What was supposed to be a simple katana fight scene — "nothing too fancy" — quickly evolved (as always) into something much bigger.

The infamous Anspruch (standard/expectation level) kicked in, and suddenly I was adding story beats, scouting locations, and realizing it had to be shot at night. Costumes were bought, lights gathered, a smoke machine wrangled — and just like that, we had ourselves a full-blown 3-person (sometimes 4) production.

All on a shoestring budget. All only possible thanks to some massively talented, supportive — and temporarily arbeitslose — collaborators.

We shot during the summer of 2024, when nights are shortest (not ideal for night shoots, but we went for it anyway). Our crew: me, Felix Audu, Sefa, and Tanguy. Tanguy helped with the previs and joined us for several nights of principal photography. With just 4 hours of usable darkness each night, it took 8 nights to get everything — which is a lot.

We carried every piece of gear ourselves. Lights had to be set up before nightfall to make the most of the precious hours of darkness. The smoke machine, bless it, consumed more time than it probably deserved.

Too much effort for a project that generates zero money and almost no internet buzz? Probably.

But that cursed Anspruch wouldn't let it be anything less.

'Duty – Out of Line' was the first project where I lit every shot using additional lights and experimented seriously with smoke. I used a mix of LED light panels set to different color temperatures to go for that classic orange & teal look. Smoke was layered into the background — partly for atmosphere, partly to help separate characters from the environment.

One of the most time-consuming part was having to reposition the lights for every new angle. I didn’t have access to a large overhead light source, which would’ve made life easier by covering the entire scene consistently. Instead, I had to work with the tallest tripods I could find, pushing them right to the edge of the frame. Sometimes into the frame. (If you look closely, a few made it into the final shots — it happens.)

Still, I’m pretty happy with how it turned out. In fact, I think the lighting is a clear step up from Duty. That project had some flatter shots — mostly due to lack of experience and less-than-ideal light positioning, which led to inconsistent lighting overall. This time, I feel like I finally started to get it.

We also used battery-powered LED lanterns as practicals — visible light sources within the frame that helped "justify" where the light was coming from. A small touch, but it really helped with grounding the visuals.

Okay, enough lighting talk.

(But if you’re still reading, maybe it’s not as boring as I thought.)

Let’s talk action.

I met Felix Audu while working as a stunt double on Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. When I asked him to collaborate on this project, he was all in. Once I had a script in place, we met up and started working on the choreography.

(Side note: The story idea was actually sparked by that legendary dialogue scene in Pulp Fiction, where Travolta and Jackson debate the meaning of giving a foot massage.)

On a previous short, Eye for an Eye, we used heavy polyurethane training katanas. They looked decent but were a nightmare to handle — extremely front-heavy and awkward. For this project, I went on a hunt for something better and came across a guy in the U.S. who makes custom performance katanas out of hardened aluminum.

👉 Link to his shop

These swords were game-changers: lightweight, durable, and visually convincing even in close-ups. The blades were dull but thin — the perfect middle ground. For a few specific moves, we swapped in a rubber sword for safety.

Camera work was done by Tanguy for the first few nights — he’s not just a great filmmaker but a skilled stunt performer too, which really helps when shooting action. When Tanguy had to step away, Sefa (stuntdouble in the Dune series!) operated the camera for the remainder of the shoot and showed a great talent for framing and capturing the action properly. Honestly, action lives or dies by how it's captured, and both of them nailed it.

For lenses, I mostly used an ultra-wide 15mm for the action shots, paired with a 28–70mm zoom for the dramatic and a few beloved zoom shots. That combo worked beautifully. The 15mm gave the action a super dynamic feel — I call it the "magic of 15mm." It made movements pop because it distorts the image and literally makes your limbs appear longer on screen. I shot everything handheld, but toned down the shakiness for the fights. The wide lens helped here too — even handheld, it was possible to fake dolly-shots.

So there you go — some behind-the-scenes insight into the making of The Missus.

A lot of sweat, a lot of late nights, no budget to speak of… but a whole lot of love for the craft.