Very few people can pull off an action sequence like Donnie Yen. I came across this video of him talking about the art of filming an action sequence.
It really gives you a sense of the amount of work that goes into these things.
I’m particularly impressed by the way he manipulates the camera angle to create the best result. If you place the camera in front of the practitioner rather than at an angle, the force of the technique is diminished. Little tricks like those are what make the movie more exciting.
We don’t really think about how delicate a balance it is. When making an action movie, the techniques only become secondary to the filming of them. If a technique doesn’t look good then it’s no use to you during an action sequence. This is sometimes hard for martial artists to understand.
Here’s the master talking about how he does it. Enjoy:
