Action Scene's and Mounting Excitement!

[orphans]

My question is, how do you do them well, or decently. Everyone has their own opinions on it, but I'm curious as to what makes a scene, or something exciting.

It can be a movie, or a book, or whatever you want.

For me, it's exciting when the scene is done realistically, though I suppose if it's "epic" enough, I can let small details slide... (for example, the hero escapes by jumping off a burning building and catches onto the wings of a biplane. The force would have ripped his arms out of his sockets but... eeeeh... it was epic.)

[Knave]

Emotional investment is key to most fights not correographed to asskicking perfection. a lot of epic moments require a person to care about the hero slaughtering challenge ahead and how our protagonist is subject to mounting danger. If I don't care, then I'm watching to see people get hurt, if I hate him, I'm watching to see him get hurt. As that sentence goes, my entertainment falls.

Beyond that... good acting. No one can really complain about them except that they didn't look realistic, its the only maor complaint I've ever heard. Sure, actors rely heavily on the effects man to liven up their acting, where as previously in the land of black and white actors had to do a lot more a lot better to achieve the same level of drama. Point, Vincent Price. Hero, villain, bastard or saint, he was of an age where the power of his expressions and voice were enough to make the blood pound. So much so, that an actor had place to rap with Michael Jackson.

The last part is just realistic effects, I want to hear the beams break as the building falls, I want to know that when that bomb went off that poor bystander around the corner felt it just as much as anyone else. The senses must be touched on, and the day where I can smell the ashes and feel the flames is the day when film exceeds all else.

Until then, these things are best found in the best of books, where all I need do is read and imagine to fill in the blanks of what could be. Because lets face it, we're not going to pause the movie ourselves so we can conjur up some sort of illusion in our minds. Television numbs the brain, the least they can do is be thorough about it.

In books, as in movies I hate having to suspend my disbelief for longer than the scene has to pass, move on, and only be refferenced later as "Yeah that was pretty cool." In the Book of Eli, i watched a baron wasteland being rebuilt end up being destroyed over a bible. All this screaming of "Its a weapon!" built up my interest, but left me flat when the simplest thing would have been to just hand over the bible rather than killing everyone... or nearlly everyone and sending a beurgoning new society, corrupt, but the best possible in this sitution, would be to simply stay as the priest.

Nope, people get slaughtered, men receive arrows to the crotch, awesome violence, moderate acting, good premice, pitiable ending all in all. Ruined it for me.

[Cyrus the virus]

An amazing action scene, for me personally, incorporates realistic motivations and a ton of build up. Like when a character has to fight his way through many trials to meet his rival, and by the time they fight, they're both pretty beat up.

Little things add to the scenario for me, like some people prefer when the hero needs to escape quickly for whatever reason, like his ally is in trouble and may die any moment - that's when his rival appears. I like that, but I also like when everything is resolved except for that final confrontation. When you tie up all the loose ends and make it so the only thing left to resolve is that final battle, you can write something pretty special.

[Jalim Mandren]

One of the important things when setting up a climactic finale to any story is pacing. There needs to be a steady build-up of tension that allows the reader to become invested in the characters involved.

When the final scene/confrontation/whatever comes around, it needs to be of a pace that keeps the reader interested, shows the 'real' pace of the scene, yet also continues that feeling of investment towards the characters. Ideally, as a reader, you've gotten involved with the characters, you know their personalities, their hopes, dreams, motivations; that needs to be maintained. Give that insight into your character that has allowed the other person to read up to this point.

For scenes that are solely a battle, you perhaps need to work a little harder in that you need to establish the pace, investment and build up of tension from the beginning, more or less all at once.

Suspension of disbelief is another great asset to such scenes. They need to be realistic. Does it match the predefined persona of each character involved? Does it make sense for this to be happening? Does the scene fit into the rest of the world/story? These are important questions to ask when considering these things. If yes to all of them, you're pretty much on your way to suspending your reader's disbelief.