I remember in fourth grade they emphasized hook beginings. So the class always just started with confusing dialog in the middle of an action scene, or just the whole first line just said "BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM"
I got same experience over here in Danmark. We were ordered write a sequel with some or all of the lessons we had learned. My classmates did the same as yours. But I manage to avoid this by writing funny insults about the characters in each scene. I learned that day emotion triggering details are useful to create interest for the audience or reader.
Everyone knows school-mandated writing classes give the BEST advice, including absolute gems like “never use the word “get”!” Pacing, intrigue and style be damned.
*and then by fifth grade the drama and excitement advanced to the point were the first chapter of these impromptu narratives (many, many pages was simply an elongated variant of the same word: 'BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and in ALL CAPS and in Double BOLD PRINT for good measure*
Yep. It's not like a bullet or blade to the axillary or subclavian artery can kill someone dead in under a minute or anything. Or that shoulders are actually pretty complicated pieces of machinery and pieces of metal intruding (or severe blunt force trauma) could leave a person severely crippled for life. Gotta love that plot armor.
Which I never really understood. Being hit in the shoulder, while you have a higher chance of survival than in the torso or head, would hurt like absolute hell and would disable any use of that shoulder or arm. You also would require immediate help, especially if hit in a major artery so you don't bleed out. You wouldn't be up kicking the villain's ass 5 minutes later.
Usually, Shoulders are the only thing that don't matter at all. Well, unless you're watching Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, in which case, expecially around part 3, fights are always destined to turn into massive hyper-violent bloodbaths where the heroes can keep fighting and saying snappy one-liners even while getting every tendon in their body completely destroyed. But don't worry, they'll be right back in peak fighting shape next episode with no repercussions at all! ... You know, until someone just dies.... That tends to happen a lot despite how otherwise invulnerable our protagonists are. And it's great XD
Also knees. Getting the knees injured is pretty common, despite the fact that realisitically a person might injure their leg permanently from that or at least suffer a long physical therapy.
It's clearly a fantasy scene. And all fantasy races are basically humans in a slightly different shape. It's not like "fantasy" means making up something actually creative.
If anyone think fantasy races should vastly differ from human, try making audience understand your unique snowflake lifeform in 2 hours while keeping the story going and audience engaging, I dare you.
After the hero has already taken out two dozen minions with his fists or melee weapon of choice, don't ever have the remaining bad guys realize their strategy of rushing at him one-by-one isn't working or that they should maybe just run away. That would cause the fight to end too early and you will have to fill up time with plot and character development.
This doesn't apply to most fights, but here is a little piece of knowledge: Usually in action scenes where the hero is fighting the bad guys with a sword, no armor, just modern times, you always see the bad guys going one on one or two on one, instead of doing a group attack. The problem with a group attack though is that a quick and fast swing up and around your body can easily cut and kill anyone around you, even if you are blocking, the coordination you would need with your teammates would be great, and exceedingly it would come that you lost more than you bargained for; trying to kill one man. So whenever you see these action scenes, they do have some truth to them!
I like that thighs are for "Deep Nonfatal Wounds" even though there are *massive* arteries there. If movies were trying to be realistic a well placed thigh shot would _always_ lead to the kind of blood spurting that they usually reserve for a sliced jugular.
Legitimate writing advice on action scenes, or at least something I've started doing that worked for me: if you can definitely see the scene in your head but you can't figure out how to put it into words, try storyboarding it out. Draw some stick figure doodles of the scene you have in mind, write descriptions of the doodles you've drawn, then add dialogue and embellish with extra detail as needed until you think people will see what you want them to visualize.
PuppyLuver256 Could be useful. Now if I had the time to draw all things in my head and I wasn't a perfectionist prick I could seriously manage to write a good action scene for once! Nah, I think I will stick with making a third person describe it in a short summary without being involved (emotions and thought under adrenaline are not something I'm good at). Much easier and less time consuming.
Just not too many f-bombs if said book ever becomes a movie (cuz why else would you write such scenes?) You want that sweeeeeet marketable PG-13 rating. But people (mostly dudes, very few woman and children) getting blown to smithereens with little to no blood and gore? Fuck yeah! Have as many as you want!!!!
I think it has to do with how relatable characters immerse the audience in an unrelatable world. Even as a child I always winced when I heard "let's kick their butt." If charactera seem weird, and your world is already weird, there's nothing to latch onto. And a character saying a stupid fake swear can do that for a second.
You forgot to have the hero get the villain at his mercy, at which point the villain will inexplicably try to goad the hero into killing him (for some bizarre reason) and the hero will refuse because "That would make me like you" or some such nonsense. Extra points if the villain then dies to something else like falling rocks or a vengeful henchman.
*or by tripping over his untied shoe laces as he lunges towards the Alpha Hero™ as his back is turned while on the edge of a dangerously high and insanely dangerous precipice during a huge storm with lightning striking everywhere and screaming wildly as he falls for at least five minutes*
@@kristophesiem5336 Yes, it can be set up and executed in a satisfactory manner (Batman/Joker in The Dark Knight, Luke/Vader in Return of the Jedi, Saruman/Frodo in the book version of Return of the King). My rather overly snarky comment was directed at the poorly done versions of it. I don't remember which particular example I had in mind at the time I made the post. Right now I'm just coming up with Caspian/Miraz in the Disney movie of Prince Caspian. Why do you ask?
@@adruvail because you literally described word by word the end of my book, altought the one who kills the villain is a new villain who was controlling everything from the shadows, so I was a bit worried
The way I see it, there are several important components to this situation. A: The motivations of the villain. Why does the villain want to die right now? Why does he want the hero to be the one to kill him? B: What is the hero's character like? Has he killed people before now? What were his reactions to that? If he has killed before, what makes this particular situation different? Why should the hero refuse to kill the villain here? C: Will the reader understand why these characters are acting in this way? Is it something that will fit with the behavior of these characters up to this point? I think if these components are handled in a coherent, non-contradictory way, the trope has been handled properly.
Squareroot(9)/10 is 3/10 or .3 Squareroot of 9/10 is presumably Squareroot(9/10) which is actually a larger number than 9/10, so his rating is maybe more like 95/100 (.95 * .95 is about .9)
Gorak pulled away his sword, which has been blocked by the barbarian's shield which was moved 40 centimeters upwards to block Gorak's attack, Gorak continued to breathe as that was a thing he needed to do, the barbarian laughed for 2.32 seconds, Gorak grit his teeth trying to grab the barbarian's shield with his left hand, the barbarian chopped off Gorak's hand which tried to reach for the shield, Gorak recoiled screaming almost as hard as he could but not quite, the barbarian stab Gorak's chest on the right by thrusting his blade between Gorak's ribs, the barbarian sneers, Gorak stopped breathing which was a thing he needed to not stop doing
A few other points when addressing combat scenes. 1. As combat progresses, the character must always be at 100% capability no matter how injured they appear because if the tension wears down, the viewers will totally be bored instead of being somewhat grounded in realism and opening up the concept of characters modifying their tactics addressing present damage or signifying the desperation of both sides to destroy each other. 2. Speaking of injuries, the only visible injuries either side should take should appear entirely superficial with small gashes on their exposed areas, after all even in combat we cannot tarnish the characters unparalleled beauty, they can only take more dangerous wounds at the end of the fight because then we know it's over 3. When bringing the military in a fight, it should be important that you should feature all the vehicles in their assigned roles. Just kidding! that requires actual research, it's totally okay to use F-22s in ground attack roles or attack helicopters in anything other than ambush tactics, it's not like it's totally breaking immersion!
Perry Mason would get them off when the Illuminati rise in the back of the courtroom and confess that they did it all by pulling strings behind the scenes.
THIS SUMMER, THE SEQUEL TO THE THRILLING BLOCKBUSTER: EXPLOSIONS 2. OUR HEROES GO TO COURT FOR PROPERTY DAMAGE AND SIT THROUGH A WEEK OF PROCEDURE AND YOU HAVE TO WATCH IT BECAUSE IT HAS A RECOGNIZABLE BRAND NAME ON IT. IT’S LIKE ACE ATTORNEY BUT LESS EXCITING AND WITH LESS ANIME.
*the second an third act are nothing but explosions and key characters running away from them in dramatic slow motion before ducking behind a barrier placed there by plot convenience at which point time returns to normal with the addition of shaky cam and volume augmented by a factor of eleven...and a catch phrase quip about surviving the explosion and how amorous that makes the Alpha Hero and the Mary Sue towards each other despite the danger of remaining in that location while being hunted by the Antagonist™ and his Genetically Augmented Cyborg Mutants™*
Firock Finion funny you say that, I am thinking of having the antagonist have a love triangle of sorts, there's her best friend who is currently making her life as the ghost princess of the netherworld while the antagonist is a youkai(demons being another race) and then there is a handsome young man who happens to be an artist and shares a last name with one of the characters in The Stinger(one of the other characters in The Stinger shares his last name with the antagonist's). The main heroine(if you wanna call her that) doesn't get romantically involved with anyone(Overly Strict Shy Girl being straight, Stepford Smiler and Broken Bird older Girl being bi and into my next contender that being Cross Dressing Lesbian Girl who has feelings for the protagonist but said protagonist is straight so it won't happen and the Only Male Returning Hero is already taken) and is very much Oblivious to Love.
If my memory is correct there are a few, but they usually just end in one of the three killing off the competition or that one being killed because of the protagonist.
Or having a strong female character so you can advertise your movie as being progressive and make sure to add some cool hip and trendy memes even if it adds nothing to the plot for an example of how to add memes and comedy in a good way watch the black panther (2018) :)
Yes, but at least it make a sense from practical reason if we deliberately make a power fantasy. The real power armor make bullets literally reversing when reach close proximity of a protagonist what is dumb.
Well, if you ignore certain real world facts then yes. Just don't think too hard about actual anatomy or range of motion. At least bullet reflecting armor prevents that. Of course, it in turn pretends physics and shock from impact doesn't exist. And that is dumb. But it's a trade off. IMO, the very concept of power fantasy is dumb, overused, and generally unrealistic. It is not that it can't be done well or be used in a good story. It's just that it is an inherently flawed concept which usually leads to a lot of unrealistic aspects to go along with it.
Harry Potter had it a lot in the first few books, toward the end though he stopped blacking out because he had to stand and fight. I don't know if it was planned evolution of the character or Rowling's writing improving. Still it is a common trope.
