One Thing I Notice Between Soul of Chiba, Karate Warriors and Shogun's Ninja...

[Guest kungfusamurai]

I was just watching Soul of Chiba, and I noticed that at least one of the fight scenes had something in common with two other Chiba movies, Karate Warriors and Shogun's Ninja. They all three feature that slow mo' effect that speeds up when Chiba makes contact with his opponent. Since all three films were directed by different directors, it begs the question: Did Chiba have full control over the fight scenes themselves, the way HK action directors do in their films? Also, this style of filming, has anyone else seen it before Chiba used it in his films? Or did he invent that style of filming a fight scene?

I think I've seen that slow mo'/regular speed style in recent action films, but I can't recall where. At least in one or two hollywood flicks, I think. Either they were inspired by Chiba, or some other action film/director?

KFS

[Guest Yakuza954]

I've always thought Chiba had most of the control of the action choreography in his Japanese movies. Like many HK action choreographers, he even had his own stunt team (the Japanese Action Club). His choreography varied depending who he worked with though. In the Mas Oyama trilogy, which I believe has some of his best karate action, Mas Oyama himself was on set helping. In Soul Of Chiba, a Japanese/Chinese co-production, there's a big Chinese action influence alongside Chiba's trademark chorepgrahy, so both sides were probably working together to create the action. Usually though, he was probably the most experienced action guy on set, so no doubt most directors let him take charge of the choreography.

In response to your second question, I think Chiba was the first to use the kind of action choreography you're thinking about. Considering how advanced it was for its time, it makes you wonder how much things would have continued to improve had Chiba kept on making karate films. Similar choreography showed up in 300 lately, but I think that was more of a development from things like bullet-time in the Matrix. It would be really cool if it were influenced by Chiba's work in the 70's though.

[Guest kungfusamurai]

There's no doubt he would have been in charge of the choreography, especially since his own stunt team worked on the films. But was it normal for someone in charge of the fight choreography to also have control over the lens? I know it was in the case of kung fu films from HK and Taiwan, but in Japan was that also the norm? I'm not even sure if that slow mo'/regular was achieved in real time, or if that was done in post production? Perhaps Chiba saw the results of that style of filming in Soul of Chiba (assuming this was the first instance of its use), and then carried it over or suggested it to directors of the later flicks? Whatever the case, it's a really cool effect.

KFS

[Alex]

i've always wondered about that speed-up/slow-down trick in karate warriors. I do think they invented it, i've never seen anything similar anywhere (within that time period)

300 did something like it, but a better example of this technique being used recently was in Fighter in the Wind.

[markmetcalf]

Sleepy Eyes of Death 6 Remastered now available... available where?

[shukocarl]

Is this on dvd (uncut/ widescreen ) anywhere?

[kungfusamurai]

Not yet, but hopefully the Rarescope release will not disappoint!

Fighting Fist/Soul of Chiba

KFS