archived-videos Action Showreel From My Film Group

15 seconds before a punch is thrown, kinda slow start for an action reel. The music is a little too low in energy for a collection of fight scenes. There isn't alot of variation in the fighting. Mostly looks like some punching, blocking, and the occasional kick. The fights feel fairly static as it just two guys mostly standing there throwing a few punches.

Would be nice to see more moving through the environment, use of props, a mixture of fighting styles, more hits landing, less blocking, add in some foley to help sell the hits (half or more of the hit is sold by the sound).
 
Thanks for the comment. The style of fighting I am going for is more of a static effort with punching and blocking - the fights in full do have a lot more variety, maybe I should have included more of that here.
 
I really dislike that heavy motion blur that's been applied to most of it.

Aside from that, pretty good. Could mix it up some more, I 'spose. It's supposed to be demonstrating fight choreography, not camerawork, right?
 
I totally agree about the heavy motion blur. I've sorted that for recent fights. Thanks for your constructive comment. It is demonstrating fight choreography - some of the camerawork isn't very good, and some of it is with no camera operator at all.
 
I would like to see your group trying new things. It’s dull for an
action showreel. All the fights are the same - different
locations, different clothing, exact same fights. It appears you
use the same fight choreography all the time.

But it seems that's what you're going for. Overall a poor showreel
but the static look with punching and blocking is quite good.
 
I think it is an exaggeration to say that 'all the fights are the same.' There are lots of different ways to punch, block, swing, duck etc - they may look similar but I wouldn't say they are the same if you look closely. New things would definitely be worth trying but I do have a particular style in mind, yes.

Thanks for the comment.
 
Speed was good and as a martial artist, I can see the variation... but the technical variation doesn't show as flashily (is that a word?) as big structural and visual variation would show in the choreography. I like the cinematography in most cases, but would like to see a longer drawn out fight sequence really planned out and executed well to show off the obvious technical skill your team seems to have.

Part may also be the pacing as there's a very block/attack dynamic going on that doesn't show much variation in the rhythm of the fight, the push/pull, fast and slow need to be exaggerated to really draw out the drama of the fight. On screen, it's not just a fight, it's a sequence that should still be able to tell a structured story in and of itself. A bloody little microcosm of the overall narrative.
 
Thanks for the comment, knightly. I agree with your comments and I most certainly agree that a fight scene should play out like a story in itself.
 
Graeme Noble said:
I think it is an exaggeration to say that 'all the fights are the same.' There are lots of different ways to punch, block, swing, duck etc - they may look similar but I wouldn't say they are the same if you look closely.
Click to expand...
I'm sure if I studied your showreel and looked closely I would see
what you see. What I'm saying, without exaggeration, is what I
see as a layman - not a fighter; not a fight choreographer. The
fights in this showreel all look the same to me. If that wasn't what
you wanted to hear, then I'm sorry.
 
I am not qualified to have an opinion on the quality of the filming technicalities.

I am a martial arts guy though and the techniques thrown were very obviously not thrown to connect. I know folks don't really get decked in films on purpose, but the camera normally pulls off the illusion of danger in good productions I've seen. I really didn't feel as though any of those hits were ever going to land. I know that sounds odd, but it was my immediate thought when viewing.

The TKD guy in particular seems to be a good martial talent, but the camera just didn't convey danger to me like it does in top commercial movies.

That said, when I post my 1st piece on here for review, I hope it's a tenth as good as yours just to keep it all in context.
 
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