Fight Clip Club: an Introduction

My next Wednesday series for paid-only peeps. A free overview of what’s to come.

Fight Clip Club was a presentation assignment I required in my college level stage combat classes, wherein the students would choose a fight scene and analyze it according to theory and concepts we’d learned in class. It was a fun way to learn about what goes into a fight scene, and gave the students more insight into professional choreography in the middle of an intensely hands-on and practical course. It was fun for me to find old favorites and new fights I’d never seen, and it delighted the students to see that the pros are basically doing the same things they were in class, just at a different skill level.

Since my Problematic Tropes series are both concluded, I thought I’d start a new series for paid-only Wednesdays, and judging from the reactions to my recent articles about Realism and Method acting, I thought Fight Clip Club would be just the thing. Let me know if you have a favorite fight scene that you’d like me to analyze, in the comments, and I’ll add it to my list (especially if you’re a paid subscriber).

This overview and short example I have opened to everyone; but FYI the fully written series after this intro will be for paid peeps only.

Fight Clip Club: Assignment Requirements

Here’s the Fight Clip Club assignment as I gave it to my stage combat students:

Present an analysis of a fight scene (any weapons except guns*). Your presentation should include the following:

• What style/genre it is (from our two-columned guide). 

-Here’s the two columns describing fight styles. For explanation of each, check out my Genrification article.

1 realistic                        a comedic

2 expressionistic             b dramatic

3 stylized / dance      c swashbuckling

• The Three Rules for Actors (physical Objective, Tactics, Obstacles)

-The 3 rules for actors are really 3 questions:

What do I want? (OBJECTIVE)

What do I do to get what I want? (TACTICS)

What stands in my way? (OBSTACLES)

-for more details on this concept, check the above linked article, or The Fight is the Story talks about this in detail as related to fight scenes.

• Where does this fight scene land within the overall story arc? Why do the characters resort to violence? Are they justified? Is it a fair fight? Who wins/loses and what does that mean for the character's journey in the rest of the story? Why must this fight happen here, now, why these characters, etc.)

• Name the actors and stunt doubles, and the stunt coordinator/fight arranger/choreographer (Note: often the Second Unit Director is in charge of fights & stunts).

• Lastly, discuss why you chose this particular scene to share.

*I won’t be restricting my own weapon choice in this series. I didn’t allow gunfights in class just because we never learned that weapon in class, and I wanted the students to analyze fight scenes that included the weapons they themselves had experienced. But know: I am not very versed in the martial arts of firearms myself, whether theatrical or real-life. I’m most well trained in a few different unarmed fight styles, and I know a lot about swords. But I do know enough about stage combat, stunts, and acting in general that I feel like I can still offer some good insights on a gunfight. And if I need more firearm details, I’ll ask those I know who are experts, like my colleague Kevin over at PewTube.

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Example: Sherlock Holmes

For my regular upcoming FCC entries, I will be constructing full essays on each fight scene I bring up. For this general overview, though, here’s a briefer briefing (ahem) so you can get the basic idea of what’s to come. I’ll present these in the same way I would require of students in class. The which begin with showing the fight scene itself, so. Here:

 

Scene: Holmes vs. McMurdo in Sherlock Holmes (2009)

Actors: Holmes: Robert Downey Jr.   McMurdo: David Garrick

Stuntmen: none, the actors do the fights. Be it so noted that Garrick is a boxer (not an actor necessarily but a stuntman in several things, including Batman and Bourne) and Downey Jr. has experience in Wing Chun kung fu.

Setting: Holmes and McMurdo in a bare-knuckle boxing match at what I as a Sherlockian nerd can only assume is Allison's rooms. Victorian England (late 1800s).

Style & Weapons: bare-knuckle boxing, also a touch (for Holmes) of Bartitsu. Hanky used for distraction, not as a weapon.

Genre: 2 (expressionistic), c (swashbuckling)

This fight does look nearly realistic (1) at the beginning, but once we get to the Sherlockian POV and especially the slo-mo and inner monologue, it turns into expressionistic. It's not a funny fight (a) nor is it scary/icky (b) though we do get pain and fatigue in good measure. So I chose c (swashbuckling).

Three Rules: I am choosing to discuss Holmes' 3 Rules, as McMurdo is so small a role that he is merely one of Holmes’ obstacles more than a pivotal factor in the rest of the story. If I were David Garrick, however, of course I would go through these 3 rules for myself to prepare for the scene.

• Objective: This is an exhibition fight, so Holmes' objective is To Win. Life and limb is not at stake, except where McMurdo's power to hurt him seriously is concerned. Money is certainly a factor in his need to win. His objective takes a turn in the middle of the fight as he notices Irene Adler in the audience, so a sub-objective becomes To See What She Is Up To.

• Tactics: we can see Holmes using basic defensive boxing maneuvers until he is clocked so hard he pirouettes twice and falls. Seeing Adler in the crowd, he then takes a moment to set up a sequence of tactics in his own head before physically executing them. It's nice as an audience to see this, as we can hear what he's planning and why, before we see the results.

• Obstacles: getting clocked pretty gosh darned hard in the face, getting distracted by Adler, McMurdo's not only size but skill

Other Questions: This is a set-up sport fight, and there's lots of betting going on, so it is ostensibly a fair fight. But the audience's reaction after Holmes' victory makes one wonder whether his superior ninja skills weren't considered fair in Victorian England. One doesn't know if this is an underground fight club or if it's okay with the law that this is going on. This scene establishes Holmes as a skilled boxer, as he is in the old stories of Sherlockian canon, and it lands rather early on in the movie so it's more establishing Holmes’ character than anything else. The fight itself brings more clues to Holmes’ attention as he sees Adler there in the crowd, though that's not why he's fighting in the first place.

I chose this scene because I'm a giant Sherlock Holmes nerd, and as much as I adore several of the TV/film adaptations of the old stories, none have quite gotten Holmes' fighting prowess right, whereas the Downey Jr. Holmes pretty much centers around an action-flick version of the detective. I like it especially because not only do we get a glimpse into Sherlock Holmes' incredible brain in the midst of a fight, but it's a pretty authentic (though expressionistic) showcase of a fight style from England back in this time period. Plus, I always like it when I can get me some SweatySexy!Sherlock.

Whatever you think of the Ritchie Sherlock Holmes movies, you have to enjoy Sweaty!Sherlock. It’s refreshing to see a film adaptation actually go here into Holmes’ boxing prowess—in canon, he’s supposed to be a highly skilled boxer and swordsman, as well as versed in Japanese martial arts.