Sword/movie question.

[Nick]

Probably not the best place to ask, but...

...why is it that, in movies, some guy will cut some enemies really fast, their sword will be vibrating... then they tap their sword and it stops vibrating and only then all the enemies fall down from being cut... what exactly is that supposed to be?

The only example I can think of off the top of my head is Kill Bill, in the restaurant scene.

Later...

[Xebsball]

man i gotta tell you: i dont know, maybe its cos it looks really really cool and stylish

but one thing i know: is if youre looking for some real good sword action, there is this one sword fight on Monty Python (spell?) and the Holy Grail that is just awesome and classic

[Shaolinlueb]

shogun assassin got cool sword work. lone wolf is the man. duel to the death does too. of cant forget phantom menace.

[inic]

I've been doing fencing for a lil while and been messing arond with medieval swordsmanship. All I can say is all that movie swordfighting is completely unrealistic. It's like all the kung fu moves you see in the movies too. Really think those moves will work in real situation? baahhaha

[neit]

so?

[Gangsterfist]

You ever swing a baseball bat not quite right and have it vibrate? You know when it rings and vibrates down your arm? Same thing with the swords. Sometimes you just don't hit it quite right and it will vibrate, or if someone parries your sword with theirs it will vibrate. Hitting it on the hilt will make it stop. That is what someone who practices japanese sword told me. I have very little hands on with japanese sword, however I did learn the sais back in the day.

[joedoe]

For interesting articles on movie swordwork:

http://www.thehaca.com/essays/tworealities.htm

http://www.thehaca.com/essays/twain.htm