[JAPAN MOVIE 2012-2014] るろうに剣心 -明治剣客浪漫譚- / RUROUNI KENSHIN

[pechumori]

@hiranade, this seems very interesting...

RUROUNI KENSHIN ANALYSIS OF FIGHT SEQUENCES IN FILM:
FILM AS A LANGUAGE
June 7, 2015
by aworldwithroses

 

Hello and welcome to the introduction of a brand new series where I’m going to talk about and analyze fight sequences and how they generally should be composed, and how Rurouni Kenshin and its sequels are brilliant examples of as I explained in the first post when these weren’t a series yet. I have enough material to run this weekly so instead of rehashing an introduction, I want to take this post to explain how things are going to go down, so I hope you bare with me and enjoy this new series!

In this series, we’re going to observe the visual grammar of a fight sequence, how action films are doing it today, and how the RK LA trilogy and films like it have become bonafide brilliant examples of how to properly use it. It’s going to be fun, I promise, but before we get into it, we should probably run down some basics on what exactly I’m talking about, so this entry is going to focus on what exactly film grammar is. Let’s have a look, shall we?

NOTE: This post is not spoiler free and may spoil movies on your checklist or movies you haven’t seen before. If it’s not related to RuroKen, I will try my best to not give to many details away. At the beginning of each post, I will include a list of films I will be discussing as a preemptive spoiler warning for those films to give you a chance to watch them before reading. 

PARTS OF A WHOLE: UNDERSTANDING THE LANGUAGE OF CINEMA

---

There are many times over the decades and history of cinema where we as audience members walked out dazed and amazed at the wonderful visual poetry cinema has to offer. And that’s exactly what it is: poetry. A film is an eloquently composed poem (ideally). Now that sounds pretentious as hell, but that’s also kinda the truth isn’t it? See, to understand film, we need to stop thinking of it in JUST terms of acting and story: film is a language.

Have you ever wondered why movies look better or are more engaging than a TV show with a similar plot, despite the acting being around the same level? Maybe you chocked it up to higher production value? Well believe it or not, it might have less to do with how good the actors or the writing is, and might have more to do with how the directors understand the visual language of film. Just like two poets might write of similar subjects but the one with the deeper understanding might get that point across a bit clearer or in a more clever way, filmmakers use the camera and camera techniques to bypass your understanding (or lack thereof) of film.

Now if this sounds intimidating, don’t worry about it. See, you’re actually already fluent in film-anese! Your vocabulary might not be so advanced, or you might not be able to understand everything consciously, but your brain is already adept to the language of cinema, sort of how you are fluent in english, but Cormac McCarthy’s metaphors might confuse you or maybe you’re not very good at poetry; that doesn’t mean you don’t speak English. 

A film is moving pictures projected on a screen; everyone knows that, but those images and the camera capturing them are doing more than simply recording these staged events on a set with a bunch of actors and a guy in a funny hat on a chair yelling “action!”. They’re telling a story in their own right and to do that, they need to understand and follow (or break) certain rules to deliver the maximum impact a story is capable of, so the first part of this series is intended to help us learn the rules behind film’s poetry so we can conceive how Keishi Otomo and other directors got good at writing poems! Er…film..! Yeah! 

Just like there is more to a film than simply talking and explosions, there is more to an action sequence than flashy choreography and fast editing; there is a whole world of prepping and planning that a director and film crew must undertake when filming an action sequence and over the next few weeks, we’re going to examine some of the major and common tools directors like Otomo use to get his fight sequences above average and memorable as opposed to other directors.

Keep in mind that film’s language is alive and constantly evolving. A technique employed by one director might be abhorred by another, and each director will use the “grammar” of film to compose their own “poem”; even though the basic language is the same, the meaning and story told with them will vary.

The future entires of the first part of this series will be divided into four different posts, each written and released weekly. I decided this format was the best way to do this kind of post because I have so much to say and tumblr’s formatting doesn’t lend itself well to long posts so I hope you guys stick with me for that long and enjoy the hell of the ride! The four posts will be examining: 

1. Choreography - This, in broad strokes, is the process of how an action sequence is composed, from drafting to shooting day. This will also show us how the stunt team prepped the actors for their big action set pieces that leave us all breathless! 

2. Lighting & Production Design - This section examines the art of designing a fight scene, not in choreography, but in presentation, meaning we’ll take a look at how color is used, lighting, costuming, location, sets, and props help sell the fight sequences and engross us in the world and sell the tone.

