Think Tank Thursday

Audience Anticipation/Imagination

The most interesting time for the audience is just before the action occurs. It is not the seeing of the action that is stressful but the anticipation of the action. At the point that the action happens stress is already coming down.

If you think about witnessing fights In real life, the most exciting and stressful point is when the two (or more) people are in each others face. When they start to attack you are still excited (in a survival way) but you have established if you are safe or not and are starting to take action.

If the fight escalates there is a new event and a new period of stress/anticipation. Someone pulls out a gun: will they use it? Am I in danger now?  Where will they shoot? Will the other person die? Etc.

The same happens when the fight separates: will they go at eachother again? Is anyone hurt? Etc.

The brain becomes anxious when it is confronted with a question that is hard to answer quickly. Unknowns create stress. This stress focuses the audience to wherever the answer may be. They will be looking at facial expressions, body cues, dialogue, anything to help answer the question of what will come next. They will have an idea of what to expect based on their personal experience and knowledge but they won't be sure until the action starts.

This is why intent in a fight is more important than speed. Without clues the audience will get too lost/stressed and step out of the scene.

If you move too quickly the audience doesn't have a chance to get the information they need that validates or violates their expectation and they get no  pay off.

If you don't vary the rhythm and motivation the audience jumps too far ahead and gets complacent.

The beautiful thing about stage violence is that you always start with the audience very focused and very much on your side. The hard part is standing up to the scrutiny, keeping them engaged, progressing the story and keeping everyone safe.

It's why a lot of people refer to the job as Fight Directing; there is a whole lot more involved than just putting moves together.

Greg