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howtofightwrite · 3 years

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The Fight Scenes in Ava and the Importance of Tempo

Anonymous asked:

What do u think about the fight in Ava movie (u can find it in YT searching “Ava – Jessica Chastain – [Hotel Fight]”)?

It’s serviceable.

This is me saying, “it’s fine.” Not great, but not terrible either. It’s mostly just, “eh.” If you’re a veteran viewer of these types of action movies, you can tell the director really made an effort for the stylistic realism of similar thrillers like The Bourne Identity, but lacked the practice and familiarity with these sorts of scenes to carry it off. Which, really, shouldn’t surprise anyone looking at his filmography.

I want to make it clear that if there’s any failures here (and there are), it’s on the part of the director and not the actors. I’m also going to ignore Colin Farrell in this scene because I’ve seen him in better action movies, and he’s doing a really good job of moderating his performance. (For the record, this is an actor skill level issue and not a gender one. Farrell is skilled at adjusting his performance to his costar and he largely deserves credit for the equal footing here. Cinematic fight scenes are cooperative, not combative and the best stuntmen make the actors look amazing. Look at this scene with Colin Farrell and Edward Norton from Pride and Glory. Farrell can’t take entire credit for speed here, because the film has actually been sped up.)

It’s not on the level of Bourne’s let me kill you six or seven times in thirty seconds, but the beautiful cinematography that’s reflective in movies like Bourne, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Salt, or Charlize Theron’s Atomic Blonde isn’t there. If you want hyper realistic gun work, you go to Michael Mann films like Collateral and, more recently, though not a Michael Mann production, John Wick. If you compare to fight scenes from these films, you’ll notice Ava’s fight scene itself is neither hyper-realistic, nor visually interesting. That’s the real kiss of death here, and why it’s serviceable.

The gun sequence was fine, Farrell was doing a sloppy CAR which is why he looks a little wonky compared to Chastain, but it fell apart when they hit the hand to hand section. The hits aren’t in the same zip code as the opponent’s face, there’s a painful lack of force, and it’s very slow even at the very beginning. It’s almost levels of Buffy first season bad, where 90% of the fight scenes is very obviously just the stunt doubles going at it. Compare to this fight sequence from Into the Badlands with Emily Beecham, can you track how many times she’s switched out for her stunt double? (Hint: it’s almost all the long shots with acrobatic stunts, and a few of the back shots.) The way it’s intercut, you’d probably never notice.

And that is where the problem for Ava lies. In terms of pacing, it plods.

Into the Badlands is choreographed by a stunt team out of Hong Kong, it’s all in the wuxia tradition, and doesn’t give two shits realism. Ava is trying for faux Hollywood realism over stylized violence, but doesn’t want to commit to it.

Part of the problem for Ava is there’s a distinctive speed difference in hand to hand combat where the stunt doubles are performing versus when the actors are, which hurts the scene’s pacing. And, there’s always a difference in tempo between stunt doubles and the actors, but when the difference is vast, it hurts believability. Again, the scene is really useful if you’re trying to parse what makes violence interesting and watchable outside of narrative context, because the director hasn’t figured it out. He’s imitating other styles he’s seen but has yet to settle on a distinctive one of his own. The fight scene also lacks visual personality to set it apart from other mediocre action films.

I mean, if all you want is hot women kicking ass then you’ve got Luc Besson’s entire filmography and Chastain is not sexualized any less here than the women in Besson’s films. (And, yes, I’m aware of the allegations against him, and, if you’ve watched his movies, they’d come as no surprise. He’s really on brand for Hollywood’s faux strong female character, pop feminism, kickass sex doll. It’s a lot harder to throw a coin and not hit a sexual predator when trying to learn things, so consume your media wisely.) Compare Ava’s fight scene here to Anna’s, both are technically superhero assassins. You can feel the tempo difference, and it’s not just because one is a group fight scene. (This scene from Anna also has a long cut where it’s just the stunt double, can you find her?)

One of the neat tricks from Anna’s fight scene is the broken plate, because the plate is broken and therefore bladed, the actor doesn’t have to pretend they’re putting in more force in order to be convincing.

