven on the John Wick franchise: extended one-take sequences blending firearm handling with martial-arts striking and grappling.
Mechanism
Gun-fu choreography integrates firearm clearance, magazine changes, and weapon transitions into the same beat structure as a martial-arts fight. Performers train with rubber and resin-cast weighted weapons through choreography, then transition to non-firing replicas for full-speed rehearsal, then to functional firearms loaded with quarter-load blank rounds (or full-load blanks for muzzle flash) for the take. The choreography emphasises functional gun-handling — proper grip, sight alignment, controlled trigger pull — even when the gunfire is blank, so the performer's movement reads as practiced rather than theatrical. Reload moments are choreographed beats; the tactical reload, magazine drop, and re-engagement all happen at specific story moments.
Safety
Blank-fired firearms are firearms — every SAG-AFTRA Bulletin #1 firearm-safety protocol applies (no live rounds within 50 feet of a working camera, no firearm pointed at any person, propmaster controls all weapons not in a performer's hand). Performers train with a firearms instructor before the production; coordinators verify weapon-handling competency during rehearsal. The choreography includes "muzzle aware" beats where the performer's weapon is angled away from the lens and crew during reset.
On screen
Sequences in the archive whose discipline tags overlap this technique's category. Click through for the full rigging breakdown of each set-piece.
References
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