One of our longest running tasks, and with the most activity. Thanks to everyone who pitched in with ideas! A great reference for us.
Description
There are many conceptions about what a ninja is/was. Some come from history, and many are modern elaborations that we've seen in films, comics and internet memes.
And when it comes to ninjas on-screen, we as an audience expect to see some pretty clever moves. We're talking gadgetry, martial arts skills, illusionism/stealth and perhaps a fair amount of supernatural tricks.
As we work on defining the repertoire for what "our" ninjas can and can't do, it's good to have some input on what's out there.
What are some of your favorite ninja moments? How can we be even better? And to bring it further - how can we be original in our film? You can draw from any source, and if possible please provide a link.
So, there are two upcoming ninja movies - "Ninja Assassin", produced by the Wachowski brothers, and the minimalistically titled "Ninja".
Here are the trailers:
"Ninja Assassin"
http://www.mtv.com/videos/movie-trailers/412608/ninja-assassin.jhtml Some quite fancy moves going on here. In sum though, it comes off as quite cheesy with lots of obvious CGI. The highlight for me is definitely the sound design on the shuriken, towards the end of the trailer. Excellent!
"Ninja"
http://www.traileraddict.com/trailer/ninja/trailer Although my expectations for this one are lower than for "Ninja Assassin", I must admit I love this trailer. Plot seems pretty lame (it IS a ninja film after all), but there's some striking imagery.
What do you think about these two as they come across in the trailers?
It only serves to reinforce further the impression that the plot is really cookie cutter style... But there's some decent fighting showcased here and there.
I think Ninja Assassin is coming together quite nicely now! I really love "V for Vendetta" and I hope the guys can make it back to their former greatness. The first few shots in the trailer look like they are lifted off "300" though, weird.
"Ninja" looks campy but this Michael Doodikoff lookalike and plastic costumes seem to guarantee a fun watch watsoever!
It's strange though how all Ninja films have the same storyline as you said. BTW have you checked out the Xbox360 game "Ninja Blade"? This has awesome cutscenes that also feature all the best Ninja moves and weapons. A hot contender for a movie adaptation ;D Well and this game also has the typical story of the Ninja being back-stabbed by his Sensei... Who is also his father in this case... LOL ^_^
I think these trailers play directly to audience expectations of what constitutes a ninja movie. They seem remarkably similar in terms of plot.
Apart from modern production values, they could've been taken straight out of the eighties in terms of story clichés. It's like American Ninja and countless others all over again! Has the genre not evolved at all in 25 years??!?
The trick is to offer "different but same", but apart from the aforementioned contemporary production values, I think these trailers represent "same but same" instead! But maybe that's what audiences want??!
Ninja Assassin looks pretty good, not a bad trailer.
The trailer for Ninja would work for Norwegian Ninja, you could use the same voice and everything but just use Norwegian scenery;-) I agree that it seems like it will be a lame movie, so if you just make it a bit more lame, it will actually cross the line and become really funny.
...is ironically from the Last Samurai. Right from the very start of the clip you get the ninja fading in out of the shadows. It's hard to get more bad ass than that. This scene also captures the efficiency and teamwork of the ninja clan while also showing the utter terror and brutality they bring to a fight.
This is a great reference for our film, as it takes the situation and the ninjas seriously. This is not in the ridiculous style of most eighties ninja movies (which are mostly B or C movies). When I first saw this, I thought "WOW, how come I've never seen ninjas with blacked-out eyes before?". It makes perfect sense if you want to blend in with the night.
I can let on that when the ninjas in our film are in full stealth-mode, we have drawn inspiration from this - and even taken it a step further! :)
well there is allot of ninja films that is great.
But one that got my attention is "The hunted". it really not a ninja movie but when you see it youll understand.
The only thing missing there is the ghilliesuit.
I think a modern ninja would use the ghilliesuit for woodland missions. If you search "ghilliesuit" or "sniper" on youtube or google you will fin lots of great examples of this suit disappearing and reappearing in front of your eyes.
No, there isn´t so many "ninja" moves in The Hunted. Filipino knife technique (Sayoc kali), yes - , to be exact. Military stealth techniques, yes. Native American tracking techniques, yes. Jujutsu, yes. Ninjutsu, no. It´s a half decent action film, though.
also watch the movie Taken, if any person can call themselves a ninja it's Liam Neeson in that film. And it also shows of good and simple ways to make action extremly intense without getting too gory (a friend of mine just watched it with me and he had a lot of "oooh" "aaah" moments)
Especialy the disarming and fluent transitions between gunfire and cqc combat are done well.
Nice. I love how anime simply abstracts the background in relation to the characters for various purposes, like to create a sense of speed or to underscore someone's power. Both are seen in the stretch between 0:40 and 0:47.
It's something we should play more with in live action as well!
Interesting thought. However if you think about it, Ninjas were simply farmers who took to arms to defend their families from the Samurais, who became part of the Japanese nobility and suppressed them. So in a sense, you could say that Ninjas are a metaphor for freedom fighters opposing the establishment.
In my view, Ninjas are warriors who are outgunned and outmanned, fighting the system using any metod, spiritual or scientific, to win, and I believe this is a universal concept...
This has to be my favorite, and in this National Geographic program (I've seen the whole thing) they confirm that it actually works. One punch, one kill!
http://blip.tv/file/75312
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There's a new featurette out now concerning "Ninja".
Part one of three to be posted:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78xnmGWERCU
It only serves to reinforce further the impression that the plot is really cookie cutter style... But there's some decent fighting showcased here and there.
Kalle: hahaha, that's just a typical ninja's fate it seems. Always trouble with the sensei...
I think Ninja Assassin is coming together quite nicely now! I really love "V for Vendetta" and I hope the guys can make it back to their former greatness. The first few shots in the trailer look like they are lifted off "300" though, weird.
"Ninja" looks campy but this Michael Doodikoff lookalike and plastic costumes seem to guarantee a fun watch watsoever!
It's strange though how all Ninja films have the same storyline as you said. BTW have you checked out the Xbox360 game "Ninja Blade"? This has awesome cutscenes that also feature all the best Ninja moves and weapons. A hot contender for a movie adaptation ;D Well and this game also has the typical story of the Ninja being back-stabbed by his Sensei... Who is also his father in this case... LOL ^_^
I think these trailers play directly to audience expectations of what constitutes a ninja movie. They seem remarkably similar in terms of plot.
Apart from modern production values, they could've been taken straight out of the eighties in terms of story clichés. It's like American Ninja and countless others all over again! Has the genre not evolved at all in 25 years??!?
The trick is to offer "different but same", but apart from the aforementioned contemporary production values, I think these trailers represent "same but same" instead! But maybe that's what audiences want??!
Ninja Assassin looks pretty good, not a bad trailer.
The trailer for Ninja would work for Norwegian Ninja, you could use the same voice and everything but just use Norwegian scenery;-) I agree that it seems like it will be a lame movie, so if you just make it a bit more lame, it will actually cross the line and become really funny.