The rules of stage combat:
DISTANCE: the fighters should never be close enough to actually hit each other's body with the weapon. This is going to keep your fighters safe. If someone messes up and swings their weapon in a way they're not supposed to - if they have DISTANCE - the other person will not get hit or hurt.
PLACEMENT: This is how and where you move your weapons. NEVER swing a sword across someone's body and especially their face. There is nothing scarier than seeing someone's sword point at your face. With placement - this is an added SAFETY feature - so if someone messes up and they forget to keep DISTANCE - but they are keeping their PLACEMENT - the other actor won't get hit or hurt.
Placement for stage combat sword fighting: When attacking your targets are always OUTSIDE the body (about 8 inches) - not the actual body itself.
TIMING: is the next rule of stage combat. You have your safe DISTANCE, the actors know their PLACEMENT, and now it is a matter of working out the timing so it looks like the parry is coming just in the nick of time. If the parry comes to early... the actor looks a bit psychic and it's not believable. If the parry comes too late, the person throwing the attack looks a bit lame if the other person hasn't parried and they're just hanging out there waiting for the other person to remember to parry (even though it looks silly - this is what you should do if such a mistake happens - there is NEVER any improvisation in stage combat.) It takes work to get the timing right - but the timing will make or break a fight - whether it's exciting or whether it just looks sloppy and amateurish.
you need a TRAINED fight choreographer to teach you and correct mistakes. It takes a lot of practice, just as you do if you were going to choreograph a dance. Stage combat is a dance of implied violence. You need to think about all of the same things as you do with dance, but now you have the added complication of a weapon (or two) involved.
A general rule for stage combat is: for every SECOND of fight you need to have an HOUR of rehearsal. That's a lot of practice. And it's important to have a safe and well-executed fight.
A fast fight isn't necessarily a good fight.
A fight that is slow, but precise, well timed, and well acted - is going to be a thousand times more exciting and more interesting to watch - than sloppy fighters just trying to be fast.
act out slowly and sped up in editing.
taken from http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080124235449AADdhR1
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after doing this research i then myself created a fight scene of which we used in our movie which is below;
ReplyDeleteJames picks a cigarette and as he reaches to put it in his mouth he purposely drops it
JAMES sharply turns bringing out his weapon and hits gun out of LI’s hand at that same time LI kicks his gun out of his hand.
LI gives a sharp quick kick to JAMES. She grabs JAMES by his shirt punching him 2 times.
James grabs her third punch turns her arm into a shoulder lock and knees her she boots his leg they both drop and quickly get up.
He punches her twice and then boots her leg causing LI to drop.
He then notices his gun and runs to get it.
As he is running LI grabs his legs and he drops.
LI then strangles him from behind for 5 seconds and then he elbows her.
They then both look at the gun then look at each other for 1 second then roll away and run after their guns.
JAMES gets there first and begins shooting. LI gets her gun and takes cover. She reaches out to shoot when she is shot by JAMES in the arm.
She then retreats (leaving behind a note) under pursuit from JAMES.
JAMES pursues her but stops when he notices the note. He picks it up.