MovieChat Forums > Jui kuen (1978) Discussion > How do they give the illusion that the h...

How do they give the illusion that the hero 'improves his fighting'

posted 15 years ago by one_below_infinity
3 replies | jump to latest

Whenever I watch a kung fu movie, I always wonder how the makers of the movie have the hero end up beating someone when he previously couldn't.

Do they: - actually make the hero's moves faster and better than before
- make the villain's moves more sloppy and slower (so he then gets hit
more)
- a bit of both
- or something else that I'm missing?

I realize of course that it probably varies from movie to movie...

Here's an example (spoilers)
In DM, Jackie Chan faces off against the guy that who fights for the guy that he wounded (that wouldn't pay the 10$). At first Jackie is losing, but when he combines snake and crane, he handily beats the guy. So did Jackie Chan do something in his moves that made such a difference? The same thing happens at the end where he beats Thunderleg when he got a thrashing by him earlier.

I know that I should enjoy these films for what they are, and I do actually, but this thought just kind of bugged me and I'd like to know how they do it all.

[–] holyabdul 15 years ago

Actually, in the scene u mentioned, Jackie wasn't losing really. His aunt proposed that jackie let the guy attack him for 10 moves without attacking back. Once the 10 moves were up, Jackie beat that dude easily.

Usually, they just choreograph the fight so the hero wins. The style may be different, but the key is the choreography.

[–] one_below_infinity 15 years ago

Yeah, I guess you're right. Thanks for the input.

[–] HamatoYoshi 15 years ago

All the fighting is planned VERY carefully, and everything down to the smallest movement is coreographed, so for you to actually believe that the hero is becoming better is simply down to good coreography. And a lot of added "hit" sounds of course...