Never Back Down: Scene Analysis

In a media lesson last week, Mrs Banks tasked us with finding a clip from a film or TV show and making a short presentation on it in front of the class. I chose to analyse the final fight from Never Back Down (2008). This scene combines aspects of dialogue with high adrenaline action.

Firstly, there is evidence of close up shots of Jake and Ryan ( the two fighters) where Jake is talking about it being "a spectator sport". The close up here emphasizes that there is no other focus on anyone else in the scene accept for the fighters. This is further accentuated by shifts in camera focus as Jake begins to walk away from Ryan. During the fight there is the use of Go pro cameras to provide the audience extra immersion as these cameras give a good POV shot. This paired with: the superb choreography, the special effect used to accent the power behind Ryan's strike to Jake's side and the graphic match at the finishing moments of the fight linking back to Jake's first fighting lesson make for a great fight scene.

As this scene is only available on vimeo, i could only link it rather than including the clip in this post. Apologies for any inconvenience.

The scene on Vimeo

Preliminary task: Finished clip

Here is mine and Alyx's finished preliminary task starring Jay Ford. This task has aided my understanding of the amount of work that goes into making a film and all of the little things such as; making sure the camera's reflection isn't caught in the window, and that the slightest mistake in a scene can cause big problems later on in the editing stage. Enjoy.

Preliminary task: description

We were tasked with a preliminary task to show our understanding of camera work and action in a scene. In this task we had to include examples of; match on action, shot and reverse shot and a small section of dialogue. we were given the equipment we would need for the clip. The list included a camera, tripod and SD card to save our work on to. after filming, we were given some lesson time to complete the editing on the task. this included learning about cuts, transitions and credits; all in aid of finding the right balance for the short piece. This task has helped my understand some of the intricacies of working on a film set and that it is okay to be picky and want things to be perfect.