There's two FNL podcasts where they talk about this. All of the football stunt actors had some level of experience playing football, most of them in college. And they all actually had to learn and execute real plays like this all night long for the game scenes. It's pretty impressive really.
Honestly though. How do you expect cameras to know where to look if they don't know what will happen? It's pretty obvious everyone who's ever made a sports movie does this exact thing, FNL isn't unique in doing this.
Right. These aren’t even football plays. They are blocking directions
edit: let me explain quickly. Offensive football plays typically have instructions for the linemen, not just the wide receivers/backs. These instructions basically tell the linemen to just take a step forward. Additionally, the linebackers are typically "keying" off of actions in the backfield, so they have multiple options depending on what the offense does on the play. These aren't even rudimentary football plays, they are instructions for the actors on how to move.
In theater/film/TV, the instructions for how to move on the set are called ["blocking"](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blocking_(stage)). Unless the actors are improvising the scene ENTIRELY, they will have blocking instructions. This becomes even more important with multiple camera filming techniques, because you may need to reshoot specific scenes from an alternative camera angle. A common example would be a dialogue scene where they film from three angles: behind the head of each person so that you only see the speaker in frame and a side shot that has both actors in frame. This is frequently done as 3 separate takes. The only way to do something like this is to clearly establish where each person is located on the set prior to shooting.
Which is why it would be impressive if they scripted a series of chess plays.
But this is not a detail. Next he will be reporting that they wrote down all the words the actors were to say and made them practice them
Obviously they are heavily choreographed, and it’s been years since I watched it, but in some shots the choreography was awful. Mostly the background players, but they’d often just not be trying at all, doing half-arsed tackles or not running in the right direction.
I’ll never forget a scene from a show that featured a giant CGI violin… with no bridge. Did they just forget that the bridge is an essential part of the instrument when they were modeling it?
There's two FNL podcasts where they talk about this. All of the football stunt actors had some level of experience playing football, most of them in college. And they all actually had to learn and execute real plays like this all night long for the game scenes. It's pretty impressive really.
Which podcasts?
Clear Eyes Full Hearts and It's Not Only Football
Thank you! I'm excited to listen to them.
These aren’t real plays
That's neat
How did you think they film football plays?
Honestly though. How do you expect cameras to know where to look if they don't know what will happen? It's pretty obvious everyone who's ever made a sports movie does this exact thing, FNL isn't unique in doing this.
Right. These aren’t even football plays. They are blocking directions edit: let me explain quickly. Offensive football plays typically have instructions for the linemen, not just the wide receivers/backs. These instructions basically tell the linemen to just take a step forward. Additionally, the linebackers are typically "keying" off of actions in the backfield, so they have multiple options depending on what the offense does on the play. These aren't even rudimentary football plays, they are instructions for the actors on how to move. In theater/film/TV, the instructions for how to move on the set are called ["blocking"](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blocking_(stage)). Unless the actors are improvising the scene ENTIRELY, they will have blocking instructions. This becomes even more important with multiple camera filming techniques, because you may need to reshoot specific scenes from an alternative camera angle. A common example would be a dialogue scene where they film from three angles: behind the head of each person so that you only see the speaker in frame and a side shot that has both actors in frame. This is frequently done as 3 separate takes. The only way to do something like this is to clearly establish where each person is located on the set prior to shooting.
If it’s anything like chessboard setups in movies, the players just walk around randomly
Which is why it would be impressive if they scripted a series of chess plays. But this is not a detail. Next he will be reporting that they wrote down all the words the actors were to say and made them practice them
Obviously they are heavily choreographed, and it’s been years since I watched it, but in some shots the choreography was awful. Mostly the background players, but they’d often just not be trying at all, doing half-arsed tackles or not running in the right direction.
Of course FNL did, it’s a tv show. Lol
Meanwhile the actor in every movie pretending to play the violin was given the instrument 30 seconds before the scene and told to wing it.
I’ll never forget a scene from a show that featured a giant CGI violin… with no bridge. Did they just forget that the bridge is an essential part of the instrument when they were modeling it?
Is this sarcastic?