"Since everything is but an apparition,
perfect in being what it is,
having nothing to do with good or bad,
acceptance or rejection,
one may well burst out in laughter."
-Long Chen Pa
After visiting more artists pages on AnD, I’ve been inspired
to write something informative. (dun dun dunnnnnn!) No, the end of the world is
not coming, I just thought after reading useful information at the sites of
Jeanne Hartman, Mark Allen, Bey Logan and many others, I, too, have a field of
study, film-fighting.
This is fueled in a major way by my friends telling me
“Don’t blame people for not being able to tell the difference between good and
bad film-fighting, if you don’t INFORM them!” Okay! So I understand that 4 out
of 5 people aren’t able, just like how I AM NOT ABLE to tell the difference
between good and bad ballet. You get me? There’s no blame here, just hugs and
kisses.
So… I just realized… THIS is my attempt to educate. (inner
monologue: what did I get myself into?) Keep in mind that this is just MY take
on it. One may ask, “What are my credentials?” Long story semi-short, I
couldn’t afford a martial arts school so I first learned martial arts by watching
film-fighting. I would analyze fight scenes for days in order to learn it and
do with friend; not just fighting, but beauty of expression, timing, emotion,
command, and the many components I will explain to in order to compose a good
film-fight. This began when I was 13 so I’ve been doing this along with
coordinating and choreographing shows and film-fights for 17 years. The first
show I choreographed and coordinated was for my high school at age 15. Okay, I
know, I know, enough about me.
(I feel I have to protect myself because people are vicious)
I’m not a writer. I can barely convey myself accurately. As a matter of fact,
I’m totally INCOMPETENT with a hoola-hoop, but film-fighting is the one thing I
DO know. So if you happen to LIKE to pick on people for technicalities/wording
or happen to be a person COMPETING IN MY FIELD (LOL), please leave happily NOW!
I’ve never offered anything here more than some good-old
fashioned salivating but here goes some information “one time for your mind”
that WILL CHANGE THE WAY YOU VIEW FILM-FIGHTING.
Key Components to Film-Fighting:
1. Command
– selling the fact that you have the power to damage. There are 2
components to command, core strength and expression.
Core strength: the ability to stay
in balance while you perform the moves. (Basically: Your spine is your core.
The muscles around your spine make it tough.)
Good example:
Jet Li probably has one of the
toughest cores ever expressed on screen; pulling difficult moves while
maintaining good balance; the best wire worker in my opinion (Myth: people
think wirework is easy). Of course, Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan and Donnie Yen all
have great cores. That is why they succeed well in it.
Anti-thesis: Gymnasts have super
core strength but cannot achieve this, because they lack other components.
Bad example: Sonya from Mortal Kombat
1995
I can pick on real martial artist
but that would be mean. I will not.
2. Expression
(the other component for command, I separated to keep clear) – this gives
the audience a feeling and just like in acting, a real human emotion is
not simply black or white, happy or sad, excited or angry. Within one
second humans have many emotions simultaneously and so it is also true for
the expression in a film-fight. Aggression (next component I will get to) can
fall within this category however the expression in a film fight can go further
than just aggression. Bruce Lee was a master at this. He always preached
about emotional content and so far no one has reached his level of
emotional expression in my opinion. Poses such as Jet Li’s Wong Fei Hong pose
fall into this category, it can inspire one to feel proud, confident and
so on.
This step is probably the toughest
step. THIS IS WHERE NON-MARTIAL ARTISTS FAULTER. For how can one convey a
MARTIAL SPIRIT, if one is not a martial artist? They can only imitate… and often the imitation
is simply a CONCEPT of martial spirit that is created in their MINDS, not authentic.
It’s like, I am NOT from England
but I can SORT OF imitate an English accent. I may be able to fool an American
but will I be able to fool someone from England? Maybe not the best example
but anyways.
EVEN REAL MARTIAL ARTISTS FAIL AT
THIS STEP: zzzzZZZzzzZZZzzz
I’m tired… to be continue on the
next episode of Film-Fighting 101.
@ Missy S: I'm weird like that...what I remember that is! I also have a thing for pictures and numbers. Okay...too much info. Hey, who's there? Oh, just some guys offering me a big white canvas type shirt! How nice...
@ JRS: Oh I know. But, in context of your comment, I just found it amusing (and it put a picture in my head of DY doing a "ta da" which as even more amusing =D).
