Analysing The Requirements for a Creative Media Project- Research Essay
In this essay, I will be looking into some existing media products of fight scenes to analyse their codes, conventions, techniques and methods used. I will be looking into the videos and seeing if I can take any inspiration from the videos for my own.
Fight scenes, mostly from action movies, have very similar codes and conventions. Many involve the conventions of death of loved ones which cause the others to fight in a case of revenge or from the fact that every character has a motive which involves the other characters surrounding them. Many action films with fight scenes use the good guy vs bad buy element, showing that both have a motive against each other as I mentioned before. Most also use weaponry to fight against each other which link to their determination to complete their motive or mission. Fight scene conventions all evolve around the characters and the meaning behind their fighting. For my own film it is because of the death of a loved one and wanting to protect their brother from harm.
This is the main codes and conventions found in fight scenes:
Characters/Villain/Hero- Hero controls the action in the fight scene.
Story line- Hero fighting the villain, trying to stop them. Different/Opposing motives.
Themes- Family issues, Good Vs Bad and Death.
Setting- Warehouses, Underground tunnels, halls.
Sound affects- Gun shots, sword hits, punches, grunts.
Camera Shots- Quick paced, close ups to show emotion, follows action.
Use of Colours- White for Hero to make them stand out, Blacks and reds for Villain to make them more suspicious and mysterious.
Relentless- Kevin Tsai (Student Short Fight Scene)
In this fight scene, the main character is fighting in revenge for his sister being killed. This is the main convention of this scene, the second being the use of weaponry throughout the fight. They present this convention well throughout the video, never allowing the audience to forget why this character is fighting.
For a student fight scene it looks semi-professional and could be mistaken for a real fight scene in a movie. The movements are quick and executed cleanly, making them look real and impactful. The camera angles are also impactful and show the fight well, making the fight much more than what it would actually look like from a still camera. The camera follows the movement and keeps up with the actors, managing to keep the fight entertaining and impactful throughout the video.
The editing is quick and makes the fight look real because of the fast and quick movements. It also makes the scene much more brutal overall and allows the audience to feel the tension they anticipated in this fight scene. Though it has great editing, some frames could have been removed to make the fight move much faster and to add a more brutal impact than they already have. The sound was also edited nicely and adds so much more to the fight. Although many of the sounds are fake and edited in, it still played smoothly into the video and created the same amount of impact.
The choreographing of this fight scene was also well planned and worked incredibly. They managed to also pull stunts and do many movements that wouldn't of been able to of been done on the day. It shows how much they planned ahead and practiced this fight scene to get the movements as smooth and impactful as possible.
I enjoy the camera movements and can execute similar in my scene to put as much impact into the video by following the action quickly and smoothly. It also shows that you have to put a lot of impact into the sound as this is the most important element in a fight scene to draw in the audience.
The Matrix- Mr.Smith Fight Scene
In this fight scene, the convention of this is motives. Mr.Smith has opposing motives with Mr.Anderson and they fight to try and achieve their own motives. They present this well throughout the fight as well as also presenting the villain vs hero vibe, allowing you to know who you should be rooting for to win this fight.
The hand to hand combat in this fight scene is of a very high standard and many of the movements included are realistic. The movements are quick and short, making the punches and kicks look much more realistic and painful. This is also a very well choreographed fight scene because the movements are smooth.
The editing in this allowed the impact to be put through to the audience, making the fight look brutal and painful for the actors involved. The editing also allowed the fight scene to be cut into sections, allowing the cameras to move and to make the whole filming process much easier. It makes it easier as the actors don't have to keep doing the same part of the fight scene over and over again, allowing the actors to know where they left off and saving them a lot of energy.
The camera shots are also very quick and close in the action, making the audience feel as if they are involved in the fight scene. Many of the angles used also allows to make this scene look more brutal and realistic as you don't see the fake impact. It tricks your eyes into seeing someone getting punched in the face when in reality they aren't punched at all. It manages to put an image into the audience's mind, meaning it is well angled in the choice of the camera shots used.
Similarly to the first, the camera movements can be applied to my video to put a lot of impact into the video. The editing is also very well done in this fight scene, and I could use very similar techniques in my own.
The Raid- Mad Dog Fight Scene
This is my least favourite fight scene of the ones I have analysed. Although still a good fight scene, it is too over exaggerated and loses the meaning behind the fight. The camera angles are good in this scene but some of the angles show the staged fight, showing that there is no actual impact going on. Some of the action is well choreographed and looks brutal but many of the moves I don't particularly like.
The sounds are also very exaggerated that are coming from the actors. It makes it feel very unrealistic and silly in the amount of noise that they make whilst fighting. The other sounds such as the feet moving and the clothes moving are perfect and work well with the action. Another thing is the low music behind the fight which makes it feel much more fake. It doesn't allow the fight to work as an impactful and strong scene, the quiet of the scene making it much more brutal.
