Codes and Conventions of A Fight Scene
CHARACTERS- VILLAIN AND HERO
The hero controls the action in the fight scene in many cases but the villain can also have the upper hand, especially if it is the last fight in the film. The hero can then gain control of the fight again from their strong will and other characters helping them fight back. The characters have to be believable, even if the World around them isn't realistic or if the film isn't.
"Villains are represented in many different ways throughout the art form of film. Although there is a defined convention that we use for the purpose of identifying villains for what they are which can be interpreted as cliché or stereotypical, they are still represented in many different ways."- Brett Lamb
Villains are the characters that oppose the ideas of the hero and wants to stop them. They may also be seeking something against the hero, such as revenge, for an action they have done in their past that opposed the villain.This could be as simple as being better than them at school or being more popular than them to the Hero stopping one of their past plans or killing a relative of theirs. Villains are either all brawn or typically very intelligent to try and rival against the hero.
Heroes can range from an everyday human who has a crazy superpower to one with a job that they were born into; a legend. Heroes strive for their goal and to protect those with them along the way, fighting the villain when necessary if the two cross paths. The hero is normally loved by everyone and can sometimes have a small group supporting them and fighting in their honour alongside the hero.
THEMES
Most themes that appear for a fight to occur in a film are normally family issues, the good vs the bad, revenge and death of a loved one. Family issues can very much link to revenge and death of a loved one depending on the situation. Family issues can range from the villain and the hero being siblings to much more. Family issues can link to the theme of revenge if one of the characters, villain or hero, killed a loved one of the character and them seeking their revenge on the other. This can easily link to the death of a loved one as well because seeking revenge is normally caused by the death of a loved one or trying to restore something they have lost. Family issues can also be the fact that their parents were rivals because they had opposing ideas and that caused them to become rivals as well.
"Revenge is the action of hurting or harming someone in return for an injury or wrong suffered at their hands."
The good vs the bad is a theme that occurs frequently for the cause of a fight scene. The quote from /The Dark Knight', "You either die a hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain" can very much come into play for this theme. The villain in this theme knows that they are the bad and that their opponent is the good and feels the urge to fight against them. This can link to all of the other themes above as any of these situations could make them realise that they are the bad and they can also be the reason of why they want to fight the hero.
"The villain normally sees himself as doing the just thing, or he can also see himself as doing something that, in the end, will only satisfy himself. While one person sees himself doing right another will most assuredly say that whomever is doing wrong, and human nature will usually oppose it."
SETTINGS
Settings for a fight scene are normally in a dark and gloomy area, like a warehouse, car park or underground tunnel, to try and set the mood for the fight. The darkness and gloominess of the area allows the audience to feel a sense of suspense between the two characters. Lighting for this can also be very important, the hero in more light than the villain to show the good vs evil. The darkness also allows the audience to focus more on the two figures, keeping their eyes on the screen to follow their every movement so they don't miss anything that the characters could do. These areas are also typically abandoned which make the fight feel eerie because of the surroundings. This could also be because of the quietness of the locations that would normally be busy and the audience feel it uncomfortable to see it empty and quiet.
SOUND EFFECTS
Many sound effects added into a fight scene are to create more of an impact to the audience. Some of these sound effects are the gun shots, sword hits, punches, kicks, screams and grunts you hear in a fight scene. Many of these are put over the actual noises of the actors to add more to the original sounds. Some of the sound effects can also be performed by the actors in front of a microphone to overlay their original sounds and to make them feel more impactful to the audience. These could be the punches, blocks, kicks and grunts of the character's added in. Another sound effect normally added is the footsteps of the villain or hero echoing on the floor to grab the audiences attention and to build up suspense for the fight about to occur. The sound effects are mostly to enhance the sounds behind them and to make the fight feel much more brutal and realistic to the audience, although some sound effects can feel fake and sound completely off meaning that they have to be picked correctly.
CAMERA SHOTS
All of the shots in a fight scene are quick paced and follow the action. Many use close ups to show emotion, or focus on key features such as a punch being thrown are used to create impact in the audience. This can be through showing emotions and the audience picking up on them or feeling the tension between the two characters fighting. Other shots used in a fight scene are long shots to show allow the audience to understand the space available to the characters. Over the shoulder shots are used to show the audience the punches thrown to make them look as realistic as possible. The angle allows the punch to look realistic and to convey the best impact to the audience. Most fight scenes use the extreme close up of the eyes to convey emotion. This is one of the most impactful shots as the eyes show a lot of emotion; mostly anger or upset. The camera normally also moves with the action, allowing the audience to follow the action fluently. The camera shots are edited quickly, meaning there are multiple shots to show one punch being thrown.
USE OF COLOURS
Heroes normally wear white to make them stand out and show innocence where as blacks and reds are for Villain to make them more suspicious and mysterious; White for good and black for evil.
"Another common pairing is red versus blue where the hero is blue and the villain is red. In superhero comic books, superhero costume themes tend to rely on the primary colors (red, blue, yellow or gold) whereas super villain costume themes tend to rely on the secondary colours. Most commonly, heroes wear red and blue, and villains wear green and purple."
Colours that can be used for a villain are black, red, orange and yellow. Red is commonly used to convey evil and danger mostly because it is the same colour as blood. I can also convey strength and power in the use of a villain as they are normally determined to ruin the heroes opposition. Dull yellow represents caution, decay, sickness, and jealousy and a dark orange can mean deceit and distrust. The most common colour, apart from red, is black. Black is a mysterious color conveys fear and the unknown. It carries a negative connotation rather than a positive, many things negative have the word black before hand. Some examples of this are the Black death and a blacklist.
Colours for the hero are normally red, blue, white and yellow. Bright yellows normally convey happiness, intellect and joy making the audience feel that they characters can also convey this. Blue is the most positive colour of all to be used for a hero, as it symbolizes trust, loyalty, wisdom, confidence, intelligence, faith and truth. This is all positives that heroes are known to represent in their act of justice. White is also used as it normally conveys perfection, innocence and purity. This is a good colour for the use of a hero but isn't as frequently used as blue or red. Finally red, although has many negative meaning, also has many positive meanings. Some positive connotations for red are passion, desire, love and determination which most heroes can convey. Colours can present many emotions that you wouldn't think of but would just take in. Colours can make you feel a certain way so choosing the right colours to convey your characters are very important.
References
"Action- Codes And Conventions". prezi.com. N.p., 2017. Web. 20 Mar. 2017.
Lamb, Brett. "Representations Of Villains | VCE Media, Victorian Curriculum, Media Arts, Digital Literacy, Media Education, Filmmaking". lessonbucket. N.p., 2017. Web. 20 Mar. 2017.
"Good Colors, Evil Colors". All The Tropes Wiki. N.p., 2017. Web. 26 May 2017.
"Good Colors, Evil Colors - TV Tropes". TV Tropes. N.p., 2017. Web. 26 May 2017.