3. Cinematography & Directing - Well, answering what it means to be a director, but mostly shot placement, what angles to shot from, what type of shot to frame a scene in and the psychology behind the scene, how the actors are directed to perform, and how it uses production values to create tone. 

4. Editing - Our final entry, and arguably our most ambiguous one, is studying how an editor takes all the footage shot by a director, decides which takes to use, and cuts it down into a coherent action scene that’s easy to follow and doesn’t leave everyone confused.

These posts will be up weekly and I will try to have them up by 9PM EST on Sundays so please stay tuned, please like and reblog these posts as I’ve worked very hard on them, feel free to discuss, and most importantly, stay awesome!

If any of you lovely folks like what i do here and are willing and able to help to make sure content gets put out on time, please private message me! These are huge posts and I could use any helping hands for these ones!

No, they will not be replacing my other Hiten encyclopedia posts, but this project was something I was really passionate about and I wanted to get it out there in between posts. Thank you so much for reading and keep loving RK!

credit: http://aworldwithroses.tumblr.com/post/120987661880/rurouni-kenshin-analysis-of-fight-sequences-in

[Guest hiranade]

@hiranade, this seems very interesting...

RUROUNI KENSHIN ANALYSIS OF FIGHT SEQUENCES IN FILM:
FILM AS A LANGUAGE
June 7, 2015
by aworldwithroses

Hello and welcome to the introduction of a brand new series where I’m going to talk about and analyze fight sequences and how they generally should be composed, and how Rurouni Kenshin and its sequels are brilliant examples of as I explained in the first post when these weren’t a series yet. I have enough material to run this weekly so instead of rehashing an introduction, I want to take this post to explain how things are going to go down, so I hope you bare with me and enjoy this new series!

In this series, we’re going to observe the visual grammar of a fight sequence, how action films are doing it today, and how the RK LA trilogy and films like it have become bonafide brilliant examples of how to properly use it. It’s going to be fun, I promise, but before we get into it, we should probably run down some basics on what exactly I’m talking about, so this entry is going to focus on what exactly film grammar is. Let’s have a look, shall we?

NOTE: This post is not spoiler free and may spoil movies on your checklist or movies you haven’t seen before. If it’s not related to RuroKen, I will try my best to not give to many details away. At the beginning of each post, I will include a list of films I will be discussing as a preemptive spoiler warning for those films to give you a chance to watch them before reading. 

PARTS OF A WHOLE: UNDERSTANDING THE LANGUAGE OF CINEMA

---

here are many times over the decades and history of cinema where we as audience members walked out dazed and amazed at the wonderful visual poetry cinema has to offer. And that’s exactly what it is: poetry. A film is an eloquently composed poem (ideally). Now that sounds pretentious as hell, but that’s also kinda the truth isn’t it? See, to understand film, we need to stop thinking of it in JUST terms of acting and story: film is a language.

Have you ever wondered why movies look better or are more engaging than a TV show with a similar plot, despite the acting being around the same level? Maybe you chocked it up to higher production value? Well believe it or not, it might have less to do with how good the actors or the writing is, and might have more to do with how the directors understand the visual language of film. Just like two poets might write of similar subjects but the one with the deeper understanding might get that point across a bit clearer or in a more clever way, filmmakers use the camera and camera techniques to bypass your understanding (or lack thereof) of film.

Now if this sounds intimidating, don’t worry about it. See, you’re actually already fluent in film-anese! Your vocabulary might not be so advanced, or you might not be able to understand everything consciously, but your brain is already adept to the language of cinema, sort of how you are fluent in english, but Cormac McCarthy’s metaphors might confuse you or maybe you’re not very good at poetry; that doesn’t mean you don’t speak English. 

A film is moving pictures projected on a screen; everyone knows that, but those images and the camera capturing them are doing more than simply recording these staged events on a set with a bunch of actors and a guy in a funny hat on a chair yelling “action!”. They’re telling a story in their own right and to do that, they need to understand and follow (or break) certain rules to deliver the maximum impact a story is capable of, so the first part of this series is intended to help us learn the rules behind film’s poetry so we can conceive how Keishi Otomo and other directors got good at writing poems! Er…film..! Yeah! 