Inspector Javert Just in the first and third book come to think of it...there is that one Quidditch match in the 6th book but it mainly serves as a segway to advance one of the plotlines.
Nah the second one had one too he passed out after he beat the baslisk he passed out before the dementors got him in 3 (though he didn't pass out when he drove them off during the time travel) 4 was the first book where that didn't happen.
I think the opposite of plot armour is even worse. The way mooks die when they are lightly breathed upon. Unless you instantly decapitate an opponent or pierce their heart they're going to be able to at least do *something* before keeling over, through adrenaline alone. Instead it's always: 2 cm penetration=*blurk* dies instantly.
How to be an anime protagonist: Step 1: Be born special or 'happen' to run into something that makes you special. It doesn't matter how this actually effects your development as a person or how this might be at odds with other existing powers in the world, we'll just learn them later anyways! All that matters is that nobody else can do what you can do unless they're EEVVIILLLL! Step 2: Find a tsundere and/or perky female side character! It doesn't matter if she's good, evil, or ambiguous, she'll eventually fall in love with main character-chan one way or another because as an anime protagonist you're just such a good person! Step 3: Attend a highschool. Even if you're trying to get involved with foreign powers or want to go on epic journeys, ALWAYS involve a highschool. Why? Because now that you've met Waifu-kun number 1, you'll need to stock up on your harem, of course! Gotta get that love triangle one way or another, how else are we supposed to keep up marketing figures- UHH, I mean, keep the 'audience engaged'... in the 'plot'.... Everyone knows that any story without fanservice is meaningless! Now that you've got all of that down, you're set! Go on out there, search for some ancient world-changing McGuffin, and have fun shoving your chosen brand of 'hard work makes me special' in the countless inevitable ideological mid-battle rantings to come! Because sure, we COULD acknowledge how hypocritical such a sentiment is for someone who didn't have to work to become special. But that would actually be deep and complex, and the last thing we ever want to do is make the situation any harder to follow than 'good person punches bad person REALLY hard'. Now, find something that works and repeat it for the next 50 arcs, because I'm SURE that won't get dumb fast at all!
From my -admitedly limited - experience with the genre I'd say you need to folow these steps to become an anime protagonist. 1. If male, get a stupid haircut that makes you look like a pineapple that got run over by a lorry. If female, make sure you either look like a preteen with slightly elongated canines or like an undernurished crossdressing boy. OR have a set of boobs that are so large that any level of physical exercise would be nigh impossible without severe pain and possible damge to you spinal collum. 2. dress up like you stepped on a landmine in a costume shop. (if male don't forget to wear at least 4 belts) 3. get a sword the size of a surf board or some similary impractical weapon. 4. If male, spend most of the time either acting like a brainless testosterone fueled twat or an angsty bitch. If female, act either like you just escaped from an asylum and replaced your medication with energy drinks, or like an insufferable cold bitch who thinks that even the slightest display of positive emotion would bring about the end of the world. 5. In combat, defy at least one fundamental law of physics every 5 seconds. 6. make sure you once worked for an evil entity (corrupt megacorp works fine. Alternatively, a nazi-esque regime is also permissable) even if you look barely old ennough to be out of college, but now fight them for some il-defined reason. Make sure your actions have a hippie-esque "technology is evil" message even if you live in a hydraulic civilisation.
There's not enough material there since there's only about three backstories you're allowed to choose from when making a character. Maybe four if you count villains.
Anti-Mattering does being raised by your parents to be an atheist who will actively free the world from supernatural beings(humans with magic are OK though since at that point it becomes a "fix this broken society" story) thus being raised to be a weapon of destruction, yet being completely OK with this count?
write a book that starts off with a jarring action scene, have the hero gets severely injured, and the rest of the book is him trying to get over his injuries and fight off the enormous collateral damage bill and the villain sues the hero in court. it will be an incredible meta book. EDIT: thank you for all the likes
The problem with plot armor is that it prevents the main character from dying just because he is the main character. Of course he should't die. Otherwise the story wouldn't continue but there are other ways to let your main character survive a battle scene than him getting saved by fortune. He for example could find clever ways to prevent his death even when he is seemingly inferior to the enemy. To do such by his own strength (not necessarily physical) he gets much more believable not to die. Then the enemies can also be really tough and bring the main character to the edge of defeat but only due to his actions he survives. I hope this explains a bit how plot armor is not needed to have the main character live through a battle scene and thereby even become more plausible. :)
There was one anime (the manga changes who lives and dies) called Akame ga Kill where the MC gets killed one episode before the finale thus forcing the other characters to win the battle without him. Hell, just to twist the knife: The people he dies in order to save get killed not even 5 minuets later. He actually dies for nothing!
There is another, less extreme example for the protaginist dying: Matrix. Neo dies, due to saving the world. He sacrifices himself for the lives of his friends. They meanwhile celebrate their victory over the machines and later realize that Neo is dead. The protagonist defeasts the enemy but doesn't witness the positive outcome of it. But his friends do. He doesn't die for nothing but not for himself.
I just don't get why in movies they can't make the hero take cover properly and use strategy to avoid getting in situations where he could get shot instead of making him run past aa whole fucking army avoiding every single bullet. one makes sense, the other appeals to dumber people who wouldn't think too hard about it. that just show you how dumb some writers think their audience is...
What I think would be an interesting twist on the "last minute love triangle resolution" is if the girl decides the two guys fighting over her are both jerks and suddenly develops feelings for the main villain. Her love makes the villain learn the error of his ways while the two heroes win the day but lose the girl. Love conquers all and all that.
Ah, you forgot something that audiences REALLY love: After a huge 10 minute monotonous obligatory action scene at the end the villain is finally defeated by falling off a cliff - the love interest says ‘is it over?’ And the hero either responds “Yeah.” Before falling down, or says “Not quite.” As a massive mechanical hypercharged flying alien squid monster ridden by the villain emerges from the cliff - the hero manages to wake up at the last second and defeat it. But it comes at the cost of the comedic relief’s miserable life. But of course, he’s resurrected by a kiss/wish/macguffin.
Let's not forget characters explaining their powers and exposition to the audience despite the actions actually doing most of the things already. It is worst in modern anime.
Honestly when it comes to anime, you have to remember that it's written for a cultural and linguistic standard very different from our own. Japanese is a sharp and precise language, while Japanese culture is descriptive and informational. Putting those two things together creates something very different than what we know, which is why localization *departments* exist as opposed to localization *persons*. A lot more needs to be changed than just the words. What makes sense on this side of the Pacific doesn't necessarily fly on the other, and vice-versa.
While I am certain it is true in some areas, in others I don't think it can really apply. I've seen Japanese films where they don't frontload exposition everywhere and pause the plot to do so. Like in Cowboy Bebop or the earlier episodes of Evangelion, they don't dump it on the audience. So I do believe that some of that is due to the anime industry having poor writing skills in modern times. And a whole host of other issues... But some of those won't get better until the writing gets better.
You can say the same about us, though, too. Look at the film industry. Our most popular major film lines involve superheroes and high-action, none of which put a lot of focus on the writing. Then you look at smaller releases, and intellectual TV shows and the like, and the writing is suddenly "better". And now, let's face it, anime is Japan's major tourist attraction at this point. So it's going to automatically be dumbed down to both approach a wider audience, and to be faster and easier to make.
So should the makers of the UNCHARTED games, if they want to do another one. I heard they just come up with big, crazy action scenes first, then write a game's plot around that.
*Thog™ already has a special place in my heart...the Sensitive Barbarian™ trapped between worlds and cultures he barely understands and threatened by a Space Time Paradox™ unless the Mystery Box Mcguffin Thingy™ is returned to its proper time and place preventing the dimensional™ Collapse of the Multiverse™ and all the other Thog's™ that exist within them...some of whom are very, very rich and influential*
Gotta admit I love the Daredevil series but that was an ever growing peeve of mine xD There's just no reason! Why even WRITE fights where that's at all necessary?! For fuck's sake they even continued that trend with Luke Cage and he's FUCKING BULLETPROOF, so there is just _no_ excuse whatsoever.
Evil Overlord list: Any of my minions that cannot hit a target at 30 yrds will be used for target practice themselves. I will explain to my Legions of Terror that guns are ranged weapons and swords are not. Anyone who attempts to throw a sword at the hero or club him with a gun will be summarily executed.
Funny having the anti-hero modeled after Guts as the manga likes to play it both ways: Getting that cannon attached to his arm is presented as pretty badass, but that one time he reflexively tried to catch someone falling with that same prosthetic arm it hits him and the reader pretty hard some things just aren't gonna be fixed no matter what.
+TheRezro, Guts does resemble a generic anti-hero, for the most part, but he is one of the best thought out and thoroughly explored anti-heroes in fiction , in my opinion.
My thoughts when I saw the Infinity War trailer: so, this big, technologically advanced secret city is attacked, and their defenses are... running at the enemy?! No trenches? Artillery? Fortifications?
Funny enough, they have a shield. But because they run the risk of the creatures surrounding them and attacking the city from behind, they put it down to act as bait. … Proooobably should’ve had more fortifications than the shield, huh?
"We all know the audience never gets tired of endless action scenes" Literally how I felt during my viewing of Battle of the Five Armies. On my first viewing, I just got so exhausted by the midpoint of the movie.
@noxteryn It is why it say minions.That half of TV series cast is already dead and replaced with never mentioned outside the books other half, from which also half is already dead.. is other story.
You can see how plot armour destroys a good show taking Game of Thrones as example,now i won't remember the early seasons,i will always remember how shitty the last seasons were
The Plot Armour guide is very useful, I'll be sure to use it in anything I write so I know where to put deep non-fatal plot wounds, and the designer scars to make the heroes look even more badass. XD
You know, a good example in a Character using their Power in Action scenes is Bruno Buccellati in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Vento Aureo. His power is to put a zipper in ANYTHING he wants, yet he manages to use his power masterfully. Example: "Zippering" himself in half to avoid an attack, or even throwing someone out of a train!