So, how can you use film choreography to improve your own fight scenes?

One thing to remember is that film is a visual medium where the written word is mental and, potentially, auditory. You get further with sensation, and your goal is to ultimately be convincing rather than right. The reason to Learn How Things Work is so you get to pick and choose your own rules, you decide what to keep and what to discard in the service of your work rather than being bound by someone else’s choices. If you can define reality, you can create it.

You can learn a lot about staging from film, the usage of environmental props, and start training your mind to consider where your characters are fighting and what they can potentially use.

Choreography is very important. Choreography is a large part of what makes violence engaging outside of emotional involvement via the narrative. (Violence on its own is actually boring.)

Stuntman queuing is remarkably useful when balancing group fights on the page where you sometimes need to drop and pick up minor characters in text.

Lending weight to your character’s hits. One of the major differences between good fight scenes and bad fight scenes on film is the weight of the onscreen hit. If a hit feels heavy i.e. the force appears to have been generated for it, it feels more real. Otherwise, you’re just relying on motion to entertain the eye.

Your audience has a basic understanding of physics, so certain tactics will look more real than others. (Regardless of whether or not they’re factually true.)

The importance of setting goals with your fight scenes for tone and impact, just like all your scenes.

The more you learn, the larger your toolbox is.

-Michi

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The Fight Scenes in Ava and the Importance of Tempo was originally published on How to Fight Write.

#fightwrite answers #michi answers #writing advice #writing reference #writing tips

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theaspers · 3 years

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Zara! I just got back from a short trip. In a perpetual state of i want to do fuck all 😑 but I really should focus n do things. How are u? Anything random u want to share? My face n upper body r quite sunburnt lol so I've been a hermit trying to recover 😂 thanks for the well wishes on the job hunting. My mood on that journey is like ⬆️↗️➡️↘️⬇️↙️⬅️↖️🤣

I revisited hades after u replied! N spoilers: I got past elysium n then died to the Chambers (items got so expensive n it's multiple pathways to find cerb's treat lol n the poison...) butttttt I came back like next run n got hades to like 1/3 of his health and then died!!!! I'm pretty chuffed tho. I know now heueueue. And I MET THAN! GORGEOUS SOFT DEATH BOI. His voice man 🥰 BTW r zag n than half brothers that share hades as their father? But he cute that ain't no lie. I um am assuming u finished at least one complete run so I hope I ain't spoiling anything? I'm really sorry if I did. Third fury sister met too heueu.

Lololol I'm not really shitting on luci's yukata haha. Tbh I've been into kpop n Korean shows for yearsssss so I feel like nothing really fazes me too much? It's funny seeing ppl shit on Satan so much but I'm like honestly it doesn't hurt my eyes that badly. N his Pepsi yukata looks pre good. Not the worst by a looooooongggg shot. I hope the devs fix up the wonkiness of obey me cuz otherwise they will keep losing players n awesome content creators. V understandable tho. That's also why I probably won't play om and genshin cuz gacha, too stressful n it's kinda nice just evolving the charas by headcanons n imagination alone. The lore is v noice tho. Have u read the genshin manga?

Hahaha it's a good thing I thought of u. The fic does have some grammatical errors (I went back to read it again hehe) but it's just so soft n realistic to me that I thought u might like it. Probably ooc for Thea tho sorry. It's alright if u never get to it or don't like it!

Aww my ask got ate up huh. I sent it in the morning after u recommended achilles to me. It just said that the song is so fucking good. So cathartic n would've been such a help several yrs ago when I was going thru some shit. I love the lyrics, the sound...it's very soothing n I love it a lot. I hope to find more English songs that have such beautiful n haunting lyrics. I'm trying not to make the ask too long so I've dumbed the original ask down a lot. It's going to be long anyways 🙃

I asked about any personal hcs u wanted to share? Mine were that I would call Lucifer: Luce Luce or Luci haha. N I would greet him by saying Luci....fer after making eye contact with his brothers above his shoulder but he would be glaring at me anyways. Ever perceptive Luci. I would like to mess around Belphie by calling him Moo Moo 🤭 I hc that once close, I would go around the dining table every morning n give each bro some individual loving. Some nuzzles, cheek kiss ya know n get to Belphie like wut up moo moo? Lplolol thanks for letting me ramble haha this is sort of embarrassing. Can u tell my love language is physical touch 💖

