Don Bosco Film School hosted an action filmmaking workshop built around one of the most technically demanding setups in cinema — how to actually shoot a fight scene — bringing together fight choreography and camera technique in a single, hands-on session. Leading the action side was Robin Tom, a working action director and stunt choreographer in the Malayalam film industry, known for credits including RDX: Robert Dony Xavier, Kasargold, Simon Daniel, and Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Hey, with a reputation for blending grounded realism with stylized, screen-ready action.
The workshop’s focus stayed practical throughout: the real, on-ground process of shooting action sequences for film. Robin Tom led the choreography side, working directly with students on stunt training and the fight itself — building the sequence, blocking the movement, and getting performers fight-ready before a single shot was taken. Alongside this, the camera department brought in large gimbal rigs and stabiliser systems to capture the action, giving students a rare chance to see how a fight is choreographed specifically to be filmed, rather than choreographed first and shot later as an afterthought.
That pairing was really the point of the workshop. A fight scene lives or dies on camera angles for fight scenes and how camera and choreography move together — a perfectly timed punch means nothing if the camera can’t keep up with it, and a stabiliser rig is only as good as the action it’s built to follow. Students got to see that relationship play out directly: how a choreographer designs a sequence in terms of what the camera needs to capture, and how a camera operator on a gimbal has to anticipate and move with action built to look unpredictable on screen — the same fight direction and camera coordination that defines action sequences in mainstream Malayalam cinema.
For students at Don Bosco Film School, many of whom will eventually have to coordinate between actors, choreographers, and camera operators on their own sets, sessions like this offer something a textbook can’t: a direct look at how two departments that rarely train together have to move in sync to pull off something as simple-looking, and as technically difficult, as a great fight scene. It’s the kind of practical action direction and training that continues to set Don Bosco Film School’s filmmaking workshops apart.
Based in Kochi, Kerala, Don Bosco Film School is a leading film institute offering hands-on, industry-aligned training across filmmaking disciplines — from cinematography and direction to editing, sound, VFX, music production, and acting. The school regularly brings working professionals from the Malayalam film industry onto campus, giving students direct access to the kind of practical, set-ready knowledge that goes beyond the classroom. Workshops like this one, where students train alongside an active action director and get hands-on time with professional camera and stabiliser equipment, reflect the school’s emphasis on learning by doing — preparing students for the realities of a film set well before they ever step onto one professionally.
