7 ms·

This is great but virtually all of this is similar to what I know about the samurai - most fighting with a sword ends VERY quickly with someone getting stabbed.

by sprafa 5y ago

This is great but virtually all of this is similar to what I know about the samurai - most fighting with a sword ends VERY quickly with someone getting stabbed. We are talking about an encounter between two men being decided in a few swordstrokes. Seconds, not minutes. There is not much room for 3-5-10 minute fights and acrobatics. Yes it’s interesting as a YouTube video, but for filmmaking suspense comes from “dilating” the moment in time, spending as much as possible in each step before the final blow. With realistic sword fighting, this is mostly impossible afaik.

thaumasiotes 5y ago
> most fighting with a sword ends VERY quickly with someone getting stabbed. Tanner Greer recently posted about teaching the Iliad to high schoolers, and made this point explicitly. The Iliad is composed for an audience that is familiar with hand-to-hand combat, and depicts it exactly this way: two people close, and one of them kills the other one and moves on. Fighting is mostly done with spears, not swords, but it happens the same way. Homeric depictions of combat impressed my mother in a different way (she is a doctor): "Wow! Homer really knew his human anatomy!"
imtringued 5y ago
You're supposed to make it up in numbers. The idea that there is a single hero fighting for minutes is the problem.
mcv 5y ago
One movie that struck me as having probably more realistic gun fights than most (though I wouldn't know, having fortunately no experience with gun fights) is Children of Man. People are doing something. Suddenly someone collapses, you hear gun shots, they look for cover, and still you have no idea where the gun shots are coming from. Much more exciting and terrifying than the usual Hollywood gun fight.
b0rsuk 5y ago
Ridley Scott's debut movie, "The Duelists" is such a movie. It's based on real diaries of two dudes who dueled several times over course of decades. The sword fighting in the movie is among the most realistic. Check out the opening scene: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvVyyH2mQ9E https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvVyyH2mQ9E Also, the sword fight from "The Deluge" (Polish title - "Potop"). Admittedly, the plot says the commander didn't want to kill a rebelling but skilled officer, just teach him a lesson. But otherwise well done. It was a time when fencing and horse riding training was mandatory for Polish actors. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkYjdPCyYjk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkYjdPCyYjk

by sprafa 5y ago

thaumasiotes 5y ago

> most fighting with a sword ends VERY quickly with someone getting stabbed. Tanner Greer recently posted about teaching the Iliad to high schoolers, and made this point explicitly. The Iliad is composed for an audience that is familiar with hand-to-hand combat, and depicts it exactly this way: two people close, and one of them kills the other one and moves on. Fighting is mostly done with spears, not swords, but it happens the same way. Homeric depictions of combat impressed my mother in a different way (she is a doctor): "Wow! Homer really knew his human anatomy!"

imtringued 5y ago

You're supposed to make it up in numbers. The idea that there is a single hero fighting for minutes is the problem.

mcv 5y ago

One movie that struck me as having probably more realistic gun fights than most (though I wouldn't know, having fortunately no experience with gun fights) is Children of Man. People are doing something. Suddenly someone collapses, you hear gun shots, they look for cover, and still you have no idea where the gun shots are coming from. Much more exciting and terrifying than the usual Hollywood gun fight.

b0rsuk 5y ago

Ridley Scott's debut movie, "The Duelists" is such a movie. It's based on real diaries of two dudes who dueled several times over course of decades. The sword fighting in the movie is among the most realistic. Check out the opening scene: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvVyyH2mQ9E https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvVyyH2mQ9E Also, the sword fight from "The Deluge" (Polish title - "Potop"). Admittedly, the plot says the commander didn't want to kill a rebelling but skilled officer, just teach him a lesson. But otherwise well done. It was a time when fencing and horse riding training was mandatory for Polish actors. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkYjdPCyYjk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkYjdPCyYjk