you've probably seen this countless
times the shaky cameras the fast cuts
and just plain overall me it's sometimes
so bad then you may ask yourself what am
i watching so how do we exactly get to
this let's rewind it the one common
denominator among older action films is
clarity and it makes sense earlier
action films especially martial art
pictures focused on showing the physical
feats of its stars to achieve this
scenes were often shot in a wide angle
with most of the body visible in the
frame the camera also rarely moves and
when it does it follows the actions of
its characters to accentuate speed and
power but modern action movies aren't
shot this way anymore instead they're
choppy chaotic and a lot of times just
confusing when you compare these movies
side-by-side
the difference is unmistakable but
perhaps the real shock comes when you
realize that most of this is actually
intentional so back to the question how
did we get to this point well it's
impossible to pinpoint a specific source
but one of the biggest influences was
probably the original Bourne trilogy
these films were revolutionary in the
action genre not to mention both a
commercial and critical success and from
jittery handheld cameras to rapidly
firing cuts you can trace all the
problems in modern action films to this
series an easy way to see how the Bourne
trilogy changed action films is by
looking at the average shot length or
ASL for short it's a cinematic statistic
that measures the average length of a
scene before cut in the first film
Bourne Identity the ASL was around four
seconds which then became 2.4 seconds in
its sequel Bourne Supremacy and in the
final film Bourne Ultimatum a total of
about 3200 shots were squashed into a
hundred five minute running time that's
a cut
happening almost every two seconds of
another change you can notice is in the
camerawork doug liman and Boren identity
shot his sequence more like the classic
action cinemas were used to wide angles
and fewer cuts to capture the action as
clearly as possible but under Paul
Greengrass direction the camera becomes
a lot shaky and closer to the action he
prefers his audience to experience the
film rather than to simply observe it
and that's what Bourne really is it's an
experience the series is actually edited
in a similar way our consciousness and
sensory perception works how we gather
bits of information to create a larger
whole it's especially evident in chase
scenes like this where we see everything
from borns perspective and are given the
chance to interpret different clues to
track down a target there is an
intensity to these films that we can't
quite place and the secret lies in how
Greengrass chooses to shoot an action
sequence although every cut and angle
seems choppy chaotic and mostly random
once you take a closer look at it you
realize that everything serves a purpose
but not everyone dedicates the same
amount of thought like green grass and
sadly it's made for some pretty terrible
action films in recent years there's a
reason Hollywood was so quick to adopt
green grasses style because fast paced
editing makes it easy to use visual
trickery to turn anyone into an action
star all it requires is to put three
different shots together action impact
and reaction this is why we often see a
cut right before the impact then it cut
to the moment after the impact takes
place they cut to hide the action this
not only makes the action look fake but
it kills the overall momentum of the
scene as well but in Bourne each cut is
a deliberate act to quicken the pace of
the film it's never really used to hide
anything every hit every impact is fully
delivered in front of the camera
the camera doesn't cut until the blow
has been fully registered making the
fight more authentic and engaging the
combination of action impacts and
reaction still exists in this method of
editing it's she's not as obvious when
replicated incorrectly and although
green grass does sacrifice some level of
clarity for the sake of adding intensity
it doesn't mean he's abandoned and
completely in fact when you watch any of
the action sequences from the Bourne
series you'd be surprised to notice that
it isn't as confusing as it first
appears there are clever tricks at play
here if you know where to look first
check out the frequent use of wide-angle
shots like these they let the audience
understand the space and the placement
of each character sometimes in an
obvious angle as this from above as the
fight moves on to a new location or how
most of the blows the impacts and brief
inserts whenever a new weapon is
acquired are all centered on the frame
guiding our focus gathering these hints
of information more quickly now let's
look at bad examples the biggest
problems in films that try to imitate
the Bourne style is that they take it
too far
exaggerating everything for instance in
the scene you can see the fast cuts kind
of like the Bourne style but it's paired
with the same shot repeated numerous
times in rapid succession we've seen
repetitions in past action films
hundreds of times but not quite to this
extreme and let's admit it there's no
reason to watch Liam Neeson jumping over
the same fence ten times even in car
chase sequences where repetitions are
bound to happen one impact is enough if
shot correctly
or even in music most recent films have
a track that plays throughout the entire
action sequences setting the pace and
sometimes fading it out
accentuate key moments like this
but it's the entirely opposite and born
there is no music what builds momentum
and tension is the actual sound of the
action itself every sound from the
brutal impact to the various tools of
combat creates a rhythm of beat without
a single note all these small details
and tricks make the action of born more
coherent and more intense than anything
we've seen before or since it's a
beautiful combination of what was
successful in traditional action films
with a new innovative technique born
can't be blamed for how bad action films
are these days but the blame is on the
filmmakers who are trying to replicate
its technique and failing miserably
audiences are smarter than what some
directors believe we can easily notice
when we're being manipulated to see and
feel in a way that is not natural to us
and perhaps that's what differentiates
born from so many of its predecessors it
knows that editing can be used to make
anyone an action star but not
necessarily a good action film and it's
aware what this genre of cinema is
really about in the end action
you