Onscreen, events and actions take place in the span of seconds or minutes, especially in the genre of the kung fu epic; Jet Li's final wushu film, Fearless comes to mind. When we read narratives or screenplays, however, there is no Yuen Wo Ping around to assist us in making our action sequences exciting, no, none of his ropes and spectacular choreography. All we have in this case, ultimately, is the opportunity to employ verbs.
In this assignment, you should ideally:
Craft a one to two page paper that focuses on the actions of a single scene in a movie of your choice. Attention should be placed upon ACTION only, while you may include bits of description if that is needed to flavor your overall piece.
Select your verbs carefully. One piece of advice that I'd like to provide: Try to avoid the use of "is" or "was" and select verbs that are more active. You can refer to the action verbs handout. found online (click on the link).
Check out this clip from Jet Li's Fearless, in which Jet Li's character, Huo Yuan Jia, fights O'Brien, from America:
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=577_1404182406&selected_view_mode=desktop
or
https://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=132225266857373
Here's a brief rendition of that scene, focusing on the verbs. Notice how it's really difficult to get the scene "exactly" as one sees it in the film:
Huo Yuan Jia gently placed his index and middle fingers gently at the cusp of O'Brien's solar plexus, waiting for the right moment, when—SLAM—Yuan Jia followed with the rest of his palm, pushing with even greater force into the guts of his opponent.
The crowd roared.
Yuan Jia steadied himself for the onslaught, the retribution, the counterattack, palm outstretched.
O'Brien, both forearms deployed like bayonets, scowled, swinging wildly with his right fist at Yuan Jia's face. A mild swing and then another. Right, then left.
Yuan Jia deftly arched his neck back, avoiding the dense cluster of O'Brien's knuckles. Instead of connecting with Yuan Jia's face, O'Brien's fist made a deep impression into the dark woodpost of the arena.
Remarkably, O'Brien grabbed Yuan Jia's flowing clothes at the neck and waist, hoisting him high above; Yuan Jia flailed a bit, preparing for the inevitable impact. The fall from above.
O'Brien threw his captive across the ring; Yuan Jia landed on his back, shocked.
O'Brien thumped his chest, beastly and arrogantly, in triumph. The Japanese premier merely smiled, confident that O'Brien was soon to complete this exhibition match in victory.