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Build the library around the character’s dramatic problem, not around a pile of impressive fight clips. Start with the character’s objective, history, body, fears and turning point; collect varied historical, visual, written and performance sources; and annotate exactly what each source can and cannot tell you. Then compare the options for character fit, story function, historical context and readability in the medium you are writing for.
A reference library is a writing and discussion tool. It can help you describe a convincing rhythm, choice or reversal, but it is not permission to test movements or choreograph hazardous action. Any staged or filmed physical conflict belongs with a qualified fight director and an adequately rehearsed production team.
What a fight-choreography reference library actually contains
A useful library is an indexed set of sources that helps you answer two different questions at once:
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- What must the fight communicate? The encounter may expose a fear, change a relationship, delay an escape, reveal a lie or force a decision.
The library therefore includes more than technique. It holds observations about distance, rhythm, initiative, use of the environment, apparent fatigue, hesitation and recovery, along with notes about why a particular choice belongs to this character in this scene.
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Keep source, observation and interpretation separate. A filmed performance is evidence of one performer’s and director’s choices; it is not proof that every practitioner of a historical style moved that way. A historical image can document clothing or an object without showing how it was used. Your notes should make those boundaries visible.
1. Write a compact character and scene brief first
Do this before searching for clips. Without a brief, the most visually exciting reference will pull the story away from the character.
| Question | What to record | How it guides references |
|---|---|---|
| What is the immediate objective? | Escape, protect someone, delay an opponent, obtain an object, survive long enough to speak, or another concrete aim. | Look for movement that makes the objective readable rather than merely spectacular. |
| Why does violence begin now? | The trigger, the choice to escalate, and what nonviolent options have failed. | Find references with comparable hesitation, commitment or suddenness. |
| What does the character fear or protect? | A person, secret, status, bodily vulnerability or moral boundary. | Track moments when that concern changes distance, attention or initiative. |
| What has the character learned? | Formal training, imitation, street experience, military service, no training, or lessons learned in earlier scenes. | Prefer sources whose movement logic matches the stated history; mark uncertainty where the script is silent. |
| Why this style or weapon? | Availability, culture, occupation, symbolism, inherited object, improvisation or coercion. | Search the object’s documented context and the character’s reason for choosing it. |
| What physical circumstances matter? | Age, size, mobility, injury, fatigue, clothing, footwear, visibility, terrain and available space. | Reject references that depend on abilities or conditions the story does not establish. |
| What changes during the encounter? | A new tactic, loss of confidence, discovery, injury, alliance or moral decision. | Collect references with a visible shift in initiative or emotional state, not just a beginning pose. |
| What should the audience understand afterward? | Who holds power, what the character chose, and what the fight costs. | Use this as the test for every movement detail you eventually describe. |
These questions follow the characterization approach discussed by Davis in the study of stage combat and movement. Put the answers on one page. Treat them as working hypotheses that can change when the plot or rehearsal process reveals a better choice.
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2. Search across different kinds of evidence
George Mason University Libraries’ guide for choreographers and fight directors recommends a mixed source base: books, articles and interviews, historical images and sources, performance video, craft discussions and professional resources. Its practical search language includes looking for how a character might have fought, moved or shown affection in a particular historical period. Build separate shelves for each source type so that one famous clip cannot quietly become your whole evidence base.
| Source type | Useful for | Limits to record |
|---|---|---|
| Books and practitioner manuals | Terminology, staging concepts, character performance, production factors and explanations of a method. | Advice may be written for a particular medium or training tradition; a book is not a credential to direct dangerous movement. |
| Interviews and articles | Intent, creative process, historical context and the reasoning behind a choice. | Memory can be selective, and an interview may describe one production rather than a general rule. |
| Historical images and primary sources | Documented clothing, objects, social setting, posture and period-specific visual details. | A still image rarely proves timing, distance or practical use; provenance may be unclear. |
| Performance video | Spacing, rhythm, eye-lines, use of scenery, apparent fatigue, changes in initiative and how an audience or camera reads action. | Editing, lens choice, rehearsal conditions, genre conventions and performer skill shape what you see. |
| Professional or institutional resources | Safety expectations, production roles, rehearsal requirements and terminology. | Policies are local to an institution or jurisdiction unless the document says otherwise. |
| Script, director’s notes and design material | Words, objectives, transitions, costume, props, scenery and the intended relationship with the audience. | Early plans can change; label a provisional note with its date and version. |
Use precise searches
Combine the character question with the source type and context. Examples include:
movement style rural messenger 18th century primary sourcestage combat character fatigue interview choreographerspecific combat sequence annotated performance videomovement that suits an older novice defender in a confined roomhistorical image [object] clothing period archive
Replace the bracketed term with your own object or period. Save the exact search terms that led to a useful item; they make later retrieval faster and expose gaps in the collection.
