The art of fight in Buffy

[Ms.Trick]

Because of my studies, I learn to watch medias with more attention. Framing, point of filming...Those are things I learned to pay attention to last year. This summer, I rewatched Buffy and something occured to me.

In the three first seasons, fight scenes are often filmed quite far from the action, those are mostly wide shots and sometimes you see a blond girl from behind or you see her face but so quickly you don't really see it's a stuntwoman and not actually Sarah Michelle Gellar. So I paid more attention to every fight scene, pausing them to see the image beter and yeah, those were often stunt people who were doing the scene and it was quite obvious.

Nonetheless, from season 4, that changes a lot. I don't know if the transitions actor/stunt/actor are more subtil, but I really feel like from season 4 Sarah Michelle Gellar actually does the most fights. It's all more fluid, more esthetic. And because of that, it seems that the fight scenes are way beter from season 4 to season 7. It's not as fake as the fights in the three first season, it's more...Authentic. And it surprises me because the fights are more and more athletic, you know, like the one in Beer Bad, Spiral, The Gift... And it really seems like SMG does it all herself.

So what do you think?
Are the stunts juste beter made or did SMG start doing most of them from season 4?
Were you ever "schocked" by the difference of the quality of fight between different season?

 

[Buffy Lehane]

Most definitely, I remember that I would watch some of the fight scenes during the first few seasons and think "These are so horribly..." especially in Graduation day part 1 where Buffy and Faith fight, I can tell exactly where the stunt women take the places of Sarah and Eliza, and in Spiral when Buffy is fighting on top of the R.V. both were great fights, but bad stunt work. As the series progressed the fight scenes, intensified and looked much more realistic. I think it's most likely because they got a stunt woman who better resemble SMG rather than her doing more of her own stunts, though I could be wrong.

 

[brinkster130]

I think SMG worked on her fighting and became much more comfortable and confident doing the fighting scenes. There are definite improvements in the later seasons. I've never really paid much attention to stunt doubles and how often they are used, but I have always noticed SMG improvements in her fight scenes.

 

[white avenger]

I think that after Season 3, they got a new stunt coordinator who set up the fight scenes better. I'm not sure whether or not Buffy's primary stunt double was replaced, but I'm pretty sure that by Season 4, Sarah's expertise in stage fighting, something totally different from any martial arts training that she might have had, had improved considerably, so they could use closer shots that actually showed her doing her own fighting more (For anyone who might be interested, Sarah supposedly has a brown belt in Tae Kwon Do)

 

[Zeppo]

I'm 95% sure that the stunt double was gone after season 4 ended because as soon as season 5 started so did the gymnastics which was what the new stunt coordinator specialized in. I also heard that Eliza came onto the show and pushed to do a lot of her own stunts which encouraged SMG to follow suit; Eliza wasn't around til S3 so it makes sense that prior to that it was heavily stunt double-d.

 

[white avenger]

I also heard that Eliza came onto the show and pushed to do a lot of her own stunts which encouraged SMG to follow suit; Eliza wasn't around til S3 so it makes sense that prior to that it was heavily stunt double-d.

Yeah, in several places, I've read that both Eliza and James said that they preferred to do as much of their own stunts as possible, which would allow for closer shots and more realistic fight scenes.

 

[Tome]

Yea I've also noticed the fights in the early seasons seemed a bit cheesy when you compare them to the last seasons. 🙂 I particularily liked them in S5-6-7.

 

[Taake]

I know I read somewhere that her original stunt-double (Sophia Crawford) was replaced at some point in the show and I think it's in the "Hush" commentary that it's mentioned that SMG got to do her first high-kick in that epsiode.

SMG as far as I know was trained in Tae Kwon Do even when she came on Buffy but even if actors want to do their own stunts they're not often allowed due to risk of injury. So I think the new subtlety to the fights have mostly to do with camera-work and stunt coordination (some of the earlier once weren't that great I agree)

Here's a list of some of Sarah's stunt doubles, apparently they changed more than I thought 🙂
http://www.sarahgellarfan.pixel51.com/stunts/

 

[msfantastico87]

Interesting thread idea 🙂

I know exactly what you're talking about. The second time I re-watched the show, I was just like...what on earth is this? It's so clearly obvious that she has a stunt double! I also agree that there from season 4 onward, It was a lot harder to see the stunt doubles. I actually started to think she was doing all of her own stunts. However, in OMWF, when Giles is singing and you see her doing her training, she gets up on the balancing beam and comes back down and what not, that is most deffo not her. That is when I realized that yes, they did still keep using stunt doubles, they just didn't make it as obvious. The camera work helped a lot. Camera angles and such is an art. It's amazing how well they were able to almost completely hide the fact it was a stunt double.

