Rehearsals at Face Off – and dirt from compressed air

We rehearsed in a dry setup at Face Off at Lake Starnberg – the crew has its own hall for tests like these. Many rehearsals, until we could offer the director several variants: angles, movements, explosions. The interplay with the special effects team matters: cylindrical metal containers are filled with soil; via valve and compressed air, the dirt gets fired through the air like a real explosion – it looks strikingly authentic. The reel further up in this article shows exactly these training and timing rehearsals.

The real take

Because we had rehearsed so much with a well-practised team, the actual shoot ran routinely – no mistake, and none was allowed. That is the message: a perfect stunt looks spectacular but is in truth planned through and safe. The moment of being ripped silently through the air, briefly weightless, is fantastic – but only when you can trust the team blindly. How that risk is priced properly is shown in the risk matrix.

Trust has a name: Bastian Volkmer

In this case, trust is called Bastian Volkmer – one of the technical gurus in the Face Off team, an outstanding stunt performer with enormous engineering know-how and countless self-built rigs. For “Aquaman” he welded a metal construction Jason Momoa was strapped onto to shoot the underwater movements.

Bastian and I share many shoots – among them “Kalte Füße” with Emilio Sakraya and Heiner Lauterbach: Bastian doubled Lauterbach in a modified wheelchair down a frozen road, I doubled Sakraya on skis behind him. There, in turn, his trust lay in my hands. That is how a real basis of trust builds over years – there is nobody I would rather trust with a ratchet scene. Bastian also taught me the highsider, a sideways fall over an obstacle. And by the way: the man keeps a helicopter engine in his mother’s garage and tinkers with it on weekends. Anyone with hobbies like that understands machinery.

What a client takes away

Ratchet, explosion, wheelchair on ice – spectacular images are not made by courage but by rehearsal, engineering and a practised team. Exactly that combination is what I bring to any set as a sports model with a stunt background, beyond film productions too. The Eddie the Eagle shoot worked the same way. Credits: IMDb – Tobi Deckert. Send a booking request.

FAQ

How is an explosion scene with a person filmed?
With a ratchet: a compressed-air cylinder plus pulleys rip the performer backwards on a chest harness exactly at the moment of the explosion. The explosion itself is usually soil fired by compressed air.

What is the biggest risk in a ratchet stunt?
Slack in the line: if it sags, the pull snaps against the chest at full force – which is why timing and the coordination with the trigger operator are life-critical.

How long do you rehearse for a scene like this?
Far longer than you shoot: many rehearsals in a dry setup until several variants are safe – the real take then runs routinely, without a single mistake.

Project facts

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Read on: how a ratchet works

This case shows one ratchet stunt in practice. If you want the technical background – air ratchet versus ratchet pull, the block and tackle behind the cylinder, the harness attachment points, the numbers and the production lead time – it is all in the explainer What is a ratchet stunt?.