3. Evaluate what each source can legitimately support
Before adding an item, write one sentence beginning “This source can support…” and another beginning “This source cannot establish…”. For example, a performance clip can support an observation about how a reversal reads on camera, but it cannot establish how a historical person or an entire martial tradition necessarily moved.
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Separate observation from interpretation
- Observation: “The defender keeps the torso angled, pauses after losing the object and looks toward the exit.”
- Interpretation: “For this character, the pause could show calculation rather than panic.”
- Story use: “Place the pause immediately before the character chooses to protect the witness.”
This three-line pattern prevents an attractive image from turning into an unsupported claim about psychology or history.
4. Annotate every item so you can retrieve it
A link saved without notes is rarely useful months later. Use a consistent record for every book, image, clip or interview.
| Field | What to enter |
|---|---|
| Source identity | Title, creator, publication or upload date, medium, link, and the date you accessed it. |
| Context | Historical document, filmed performance, interview, article, book, rehearsal demonstration or another category. |
| Locator | Page number, image identifier, video timestamp, chapter, quotation or frame number so you can return to the evidence. |
| Observable details | Stance, rhythm, distance, direction of travel, use of the environment, apparent fatigue, weapon handling as depicted and changes in initiative. |
| Character connection | The training history, temperament, objective or limitation this item might illuminate. |
| Dramatic beat | The line, reveal, setback, reversal or decision beside which the reference could sit. |
| Interpretation label | Mark your inference as an interpretation, not as a fact supplied by the source. |
| Limits | Camera angle, editing, costume, genre convention, unclear provenance, anachronism or staged-performance context. |
| Rights and access | Whether you may reproduce a still, whether access requires an account, and any licence or permission note. |
Use short descriptive notes for motivation and context, an annotated frame or sketch for visible spacing, and a link with a timestamp for movement. Keep a single record per source rather than scattering observations across unrelated folders.
5. Put the script beside the movement
Fight choreographer and author T. Fulton Burns states, “The first step is to take the written word of the script and place it next to the fight choreography.” Apply that principle at the writing stage. Copy the character’s line, objective or turning point into the same record as the movement reference.
Ask three questions for each beat:
- What does the character want at this instant?
- What does the movement communicate that dialogue does not?
- Does the source support the intended meaning, or does it import a different tone?
For example, a character who appears physically outmatched may still control the scene by choosing when to retreat. A reference that shows only rapid attacks may be technically interesting but dramatically wrong if the scene is about restraint. Keep the plan flexible: Burns connects choreography to the director’s vision and the playwright’s words while allowing changes through rehearsal.
6. Choose an indexing format you will actually use
David McCormick’s discussion of choreography records identifies several complementary formats. Select one primary index and add another when it solves a specific problem.
| Format | Best use | Known weakness |
|---|---|---|
| Narrative notes | Gesture, spatial orientation, emotional life, motivation, costume and movement around objects. | Long descriptions are slower to scan during a rewrite. |
| Sketches or storyboards | Visual learners, blocking ideas and a quick view of who occupies which space. | Drawings can be slow to make and may not communicate intent or emotion on their own. |
| Numbered action plan | A concise sequence of beats that is quick to write and easy to reference in a draft. | It can obscure one character’s through-line when several people act at once. |
| Partner table | Side-by-side comparison of each participant’s objective, action and response. | It can encourage a mechanical exchange if emotional and spatial notes are omitted. |
| Video and stills | Bodies moving through space, sightlines, rhythm and changes in initiative. | Full-speed footage may require slow motion, freeze frames or annotations to study. |
A practical combination is a numbered beat list, one paragraph of character interpretation, and a timestamped clip or annotated frame. This is a writer’s reference system, not a formal choreographic score.
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When several options could serve the scene, compare them explicitly instead of choosing the most dramatic-looking clip. Create one row per reference and one column for each criterion:
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- Character fit: Does the movement plausibly reflect the person’s temperament, history and stated ability?
- Story function: Does it make the objective, setback, reversal or relationship change legible?
- Physical plausibility: Does it respect the fictional limits established by the story, without pretending that a writer can assess performer safety?
- Historical or cultural fit: Is the source suited to the time, place and background being depicted, and is its provenance clear?
- Medium and readability: Will the relevant information survive on stage, through a camera, in animation or in prose?
