Agents of Shield, Physical Acting, Selling
A while ago here, I talked about how professional wrestling is physical acting, and the concept of 'selling'.
When one actor punches another, the second actor must act as if he has been struck. This is called 'selling' the blow. He is 'selling' the blow as real to the audience, whom he hopes will 'buy' it.
Recoiling with the impact is just the first part of 'selling' a blow. The receiver must convey the further effects of the blow in his motions. Is he suffering from double vision? Is he staggered, unbalanced? Does he rub his chin, look at his hand to see if he is bleeding, maybe touch his fingers to his lips for blood?
Does he merely rock his head back and then continue on implacably, to demonstrate that he is more powerful?
Do repeated blows seem to have a greater effect? Is he worn down as the moments proceed? Does he desperately take a moment to gasp for air and hope for recovery?
'Selling' constitutes a language. The physical motions communicate mood, emotion, status, knowledge.
Is it real? Of course not. They are actors. This is not a real fight. It is necessarily slower, for no other reason than real fighting looks bad on 24 frame per second film. Look at old Ali fights - his fists are just blurs on screen. We can do better with current technology but there are still limits as to what your audience will have.
Sometimes the actors make contact, sometimes they don't and use camera angles. But again, they must sell.
And so we get into the idea of a 'language'. Professional wrestling has a language. When one wrestler curls his fingers and pops another one on the forehead, we all know that they are mimicking an eye gouge. Because we know the language. but if they were really gouging one another's eyes week in and week out, they wouldn't have eyes left. Professional wrestling also conveys the 'build-up' as making a move more 'powerful'.. throwing someone against the rope and dancing around somehow makes the big boot kick hit that much harder.
And so there's the trick to it. When a new show starts, it has to devise its language. It has to teach you the physical language it intends to use. And then it has to stick to it.
It doesn't matter how much like reality the language looks. What matters is the consistency. Once it has taught you the language, it can communicate to you in that language. It can create tension, fear, exultation.
It was shaky in the first season, but Agents of Shield has succeeded in this here in the second season. They have established their language, their moves, their expressions such that when they do something new, it's well understood.
They have stun-guns. Sometimes they work, sometimes they don't, and that's okay, because each time they are used they tell us something.
They punch, they kick, they throw, they wrestle, they use escrima sticks badly (man she needs lessons). But they express their impact and show their woundings reliably. And that's what it's all about.
When one actor punches another, the second actor must act as if he has been struck. This is called 'selling' the blow. He is 'selling' the blow as real to the audience, whom he hopes will 'buy' it.
Recoiling with the impact is just the first part of 'selling' a blow. The receiver must convey the further effects of the blow in his motions. Is he suffering from double vision? Is he staggered, unbalanced? Does he rub his chin, look at his hand to see if he is bleeding, maybe touch his fingers to his lips for blood?
Does he merely rock his head back and then continue on implacably, to demonstrate that he is more powerful?
Do repeated blows seem to have a greater effect? Is he worn down as the moments proceed? Does he desperately take a moment to gasp for air and hope for recovery?
'Selling' constitutes a language. The physical motions communicate mood, emotion, status, knowledge.
Is it real? Of course not. They are actors. This is not a real fight. It is necessarily slower, for no other reason than real fighting looks bad on 24 frame per second film. Look at old Ali fights - his fists are just blurs on screen. We can do better with current technology but there are still limits as to what your audience will have.
Sometimes the actors make contact, sometimes they don't and use camera angles. But again, they must sell.
And so we get into the idea of a 'language'. Professional wrestling has a language. When one wrestler curls his fingers and pops another one on the forehead, we all know that they are mimicking an eye gouge. Because we know the language. but if they were really gouging one another's eyes week in and week out, they wouldn't have eyes left. Professional wrestling also conveys the 'build-up' as making a move more 'powerful'.. throwing someone against the rope and dancing around somehow makes the big boot kick hit that much harder.
And so there's the trick to it. When a new show starts, it has to devise its language. It has to teach you the physical language it intends to use. And then it has to stick to it.
It doesn't matter how much like reality the language looks. What matters is the consistency. Once it has taught you the language, it can communicate to you in that language. It can create tension, fear, exultation.
It was shaky in the first season, but Agents of Shield has succeeded in this here in the second season. They have established their language, their moves, their expressions such that when they do something new, it's well understood.
They have stun-guns. Sometimes they work, sometimes they don't, and that's okay, because each time they are used they tell us something.
They punch, they kick, they throw, they wrestle, they use escrima sticks badly (man she needs lessons). But they express their impact and show their woundings reliably. And that's what it's all about.