Staged or Real?

[Steven Miranda]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDB6cGmuXdU

Looks staged to me.

[Tripitaka of AA]

If it is staged then they did some good research. None of the tell-tale giveaways with regards to the filming. Static camera position, filming a location that you might expect to find covered by CCTV, with the action occuring at angles that aren't the most attractive for the viewer. In other words, if you were stagiing it for the camera, you would position the participants differently. I think the passersby would also be encouraged to act more interested if it were a piece of fiction, instead they behave as though nothing has happened. I think this looks real. The date is recent (is that 5th of July, or 7th of May? it depends where it was filmed), but there are no clues on this upload as to the location. Clothes suggest somewhere warm, but there appears to be a cosmopolitan mix of people, with the young woman appearing asian, while some of the other women look European. Who knows?

[P Goldsbury]

Hello Steven,

I see you have put this in the aikido forum. World you like to make any comments on the aikido etc involved?

Best wishes,

[Steven Miranda]

Hi Peter,

Not sure why but I could only post it here. Feel free to move it.

[P Goldsbury]

Hello Steven,

No, it can stay here. I was curious about the way the lady handled her attacker.

Best wishes,

PAG

[Steven Miranda]

In my view, it looks staged. When the man enters the area he appears to know the girl is there. Then when he takes the phone he makes no real attempt to get away. Instead the altercation takes place in front of the camera. There is the possibility he's just an idiot and deserved the assumed whooping.

Assuming it was real, her reaction would indicate she studies or at least did at one time some form of martial arts. We can't see the strikes and can only speculate they scored. There's the kick to the groin, the spin kick and appears to be a shot to the face.

Not convinced though it was a real incident. Another YouTube video suggests it was a Russian woman but the cctv is in English. Not sure what the appropriate aikido response would be. It's all speculative at best. The reaction by the people walking by is interesting. There's no sense of concern for the guy.

[cxt]

I'm going with "staged" for no other reason than how perfectly it was framed by the camera.

Maybe the thief was just inexperienced but it seems to me that a "real" thief would have a better idea of where the video cameras were located and not tried to steal right in the center view of one.

Ok, maybe he didn't know it was there.

Still going with "staged" but it's not like I haven't been wrong prior.

[ryama23]

I'm going with "staged" for no other reason than how perfectly it was framed by the camera.

Maybe the thief was just inexperienced but it seems to me that a "real" thief would have a better idea of where the video cameras were located and not tried to steal right in the center view of one.

Ok, maybe he didn't know it was there.

Still going with "staged" but it's not like I haven't been wrong prior.

I'm not sure how to vote given its the internet, but I'll lean a little towards 'real' just for devils advocate!

If it's a security camera, that explains the perfect framing. The camera is directed right at a passageway junction, which in terms of CCTV makes sense for tracking people.

You can find a lot of video of crime on transit routes.. people getting robbed, jumped, etc. Most never care where the cameras are because very little prosecution happens from them, given that no one is 100% identifiable from a camera video. You also see a lot in these camera caught crimes that the perpetrator expects the element of intimidation to allow them to get away with it. This guy grabbing the phone and then just walking, looks like he may have been expecting his initial shove to make the woman back down.

the last kick - the initial kick to the groin looked kind of 'canned', but often given the element of surprise that might be why. But the final kick I find interesting. In street fighting technique doesn't go down like the movies, adrenalin and the conditions make it sloppy. She was rocked back and into the wall, propelled by her own kick to the guy, which implies not staged... or REALLY good acting!

But if it is staged, well then I applaud the acting cause it was a very good demonstration! Nothing resembled any type of 'Aiki' based art I've studied. She had pretty good structure maintain herself against the shoves, but she wasn't circling, spinning, or spiraling in any fashion that I could see.

[Andrew S]

I was also going to say real for the same reasons Ryan did.
I feel that if it had been staged, that last kick would have sent the perp flying backwards (easily staged with the camera angle not being able to capture contact, or lack thereof), rather than the girl being propelled backwards by the force of her own kick.
Also, there were no theatrics at the end - the girl rushes around the perp, grabs her phone and hurries away.

If it is real, the perp was a fool for standing square on and not protecting his centre (his groin in this case).

[gregstec]

The vid has attributes of both real and staged - however, I am leaning towards staged simply because of the 'calm' behavior of the perp - he is simply too relaxed while she is kicking his ass...

Greg

[zanshinart]

Replying to Greg....I think it is real...in terms of the calmness: when I was 19,20,21 yrs old, the same 5'2" I am now but considerably lighter (15-110# then) when I was a hippie community organizer in the Haight in the mid-70s when peace and love had turned to hard drugs and booze....if I was doing street patrols or working security at a concert, and jumped in between two big guys to break up a fight...the mere presence of a woman doing such a thing was enough to get the perps to stand stock still, stupefied, for what SEEMED like a considerably long time. Never underestimate the effect of total surprise and cognitive dissonance....