Here to help you keep cool, it’s the newest episode of Geek at Arms! In Geek Out James describes how the watching the recent streaming movie of the musical Hamilton changed his perception of musical theatre. He and Bryan also rejoice that latest book of The Dresden Files series by Jim Butcher, Peace Talks, has finally been released. Next Mike shares how much he’s enjoyed introducing his daughter, albeit by guilt trip, to the Star Wars Miniatures game from Wizards of the Coast and how much she’s enjoyed it. Bryan continues his trek through the MCU with the series Cloak & Dagger. He admits that it surprised him with it’s high quality storytelling and he enjoyed it as much if not more than Runaways! Finally, the guys delve deep into cinematic swords fights, how they compare to actual historical combat, and what is required to make an on screen sword fight look good.
Aragorn vs Lurtz in Fellowship of the Ring succeeds in the realms of drama and believability, but the camera work and a lack of contrast between costuming and set make it difficult for the audience to understand the fight.
In The Empire Strikes Back, the silhouettes of Luke and Vader against a bright yet indistinct background emphasize the stances and forms of the characters.
Jack and Will are back-lit against a set that, while detailed, is obscured by dust. The lighting and camera work allow the audience to clearly see the actors and understand the fight.
The Princess Bride’s choreography and drama is top-notch. Camera placement is generally adequate, but the lighting is flat, which allows the earth-tones of Inigo’s costume to blend with the set. Note that the colors are very similar to the Pirates shot above. The differences are almost entirely in lighting and atmosphere.
Good camera work and art direction—the forms are clear, but nobody believes Kylo has ever had any training.
Whose idea was it to put red-armored combatants against a red background, then hit them with a red weapon? Rey, also, blends into only non-red part of the set. Rey’s stance is at least reasonable, but who knows what Kylo’s doing?
Bees! Bees!
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The best I’ve ever seen is in “SCARAMOUCHE” = Stewart Granger & Jose ferrer,
Also the remake of “PRISONER OF ZENDA” =
“Prisoner of Zenda” = James Mason & Stewart Granger
Just watched some fights from both movies. Scaramouche is really great! The environmental gags they pulled to show that the weapons were sharp were clever, and there was a nice plot through-line clearly visible in both fights. The actors maintained strong characterization and showed the dramatic conflict through the events of the fight. Plus, I love all the acrobatic stunts! In terms of cinematography, camera placement was mostly unimaginative, with a couple of exceptions, but the lighting and blocking were both good, giving us a very clear idea of what was happening and where.
Prisoner of Zenda is less successful in terms of cinematography—the hero’s black costume sometimes got lost in the darkness of the set, and the entire scene was flat. In addition, although the camera moves were more daring, the blocking wasn’t as good, leading to many situations where the actors’ stances weren’t as clear, and the environment was not as well defined for the viewer. However, I liked that the purpose of the duel wasn’t to defeat the antagonist, but to accomplish a side goal—the opening of the drawbridge. I wish that the comment at the start about using furniture as weapons had presaged a bigger role of improvised weaponry. Once the hero got a sword, he fell into the same style as the antagonist. It would have been great to see his unorthodox thinking play a role in his victory.
I’ll let the swordy guys comment on the combat itself.