- Evidence quality: Is the claim supported by a primary source, named expert, credible institution or only an unattributed clip?
Use a simple label such as strong, usable with qualification or unsuitable. Add one sentence explaining each label. The point is not to produce a scientific score; it is to make trade-offs visible and to preserve the reason you rejected an option.
8. Organize the library for retrieval
Use stable names and a small number of predictable folders. A structure such as 01_character-brief, 02_historical-context, 03_performance-video, 04_books-and-interviews, 05_annotations and 06_scene-beats works for most projects.
Name files with the source, date and locator rather than a vague label such as cool-fight.mp4. For example: period-portrait_archive_1890_context-notes or stage-performance_title_00-47_reversal-frame. Keep the original link and access date in the record because pages move or disappear.
Maintain a one-page index with filters for character, period, object, medium, dramatic beat and evidence type. Tag interpretation separately from documented fact. If collaborators will use the library, add a field for the current script or rehearsal version so an outdated idea is not mistaken for an approved plan.
9. A complete workflow from blank page to shortlist
- Define the scene. Write the objective, trigger, fear, physical circumstances, turning point and intended audience takeaway.
- List evidence gaps. Note what you do not know: period clothing, object context, movement quality, spatial problem or emotional transition.
- Search each gap across at least two source types. Pair a historical or written source with a performance or visual source when possible.
- Capture provenance immediately. Save title, creator, date, link, access date and a locator before moving to the next item.
- Annotate observation and interpretation separately. Record what is visible, what you infer and which dramatic beat it might serve.
- Place the script beside the reference. Add the exact line, objective or reversal that gives the movement meaning.
- Build a shortlist. Compare character fit, story function, plausibility, context, medium and evidence quality.
- Draft movement language at the right level. Describe intention, rhythm, distance, interruption and consequence rather than presenting hazardous instructions as a self-help routine.
- Share the library with the relevant professionals. Give a fight director and director the sources, limits and dramatic questions, not an assumption that the notes are a finished sequence.
- Version the result. Date changes after table reads, blocking, costume fittings or rehearsals, and keep earlier references available for comparison.
10. Adapt the library to the medium
Stage
Prioritize sightlines, audience orientation, repeatable rhythms, entrances and exits, and the relationship between movement and scenery. A small gesture may need to read from the back of the house. Record where the audience should understand a reversal, but leave the exact physical solution to the fight director and rehearsal process.
Film and television
Record shot size, camera position, continuity concerns, eyelines, screen direction and whether editing hides or reveals the change in initiative. A clip that works in a wide shot may not communicate in close-up, and a cut can make timing appear easier than it was to perform.
Animation and storyboards
Use sketches, key poses and beat timing to clarify silhouette, weight shift, anticipation and reaction. Mark which poses express character and which exist only to bridge the action. The animator or action director still determines safe and achievable production methods.
Prose
Translate the library into selective sensory and psychological details: what the character notices, what they cannot do, how the room changes their choice and what consequence follows. Avoid listing an unmotivated chain of named techniques. The reader needs a legible objective and turning point more than a catalogue of motions.
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11. Check historical and cultural fit without overclaiming
Match the reference to the character’s actual time, place, class, occupation and access to training. Distinguish a documented object from a later reconstruction. If a source’s provenance is uncertain, say so in the note and do not use it as the sole basis for a historical claim.
Be especially careful when a modern fictional performance stands in for a living or historical tradition. Describe what the performance depicts, name its creative context and avoid presenting it as a universal expression of a culture. When the character’s background is not established, write the uncertainty into your decision rather than inventing a biography to justify an attractive movement style.
12. Keep safety boundaries explicit
Toronto Metropolitan University’s School of Performance handbook describes a fight director as the professional who choreographs and oversees the safety of physical action. Its production guidance says choreography should be staged within performers’ limitations, receive ample rehearsal time in adequate space, and remain consistent with the props, weapons, costumes and scenery established in rehearsal. It also states that changes are subject to fight-director approval. The handbook is an institutional production policy, not a universal law in every jurisdiction, but its division of responsibility is a sound baseline.
