Face Punching (UPDATED)

This video by Action Figure has been making the rounds lately, so it seems very well suited to be up here as well.

Their site describes that they had some extra time with a Phantom HD camera and took the opportunity to capture some people on set getting punched in the face. Really, there isn’t a much better excuse out there for a director to take. Even though I’ve seen some videos like this floating on the web already, I still feel giddy watching how distorted a face can get from a good solid punch.

UPDATE: Although the face-punching phenomenon has been around since slow-mo video, it turns out this project is awfully similar to this video from Digital Kitchen, made many moons ago but only recently posted on YouTube.

I originally thought this was a “blatant rip-off” (to quote myself), but as is often the case, there was more to the story. I called Jason Marlow, who came up with the idea of shooting his co-workers getting punched while working on another project for which Action Figure had rented the Phantom camera. He assures me he had never seen or heard about the DK video. And I believe him.

Why? Well, let’s break it down: You have a camera capable of shooting 1,000 fps. You have some time to kill. There’s a boxing glove sitting on the desk at your office. Is it really that much of a stretch to see where this is going?