Haha no worries about ur messy blog tho. I love the stuff u reblog. Some legit quality content n it's so amusing seeing the juxtaposition between the sfw n the NSFW. Ur duality zara never fails to make me laugh. If u want u can guess my height. What vibes do I give off? I have a feeling my answer will make u v happy ☺️ ALSO DUDE UR FIRST LANG AIN'T ENGLISH? WAT IS THIS BLASPHEMY? THAT'S SO FUCKIN IMPRESSIVE. KUDOS TO U SON. Wow. damn. U. R. So. Cool. 🙇‍♀️🙇‍♀️🙇‍♀️ Ahem finally much love to Luci anon. Better reinstate their rightful emojis hehe. Thanks for letting me visit again 💙 - (not a) worker lurker

long answer so under a cut hehe.

hey there!! sorry i took so long to reply shsjs but anw hope you’ve been doing well. i have been doing alright too? i guess? lol i have no idea. i’m simply just vibing. i hope the sunburn’s not bothering u as much anymore though! and still wishing you lots of luck on the job hunting front!

oooh, glad to hear that you’ve made some progress on hades! you’re not spoiling anything at all so don’t worry hehe. i wish you luck on your future runs, you can do it!! (side note: those stupid rats. i swear. i hate them so much 😭) AHH THAN!! isn’t he just so precious? 🥺 like i realise he is death but he’s so. soft 🥺 and no!! afaik they’re not related lol i think nyx might have just. made him and hypnos? they grew up together tho, i think. oooh, love the fury sisters. they’re very interesting hehe. definitely missed playing the game but i’m still not in the mood to play it unfortunately. i miss zag tho. and hypnos. ugh one day i’ll pick it back up again 🥺😭

shdjd same tho. and ur right. after seeing all the kpop idol outfits, nothing fazes me anymore. plus i don’t think their outfits are the worst thing ever tbh :’) ugh, i agree. the main route itself is getting harder to play and the non-stop events are tiring. i want to hope that they slow down a lil bit but idk. kinda doubt they will. and the obm gacha rate is terrible but at the end of the day, it is gacha, right? :’) genshin is horrible gacha wise but there’s always a lot to do, and places to explore. plus they’re still updating the game so i’m sure it’ll remain relevant for a little while longer. i haven’t read the manga fully but i have seen bits and pieces, and some screenshots. diluc and kaeya look amazing in them 😭

oof yeah, i still love listening to achilles come down. it’s so good!! definitely very cathartic. i’m glad you enjoy it too. 🥰

ahaha, ngl i just always call him luci tbh. i know he probably doesn’t like it. but like lucifer is just a mouthful to say sometimes hehe i just know he’ll get his revenge on u for calling him that tho. belphie moo moo shdjd that’s kinda cute?? hmm. i don’t think i have nicknames for them tbh? :0 just kinda. shorten their names lol. and there’s nothing wrong with having physical touch as ur love language!! hehe i think that’s cute. i’m sure they enjoy the show of affection anw. i think i would just be way too shy to do anything like that tho :’)

ik people tell me they enjoy the messiness but sometimes i scroll through and get so embarrassed 😭 like i would like to not be perceived, please and thank u. but i’m glad that u enjoy my blog, regardless 😭 your height? :0 oof that’s a bit tough. you don’t radiate short ppl energy. wanna say ur probably average height shdkd and no, that’s definitely not me projecting my own height onto other people :’)

yeah, english isn’t my first language shdjd 😭 but i have been speaking/learning it for a while now. doesn’t matter tho, i still makes mistakes occasionally ahdjd but i’ve stopped caring lolol luci anon has yet to pop up again but it’s okay hehe they’ll get back their rights eventually hehe oh, and thank you for dropping by!! much love 💖💖💖

#oof this was long shdjd #but thank u tho for the ask. always nice catching up w u #answered #lurker anon #long post

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