Just like there is more to a film than simply talking and explosions, there is more to an action sequence than flashy choreography and fast editing; there is a whole world of prepping and planning that a director and film crew must undertake when filming an action sequence and over the next few weeks, we’re going to examine some of the major and common tools directors like Otomo use to get his fight sequences above average and memorable as opposed to other directors.

Keep in mind that film’s language is alive and constantly evolving. A technique employed by one director might be abhorred by another, and each director will use the “grammar” of film to compose their own “poem”; even though the basic language is the same, the meaning and story told with them will vary.

The future entires of the first part of this series will be divided into four different posts, each written and released weekly. I decided this format was the best way to do this kind of post because I have so much to say and tumblr’s formatting doesn’t lend itself well to long posts so I hope you guys stick with me for that long and enjoy the hell of the ride! The four posts will be examining: 

1. Choreography - This, in broad strokes, is the process of how an action sequence is composed, from drafting to shooting day. This will also show us how the stunt team prepped the actors for their big action set pieces that leave us all breathless! 

2. Lighting & Production Design - This section examines the art of designing a fight scene, not in choreography, but in presentation, meaning we’ll take a look at how color is used, lighting, costuming, location, sets, and props help sell the fight sequences and engross us in the world and sell the tone.

3. Cinematography & Directing - Well, answering what it means to be a director, but mostly shot placement, what angles to shot from, what type of shot to frame a scene in and the psychology behind the scene, how the actors are directed to perform, and how it uses production values to create tone. 

4. Editing - Our final entry, and arguably our most ambiguous one, is studying how an editor takes all the footage shot by a director, decides which takes to use, and cuts it down into a coherent action scene that’s easy to follow and doesn’t leave everyone confused.

These posts will be up weekly and I will try to have them up by 9PM EST on Sundays so please stay tuned, please like and reblog these posts as I’ve worked very hard on them, feel free to discuss, and most importantly, stay awesome!

If any of you lovely folks like what i do here and are willing and able to help to make sure content gets put out on time, please private message me! These are huge posts and I could use any helping hands for these ones!

No, they will not be replacing my other Hiten encyclopedia posts, but this project was something I was really passionate about and I wanted to get it out there in between posts. Thank you so much for reading and keep loving RK!

credit: http://aworldwithroses.tumblr.com/post/120987661880/rurouni-kenshin-analysis-of-fight-sequences-in

​yeah, this is.^^ tq, sist...

sometimes I curious some scenes in this movie, how's the making that part etc

[pechumori]

The second part of that article is still being written @hiranade

If Takeru san as Kenshin will trade his sword with his friend Taka's microphone, this is how they would look like....  (^_^)
credit: katopoooo

[pechumori]

Takeru Sato (with Emi Takei) for Seventeen magazine Sept. 2012 issue during the promotions for "Rurouni Kenshin" 

credit: sloves

 

[Guest hiranade]

The second part of that article is still being written @hiranade

If Takeru san as Kenshin will trade his sword with his friend Taka's microphone, this is how they would look like....  (^_^)
credit: katopoooo

kkkkk....fans always find a way to make this creative fanart. they make kenshin and taka so confusing.

oh, thanks for the info @pechumori

[bakachin]

oh yeah, i just remember (i was looking through my weibo account album and saw these pictures)... many years ago (more than 10 years?) i did a black&white drawing of kenshin for a class... we had to find a color picture, and copy it, but instead make it only in black&white... it was this one :

 

then recently, i found a picture of takeru sato doing the exact same pose! this one :

 

i am not confident with my drawing skill, so it is rare for me to do any drawing.. but back then we had to do it for that class and since i was an avid kenshin fan, i thought why not.. LOL... 

[pechumori]

@bakachin, it's a good drawing of Kenshin..you should do more...you have the gift. 

BTS photos of the cast of "Rurouni Kenshin". After viewing their serious portrayal of the characters in the movie, it's nice to see the cast smiling for a change . (^_^)
credit: weibo taketaketakeru

[pechumori]

Kenshin vs Soujiro fight scene choreography || rehearsal, NG, final cut
credit: Lynxyz via takerubabe321 tumblr

 

[pechumori]

Kamiki Ryunosuke preparing, cooking, and serving his favorite dish, suiton, to the cast and crew of Rurouni Kenshin. Everyone loved it.

credit: Lynxyz via takerubabe321 tumblr

[bakachin]

hahahaha thank you @pechumori... but i have zero confidence in drawing.. that simple drawing took me hours... 

