A lot of how effective a fight scene can be stems from the characters fighting. If we are presented with a seasoned fighter, we would expect them to have total control over the situation and that the editing and the choreography of the scene would match our assumptions about said character. (see films such as John Wick for example) A civilian thrown into the middle of combat without any prior experience, however, would be expected to feel disoriented and confused at the goings on. As a result, our perception of the fight and the cinematography associated with it will be different than if we were dealing with an experienced combatant.
For the purpose of this post I’m using the church fight scene from Kingsman: The Secret Service as my example.
One of the primary stand-out factors that make this scene so iconic is the soundtrack; Lynyrd Skynyrd’s Free Bird. The impact of music is often underestimated during combat sequences and in a lot of cases, it can make or break the entire moment. The choice of song for this particular scene is effective in the way it rises and falls along with the action. The song initially begins as a sort of ballad, luring the listener into a false sense of calm before the pace finally kicks in and coincides with the first shot fired.
The beauty of this scene is that it utilises both the quick cut, close up action that constricts the view of the audience and the wide and long continuous shots that allow us to witness everything that’s going on around the character. The camera also follows our hero throughout the entire scene, making us feel as though we’re there and involved ourselves. For example when Harry is climbing and jumping from the church pews, the camera jumps and drops alongside him as if to put us in his shoes and make us feel as awesome as this scene intends us to feel.
Even when we cut away from the fight to witness the reactions of Merlin and Eggsy, the feed that they are watching is a direct eye-view from Harry’s perspective that further reinforces the director’s attempt to place us right in the middle of the action.
Cutting between close and wide shots means that we as the audience aren’t disoriented whilst watching everything go down, but we are also gaining an organic response to whatever threat is thrown toward the character next. We become aware of a weapon or an enemy at the same time that Harry does and it allows us to further immerse ourselves within the experience without actually being there.
The movie does an excellent job of choreographing the action so that we as the viewers have a grasp of what is going on at any one time, without losing the sense of chaos that comes from being in the centre of a fight, and coupled with the music and the dynamic way in which the cinematography was chosen it provides a very entertaining fight scene that has definitely gone down as being something truly iconic.
Ramblings of a Film Student 