wo people of similar capability fight? The winner is just who the screenwriter feels like!
That's kind of how fights go in real life. If two people of equal skill fight, whether it's with guns or swords or any other weapon, it's about 25/25/50 that one wins, the other wins, or they both die of their wounds. And it all comes down to who makes a mistake or gets unlucky first. And in real life most fights with weapons are over fast. Humans just can't maintain the necessary reaction speed and focus needed for sword fighting for that long, someone is eventually going to do the wrong thing and then they're dead.
I totally agree with you on shaky cam. And along with that; Close in shots so you can't see the actual fighting, rapid cuts so they can disguise how the actors don't actually know how to fight. IMO the best fight scenes are overwhelmingly the ones where both actors are clearly in frame and the audience can actually see the fight happening. If your fight choreographer can't tell a compelling story while both actors are clearly in frame then hire a better choreographer.
That's a thing I really like about most Chambara films - Most fights are decided in one or two strikes. Fights go fast and you win or die.
I have seen a trope where you have the hero practicing a "special technique" earlier in the movie, and then the fight resolves when they get a chance to use their secret technique and the bad guy isn't able to counter it.
Again, this is why I like samurai movies a lot. A lot of Western swordfights are just guys whacking at each other for minute after minute, but in a lot of classical samurai movies they get all their talking out of the way before the fight and the actual fight happens very quickly.
I really like This swordfight in The Deluge. The way they're fencing tells you a lot about their character, They take breaks to show reactions of the characters without interrupting the pacing of the fight, it has believable pauses and tempo. And then when it resolves it resolves very quickly.
Jackie Chan films have long, extended fight sequences. Love them. I don't even mean the comedy parts where Jackie grabs a teapot and uses it as a weapon either, I just mean the regular fighting. SO nice to just watch it and the camera never cuts.
That's kind of how fights go in real life. If two people of equal skill fight, whether it's with guns or swords or any other weapon, it's about 25/25/50 that one wins, the other wins, or they both die of their wounds. And it all comes down to who makes a mistake or gets unlucky first. And in real life most fights with weapons are over fast. Humans just can't maintain the necessary reaction speed and focus needed for sword fighting for that long, someone is eventually going to do the wrong thing and then they're dead.
I totally agree with you on shaky cam. And along with that; Close in shots so you can't see the actual fighting, rapid cuts so they can disguise how the actors don't actually know how to fight. IMO the best fight scenes are overwhelmingly the ones where both actors are clearly in frame and the audience can actually see the fight happening. If your fight choreographer can't tell a compelling story while both actors are clearly in frame then hire a better choreographer.
That's a thing I really like about most Chambara films - Most fights are decided in one or two strikes. Fights go fast and you win or die.
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I have seen a trope where you have the hero practicing a "special technique" earlier in the movie, and then the fight resolves when they get a chance to use their secret technique and the bad guy isn't able to counter it.
Again, this is why I like samurai movies a lot. A lot of Western swordfights are just guys whacking at each other for minute after minute, but in a lot of classical samurai movies they get all their talking out of the way before the fight and the actual fight happens very quickly.
I really like This swordfight in The Deluge. The way they're fencing tells you a lot about their character, They take breaks to show reactions of the characters without interrupting the pacing of the fight, it has believable pauses and tempo. And then when it resolves it resolves very quickly.
Jackie Chan films have long, extended fight sequences. Love them. I don't even mean the comedy parts where Jackie grabs a teapot and uses it as a weapon either, I just mean the regular fighting. SO nice to just watch it and the camera never cuts.