I want to know some examples of terrible decisions in that matter. Like when they make them canon, or when they sue them
6 ปีที่แล้ว +16
Ziliock _The Last Jedi_ is an example of what not to do with fan fiction. Don't incorporate it. I'm talking about those scenes with Rey and Kylo, and Kylo being shirtless and flustering Rey. Rey knew Kylo as the man who murdered Han Solo in cold blood, sliced open Fin's back, and tried to kill them all. Yet she gawked like a schoolgirl and it was just...it made her seem weak, controlled by hormones. And then with Snoke, he said Kylo needed to finish training and to bring Rey to him in VII. In VIII, since Rian made it to appease fan fiction writers, he had the final training be killing Rey. It made Snoke out to be an idiot. Why bring her there just to kill her? And why have it be Kylo's final act of training instead of killing Leia? Us fans know who Rey is. Kylo doesn't. He barely knows her.
I think most writer don't care, it's a really rare occasion for a fanfic to become canon, or at least be referenced in the source material, so most of the time they go under the radar. For a fan work to be noticed by the creators of the source material you kind of need a really really large following for that to happen. One example of a fanfic becoming "cannon"(loosely in a possible alternate time-line) is Fallout: Equestria, that story got so popular among bronies and even a lot of non-bronies that during a season finale, which involved time travel, one of the alternate time-lines the main characters end up(albeit briefly) is a wasteland very similar to one described in the fanfic. in fact FoE got so popular it received the greenlight to be printed and sold as an actual novel as well as receiving so much support from the fans, that it kind of become a fandom on it's own, with games and side-stories(aka. fanfics of the fanfic), animations, music, etc... Though that's a really rare exception. Sonic Mania got a similar treatment, being turned into an official product.
But for real, to this day I have no idea how to write a cohesive action scene for a non-visual medium that won't be just basically a list of who struck whom where and when.
Darth Biomech Well, it's NOT just who struck whom, right? I'd suggest reading/watching an action scene from another source of media, then writing down all the subtle elements you saw (like any motion with their eyes, their facial expressions, what they may have thought of a move or the general fight, their physical state - as in tiredness, injuries, handicaps, etc., their emotional state - boredom, happiness, fear, anger, confusion, etc.; and description of their surroundings, clothes, appearance, situation, etc.) Sometimes the description of a fight doesn't even have to include "who struck whom", as you say it.
Focusing on the emotions, feelings and condition of the characters is Important (you can mention thei fatigue, pain, injury, mental state, adrenaline, heart beating, etc). Also mention their movement outside of punches and attacks, you have to design a well thought out fightin style and describe essential movements that allow characters to pull off more complex techniques and attacks. Mental strategy is another important part of a fight, thus speaking to the strategizing the characters undergo can help. Finally there is terrain- assuming they aren’t stationary this should be an important part of a fight; also, if they are changing the terrain in their fight that should be considered and possibly incorporated into their strategy/movement.
I find it funny that I'm the one giving this advice, since I'm so fucking bad at it, but any advice telling you to expand on simple actions is correct. In films you see and hear, you understand perfectly what's going on, in the event that it's shot properly. In written media you _imagine_ what's seen, heard, tasted, touched, smelled, and otherwise felt. Just as it's the director and cinematographers' jobs to ensure you see the action clearly when necessary, it's the author's job to do the same with *all* of the elements that make up one's life for the reader. You might wonder how you get across a frantic action scene by stopping to describe what it tastes like to have a glock smack against your teeth - for a third of a second - but if the audience feels it, they're with you for it. I'll, admit I can imagine the "action list" being a useful pacing tool under certain circumstances, but I think prose writers have to accept that the majority of good writing is presenting the world in a kind of slow motion replay. You don't have the luxury of filling the audience's heads with the important details in a quick sensory jolt, but they have to know what it was _like_ to be there.
Darth Biomech watch hunter x hunter , it has great action scenes, not in the hit and dodge but also strategy, also is prob one of the best anime (shonen) out there.
*you mean their CLONE™ makes it into the sequel with perfect and intact memories of their previous host body and their demise which contributes to their mental instability and facial twitch when stressed by confrontations with the Alpha-Hero™/Mary-Sue™ or Comic Relief™ Character*
There's one thing I miss about many older movies (one of many things, I mean): action scenes where the hero gets properly beat up. In Terminator Sarah Connor has to crawl away from the robot on her hands and knees after several explosions and falls. In Die Hard John McClane gets cut up and bruised all over, especially when his feet are torn to pieces by broken glass. Hell, in Predator Dutch (played by the Governator himself) only beats the titular alien because it decides it's more sporting to fight him mano a mano, and even then it whops his ass until he springs a trap on it.
In new ones also it happen from time to time if they are good movies. Take a note that in most old action movies most people shoot several hundred if not thousand bullets from one magazine of machine gun.
I didn't say EVERYTHING in old movies was better, and you raise a good point. Maybe guns in the 80s ran on magic rather than conventional boring old physics :P
0:42 "Time to form a plan!" "A bit late for that." That actually could work as a tense exchange between an in-over-their-heads protagonist and the squadron that captures them. End scene, transition to prison bay or something idk
I’m glad I’ve been doing 90% of this advice already. I love making my fight scenes as descriptive as possible. The only thing I think I need to work on is the special awareness. I’m decent at it but that’s definitely where I’m lacking. Always love the videos man!
0:44 Let's see... Alpha werewolf, Guy in super armor, Mary Sue's secret sister, the mentor guy who dies halfway through, Gary Stu, and the Antihero character
*Collateral damage bill gets handed over* Hero: What if I don't want to pay all that? Lawyer: We'll sue you into the stone ages. Hero: Really? Who's gonna come to collect payments? You? And what army?
Why do I see Sonic The Hedgehog having this conversation? It's not like he's known for collateral damage or anything, but _that attitude sure sounds like him_ for some reason.
The Revenant and Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl are examples of action scenes done right. Unfortunately, these are rare especially in Hollywood.
I just imagine that if I ever try and write an action scene, I'll get out a dungeons and dragons (fifth edition) set and play out the battle using that, and then transfer that into words. Useful to keep an idea of the battlefield. You could even put terrain on it and everything!
One of my brother's favorite D&D adventures he keeps telling me about is this one time the dungeon notes just said there was a table in the middle of the room. When the party got into a fight in that room, my brother asked what the table was made out of. The DM paused, gave him a funny look, and said, _"um... solid oak, I guess."_ My bro's response was that he wanted to know if it would support his character's weight (which it turns out it could), so he could save time by climbing over it instead of taking several turns to go around it. After he did that, later in the fight another of his teammates wound up dodge-rolling across it, somebody else went under it, they threw an enemy across it, they overturned it and hid behind it to block an attack, then flipped it back upright again- that friggin' -unimportant- oak table became the center point of that entire combat!
ChaosRayZero, all I can say is WOW! That is AWESOME! Those are some creative people! Now I think in the dungeons and dragons game that I'm DMing I should just choose one room that I expect to have combat occur in, and just put an arbitrary table in it. Thanks for the story! =D
What if the beginning of my book is supposed to be vague about who is good and bad. And the plot keeps giving more information and context to the action scene. Thoughts guys?
SMILE SWEET SISTER SADISTIC SERVICE STARS Hmm... good point. Lemme give you a run down of my opening and tell me if you think its vague or confusing. Ok, I start with an army, (more a team of 20) marching through a, "distant world" and killing creatures they find there. The army passes one creature that the leader sees, but is to scared to lead them to it so they keep moving. After a few days they hear the creature scream as it finds the corpses and it hunts down the army in record time. After an action scene where only the leader survives and only because, he escaped. The story starts some time, BEFORE the previous scene. Ok, there it is. What do you think
#1Slayer On the right track. I'd personally recommend you seek out the game Yakuza 2 (or its soon-to-be-released remake, Yakuza Kiwami 2) to see just such a narrative mechanism in action. If nothing else, see if you can look up play through videos if you lack the requisite Sony hardware. Oh and there were a number of Smallville episodes that pulled a similar trick.
twinfyre Hmm... the biggining is more after the turning point of the story. So about, 1/3 through the actual story. Does that seem acceptable or does it seem to far forward a place to start a story
you forgot the mention that in an action movie, the action scenes need as many cuts from as many camera angels as possible while turning the light so much down that the whole audience doesn't see that your fight choreography actually sucks to the point where the minions just waiting till the the hero is ready to obliterate them one by one.
Humans are fragile beings. We are 99% water, an amalgamation of brittle bones and squishy organs. If you get hit in the face with an RPG it doesn't matter how many sit-ups you did that morning. You die. When writing an action scene always remember that if you can't feel the bones break and the flesh tare... you're doing it wrong.
Thanks Mr Denton Like with superman in the justice league if a superman level villain and him got into a fist fight the half the league(including batman) would be dead from the shockwave of the first punch and after three exchanges there would heavy quakes and most of if not all of metropolis would be dead from the shockwaves and quakes. Goddammit now I feel like an idiot because I lost my point but I guess I was in agree. Another one was when people get knocked off the ground only to get up when a punch or impact like that would be like getting hit by car and you would be dead.
Humans are scary. We can survive and function after losing half our volume of blood. Our bones are 8 times harder by mass than concrete. We can run other organisms to the point of collapse, break thick stone and wood with our bare hands (and a lot of training) are entirely immune to EMP, are resistant to radiation, operate without maintenance for up to 120 years, and can move unassisted over absolutely any terrain. Humans are scary. But yeah we could stand to have better replacement parts/warranty. Maybe a better sports mode. Economy mode is pretty good.
Let's not forget to completely not account for the weather conditions, I'm sure a massive thunderstorm on a mountain will not affect the action whatsoever and I'm sure it can't be used as a clever or interesting idea. Oh and make sure the 6 foot, super strength dude with access to machine guns fights exactly the same as the 4 foot scrawny nerd with the power to fly.
The long philosophical monologues in anime battles are absolutely essential! It's totally not a means of drawing out the plot so that the animators can make a battle take several additional episodes without going over budget! Plus we all know the best way to resolve a complex philosophical debate about the nature of human society or the value of a particular set of moral choices is by simply being able to beat up your opponent even if the ability to win a fight doesn't really say whether or not a moral or a societal viewpoint is wrong! It's like the old adage...might makes right! And my heroes' philosophy of love, peace, and tolerance is totally right because they can beat the tar out of anyone who says otherwise!
I'd go with the "never a fan of cubism" line. I can hear a Marvel character saying it already. No hard feelings towards Marvel movies, I always enjoy a good one-liner
There's also the fact that you should make the main villains too unstoppable that the heroes don't have a chance, but then suddendly out of the blue the heroes become stronger than the villains! By what? Coming up with a plan to defeat them? Getting a power-up? No! That's unecessary, just make your heroes win using the power of Deus Ex Machina and all will be well! Speaking of which, there are great ways to make a villain overpowered! Why must they have any weaknesses and build tension whether the heroes will win or not when you can make the fight really one-sided! I may have forgotten some advices.