Do not use a reference library to test moves on yourself, a writing partner or an untrained performer. Do not infer safety from a video, a book or the apparent simplicity of an action. Pass the character brief, script beats, source notes and constraints to a qualified fight director, who can translate dramatic intent into a controlled, rehearsed sequence.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.13. Optional books for deeper study
These titles can expand your vocabulary and help you ask better questions. None replaces professional direction, supervised training or production-specific risk assessment.
| Book | What the listed source says it covers | Availability note |
|---|---|---|
| Unarmed Stage Combat by Philip d’Orléans | The author’s page describes an illustrated book with more than forty unarmed performance techniques, safety principles, character performance, staging and sightlines, and fighting for camera. | The author’s page links to an Amazon UK purchase page; stock and territory can change. |
| The Screen Combat Handbook: A Practical Guide for Filmmakers by Kevin Inouye | Routledge describes a 2020 guide covering preproduction through editing and sound design, including on-set protocol, choreography, shot planning, acting, cinematography and editing. | A current retailer listing and territory were not established; verify before linking or purchasing. |
| Fight Choreography: A Practical Guide for Stage, Film and Television by F. Braun McAsh | Google Books records a 2010, 192-page book on the artistic process from scripted page to performance, including characterization, production factors, weapons and choreography phrasing. | Current retailer availability was not established; treat the bibliographic record as the reliable identification. |
14. Common failure modes and practical fixes
One famous clip becomes the whole library
Symptom: Every note points to the same performer, genre or camera language. Fix: Add a historical or written source, a second performance from a different context and a professional resource. Record what each new item contributes.
Technique replaces character
Symptom: The notes list actions but never state what the character wants. Fix: Put an objective and a consequence beside every beat; delete movement that does not alter the scene.
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Fictional performance is treated as historical proof
Symptom: A movie clip is cited as evidence of how a period or culture fought. Fix: Label it as a creative interpretation and seek a primary or institutional source for historical claims.
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Links are saved without locators
Symptom: You remember liking a video but cannot find the relevant moment. Fix: Save timestamps, page numbers, frame descriptions and a one-sentence reason for inclusion.
The reference conflicts with costume, prop or scenery
Symptom: The movement assumes space or equipment the scene does not have. Fix: Recheck design notes and annotate the environmental constraint before comparing another option.
Notes become unsafe instructions
Symptom: A draft reads like a tutorial for an untrained person to reproduce. Fix: Describe intention, relationship, rhythm and result; route physical specifics to qualified fight direction.
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The library stops evolving
Symptom: Early assumptions survive after a table read or blocking change. Fix: Version the brief, mark superseded notes and add the reason for each major change.
15. Worked example: turning a character problem into a usable library
Imagine Mara, a forty-two-year-old archivist with no formal combat training. She must keep an injured colleague from being taken through a narrow service corridor. Her objective is not to defeat the pursuer; it is to create time for help to arrive. She is protecting evidence that could expose her employer, and the encounter changes when she realizes the pursuer is also trying to prevent a child from being found.
Her brief produces three evidence gaps: how an untrained person uses a confined environment, how fatigue changes decision-making, and how a protective objective can reverse an apparent power relationship. The library might contain the following shortlist:
| Reference | Observation | Possible dramatic use | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|
| A practitioner interview about staging in confined spaces | The discussion emphasizes orientation, exits and keeping the audience aware of the protected person. | Use the corridor geography to make Mara’s objective legible before any physical escalation. | It explains a process, not a ready-made sequence for this production. |
| A filmed performance of an older novice defender | The performer spends attention on the doorway, pauses after a setback and changes initiative only when the protected person is threatened. | Model Mara’s attention and emotional turn, not the performer’s specific actions. | Camera editing and rehearsal skill affect the apparent ease and timing. |
| A historical image set showing the period clothing and work tools | The images document restrictive layers, footwear and the objects Mara plausibly carries. | Let clothing and objects constrain her choices and reveal her occupation. | The images do not establish how those objects would be used in a fight. |
In the scene-beat index, place Mara’s line about the evidence beside the moment she chooses delay over escape. Mark the corridor reference as a staging aid, the performance as an emotional and visual prompt, and the images as period-context evidence. The eventual physical sequence remains a professional’s job; the writer’s contribution is a coherent objective, a readable change and honest source notes.
Quick Recap
16. Final readiness checklist
- The character’s objective, trigger, fear, limitation and turning point fit on one page.
- The library contains written, visual, historical and performance evidence where each is relevant.
- Every item has a creator, date, link, access date and locator.
- Observation, interpretation and story use are clearly separated.
- Historical claims are supported by appropriate sources rather than a fictional clip alone.
- Each shortlisted reference is tested for character fit, story function, plausibility, context, medium and evidence quality.
- The script line or dramatic beat appears beside the movement note it informs.
- Files use stable names, tags and version dates.
- Costume, props, weapons, scenery and available space are included as constraints.
- The notes describe storytelling intent without inviting untrained readers to reproduce hazardous movement.
- A qualified fight director will make and approve physical-action decisions for performance.
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