When is the live judging?

I'm so excited!
(almost forgot about it with all the school and health craziness)

I'll freely admit that I enjoyed the tone, the music, and the style of it as well as some of the combat.

Was the choreography the best? Honestly, I have not watched all of the entries and there are certainly some weak spots.

But, I enjoyed it a lot.

Working my way though the playlist now. To be honest. I know nothing about choreography and in no place to judge... but man has the game been raised this year. Reunion is god damn Beautiful!!!

I'd pay to see that as an opera!

Last edited by Regan (2015-09-30 19:17:13)

I ended up stumbling upon, I believe, an older entry, that was about Luke fighting Maul on Tatooine. Again, not the best of choreography but a interesting concept.

I was gunna ask which entry, Boter... but I'll leave it. I shan't. Lots of strong competitors. Everything seems high quality this year. Mainly I mean as in High definition. Everything looks super clear this year.

I'll be there like a pubic hair. What? It rhymed okay?

I'm a judge, so I won't give all my thoughts here.  But I am a fan of REUNION and I do consider it very good choreography.  And let me tell you why.

Great Choreography is not defined by back flips or saber flourishes.  There is another entry that has plenty of those but left me feeling cold and numb.  Good choreography should tell a story unto itself.  The moves selected don't have to be physically impressive feats, they have to simply make you believe the fight is real.  I tend to ding entries on a lack of targeting or a lack of logical combat choices.  I also ding entries that look good but have no build, and are simply, as Kyle would be familiar with, "Spot fests."  I should believe the characters are trying to fight each other, I should believe that the blows they are throwing should have a purpose, and I should believe that the fight behaves according to the rules of the world depicted.

REUNION, does all of that.  I do like the visual style.  But the fight works irrespective of the style.  Take it all away and you still have a fight where the moves performed are true to the characters and the world.

I mention it a few times on the show, but a good fight to look at for inspiration when it comes to fight choreography is the fight between Hector and Achilles in TROY.

On a purely strategic level, it is a joyful blend of realism and fantasy.  That is to say, the moves themselves are a bit fanciful and low percentage, but the body language suggests a real fight.  Foot work, angling, disengagements, transitions, range exploitation are all there.  Brad Pitt fights more like Jersey Joe Wolcott than he does a greek god.  But beyond the moves themselves, the fight tells a story.  Hector is a strategist and a clever one; after losing his spear he baits Achiles in to a closer range BEFORE he draws his sword.  Brad Pitt's Achilles is a physical specimen, with a gas tank that can fight for days.  His fast twitch muscle responses are sublime, as he defends a slice to the leg by flamingo'ing AS he angles off for a counter.  Late in the fight, Hector comes on strong and grazes Achiles, forcing him into a longer fight than he's used to.  Once Achiles realizes Hector won't stop, he baits him by drawing him back and back further.  This, combined with his increasing fatigue, causes Hector to rush Achiles, who finally performs a disarm and a killing blow.

That's a lot of story for one fight.  But combined with both mens performance you gain access to parts of they character that simply won't come out in any other scene.  It's one thing for a character to tell you who they are, its another for a fight to reveal it.

Let's look at another. 

Yes, its an impressive one-er.  But in terms of chore, pay attention to the use of multiple attackers and how he disengages and reengages.  You believe it because everything looks like it hurts.  There's very few flips, not that many high kicks even.  It's not even particularly fast.  What it has though is logic and realism.  And though the story isn't much more than "Where's my fucking elephant?  Up here?  Cool."  You still gain glimpses of Tony Jaa's character through his move set and mannerisms.  Too many of the LCC entries that deal with multiple attackers try to over think it.  Simplicity almost always wins out.

Congrats to Nate Caauwe with Brother's Quarrel for the win!

It's still rather choppy, sadly.