2:49 The Inheritance Cycle (Eragon, Eldest, Brisingr, etc) tries to do a scene where it shows how monstrous the main character is in the eyes of the bad guy's minions. It was a cool idea but it falls flat on its face because (as I recall) it's handwaved half a paragraph after the MC breaks the dude's neck and is literally never mentioned again.
"Unless its anime, in which case our hero and villain will argue pseudo-philosophy during their final confrontation" This suddenly flashed back into my mind when rewatching the final battle of Code Geass R2, and boy i am sure there are other examples out there.
@3:58 - This made me think of something that would have fit in Spaceballs. Only, instead of it being an out of place action scene for _the_ movie, it turns out to be for _another_ movie, with some set scheduling mix up, and the Spaceballs characters just wait until they're finished, then continue on like nothing happen. =)
Here's an actual joke: There is this atheist swimming in the ocean. All of the sudden he sees this shark in the water, so he starts swimming towards his boat. As he looks back he sees the shark turn and head towards him. His boat is a ways off and he starts swimming like crazy. He's scared to death, and as he turns to see the jaws of the great white beast open revealing its teeth in a horrific splendor, the atheist screams, "Oh God! Save me!" In an instant time is frozen and a bright light shines down from above. The man is motionless in the water when he hears the voice of God say, "You are an atheist. Why do you call upon me when you do not believe in me?" Aghast with confusion and knowing he can't lie the man replies, "Well, that's true I don't believe in you, but how about the shark? Can you make the shark believe in you?" The Lord replies, "As you wish," and the light retracted back into the heavens and the man could feel the water begin to move once again. As the atheist looks back he can see the jaws of the shark start to close down on him, when all of sudden the shark stops and pulls back. Shocked, the man looks at the shark as the huge beast closes its eyes and bows its head and says, "Thank you Lord for this food for which I am about to receive..."
One great final showdown in anime was Trigun. It was set up well, everything was shown not told before the conflict, the terrain abilities and skills were all used, and most importantly there was hardly any dialogue between the two characters outside of a couple of quick phrases. There wasnt even any music. It was on sight as soon as they saw each other it was on. Thats how you do a final showdown.
Wise General: *kills pawn with bishop and quotes a philosopher to sound profound. Anime protagonist: *kills bishop with pawn, causing Wise General to gasp in amazement, and quotes another Greek philosopher, something about darkness defeating the light as opposed to light defeating the darkness. Meanigless symbolism that is very profound and no one can hope to understand
If your story has an ensemble cast, there's a good chance that every one in the party has their own special abilties and powers that separate then from the rest. Absolutely be sure to have the charatcer never find a way to creatively combine thier skills together to make even cooler skills that they couldn't accomplish alone. Every charatcer should be static with thier powers and how they fight! A charatcer who is strong should never THINK of a smart way to use thier strength in a pinch, they should only hit things! Thinking is for the spelllcasters, who should only use the diverse power of magic in a totally binary way! And just for safe measure, the party should be super strong from beginning to end. Having characters actually have to grow their talents makes it so that we can't make giant action scenes whenever we want!
that plot armor guide was so damn accurate
ikr? it was spot-on, I never even thought about it that much but he obviously did a lot of damn research for that.
But I think the crotch being protected by 100% plot armor makes sense.
Definitely the game of thrones part
@@christiniakollar8397 *Laughs in S8E3*
@@setyyppisuomesta8448 *Cries in S8E3*
I remember in fourth grade they emphasized hook beginings. So the class always just started with confusing dialog in the middle of an action scene, or just the whole first line just said "BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM"
I got same experience over here in Danmark. We were ordered write a sequel with some or all of the lessons we had learned.
My classmates did the same as yours. But I manage to avoid this by writing funny insults about the characters in each scene.
I learned that day emotion triggering details are useful to create interest for the audience or reader.
Yeah, same for me, but atleast they didn't get a love tr-
*WITH THE POWER OF THE LOVE TRIANLGE, THEY DEFEAT THE PURE EVIL*
Everyone knows school-mandated writing classes give the BEST advice, including absolute gems like “never use the word “get”!” Pacing, intrigue and style be damned.
*and then by fifth grade the drama and excitement advanced to the point were the first chapter of these impromptu narratives (many, many pages was simply an elongated variant of the same word: 'BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and in ALL CAPS and in Double BOLD PRINT for good measure*
Bob Newby Superhero or ‘said’ lol
No sarcasm here, that plot armour chart has a good point that shoulders don't matter. Never thought of that.
Yep. It's not like a bullet or blade to the axillary or subclavian artery can kill someone dead in under a minute or anything. Or that shoulders are actually pretty complicated pieces of machinery and pieces of metal intruding (or severe blunt force trauma) could leave a person severely crippled for life.
Gotta love that plot armor.
Which I never really understood. Being hit in the shoulder, while you have a higher chance of survival than in the torso or head, would hurt like absolute hell and would disable any use of that shoulder or arm. You also would require immediate help, especially if hit in a major artery so you don't bleed out. You wouldn't be up kicking the villain's ass 5 minutes later.
immikeurnot DON'T FORGET THOSE KALISHPLOSIONS
Usually, Shoulders are the only thing that don't matter at all. Well, unless you're watching Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, in which case, expecially around part 3, fights are always destined to turn into massive hyper-violent bloodbaths where the heroes can keep fighting and saying snappy one-liners even while getting every tendon in their body completely destroyed. But don't worry, they'll be right back in peak fighting shape next episode with no repercussions at all!
... You know, until someone just dies.... That tends to happen a lot despite how otherwise invulnerable our protagonists are. And it's great XD
Also knees. Getting the knees injured is pretty common, despite the fact that realisitically a person might injure their leg permanently from that or at least suffer a long physical therapy.
"Gorak kept breathing beacuse he would die since his body needed oxygen to keep working."
a work of a genius indeed.
But what if Gorak was an anoxic lifeform? :P
It's clearly a fantasy scene. And all fantasy races are basically humans in a slightly different shape. It's not like "fantasy" means making up something actually creative.
Talking about the importance of oxygen means it is a chapter of hajime no ippo.
If anyone think fantasy races should vastly differ from human, try making audience understand your unique snowflake lifeform in 2 hours while keeping the story going and audience engaging, I dare you.
3:26
"It was all very exciting because Gorak felt excited."
Quality writing, right there.
jg bubba I was thinking Dan Brown.
That’s me trying to hit the minimum word count
Honestly, it was so low-key sarcastic that it was great. It accomplished the goal here (satire) really really well.
Gorak's feelings are self-induced.
Looked like something from the recent Marvel cartoons.
After the hero has already taken out two dozen minions with his fists or melee weapon of choice, don't ever have the remaining bad guys realize their strategy of rushing at him one-by-one isn't working or that they should maybe just run away. That would cause the fight to end too early and you will have to fill up time with plot and character development.
Hello
This doesn't apply to most fights, but here is a little piece of knowledge:
Usually in action scenes where the hero is fighting the bad guys with a sword, no armor, just modern times, you always see the bad guys going one on one or two on one, instead of doing a group attack. The problem with a group attack though is that a quick and fast swing up and around your body can easily cut and kill anyone around you, even if you are blocking, the coordination you would need with your teammates would be great, and exceedingly it would come that you lost more than you bargained for; trying to kill one man. So whenever you see these action scenes, they do have some truth to them!
@@sebastianlee6695 Thanks, it's good to hear a fighting expert explaining it.
Did not expect to see you here lol
Shakycam > editing
"Let's have a guy with Parkinson's handle the camera, it surely won't cause nausea to the viewers!"
Oh and put explosions every 5 fucking seconds im sure having zero build up to an event in a story does not make it easily forgettable
s_shake, the saviour of video editors
@@somedude8346 Every Michael Bay movie ever.
What’s editing?
I'm in awe of how accurate the plot armor chart is
I like that thighs are for "Deep Nonfatal Wounds" even though there are *massive* arteries there. If movies were trying to be realistic a well placed thigh shot would _always_ lead to the kind of blood spurting that they usually reserve for a sliced jugular.
Legitimate writing advice on action scenes, or at least something I've started doing that worked for me: if you can definitely see the scene in your head but you can't figure out how to put it into words, try storyboarding it out. Draw some stick figure doodles of the scene you have in mind, write descriptions of the doodles you've drawn, then add dialogue and embellish with extra detail as needed until you think people will see what you want them to visualize.
PuppyLuver256 nice!
Never thought of that, sounds like solid advice!
PuppyLuver256 Could be useful. Now if I had the time to draw all things in my head and I wasn't a perfectionist prick I could seriously manage to write a good action scene for once!
Nah, I think I will stick with making a third person describe it in a short summary without being involved (emotions and thought under adrenaline are not something I'm good at). Much easier and less time consuming.
*+Andrew Hernandez* Does daddy beat you at home?
PuppyLuver256 I do that all the time when describing new characters! Actually I just finished a map of my book right now lol
Action; were the protagonist’s plot armor shines the brightest.
Unless your danganronpa character, you get close calls in that universe
The protags of danganronpa are pretty much walking plot armors though. Especially Makoto.
Paniti Mahasukon spoilers
Yeah spoilers
but the piano baka would like to have a word with you.
The Ultimate McNugget Nagi *spoiler*
She's not the "real" protag. If anything, she's the Sayaka of V3.
Thats really depressing
It’s also important to maximize that amount of cursing in order to keep the action scene interesting and shocking for the readers!
I mean, i get your point but i dont think anyone would be saying "heck!" during a fight or intense situation
*MAXIMIZE CURSING*
THIS IS A CHRISTIAN SERVER!
Just not too many f-bombs if said book ever becomes a movie (cuz why else would you write such scenes?) You want that sweeeeeet marketable PG-13 rating.
But people (mostly dudes, very few woman and children) getting blown to smithereens with little to no blood and gore? Fuck yeah! Have as many as you want!!!!
I think it has to do with how relatable characters immerse the audience in an unrelatable world. Even as a child I always winced when I heard "let's kick their butt." If charactera seem weird, and your world is already weird, there's nothing to latch onto. And a character saying a stupid fake swear can do that for a second.
"It was all very exciting because Gorak felt excited"
I'm glad you didn't forgot the love triangle!