@ Missy S: A real bona fide gymnastics term, "Ta da" is how little gymnasts are taught to raise their arms in a salute when they finish a routine (or tumbling pass). =)
Oh, check this out! Mark Dacascos, a martial artist, is on Dancing with the Stars....he does a round-off backhandspring walkout during the dance and it's excellent. Note how he hurdles at the begining of his round-off backhandspring....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kd_1i_j20Fk
Again....a martial artist with good, solid gymnastic basics. =) ::two thumbs up::
I will agree that gymnasts are gymnasts and martial artists are martial artists. What ticks me off is when martial artists try gymnastic stunts without proper training. When that happens, it end up looking like really bad gymnastics! So....I THINK......I think that an overall fantastic martial artist who puts his/her talents to screen MUST be able to be more competent in the basic gymnastics elements (i.e., aerials, round-off backhandsprings, back tucks etc.). I'm not saying they have to stick their arms up and go, "Ta da!" after every gymnastic stunt, but instead stick the landings with the chest up....eliminate the bent legs. Example: I love Jackie Chan's stunts and fight scenes but I cringe when I see his little bow-legged gymnastic moves. Jet, however, is da bomb. He has enough gymnastics training in his martial arts to make everything look fantastic. Even in his early wushu days in the 1970's his aerials were top-notch. I know I picked on your little 10-second Olympic tribute....I offered some criticism...actually, some good pointers. Whether or not you actually consciously followed it, there was another vid later (I don't remember which one) but you did the same stunt better. Much better.
I think fundamental gymnastics training is beneficial for martial artists because it helps with the physics of flight and could eliminate potential injuries (for instance, did you know that doing a cartwheel with your fingers turned in will prevent you from breaking your forearms?).
Back to film fight stunts...For me, I can tell a fight scene is going to not be rewarding for me, the viewer, to watch when there is an excessive amount of close-ups. Close-ups in film fighting cover up a variety of flaws...like the fact that whoever's involved in the fights scenes can't fight! Grrrr.....I guess that's why I prefer watching more Asian films because the stunt fighting is more realistic because you can SEE the fighters, not just a fist...not just a facial expression...not just a leg...you get the whole package.
I can appreciate the difficulty of wire work as I've read several of Jackie Chan's diary entries from his various movies. He really doesn't like it and explains in great detail how uncomfortable working in the harness can be.
D.Y., thanks for posting this up! I would like you to do more...you have a lot of experience as a viewer and a doer. Teach us, baby! =D
hands DY a big cup of confidence
sheesh man for all your disclaimers that was a great blog!!
Only petty minded individuals pick on writing style in a blog that is designed to inform.
I'm not good at picking crap fight scenes from good ones, to me it looked like her kicks and punches lacked power and wouldn't hurt a guy like that. Having said that, as a teacher of self defence to 12 year old girls, I can honestly say some of them can really pack a punch/kick.
It's run-the-film-backward Sonya! Everyone wave at Robin in the background!
For yer second point here, and talking about imitation, edit in a clip from the Matrix--that scene where Keanu Reeves is "fighting" Colin Chou. I'm a complete amateur in the realm of film-fighting (obviously), but even I noticed how intimidated and terrified Reeves face looked all the way through the scene. It wasn't, "I'm Neo, the chosen one!" It WAS, "Holy *beeeps!* If I forget my choreography, this guy is gonna destroy my pretty face!"
Anyhoo, a nice diversion from film reviews and food pics. You should do this more often :)
Even I would know that was a crap fight scene. She was so off balance that she would have gotten a 3 on Dancing with the Stars. But I also was throwing things at the screen watching famous but non MA actors in hit movies (which just proves that it does not matter who the action choreographer is...some actors are just too leaden or otherwise cannot pull it off and it doesn`t take a martial artist to recognize it). Maybe you can demonstrate some of these techniques on quick YouTube clips or would that be too time-consuming? Like 10 second clips - you at home? Please don`t make me watch a horrible two minute+ clip like that again! lol At least tell us `1:30 into the clip for the fight.` Isn`t watching the actual sissy girl fight enough sufferering?
Half of the Cambodian population was being murdered as D.Y. let out his first cry. As refugees, his family escaped the communist regime and fled to Thailand, the Philippines and, eventually, to America where he was raised in Long Beach, California.
Love for martial arts was recognized early in D.Y. At age seven, a visit to a karate school dazzled and amazed him, but martial art training was a luxury his family could not afford. To make up for it, his dad watched the karate class from afar and tried to draw the techniques for DY to learn. Time passed, and so too did D.Y.’s hopes of train in martial arts. He would have to settle for watching and imitating figures like Jet Li, Donnie Yen and Jackie Chan. Inspired to imitate and create movements in the martial spirit, little by little, he began opening up to life and abandoning the violent lifestyle he had taken on.
READ MORE AT http://dysao.com/page_bio.html
------
Perspective
My passion is not simply acting, martial arts and film. My dream of revamping the martial spirit through the media is an intervention. I want to use the media to reach the world and my message is one of unity.
My dad says America is his saving grace since it was America that saved us in our moment of desperation during the flee of the Cambodian Civil War. His three one time starving children are now college graduates and, in one way or another, aspire to give back to humanity. While some curse the American government, my father praises it. He says it’s not about a right or wrong perspective, it’s about what perspective brings the best out of you. What makes you get back up when life beats you to the ground, buries you under the heaviest rocks and tries to destroys every hope you have? And it is about discovery. Mine for that gold that exist in your soul, no matter what dark places you encounter along the way. Discover that one thing, the will of your life, that keeps your ship steaming, no matter how long it takes for the shores to arrive. On that shore stands the hope worth fighting for. Lastly, what perspective gives you the courage to pay it forward? With empathy, comes courage. In your weakness, you find your strength and in sacrificing yourself, you find yourself.
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