I have always been a fan of action films and love watching fight scenes. To be able to make one and analysing one is simply a joy. Throughout this final project, I have came up with a one minute length of a fight scene and also two short clips to support my research;
My main research here is to analyse two different kinds of style in a fighting scene. We usually watch a fight scene and sometimes we thought “oh this fight scene looks good” and sometimes “this is so fake”. We never really thought of why. It’s usually the same concept but then I took this privilege to do my research on it. Early in the semester I had written about production design in my methodology posts and then it progresses into a creating a fight scene. I guess there are some links to it as my one minute scene is quite based heavily on the background. For instance- using the pole as defence, a wall as a resting point and a small stairs for the two of us clowning around. Though it does not seem like it works that well, I am still working on how to make use of it- and also creating it. For now I don’t think I can create it- only to be able to find the perfect location to film- and that was a perfect one I feel.
Here is the one minute video that I worked on;
As I start to research on how fight scene works, I come to notice that the framing and the editing plays a massive role in it. How it is framed and how it is cut can affect how a character is hitting or is being hit. The main key about what these directors and editors have to do is best to include both ‘action’ and ‘reaction’ in the shot. In other words, if character A attempts to punch character B, and the hit lands, the camera should not switch to another camera to hide the ‘lies’. Instead, either actually hitting (if you’re Jackie Chan, otherwise, don’t) or use camera angle to manipulate the hit.
Here are a few examples of what I mean
Because of lack of time, I initially wanted to film two scenes of the same fight but different way of filming- only to ended up only having a full scene with a couple of extra angles that I can work with to explain how the ‘action and reaction’ theory works. As you can see, for the first video where the character hits another person four hits with a bottle uses four different shot to make it look like it was fast, and another version whereby it was performed in one single shot. In my perspective, I believe it looks a lot better if it was performed in one shot because we can see what he is actually doing. Clarity is key. The second video where the person in white kicks a bottle into the another person’s (which is me) face. The sequence includes two shots where the action and reaction are separate. It kind of works but not nearly as the second one- kicks the bottle and it lands on my face- all in one frame.
I spoke of Jackie Chan a lot and since I am researching about his kind of work, I want to feel his pain. But of course not that hardcore. I mean- I want to the get the idea of how he does things. He directs and choreographs his films and it is a very hard thing to do especially when he is acting himself. I’m only doing the acting because I included some stunts that has risks in hurting from falling -in which I did hurt my wrist unfortunately… I hurt my wrist half an hour during the shoot. Funny thing was that I didn’t felt the pain until we wrap up the set. I believe it must have been the adrenaline. It took me about 1 week to recover to the point I can carry my bag with my hand again. Until today it is still not recovered fully yet.
After it was healed, I attempt to shoot another video that includes the same research. I was afraid that the video was not clear enough to explain my thoughts and so I collaborate with Koston and Evelyn for a short period of time to explain the theory.
Here is another example that I worked with alongside with Koston and Evelyn;
The first bit was with a lot of camera swings. If you notice, Hollywood films uses a lot of this swings to make it more violent. Reason being- the actor(s) can’t fight and therefore they have to manipulate it to look as if it was a hardcore scene. Another thing about this is the punches. Watch closely as Evelyn throws a hook at my face after she immobilise me with the chair. The hook comes into the frame and then cuts into another shot where my face reacts to the punch. As said, it works, but not as good as if we were to have it all in one frame. The second clip is the same thing but only this time you get to see what we actually did during the fight. I attempt to punch her, she blocks, and tries to counter, I counter again and then she pulls me and turns me to my back side and then pushes the chair to make me fall and ultimately ends the fight with a hook to my face. It is clearer in the second clip because the camera does not swing about. Also, the last shot; you see her punching my face and I react to it all in one frame. It looks way better because the audience’s eye can register the shot clearly.
I had another idea soon after- to re-enact a short sequence from a scene in Ip Man. I spoke of camera swinging, cuts, and action and reaction in the frame. I thought it would be a good idea to film it while expecting to see a good production design, lighting and camera movement. It wasn’t the best background I can find, but I love it, still. The lighting was great as the Sun was emitting a very soft light and is being distributed evenly on our faces. Also, while at it, we made another sequence of it that is of the swinging and series of cut’s style to prove that it does not work as well.
In this sequence, the first video shows the full choreography within one shot while the second one shows in a series of cuts. It kind of works but not as well as the first video I believe. What we did with the first video was… basically almost nothing in post production. It was a matter of practice for production. However, the hard part was for us to actually perform it in real time. For the second video, we fought as if we were doing during practice- which means we did not perform in full/real-time speed. Later, in editing, I sped up the clip by 30-40% and use quick cuts to make it look as if it was fast.