The choreographing of the fight is well done, making the moves smooth and quick. It shows how much they practiced this fight scene but still looks unrealistic in some of the punches and kicks they perform. They do manage to perform many stunts which look incredible and brutal but goes back to this messy looking fight.
The choreographing in this fight is smooth and I could do similar if the moves flow well from one to the other.
Kill Bill (Volume 1 Fight Scene)
In this particular scene there are actually two fight scenes; one between the Bride and GoGo and one between the Bride and The Crazy 88's. The fight scenes are unrealistic but this is the style of this film and the fights fit perfectly for this kind of film.
The conventions of this film is villains vs hero with opposing motives. This is made obvious throughout the fight by the weaponry used for each character and how they present them selves throughout the fight. The colour schemes for the characters are also a code used, making the brightest character be the innocence and good between the dark of the other characters.
The choreographed fight scenes are well planned and quick. It keeps the audience entertained from the wide use of different camera shots and works incredibly as an overall scene. Although some moves are unrealistic, the stand off when they are readying their weapons is very realistic and is also a way to build tension for the upcoming fight scene. I respect the amount of people that had to learn this choreography and how much time and dedication went into this scene alone.
The sounds are well balanced and are very strong, being able to hear the actor's grunts, the movements and the weaponry all in one scene. The moves that the characters do for the deaths are brutal but once again unrealistic which is the style of Quentin Tarantino; the director of Kill Bill. The sounds do fit the movements of the characters and the hits they make or take but of course hide in a Wilhelm scream in the audio. I enjoy the fast movements that are used in this fight scene, myself wanting to create a well planned fight scene similar to this, them using their brains throughout the fight.
Kill Zone S.P.L Fight Scene
This was the most brutal out of the scenes that I have analysed including their movements and the death. The camera angles used made the fight seem much more brutal and realistic and you got to see the actor's expressions very frequently, adding much more to the scene. The convention is clearly bad vs good although the colours oppose the characters, showing that there is deeper meaning to their characters and how one may be trying to present his self as a good character.
They also use the convention of the colours presenting the characters, furthermore supporting the idea of good vs evil. This is something I wish to also present in my own, using colours to promote meaning. In this they use black and white whereas in mine I want to use white and red, red giving off the meaning of danger and white being an innocent colour.
The choreographed fight in the scene was fluent and amazing overall. It kept the audience entertained throughout the whole fight scene as it added a thrill of danger by using the weaponry that they had; one being on a advantage. The movements were quick and strong which made the whole scene more impactful and tense throughout. The camera angles didn't change much throughout but still seemed to work. These camera angles more focused on the expressions of the characters and the hits that they took. The camera stuck on one angle for most of the fight but was angled enough to make the fight look realistic.
The sound was also well done, making all of the hits sound painful and every movement sounding as if they were fighting with all of their power. The sound was amazing and it made the scene much more tense because it gave across the impression that they are trying to kill each other.
I enjoy the speed of the fight and the use of the weaponry, myself including weaponry in my own. I would like to be able to convey the same amount of speed throughout in my own fight scene.
Overall all of these fight scenes use very similar techniques in the sound and editing. They all make the sounds impactful to the fights by getting every detail, such as the feet movement down to the clothing moving. All also use very good camera techniques to follow the action in them and to put across the brutality and the speed in these fights. This can also be put down to the editing which can also control the pacing of the fight scene and can change the level of brutality in these fights. I have learnt that every element in a fight scene is important and has to be executed to a high standard or of similar standard between each element. These fight scenes show the difference in the directors work and how they put across a fight scene and can show their intentions of how brutal or gruesome they want this fight to be in a few shots. They also have similar conventions, most including the villain vs hero element in them or the motive to fight because it opposes with another character's ideals. I want to be able to conclude the same thing in my own by making sure that all of these elements are put to the test and plan out well so they make the fight scene flow well with the choreographing that I do intend to put into the final video. Watching these videos, they have shown me how these elements can be used correctly or incorrectly and allow me to put this knowledge into practice for my final video.
2134 words
References
"Action- Codes And Conventions". prezi.com. N.p., 2017. Web. 20 Mar. 2017.
"Kill Bill - The Bride VS. Gogo And The Crazy 88'S (Alternate Version)". YouTube. N.p., 2017. Web. 25 Apr. 2017.
"Kill Zone - S.P.L Donnie Yen Vs Wu Jing (HD)". YouTube. N.p., 2017. Web. 25 Apr. 2017.
"RELENTLESS | Martial Arts Fight Scene - Short Film [HD]". YouTube. N.p., 2017. Web. 25 Apr. 2017.
"The Matrix (2012) Fight Scene Redux". YouTube. N.p., 2017. Web. 25 Apr. 2017.
"The Raid - Mad Dog Vs Rama And Andi [HD]". YouTube. N.p., 2017. Web. 25 Apr. 2017.
