♪ ♪
The first-ever lightsaber battle.
"- I've been waiting for you, Obi-Wan. We meet again at last."
It is indisputably an iconic scene.
"- When I left you, I was but the learner.
Now I am the master."
But the actual fight is
a tad boring.
Lightsaber battles have come a long way.
The presentation of these scenes have evolved through choreography and scope.
Leading from this...
...to arguably the best lightsaber battle yet.
The throne room showdown in "The Last Jedi."
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To make the throne room battle a beautifully successful action set piece,
Ryan Johnson does two things.
One practical.
And one emotional.
He guides our eyes through the action
to keep it clear and perceptible.
And he sustains the emotional connection
between Ray and Ren
throughout the fight.
Instead of a chaotic free-for-all between 10 combatants,
we have a controlled
and methodical piece of action film making
that prioritizes character.
Let's get into it.
"- The entire Resistance.
Soon they will all be gone.
You have the spirit of a true Jedi.
And because of that,
you must die."
Our analysis begins immediately
after Snoke has been run through.
For maximum clarity,
Johnson avoids cutting when possible.
This first shot includes five actions,
that would have otherwise been cut into individual shots.
In the foreground in shallow focus,
Kylo Ren's fingers beckon the lightsaber.
We rack focus to follow the weapon into the foreground...
where Ray catches it.
In the background, Snoke's body collapses
drawing our eyes to the center of the frame.
Just in time for Ray to pop up in the foreground
in the exact spot we already looking.
This shot uses the Z-axis to its full potential
and creates an elaborate, a clean series of events.
She stands to face Ren and expects a fight.
But then...
In the first frame of the next shot,
we have near-perfect symmetry dividing the room in half.
Our focus is guided to the center of the frame.
But Ray and Kylo Ren quickly spin around
visualizing their alliance
and they're approaching enemies.
Before slowly pushing forward bringing us literally
and emotionally into the battle.
Ren tosses a guard across the screen
which motivates the camera to re-frame Ray in the center.
The camera then pushes towards Ray,
bringing us all the way into an over-the-shoulder medium close-up shot.
The match cut reconnects Ray and Ren.
Yet another reminder of their alliance.
There is a break in the action
as Ren's scans the room.
With a quick POV shot,
he notices Ray in the background
just in time to see her get grazed.
This wide-shot establishes our leads with action in the foreground and background.
Kylo Ren now without his lightsaber
gets locked into a precarious position.
And Ray gets locked up herself.
Ray throws her lightsaber to Kylo Ren
and the camera whip pans with it.
Johnson use these directorial choices
to keep the action legible
and the emotional connection between Ray and Kylo Ren intact.
"- We can rule together and bring a new order to the Galaxy. - Don't do this, Ben.
Please don't go this way."
Let's recap.
In this epic brawl,
Ryan Johnson and his team were able to construct an exceptional action scene
using framing,
choreography, camera movement
and editing.
He was able to keep the action clean and legible
and a character's connected.
These principles can be applied to any fight scene,
no matter the genre or budget.
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When planning your next action scene,
you can use blocking and staging.
Or you can just use the force.
"- People are counting on us. The Galaxy is counting on us.
So we'll figure it out.
- We'll use the force.
- That's not how the force works."