As is the case with the last piece of research I did into fight scenes in the media, time was not on my side, and I needed to have lots of research done by the deadline at the end of Week 3.
Therefore, I decided to follow the same 'research' method as I did for Kingsman: The Secret Service, and created another brainstorm, this time focusing on the 'Showdown at the House of Blue Leaves' fight scene from Kill Bill Vol. 1. This was also for the same reason as last time.
This fight scene is more well-known amongst film-lovers, as it both featured in one of Quentin Tarantino's most loved films and attracted a lot of controversy purely for its violence, inordinate use of blood and dismemberment typical of the famous auteur.
It's also one of my favourite films.
Again, I focused on the same nine categories but this time I added a tenth, 'setting'. The physical brainstorm can be viewed in the yellow folder.
This brainstorm helped greatly in allowing me to see the stark difference between these two fight scenes based on these ten categories, and how each category truly 'makes up' the scene.
Weapons used:
Samurai swords
Various other specialist Japanese martial arts weapons
Setting
O-Ren's personal club
Japanese social bar/nightclub
Realism
Everybody follows the 'sword rule', no guns
Pseudo-realistic, some exaggerated for dramatic reasons, like the amount of blood seen
Emotions
The Bride is calm whilst killing, no anger
Some of the 'Crazy 88' are angry though
Johnny Mo attacks with anger
Trivia
American idioms are being used
Tarantino had to have two bits of this scene in both black-and-white and another with the in-film lights off to comply with the MPAA's rules on excessive blood in film
Tarantino originally wrote the character of 'Bill' for Warren Beatty, but as he realised the film required more martial arts training, he gave the role to David Carradine, an actor well-known for his expertise in Kung Fu
The scene took eight weeks to film and became six weeks over schedule
Choreographer Woo-Ping Yuen, whose previous credits include The Matrix, was the first martial arts advisor
Martial arts:
Ninjitsu
Suspense:
Suspense between O-Ren and The Bride, they have a past; a history
People involved:
The Yakuza
'The Bride'
O-Ren Ishii
The 'Crazy 88' (O-Ren's private army)
Sofie Fatale
Johnny Mo
Gogo Ubari
Camera angles
Every kind!
Music, SFX
No information given
Circa 07 - 17/10/2019
Week 2: 07/10/2019 - 13/10/2019
Week 3: 14/10/2019 - 20/10/2019