*Inconceivable™!!!!!!*
6/10, you forgot the part that you need to shake the camera as vigorously as you could. Also change the camera angles every half a second.
Make sure to also use extremely over-the-top Dutch angles.
michael bay is that you?
That doesn't work if you're doing a novel or short story.
@@canaisyoung3601 Make sure to tell the reader to shake the book at a Dutch angle then
Always cut so quickly that the audience never has enough time to register what’s going on, and views the whole sequence as a blur of motion
You forgot to have the hero get the villain at his mercy, at which point the villain will inexplicably try to goad the hero into killing him (for some bizarre reason) and the hero will refuse because "That would make me like you" or some such nonsense. Extra points if the villain then dies to something else like falling rocks or a vengeful henchman.
*or by tripping over his untied shoe laces as he lunges towards the Alpha Hero™ as his back is turned while on the edge of a dangerously high and insanely dangerous precipice during a huge storm with lightning striking everywhere and screaming wildly as he falls for at least five minutes*
It isn't a bad trope if explained properly
...right?
@@kristophesiem5336 Yes, it can be set up and executed in a satisfactory manner (Batman/Joker in The Dark Knight, Luke/Vader in Return of the Jedi, Saruman/Frodo in the book version of Return of the King). My rather overly snarky comment was directed at the poorly done versions of it. I don't remember which particular example I had in mind at the time I made the post. Right now I'm just coming up with Caspian/Miraz in the Disney movie of Prince Caspian.
Why do you ask?
@@adruvail because you literally described word by word the end of my book, altought the one who kills the villain is a new villain who was controlling everything from the shadows, so I was a bit worried
The way I see it, there are several important components to this situation. A: The motivations of the villain. Why does the villain want to die right now? Why does he want the hero to be the one to kill him? B: What is the hero's character like? Has he killed people before now? What were his reactions to that? If he has killed before, what makes this particular situation different? Why should the hero refuse to kill the villain here? C: Will the reader understand why these characters are acting in this way? Is it something that will fit with the behavior of these characters up to this point?
I think if these components are handled in a coherent, non-contradictory way, the trope has been handled properly.
Not enough love triangle 3/10
I thought you said it was a good comment? If 0.3 is a good comment for you, I'd hate to see how you score a bad one.
Squareroot(9)/10 is 3/10 or .3
Squareroot of 9/10 is presumably Squareroot(9/10) which is actually a larger number than 9/10, so his rating is maybe more like 95/100 (.95 * .95 is about .9)
+Overkillius Ah, my mistake. Sorry, I'm just used to seeing (9/10), rather than 9/10 when looking to square root both.
I have to admit, I do worry when a channel called "Terrible Writing Advice" advertises to me where I learn various skills.
At least your name is consistent with your comment, kudos.
But what happened. Did Gorak keep breathing? Did the Barbarian lower his shield 10 centimetiers to sneer? I must know!
Gorak pulled away his sword, which has been blocked by the barbarian's shield which was moved 40 centimeters upwards to block Gorak's attack, Gorak continued to breathe as that was a thing he needed to do, the barbarian laughed for 2.32 seconds, Gorak grit his teeth trying to grab the barbarian's shield with his left hand, the barbarian chopped off Gorak's hand which tried to reach for the shield, Gorak recoiled screaming almost as hard as he could but not quite, the barbarian stab Gorak's chest on the right by thrusting his blade between Gorak's ribs, the barbarian sneers, Gorak stopped breathing which was a thing he needed to not stop doing
Fluffy Fluff so emotional
Fluffy Fluff top ten anime characters who can beat thanos
@@MoonPatch *Then SUDDENLY!!!!*
@@MoonPatch 11/10 story telling..
"The best time to make calm, objective battle plans is in the middle of an adrenaline rush."
A few other points when addressing combat scenes.
1. As combat progresses, the character must always be at 100% capability no matter how injured they appear because if the tension wears down, the viewers will totally be bored instead of being somewhat grounded in realism and opening up the concept of characters modifying their tactics addressing present damage or signifying the desperation of both sides to destroy each other.
2. Speaking of injuries, the only visible injuries either side should take should appear entirely superficial with small gashes on their exposed areas, after all even in combat we cannot tarnish the characters unparalleled beauty, they can only take more dangerous wounds at the end of the fight because then we know it's over
3. When bringing the military in a fight, it should be important that you should feature all the vehicles in their assigned roles. Just kidding! that requires actual research, it's totally okay to use F-22s in ground attack roles or attack helicopters in anything other than ambush tactics, it's not like it's totally breaking immersion!
Spearka before the F35 was operational I think F22s were used in ground attack but I'm not sure.
This isn't even the Love Triangle's final form!!
*Transforms into the Super Rosé Nonagon form*
The Man With a Plan
Nani?!
no.
THE LOVE HYPERCUBE!
Smells like Miraculous Ladybug
You forgot to make our fearless heroine fall in love with the villan
Creeperjr5 where has that happened in?
SpacemanDavid _ Star Wars: The Last Jedi
SMILE SWEET SISTER SADISTIC SERVICE STARS I wouldn’t say they fell in love, but what ever floats your boat
SpacemanDavid _ You could taste the sexual tension, and no, it doesn't float my boat, I like to pretend the shirtless scene never happened.
SMILE SWEET SISTER SADISTIC SERVICE STARS I couldn’t
I'm so gonna try and make a Michael Bay-esque movie and have the entire sequel about the protagonist in a boring court drama
Perry Mason would get them off when the Illuminati rise in the back of the courtroom and confess that they did it all by pulling strings behind the scenes.
If you want to make a court drama that isn't boring, perhaps the movie My Cousin Vinny could be of your interest.
THIS SUMMER, THE SEQUEL TO THE THRILLING BLOCKBUSTER: EXPLOSIONS 2.
OUR HEROES GO TO COURT FOR PROPERTY DAMAGE AND SIT THROUGH A WEEK OF PROCEDURE AND YOU HAVE TO WATCH IT BECAUSE IT HAS A RECOGNIZABLE BRAND NAME ON IT. IT’S LIKE ACE ATTORNEY BUT LESS EXCITING AND WITH LESS ANIME.
that would be the ultimat middle finger to this brainless action blockbuster trend. especially if the movie turns out to be actually good.
*the second an third act are nothing but explosions and key characters running away from them in dramatic slow motion before ducking behind a barrier placed there by plot convenience at which point time returns to normal with the addition of shaky cam and volume augmented by a factor of eleven...and a catch phrase quip about surviving the explosion and how amorous that makes the Alpha Hero and the Mary Sue towards each other despite the danger of remaining in that location while being hunted by the Antagonist™ and his Genetically Augmented Cyborg Mutants™*
Why don't villains ever get love triangles?
Ikr There are never enough love triangles in a story!
Firock Finion funny you say that, I am thinking of having the antagonist have a love triangle of sorts, there's her best friend who is currently making her life as the ghost princess of the netherworld while the antagonist is a youkai(demons being another race) and then there is a handsome young man who happens to be an artist and shares a last name with one of the characters in The Stinger(one of the other characters in The Stinger shares his last name with the antagonist's). The main heroine(if you wanna call her that) doesn't get romantically involved with anyone(Overly Strict Shy Girl being straight, Stepford Smiler and Broken Bird older Girl being bi and into my next contender that being Cross Dressing Lesbian Girl who has feelings for the protagonist but said protagonist is straight so it won't happen and the Only Male Returning Hero is already taken) and is very much Oblivious to Love.
If my memory is correct there are a few, but they usually just end in one of the three killing off the competition or that one being killed because of the protagonist.
The Emperor from Altina the Sword Princess.
Firock Finion Griffith from Berserk
You forgot shackey cam
Or Dutch angles.
Or having a strong female character so you can advertise your movie as being progressive and make sure to add some cool hip and trendy memes even if it adds nothing to the plot for an example of how to add memes and comedy in a good way watch the black panther (2018) :)
And constant over the top jump cuts.
"You forgot shackey cam"
Because generally is different genre, even if present in some badly choreographed direct fight scenes.
Dear god, so many Source Filmmaker animations are so full of shaky cam. Seriously, you can't see anything in some of them.
That plot armor chart was eerily accurate, at least when it comes to how writers and directors tend to view this stuff.
Yes, but at least it make a sense from practical reason if we deliberately make a power fantasy. The real power armor make bullets literally reversing when reach close proximity of a protagonist what is dumb.
Well, if you ignore certain real world facts then yes. Just don't think too hard about actual anatomy or range of motion. At least bullet reflecting armor prevents that. Of course, it in turn pretends physics and shock from impact doesn't exist. And that is dumb. But it's a trade off. IMO, the very concept of power fantasy is dumb, overused, and generally unrealistic. It is not that it can't be done well or be used in a good story. It's just that it is an inherently flawed concept which usually leads to a lot of unrealistic aspects to go along with it.
You forgot how most protagonists in YA literate have action related narcolepsy causing them to black out whenever a big action scene is occurring.
Inspector Javert The Hunger Games comes to mind...AND Harry Potter...happens a lot come to think of it.
Harry Potter had it a lot in the first few books, toward the end though he stopped blacking out because he had to stand and fight. I don't know if it was planned evolution of the character or Rowling's writing improving. Still it is a common trope.
Inspector Javert Just in the first and third book come to think of it...there is that one Quidditch match in the 6th book but it mainly serves as a segway to advance one of the plotlines.
Inspector Javert AND TWILIGHT! HOLY SHIT! I HATED THAT!
Nah the second one had one too he passed out after he beat the baslisk he passed out before the dementors got him in 3 (though he didn't pass out when he drove them off during the time travel) 4 was the first book where that didn't happen.
I like how the music stopped when the villain monologue came up.
*all part of the nefarious plans and inclinations foreseen by dark and mysterious forces that empower the already mentally unstable Antagonist™*
I think the opposite of plot armour is even worse. The way mooks die when they are lightly breathed upon. Unless you instantly decapitate an opponent or pierce their heart they're going to be able to at least do *something* before keeling over, through adrenaline alone. Instead it's always: 2 cm penetration=*blurk* dies instantly.
But can skill share teach me how to become an anime protagonist?
How to be an anime protagonist:
Step 1: Be born special or 'happen' to run into something that makes you special. It doesn't matter how this actually effects your development as a person or how this might be at odds with other existing powers in the world, we'll just learn them later anyways! All that matters is that nobody else can do what you can do unless they're EEVVIILLLL!
