The Art of Fight Choreography

/endstupidity

I was referring to the structure of the fight, the pacing, the way it was shot, the motivations and the characters. The moves themselves are immaterial though the fact that Kong was using all 4 of his limbs for various intricate tasks simultaneously was most impressive.

Just indicating another place from which you may derive inspiration.

-Spiff

 

@ GrayTale: Thanks for pm....it will help us alot.

im glad there is a topic like this.

 

Copy that... no problem. And DEFINITELY copy that: it is definitely good to have a thread like this one. It's chock bloody FULL of good, applicable stuff.

"Combat" is only one aspect of a film, but it definitely plays a role in almost every film of almost any kind. Sometimes it's comedy, sometimes it's drama, and sometimes, it's a little of both. "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" is an example of just that... both. Choreographer = Yuen Wo Ping === God.

Did I say that correctly? Yuen Wo Ping (triple equals sign) God. heheheh Gee, I wonder why--could it be he studied martial arts for his entire life? Gee I wonder why Bruce Lee did such great choreography in "Enter The Dragon"? Gee, I wonder...

P.S. I'm doing a few "nods" to Yuen Wo Ping and Bruce Lee in the battle I'm putting together. But unless someone is really a fanatic about martial arts, and certain movies and so forth--they won't catch the 'paying hommage' moments.

 

I'm in your area. Where should I go if I wanted to drop by?

 

I heartily agree on the kong fight scene, actually. It was one of the more exciting moments in the movie, and overall incredibly well put together. the /endstupidity was for my own base humor that i'm sure nobody laughed at.

Its true bruce lee's choreography was not the most technically spectauclar, and its also true it still looked fansmastic due to his form and energy. A good example to help distunguish bruce lee from other people with the same steps, would be Game of Death, where we see lee-ian choreography executed by someone who was distinctly not bruce lee. it just wasn't as exciting.

 

Am I the only one that kept hearing the Crocodile Hunter's narration though the whole scene?

"Because when they strike it can be that quick that if they're within range, you're dead, you're dead in your tracks. And his head weighs more than my body so it's WHACK!"

 

I disagree, but these are just our opinions. In the end, each choreographer is their own person, and has certain strengths and weaknesses. Also, situation, country, supporting actors, CAMERA angles, and filming time period play a big role in things.

I love Samo though, and duh, Jackie Chan as well... they are all different though, as we all know.

Also--I wish I could remember what actor it was--but Bruce Lee's "catcall" style and intense looks were actually more "original" from some other martial arts star. I only learned this a bit ago, but anyhow--don't know the guy's name, but it was well before Bruce Lee, and was so similar in look and style (but unique to his own), it's safe to say Bruce saw this and may have gotten major influence from him. And no, it is NOT a Bruce "clone", it was a movie that happened well before any of that nonsense.

StainedBlade

Sweet that you're close by! I pm'ed ya so people don't flame us for hijacking...

 

Boy, I wish I knew. But now that you've mentioned the film's name and director, I can look it up to confirm...

Lately, I've been busy with so many events (including my OWN choreography), it's hard to find time to go and check (or re-check) movies I want to look at for footage, or whatever. But thanks Tiger_Crane...

 

Once I get my Battlefront II stuff going again, I'll see if I can whip up a demo of my friend and I's fight we've been playing around with.

There are certain elements to our fight that come from fanfilms, the Star Wars films, and a lot of stick/sword fighting movies we've seen.

We've worked carefully to give each strike a purpose, be it kill, wound, distract, defend, knock away, or overpower. Anything that may look like stick bashing in our fight has a point, not just to look cool.

However, there are a few spins, and I know that those are sometimes frowned upon, but they are used at times where they are appropriate and contribute some speed/power to a strike.

Anyways, just was looking for this thread and had to type my ideas before I forgot.

-Semi

 

Let's give this a raise.

M. Scott

 

Deal.

_Max

 

Today I was talking with someone who has had experience with swordplay, both sport and stage combat. (Huge HUGE differences in case you didn't know.) They were kind enough to take a look at some of the practice footage I've got for one of my fanfilm duels. I actually wrote the choreography myself. At the end of it, they pointed out a number of flaws, but were seriously impressed by some of the moves I thought I had "made up". Apparently, I borrowed some concepts from Hapkido. Heh, go figure.

 

I just came across this one recently:
http://tinyurl.com/eysyf

The source is some serious students of medieval swordplay. It's the first time I've seen this kind of combat rendered as lightsabers.

 

Go Ryan!

 

Simple + Works = Good choreo.

 

[quoteTCF]

Not necessarily.[/quote]

No, I think that's fair, but I would add this:

((Simple + works) * creativity)^acting = great chroreo





sorry . . . I think I've had too many math classes . . .

 

Works for me.

 

Out of curiosity, other than sarcasm, does anyone have a "theory" for what Anakin and Obi were supposed to be thinking when they were twirling their sabers around each other right before the double force-push-off? There has to be some justification in the minds of the filmmakers for this other than "look at the pretty colors."

 

ninjaleprechaun

Spinning sabers could be interpreted as gaining "chi" or energy/inertia... if you want to stay in context of a "movie" duel. In some respects, that's actually physically true (building inertia is realistic)--but very "slow" in terms of what would connect vs. a simple, direct attack. Staged vs. "real".

Also, spinning sabers could be interpreted as a composed attack. For those of you who don't know what I mean, think feinted attacks, or a series of tempos of preparation prior to the actual attempt to strike a target. So, they could be guising their intentions--in theory.

Another part of this is fun cinematography, and yes indeed "look at the pretty colors/sabers". You remembered that moment in the movie, did you not? I remember that standing out to me. I personally liked it alot.

Yet ANOTHER would be that jedi (having powers unlike "normal" people)--have the ability to make superfluous manuevers without it costing their lives, because they're "that good". Chinese martial art movies have done this since as far back as I've seen.

Personally, the parts I thought were the MOST stupid were the "WWF" moves when Anakin drop-kicked Obi-Wan and so forth. BUT... that being said, the point of choreography is to further the drama via exciting action, and try to make most of it as convincing as possible.

If you can't let a few flashy moves go without being upset--no amount of choreography will please you, as it is ALL "fake" technically. Ewan and Hayden have a good amount of "blade bashing" moves in EP III. It makes some sections extremely fast. Camera angles help on one particular section--one with all the sparks flying as they go through a hall. Very nice. Much bashing though, heheh

However, there is certainly something to be said for just doing ALL, 100% "blade bashing", as we've all noticed. Not good.

I'll be posting some of my project's rehearsal footage soon (as promised), and there are definitely moments of "flashy" acrobatic stuff, while also moments of attacking targets full on. The majority of the fighting is attacking targets, with little tastes of flash as we go.

 

My take on that (though I did not like it either) was that they were attempting to show off to one another to try and psyche the other out...

 

Also don?t forget sabers don't need that much power to cut through flesh and bone, so you can sacrifice power for speed. If someone?s doing the twirling-dervish thing and you have no idea where the next attack can come from, Jedi precognition would have finite limits after all. A counter strategy ? not necessarily a great one ? is to have your own saber cover as wide an area as possible. Sort of like swigging a chain around.

So the maneuver can be seen as both defensive and a set up for an offense.