Better fight scenes have more to do with technological development than you acknowledge. A convincing fight scene will use fast camera movement and tight editing to create the illusion. In the BBC of the 1960s, TV cameras were bulky and slow-moving, and editing facilities were limited. Some directors shot fight scenes on film rather than video for this very reason (see the final episode of “An Unearthly Child” for an example), but this posed problems of its own, both in terms of cost and in the mismatch of visual texture between video and film.
Of course, using any given technology the skill of the director, fight arranger and performers will always make a difference – but the technology puts real constraints on how good the end result can be.
[...] there are the shooting scenes which, even more than The War Games or The Time Meddler, display how ludicrous fighting on-screen used to be. In The Pirate Planet the [...]
What I’ve been reading (via LibDig.co.uk)
Careful Pink Dog, watch too much of that stuff and you may grow tusks and a trunk!
Better fight scenes have more to do with technological development than you acknowledge. A convincing fight scene will use fast camera movement and tight editing to create the illusion. In the BBC of the 1960s, TV cameras were bulky and slow-moving, and editing facilities were limited. Some directors shot fight scenes on film rather than video for this very reason (see the final episode of “An Unearthly Child” for an example), but this posed problems of its own, both in terms of cost and in the mismatch of visual texture between video and film.
Of course, using any given technology the skill of the director, fight arranger and performers will always make a difference – but the technology puts real constraints on how good the end result can be.
That’s interesting Iain; thanks.
[...] I wrote about the War Games, the fighting is rather stilted and unconvincing. However, whilst The War Games had silliness such [...]
interesting post, much of what you say is very informal and could help a lot of people
[...] there are the shooting scenes which, even more than The War Games or The Time Meddler, display how ludicrous fighting on-screen used to be. In The Pirate Planet the [...]