Step 2: Find a tsundere and/or perky female side character! It doesn't matter if she's good, evil, or ambiguous, she'll eventually fall in love with main character-chan one way or another because as an anime protagonist you're just such a good person!
Step 3: Attend a highschool. Even if you're trying to get involved with foreign powers or want to go on epic journeys, ALWAYS involve a highschool. Why? Because now that you've met Waifu-kun number 1, you'll need to stock up on your harem, of course! Gotta get that love triangle one way or another, how else are we supposed to keep up marketing figures- UHH, I mean, keep the 'audience engaged'... in the 'plot'.... Everyone knows that any story without fanservice is meaningless!
Now that you've got all of that down, you're set! Go on out there, search for some ancient world-changing McGuffin, and have fun shoving your chosen brand of 'hard work makes me special' in the countless inevitable ideological mid-battle rantings to come! Because sure, we COULD acknowledge how hypocritical such a sentiment is for someone who didn't have to work to become special. But that would actually be deep and complex, and the last thing we ever want to do is make the situation any harder to follow than 'good person punches bad person REALLY hard'. Now, find something that works and repeat it for the next 50 arcs, because I'm SURE that won't get dumb fast at all!
Well.. that is more action harem protagonist. In anime romantic involvement almost always foreshadow death of the character.
From my -admitedly limited - experience with the genre I'd say you need to folow these steps to become an anime protagonist.
1. If male, get a stupid haircut that makes you look like a pineapple that got run over by a lorry.
If female, make sure you either look like a preteen with slightly elongated canines or like an undernurished crossdressing boy. OR have a set of boobs that are so large that any level of physical exercise would be nigh impossible without severe pain and possible damge to you spinal collum.
2. dress up like you stepped on a landmine in a costume shop. (if male don't forget to wear at least 4 belts)
3. get a sword the size of a surf board or some similary impractical weapon.
4. If male, spend most of the time either acting like a brainless testosterone fueled twat or an angsty bitch.
If female, act either like you just escaped from an asylum and replaced your medication with energy drinks, or like an insufferable cold bitch who thinks that even the slightest display of positive emotion would bring about the end of the world.
5. In combat, defy at least one fundamental law of physics every 5 seconds.
6. make sure you once worked for an evil entity (corrupt megacorp works fine. Alternatively, a nazi-esque regime is also permissable) even if you look barely old ennough to be out of college, but now fight them for some il-defined reason.
Make sure your actions have a hippie-esque "technology is evil" message even if you live in a hydraulic civilisation.
I think you forgot to get some dead parents
Captain Rex specifically dead moms
"To punctate the victory before the hero punctuates the villain."
OMFG I'M SCREAMING
Personally I'm screaming at "the love triangle" part.
personally i think the wordplay was quite clever and it makes me think of how long he's been hanging on to that one.
Personally I think you might be mentally ill if you all scream at funny things instead of, idk, laugh? You know, like a normal person?
I mean, if they didn't punctuate their villainous monologue, they kinda had it coming.
@ Personally I think you might not know that these comments most of the time aren't meant to be taken literally. You know, common sense?
1/10. Not enough explosions and unrealistic weapon physics.
In more recent movies they generally have slightly better physic then in 90's.
I felt the love triangle was brushed off too simply.
Aged like fucking wine. Live mulan
You forgot about shaky cam and the scene cutting every five seconds
Have you ever considered doing a video on backstories?
Awesome video as usual though, these always manage to make me smile c:
There's not enough material there since there's only about three backstories you're allowed to choose from when making a character. Maybe four if you count villains.
Anti-Mattering does being raised by your parents to be an atheist who will actively free the world from supernatural beings(humans with magic are OK though since at that point it becomes a "fix this broken society" story) thus being raised to be a weapon of destruction, yet being completely OK with this count?
ProfessorRomendev "my parents are dead" "I'm from a poor family" "my girlfriend died" "I was bullied as a kid"
ProfessorRomendev all to help human, as Arbiter I must educate my Lord's children.
*+Satan The Arbiter*
Or all four of them, really, Spider-Man comes to mind.
write a book that starts off with a jarring action scene, have the hero gets severely injured, and the rest of the book is him trying to get over his injuries and fight off the enormous collateral damage bill and the villain sues the hero in court. it will be an incredible meta book.
EDIT: thank you for all the likes
Darth Sidious, Sheev Palpatine Have Wes Anderson adapt it into a screenplay.
I actually heard it in your voice... Yikes.
@@valhatan3907 w-what?
300th like
Isn't that kind of the plot for Hancock?
The problem with plot armor is that it prevents the main character from dying just because he is the main character. Of course he should't die. Otherwise the story wouldn't continue but there are other ways to let your main character survive a battle scene than him getting saved by fortune. He for example could find clever ways to prevent his death even when he is seemingly inferior to the enemy. To do such by his own strength (not necessarily physical) he gets much more believable not to die. Then the enemies can also be really tough and bring the main character to the edge of defeat but only due to his actions he survives.
I hope this explains a bit how plot armor is not needed to have the main character live through a battle scene and thereby even become more plausible. :)
why not just kill the main character. Or make it realistic how they survived, thats not plot armor more it is good writing
There was one anime (the manga changes who lives and dies) called Akame ga Kill where the MC gets killed one episode before the finale thus forcing the other characters to win the battle without him. Hell, just to twist the knife: The people he dies in order to save get killed not even 5 minuets later. He actually dies for nothing!
There is another, less extreme example for the protaginist dying: Matrix. Neo dies, due to saving the world. He sacrifices himself for the lives of his friends. They meanwhile celebrate their victory over the machines and later realize that Neo is dead. The protagonist defeasts the enemy but doesn't witness the positive outcome of it. But his friends do. He doesn't die for nothing but not for himself.
My favorite way of making sure a protagonist doesn't die when they can't win is to just have them run away.
I just don't get why in movies they can't make the hero take cover properly and use strategy to avoid getting in situations where he could get shot instead of making him run past aa whole fucking army avoiding every single bullet. one makes sense, the other appeals to dumber people who wouldn't think too hard about it. that just show you how dumb some writers think their audience is...
What I think would be an interesting twist on the "last minute love triangle resolution" is if the girl decides the two guys fighting over her are both jerks and suddenly develops feelings for the main villain. Her love makes the villain learn the error of his ways while the two heroes win the day but lose the girl. Love conquers all and all that.
Sounds like an interesting parody.
I was never a fan of cubism... hahahahaha!
It's funny because it's true.
Ah, you forgot something that audiences REALLY love:
After a huge 10 minute monotonous obligatory action scene at the end the villain is finally defeated by falling off a cliff - the love interest says ‘is it over?’ And the hero either responds “Yeah.” Before falling down, or says “Not quite.” As a massive mechanical hypercharged flying alien squid monster ridden by the villain emerges from the cliff - the hero manages to wake up at the last second and defeat it. But it comes at the cost of the comedic relief’s miserable life.
But of course, he’s resurrected by a kiss/wish/macguffin.
Let's not forget characters explaining their powers and exposition to the audience despite the actions actually doing most of the things already. It is worst in modern anime.
Not to mention doesn't it give away some important tips to their opponent? Like wow thanks I understand how your powers work now get ready to die!
Blue monster works for some villains like Ringo Roadagain from JoJo 7 SBR
Honestly when it comes to anime, you have to remember that it's written for a cultural and linguistic standard very different from our own. Japanese is a sharp and precise language, while Japanese culture is descriptive and informational. Putting those two things together creates something very different than what we know, which is why localization *departments* exist as opposed to localization *persons*. A lot more needs to be changed than just the words. What makes sense on this side of the Pacific doesn't necessarily fly on the other, and vice-versa.
While I am certain it is true in some areas, in others I don't think it can really apply. I've seen Japanese films where they don't frontload exposition everywhere and pause the plot to do so. Like in Cowboy Bebop or the earlier episodes of Evangelion, they don't dump it on the audience. So I do believe that some of that is due to the anime industry having poor writing skills in modern times. And a whole host of other issues... But some of those won't get better until the writing gets better.
You can say the same about us, though, too. Look at the film industry. Our most popular major film lines involve superheroes and high-action, none of which put a lot of focus on the writing. Then you look at smaller releases, and intellectual TV shows and the like, and the writing is suddenly "better". And now, let's face it, anime is Japan's major tourist attraction at this point. So it's going to automatically be dumbed down to both approach a wider audience, and to be faster and easier to make.
Micheal bay should watch this
Blackpowderkun And so should Bruce Kalish
He invented it
So should the makers of the UNCHARTED games, if they want to do another one. I heard they just come up with big, crazy action scenes first, then write a game's plot around that.
Blackpowderkun But he'd take it literally.
He did and missed the sarcasm
Why have clever writing when we can have KALISHPLOSIONS
Leslie Savoy Baysplosion's chipper little brother!
at least they helped in RPM
Gaming and Stuff Meh,guess that's true.
Or better yet,BAYSPLOSIONS AND KALISHPLOSIONS
Juan Isasi Alright then
Thog needs to be a recurring character
*Thog™ already has a special place in my heart...the Sensitive Barbarian™ trapped between worlds and cultures he barely understands and threatened by a Space Time Paradox™ unless the Mystery Box Mcguffin Thingy™ is returned to its proper time and place preventing the dimensional™ Collapse of the Multiverse™ and all the other Thog's™ that exist within them...some of whom are very, very rich and influential*
I was JUST watching Terrible Writing Advice as this came out.
Woah. Coincidences are my favorite thing, you know? They're the best.
Remember to have everyone run in close with long range weapons
**Cough cough** *Arrow TV series* **Cough!**
Gotta admit I love the Daredevil series but that was an ever growing peeve of mine xD There's just no reason! Why even WRITE fights where that's at all necessary?! For fuck's sake they even continued that trend with Luke Cage and he's FUCKING BULLETPROOF, so there is just _no_ excuse whatsoever.
Evil Overlord list:
Any of my minions that cannot hit a target at 30 yrds will be used for target practice themselves.
I will explain to my Legions of Terror that guns are ranged weapons and swords are not. Anyone who attempts to throw a sword at the hero or club him with a gun will be summarily executed.
Funny having the anti-hero modeled after Guts as the manga likes to play it both ways: Getting that cannon attached to his arm is presented as pretty badass, but that one time he reflexively tried to catch someone falling with that same prosthetic arm it hits him and the reader pretty hard some things just aren't gonna be fixed no matter what.
that Arm guts got a long time ago ( in our eyes is a long time but not for him) is not for saving people, it was almost sad.