[Guest hiranade]

hahahaha thank you @pechumori... but i have zero confidence in drawing.. that simple drawing took me hours... 

eh, but I agreed with @pechumori, your drawing is good, @bakachin. its look alike rk manga character.

[Guest hiranade]

 

Kamiki Ryunosuke preparing, cooking, and serving his favorite dish, suiton, to the cast and crew of Rurouni Kenshin. Everyone loved it.

credit: Lynxyz via takerubabe321 tumblr

I never except Miki can cooking hehe...he is so cool with this forte.

eh, takeru look much alike Kamenashi in those pics

[bakachin]

hahahaha thank you @pechumori... but i have zero confidence in drawing.. that simple drawing took me hours... 

eh, but I agreed with @pechumori, your drawing is good, @bakachin. its look alike rk manga character.

heheheheheh thank you... that just shows how much i like RK, huh? to do something i am not good at, just to show my love.. XD

 

Kamiki Ryunosuke preparing, cooking, and serving his favorite dish, suiton, to the cast and crew of Rurouni Kenshin. Everyone loved it.

credit: Lynxyz via takerubabe321 tumblr

I never except Miki can cooking hehe...he is so cool with this forte.

eh, takeru look much alike Kamenashi in those pics

IKR? when i first saw him, he reminds me of Kame too.. i was like, eh, Kame? Kame act? a lot? ehhhh???! hahahahhaha...

[Guest hiranade]

hahahaha thank you @pechumori... but i have zero confidence in drawing.. that simple drawing took me hours... 

eh, but I agreed with @pechumori, your drawing is good, @bakachin. its look alike rk manga character.

heheheheheh thank you... that just shows how much i like RK, huh? to do something i am not good at, just to show my love.. XD

 

Kamiki Ryunosuke preparing, cooking, and serving his favorite dish, suiton, to the cast and crew of Rurouni Kenshin. Everyone loved it.

credit: Lynxyz via takerubabe321 tumblr

I never except Miki can cooking hehe...he is so cool with this forte.

eh, takeru look much alike Kamenashi in those pics

IKR? when i first saw him, he reminds me of Kame too.. i was like, eh, Kame? Kame act? a lot? ehhhh???! hahahahhaha...

yup @bakachin, at photos no.3 from above, its so similar with kame. Make me check many times to notice its takeru or kame

[bakachin]

@hiranade yeah, his looks similarity with Kame was what made me don't like him at first too.. not that i hate him or Kame, but i am not really a big fan of their type of face... i don't know, i don't find their type of face attractive to me... so at first i was kinda, hmmm, not sure about this guy... but only after i saw him on RK that his talent shine through and i become a fan.. 

[Guest hiranade]

honestly I didn't like his face too @bakachin, I think his persona that make me being her fans. and RK  only make me love him more, he is outstanding there

[pechumori]

Satoh Takeru  CUT 2014.Aug scan
credit: yuuyu1964 via takerubabe321 tumblr

 

[Guest hiranade]

@Bakachin and @pechumori, sorry for ask this, what's make you like kaoru character? For me, her love and care for kenshin that make me like her. Maybe she is not perfect like tomoe but her love and support for kenshin is so much and sincere

[pechumori]

@hiranade, unlike you and @bakachin, i wasn't able to watch the anime nor read the manga, but I started to like Kaoru in the first Rurouni Kenshin movie last 2012, when she accepted Kenshin knowing that he is the Battousai and asked him to come and stay in her house....that's closing her eyes on his past and helping him to move on, supporting him, so that he won't kill again.

Himura Kenshin: Untied Hair Appreciation
credit: cikbuds10rockarolla via takerubabe321 tumblr

 

[Guest hiranade]

@hiranade, unlike you and @bakachin, i wasn't able to watch the anime nor read the manga, but I started to like Kaoru in the first Rurouni Kenshin movie last 2012, when she accepted Kenshin knowing that he is the Battousai and asked him to come and stay in her house....that's closing her eyes on his past and helping him to move on, supporting him, so that he won't kill again.

Himura Kenshin: Untied Hair Appreciation
credit: cikbuds10rockarolla via takerubabe321 tumblr

 

But its good and make u feel freely @pechumori, u didn't need compare live action and anime sometimes its the problem if watch anime before live action, we can't netral and open minded with result of live action. 

U right, kaoru words make kenshin feel comfortable and support him without think his past. He he...maybe its also the reason why kenshin can't move on from kaoru. Love her more and more