Like Taake said, she did do Tae Kwon Do, so it was a lot easier for her to do a lot of the moves and such, which helped a lot in trying to mask the stunt double. It's all camera tricks folks! 😉

 

[xaphania]

I do notice the stunt doubles from time to time, but try to ignore them.

The hardest one for me to ignore is Spike's double... the man is about twice the size of JM! And half the time, they didn't even bother slicking back his hair.

There are several episodes where you can see him and he's there, big and hulking with spiked-up hair - extremely obvious. The moments that come to mind straight off: the church fight scene at the end of What's My Line Pt. 2; when the Buffybot throws Spike onto the sarcophagus in Intervention; the fight scene with Dru, Harmony and Buffy at the end of Crush and the S7 episode where he fights with his 'One Bite Stand' (don't remember the name).

It bothers me so much because once you see it, you can't unsee it.

 

[Taake]

It bothers me so much because once you see it, you can't unsee it.

So true.

For season 3 they have a pretty awful stunt double for Eliza too, I swear sometimes it's a man in a bad wig... Like in the big Slayer fight in "Graduation Day"

 

[racheltng]

Also, Sarah's first stunt double, the one from the early seasons, has much bigger boobs than Sarah. That's how I can tell. (not meaning to sound like a perv or anything. it's just noticeable when Buffy goes from an A/B to a double D)

 

[Ollehh]

I've been rewatching the series (currently on Season 3) and sometimes you can tell it's not SMG. I think David Boreanaz's stunt double was pretty bad in Becoming Part 2, his hair line is further back than David's so when they do the bird's eye view of the sword fight, you can tell it's not him.
It was pretty obvious in both Revelations and Bad Girls that Eliza and Sarah weren't doing most of the fighting, during the wide shots that is.
Another case is Spiral, when Buffy is fighting the soldier on top of the van, you can tell it's a stunt double. As some have said already, the fight scenes aren't so bad S4-7. Most of the time it annoys me when they use a stunt double for mild fight scenes during the wide shots, but I guess they film all the wide shots first, and then the closer camera angles which is when they bring the proper actor's in.

 

[sk]

The lunch lady double in Earshot must be the worst ever though... 🙂

But I've never had any problem with the stunt doubles. Not even the ridiculous lunch lady thing.
I just don't take notice to it which works for me.

/SK

 

[Abbeycat]

The lunch lady double in Earshot must be the worst ever though... 🙂

But I've never had any problem with the stunt doubles. Not even the ridiculous lunch lady thing.
I just don't take notice to it which works for me.

/SK

Lol.the stunt double lunch lady in Earshot amused me somehow. I thought it was funny. I mean I obviously could tell it was a stunt double.

 

[Eleftheria]

The fights were not so special in season 1, and I could tell the difference between the actors and their doubles after watching the episodes of the following seasons for a second time. I know that actors are not really allowed to do dangerous stuff cause they might get hurt. I am pretty sure though that Sarah must have wished to make most of her stunts alone. And I have read that Eliza likes doing most of her own stunts. I like that in Eliza!
Generally the fights in 'buffy" and "angel" are much better than any other show of such style. I always enjoy watching them cause they do seem real!

 

[AustCF]

Painfully Obvious

I absolutely hate when it's so painfully obvious that a stunt double is being used. Do the actors EVER do any of the fight scenes? Probably not, but they show the doubles faces like, aren't we not supposed to see that? LOL.:wink3:

 

[Abbeycat]

I remember watching an episode in season four where I could definitely tell it wasn't SMG.lol I've noticed it couple of times. But oh well. Usually when they do an up close shot, it's the actor/or actress.

 

[BuffyElevated]

It always annoys me when you can see that they're using a stunt double. Like in "Becoming part 2" when Buffy and Angel are swordfighting and Buffy's hair keeps changing. Hello, continuity, folks!

 

[Goldilocks]

I knooow.. I saw some pictures on www.screencap-paradise.com and I went all "OMG, it can't be true!" not that I believed that it was Sarah Michelle Gellar who did all the fighting, but it just feels so weird to see another woman fighting instead of her -_-