It is in fact generic 90's anti-hero. That guts resemble one is pure coincidence.
+TheRezro, Guts does resemble a generic anti-hero, for the most part, but he is one of the best thought out and thoroughly explored anti-heroes in fiction , in my opinion.
@The New Patriot
I'm not denying that, I just point out the fact regard design.
My thoughts when I saw the Infinity War trailer: so, this big, technologically advanced secret city is attacked, and their defenses are... running at the enemy?! No trenches? Artillery? Fortifications?
Funny enough, they have a shield. But because they run the risk of the creatures surrounding them and attacking the city from behind, they put it down to act as bait.
…
Proooobably should’ve had more fortifications than the shield, huh?
"it was all very exciting because Gorak was excited"
Nice
"We all know the audience never gets tired of endless action scenes"
Literally how I felt during my viewing of Battle of the Five Armies. On my first viewing, I just got so exhausted by the midpoint of the movie.
1:27 MINION OR GAME OF THRONES CHARACTER
meh meh yes very good
Unless you count the last five seasons.
Ironically it took death for Jon Snow to gain plot armour.
@noxteryn
It is why it say minions.That half of TV series cast is already dead and replaced with never mentioned outside the books other half, from which also half is already dead.. is other story.
You can see how plot armour destroys a good show taking Game of Thrones as example,now i won't remember the early seasons,i will always remember how shitty the last seasons were
Thats pretty snazzy
Slow motion action scenes, explosions, and a plot about rescuing a stubborn child/woman. That's all you need
I will use all you terrible advice and I will write a book called "The Lord of the Clichés
I wonder if a book like that could actually work... In a so intentionally bad it's good kinda way.
The Love Triangle = the master-card to flawless storytelling
The Plot Armour guide is very useful, I'll be sure to use it in anything I write so I know where to put deep non-fatal plot wounds, and the designer scars to make the heroes look even more badass. XD
You know, a good example in a Character using their Power in Action scenes is Bruno Buccellati in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Vento Aureo.
His power is to put a zipper in ANYTHING he wants, yet he manages to use his power masterfully.
Example: "Zippering" himself in half to avoid an attack, or even throwing someone out of a train!
Nearly every power even overpowered ones can be interesting, like his author insert character in season 4.
Nobody goes deaf from all the explosions.
Who needs sleep. Terrible Writing Advice just uploaded a new video
Nicole Spektor who uploads at 12:34 AM?
Terrible Writing Advice: "Oh boy! 12:34 AM!"
Satan The Arbiter Beat me to it
It’s afternoon in my country.
Please make one of "How an author should take fan fiction"
But why? Most authors don't give a shit, until they are part of culture already. Avoiding meaningless fan-service is advice good for any author.
I want to know some examples of terrible decisions in that matter. Like when they make them canon, or when they sue them
Ziliock _The Last Jedi_ is an example of what not to do with fan fiction. Don't incorporate it. I'm talking about those scenes with Rey and Kylo, and Kylo being shirtless and flustering Rey. Rey knew Kylo as the man who murdered Han Solo in cold blood, sliced open Fin's back, and tried to kill them all. Yet she gawked like a schoolgirl and it was just...it made her seem weak, controlled by hormones.
And then with Snoke, he said Kylo needed to finish training and to bring Rey to him in VII. In VIII, since Rian made it to appease fan fiction writers, he had the final training be killing Rey. It made Snoke out to be an idiot. Why bring her there just to kill her? And why have it be Kylo's final act of training instead of killing Leia? Us fans know who Rey is. Kylo doesn't. He barely knows her.
Do. Not. Put. Your. Sexual. Fantasies. In. It.
It is really obvious and makes the story absolute garbage.
I think most writer don't care, it's a really rare occasion for a fanfic to become canon, or at least be referenced in the source material, so most of the time they go under the radar.
For a fan work to be noticed by the creators of the source material you kind of need a really really large following for that to happen.
One example of a fanfic becoming "cannon"(loosely in a possible alternate time-line) is Fallout: Equestria, that story got so popular among bronies and even a lot of non-bronies that during a season finale, which involved time travel, one of the alternate time-lines the main characters end up(albeit briefly) is a wasteland very similar to one described in the fanfic.
in fact FoE got so popular it received the greenlight to be printed and sold as an actual novel as well as receiving so much support from the fans, that it kind of become a fandom on it's own, with games and side-stories(aka. fanfics of the fanfic), animations, music, etc...
Though that's a really rare exception.
Sonic Mania got a similar treatment, being turned into an official product.
But for real, to this day I have no idea how to write a cohesive action scene for a non-visual medium that won't be just basically a list of who struck whom where and when.
Darth Biomech
Well, it's NOT just who struck whom, right? I'd suggest reading/watching an action scene from another source of media, then writing down all the subtle elements you saw (like any motion with their eyes, their facial expressions, what they may have thought of a move or the general fight, their physical state - as in tiredness, injuries, handicaps, etc., their emotional state - boredom, happiness, fear, anger, confusion, etc.; and description of their surroundings, clothes, appearance, situation, etc.) Sometimes the description of a fight doesn't even have to include "who struck whom", as you say it.
Focusing on the emotions, feelings and condition of the characters is Important (you can mention thei fatigue, pain, injury, mental state, adrenaline, heart beating, etc). Also mention their movement outside of punches and attacks, you have to design a well thought out fightin style and describe essential movements that allow characters to pull off more complex techniques and attacks. Mental strategy is another important part of a fight, thus speaking to the strategizing the characters undergo can help. Finally there is terrain- assuming they aren’t stationary this should be an important part of a fight; also, if they are changing the terrain in their fight that should be considered and possibly incorporated into their strategy/movement.
From your comment my immediate thought was this onetwoweeaboo.files.wordpress.com/2015/01/030.png
I find it funny that I'm the one giving this advice, since I'm so fucking bad at it, but any advice telling you to expand on simple actions is correct. In films you see and hear, you understand perfectly what's going on, in the event that it's shot properly. In written media you _imagine_ what's seen, heard, tasted, touched, smelled, and otherwise felt. Just as it's the director and cinematographers' jobs to ensure you see the action clearly when necessary, it's the author's job to do the same with *all* of the elements that make up one's life for the reader. You might wonder how you get across a frantic action scene by stopping to describe what it tastes like to have a glock smack against your teeth - for a third of a second - but if the audience feels it, they're with you for it. I'll, admit I can imagine the "action list" being a useful pacing tool under certain circumstances, but I think prose writers have to accept that the majority of good writing is presenting the world in a kind of slow motion replay. You don't have the luxury of filling the audience's heads with the important details in a quick sensory jolt, but they have to know what it was _like_ to be there.
Darth Biomech watch hunter x hunter , it has great action scenes, not in the hit and dodge but also strategy, also is prob one of the best anime (shonen) out there.
Yeah, the villain always makes it into a sequel. Unless you're a supervillain. Then you drop like flies, no matter how much of a fan favorite you are.
*you mean their CLONE™ makes it into the sequel with perfect and intact memories of their previous host body and their demise which contributes to their mental instability and facial twitch when stressed by confrontations with the Alpha-Hero™/Mary-Sue™ or Comic Relief™ Character*
Dude, I see you EVERYWHERE!!!
Dimentio
There's one thing I miss about many older movies (one of many things, I mean): action scenes where the hero gets properly beat up. In Terminator Sarah Connor has to crawl away from the robot on her hands and knees after several explosions and falls. In Die Hard John McClane gets cut up and bruised all over, especially when his feet are torn to pieces by broken glass. Hell, in Predator Dutch (played by the Governator himself) only beats the titular alien because it decides it's more sporting to fight him mano a mano, and even then it whops his ass until he springs a trap on it.
In new ones also it happen from time to time if they are good movies. Take a note that in most old action movies most people shoot several hundred if not thousand bullets from one magazine of machine gun.
I didn't say EVERYTHING in old movies was better, and you raise a good point. Maybe guns in the 80s ran on magic rather than conventional boring old physics :P
I think The Atomic Blonde was pretty good in that regard, actually showing the bruises the protagonist got.
Thats why i love the older jackie chan movies, they make good creative use of action scenes, and he gets beaten up a lot to earn his victory.
3:23, I'm dying here. "Gorak kept breathing because if he didn't, he would die since his body needed oxygen to keep working."
Then you should have followed Gorak's advice.
Lol, good one ahaha.
Minions should adopt a plan like the old Polish empire during the great northern war with Sweden.....just keep losing and don't stop losing.
Please, don't make obscure references out of contest. It make you opposite to smart.. a hipster 0_0
Trust me. It's not that hard for me to not sound smart.
Until eventually the Carolean lost their fuel and get decimated at Poltava
0:42
"Time to form a plan!"
"A bit late for that."
That actually could work as a tense exchange between an in-over-their-heads protagonist and the squadron that captures them. End scene, transition to prison bay or something idk
Make sure your constantly putting flash frames and recycling them then actually learning things like perspective and choreagraphy
Ant the characters doesn't need proper and believable fighting stances, just have them point their arms and legs at each other and call it a day.
Making a live action tv show or movie? Just listen to this out of context quote!
"This isn't intense enough, you need to shake the camera more".
I’m glad I’ve been doing 90% of this advice already. I love making my fight scenes as descriptive as possible. The only thing I think I need to work on is the special awareness. I’m decent at it but that’s definitely where I’m lacking. Always love the videos man!
0:44
Let's see... Alpha werewolf, Guy in super armor, Mary Sue's secret sister, the mentor guy who dies halfway through, Gary Stu, and the Antihero character
*Collateral damage bill gets handed over*
Hero: What if I don't want to pay all that?
Lawyer: We'll sue you into the stone ages.
Hero: Really? Who's gonna come to collect payments? You? And what army?
The US Army
Why do I see Sonic The Hedgehog having this conversation? It's not like he's known for collateral damage or anything, but _that attitude sure sounds like him_ for some reason.
ChaosRayZero plausible in Sonic Boom with the meta jokes and the nature of Eggman's schemes in it being quite low-threat.
The Revenant and Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl are examples of action scenes done right. Unfortunately, these are rare especially in Hollywood.
I used to be an adventurer like you, but then I took a deep, nonfatal wound in the knee.
I just imagine that if I ever try and write an action scene, I'll get out a dungeons and dragons (fifth edition) set and play out the battle using that, and then transfer that into words.
Useful to keep an idea of the battlefield. You could even put terrain on it and everything!
One of my brother's favorite D&D adventures he keeps telling me about is this one time the dungeon notes just said there was a table in the middle of the room. When the party got into a fight in that room, my brother asked what the table was made out of. The DM paused, gave him a funny look, and said, _"um... solid oak, I guess."_
My bro's response was that he wanted to know if it would support his character's weight (which it turns out it could), so he could save time by climbing over it instead of taking several turns to go around it. After he did that, later in the fight another of his teammates wound up dodge-rolling across it, somebody else went under it, they threw an enemy across it, they overturned it and hid behind it to block an attack, then flipped it back upright again- that friggin' -unimportant- oak table became the center point of that entire combat!
ChaosRayZero, all I can say is WOW! That is AWESOME! Those are some creative people!
Now I think in the dungeons and dragons game that I'm DMing I should just choose one room that I expect to have combat occur in, and just put an arbitrary table in it. Thanks for the story! =D
What if the beginning of my book is supposed to be vague about who is good and bad.
And the plot keeps giving more information and context to the action scene.
Thoughts guys?
#1Slayer Being vague is ok, confusing the hell out of the reader is not
SMILE SWEET SISTER SADISTIC SERVICE STARS
Hmm... good point.
Lemme give you a run down of my opening and tell me if you think its vague or confusing.
Ok, I start with an army, (more a team of 20) marching through a, "distant world" and killing creatures they find there.
The army passes one creature that the leader sees, but is to scared to lead them to it so they keep moving.
After a few days they hear the creature scream as it finds the corpses and it hunts down the army in record time.
After an action scene where only the leader survives and only because, he escaped. The story starts some time, BEFORE the previous scene.
Ok, there it is. What do you think
#1Slayer On the right track. I'd personally recommend you seek out the game Yakuza 2 (or its soon-to-be-released remake, Yakuza Kiwami 2) to see just such a narrative mechanism in action. If nothing else, see if you can look up play through videos if you lack the requisite Sony hardware.
Oh and there were a number of Smallville episodes that pulled a similar trick.
As long as you’re not starting at the end and doing some “three weeks earlier” bs we’re good.
twinfyre
Hmm... the biggining is more after the turning point of the story. So about, 1/3 through the actual story.
Does that seem acceptable or does it seem to far forward a place to start a story
you forgot the mention that in an action movie, the action scenes need as many cuts from as many camera angels as possible while turning the light so much down that the whole audience doesn't see that your fight choreography actually sucks to the point where the minions just waiting till the the hero is ready to obliterate them one by one.
Humans are fragile beings. We are 99% water, an amalgamation of brittle bones and squishy organs. If you get hit in the face with an RPG it doesn't matter how many sit-ups you did that morning. You die. When writing an action scene always remember that if you can't feel the bones break and the flesh tare... you're doing it wrong.
JCDenton 2012 60%*
Thanks Mr Denton
Like with superman in the justice league if a superman level villain and him got into a fist fight the half the league(including batman) would be dead from the shockwave of the first punch and after three exchanges there would heavy quakes and most of if not all of metropolis would be dead from the shockwaves and quakes.
Goddammit now I feel like an idiot because I lost my point but I guess I was in agree.
Another one was when people get knocked off the ground only to get up when a punch or impact like that would be like getting hit by car and you would be dead.
Humans are scary. We can survive and function after losing half our volume of blood. Our bones are 8 times harder by mass than concrete. We can run other organisms to the point of collapse, break thick stone and wood with our bare hands (and a lot of training) are entirely immune to EMP, are resistant to radiation, operate without maintenance for up to 120 years, and can move unassisted over absolutely any terrain.
Humans are scary. But yeah we could stand to have better replacement parts/warranty. Maybe a better sports mode. Economy mode is pretty good.
Humans are versatile and vulnerable, there's no question, it's impressive. A guy can get hit by lighting three times and then die from shellfish.
Lol my MC dies in the first chapter. Plot armor what?
Then the whole plot is her trying to come back to life XD
Cant get enough of these videos you do. Always amazing and fun. Keep it up :D
Let's not forget to completely not account for the weather conditions, I'm sure a massive thunderstorm on a mountain will not affect the action whatsoever and I'm sure it can't be used as a clever or interesting idea. Oh and make sure the 6 foot, super strength dude with access to machine guns fights exactly the same as the 4 foot scrawny nerd with the power to fly.
This is the start of the TWA Intro-change trilogy, His desk blows up.
I love that every aspect of this illustrates precisely what makes D&D fun and clever
3:22 **Reads the prose**
My 15~17 years old me fanfiction writer feels personally attacked and offended by this.
These episodes are only getting better and better. This one was SO good!
The long philosophical monologues in anime battles are absolutely essential! It's totally not a means of drawing out the plot so that the animators can make a battle take several additional episodes without going over budget! Plus we all know the best way to resolve a complex philosophical debate about the nature of human society or the value of a particular set of moral choices is by simply being able to beat up your opponent even if the ability to win a fight doesn't really say whether or not a moral or a societal viewpoint is wrong! It's like the old adage...might makes right! And my heroes' philosophy of love, peace, and tolerance is totally right because they can beat the tar out of anyone who says otherwise!
Just call it talk-no-jutsu.
Man, i remember subbing when this channel had like no subs. Congrats man, proud of you.
I'd go with the "never a fan of cubism" line. I can hear a Marvel character saying it already.
No hard feelings towards Marvel movies, I always enjoy a good one-liner
There's also the fact that you should make the main villains too unstoppable that the heroes don't have a chance, but then suddendly out of the blue the heroes become stronger than the villains!
By what? Coming up with a plan to defeat them? Getting a power-up? No! That's unecessary, just make your heroes win using the power of Deus Ex Machina and all will be well!
Speaking of which, there are great ways to make a villain overpowered! Why must they have any weaknesses and build tension whether the heroes will win or not when you can make the fight really one-sided!
I may have forgotten some advices.
Ha screw you! I’ll put plot armor on bad guys. Now praise my very clever writing!!!
2:49 The Inheritance Cycle (Eragon, Eldest, Brisingr, etc) tries to do a scene where it shows how monstrous the main character is in the eyes of the bad guy's minions.
It was a cool idea but it falls flat on its face because (as I recall) it's handwaved half a paragraph after the MC breaks the dude's neck and is literally never mentioned again.
Your back! I was starting to think you'd forgotten about us!
THIS NAILED EVERY ACTION MOVIES IN MY COUNTRY!!!
Make sure you add shaky camera movements when something simple like a shoot out is happening.
"Unless its anime, in which case our hero and villain will argue pseudo-philosophy during their final confrontation"
This suddenly flashed back into my mind when rewatching the final battle of Code Geass R2, and boy i am sure there are other examples out there.
Naruto is the most guilty of this.
5:12 - You don't *have* to choose just one, Mary-Sue. Why not double your pleasure?
Because otherwise you reach harem genre? Even shitty action movies are too good for that.
Naw, the harem genre is "I can't choose," whereas this is "I choose both." Also, the other people can see other people themselves.
AlgaeNymph Only time I've even seen that so much as implied as a resolution in a mainstream sci-fi film was the original Tron.
Yeah, Polyamorie is kind of a cultural blind spot for most people.
Polyamory? In *this* economy?!
@3:58 - This made me think of something that would have fit in Spaceballs. Only, instead of it being an out of place action scene for _the_ movie, it turns out to be for _another_ movie, with some set scheduling mix up, and the Spaceballs characters just wait until they're finished, then continue on like nothing happen. =)
Sweet, I’m early. Anyone want to hear a joke?
Yeah, me too.
I have a joke!
it's me
i'm the joke
Get it!?
ArrowCat What did the pirate say on his 80th birthday?
Aye matey
Here's an actual joke:
There is this atheist swimming in the ocean. All of the sudden he sees this shark in the water, so he starts swimming towards his boat.
As he looks back he sees the shark turn and head towards him. His boat is a ways off and he starts swimming like crazy. He's scared to death, and as he turns to see the jaws of the great white beast open revealing its teeth in a horrific splendor, the atheist screams, "Oh God! Save me!"
In an instant time is frozen and a bright light shines down from above. The man is motionless in the water when he hears the voice of God say, "You are an atheist. Why do you call upon me when you do not believe in me?"
Aghast with confusion and knowing he can't lie the man replies, "Well, that's true I don't believe in you, but how about the shark? Can you make the shark believe in you?"
The Lord replies, "As you wish," and the light retracted back into the heavens and the man could feel the water begin to move once again.
As the atheist looks back he can see the jaws of the shark start to close down on him, when all of sudden the shark stops and pulls back.
Shocked, the man looks at the shark as the huge beast closes its eyes and bows its head and says, "Thank you Lord for this food for which I am about to receive..."
knock knock.
Who's there?
Broken pencil.
Broken pencil who?
Never mind, it's POINTLESS.
ArrowCat My life.
One great final showdown in anime was Trigun. It was set up well, everything was shown not told before the conflict, the terrain abilities and skills were all used, and most importantly there was hardly any dialogue between the two characters outside of a couple of quick phrases. There wasnt even any music. It was on sight as soon as they saw each other it was on. Thats how you do a final showdown.
Wise General: *kills pawn with bishop and quotes a philosopher to sound profound.
Anime protagonist: *kills bishop with pawn, causing Wise General to gasp in amazement, and quotes another Greek philosopher, something about darkness defeating the light as opposed to light defeating the darkness.
Meanigless symbolism that is very profound and no one can hope to understand
If your story has an ensemble cast, there's a good chance that every one in the party has their own special abilties and powers that separate then from the rest. Absolutely be sure to have the charatcer never find a way to creatively combine thier skills together to make even cooler skills that they couldn't accomplish alone. Every charatcer should be static with thier powers and how they fight! A charatcer who is strong should never THINK of a smart way to use thier strength in a pinch, they should only hit things! Thinking is for the spelllcasters, who should only use the diverse power of magic in a totally binary way! And just for safe measure, the party should be super strong from beginning to end. Having characters actually have to grow their talents makes it so that we can't make giant action scenes whenever we want!
sounded like my 3 characters
1 is evasion and stealth
2 is strength and some doses of tactical awareness
3 is medical and ingenuity
so do you write for Activsion or something?(no really thank you for these)
I love how the hands are highlighted as vulnerable during the final act probably JUST because of Star Wars.