In TVB series, it is very conscience to have such dense stunt scenes in a drama. ……
Text/Yangcheng School reporter Hu Guangxin (Kelp Jun) Wu Huiling
TVB is currently broadcasting a series "stuntmen" with the theme of stuntmen.
The play revolves around the famous flying stunt team "Peak". Tan Junyan, who played Jiaqing Emperor in Destiny only two weeks ago, came back with a brush and became the leader of the "peak" and a well-known stunt expert in the industry.
Since stunts are the main characters, the most important thing in the play is stunts. In TVB series, it is very conscience to have such intensive stunt scenes in a drama.
Flying car …
On fire …
The hardware is off, but the story is so old that it makes people sleepy. The story tells that Qi Dazhi, played by Tan Junyan, feels guilty because of an accident in shooting two years ago and is determined to disband the team. Female player May Pig (Rebecca), in order to fulfill her dead father’s will, on the one hand, made a body double on the set, on the other hand, actively promoted the "peak" reorganization.
Taciturn tough guy+stubborn beautiful girl, this setting is a bit outdated, not to mention Tan Junyan+Rebecca, this pair of partners … acting? What is that?
Although "stuntmen" is not good-looking, the true story of Hongkong stuntmen is 100 times better than the drama in minutes.
Stuntmen is a specialty of Hong Kong films. Their work risk factor is extremely high, and injuries and injuries are commonplace; At the same time, this type of work has witnessed the ups and downs of Hong Kong-made films for decades, rising and falling with the rise and fall of Hong Kong’s film industry.
"stuntmen", that is, the "dragon and tiger warrior" and "martial arts" of many people. Dragon and Tiger Martial Arts and the Hong Kong film industry almost accompanied each other, creating the brilliance of Hong Kong action movies.
In the 1950s, Hong Kong’s film industry began to take off, and many young people with martial arts skills began to enter the studio, acting as extras and performing dangerous actions for big stars … So there was the job of "martial arts".
Almost all famous martial arts instructors are from martial arts. Liu Jialiang, a leading figure in the martial arts world, started as a martial artist on the set.
Speaking of Liu Jialiang’s heroic deeds, I have to mention his improvement of hanging Weiya technology. In 1966, he and his partner, Chia Tang, served as martial arts directors for the film "The Jade Bow Edge in the Sea of Clouds" and wanted to shoot a long-distance flying scene. Liu Jialiang got inspiration from the Japanese movie "The Red Shadow Flying Sky" and improved the technique of hanging Weiya: "In the past, I watched the tightrope, and then I hung it when I tied it on both sides, but it was not so simple. If the steel wire is too long, it will come down. What then? Later, I came up with a solution: tie a steel wire at the lighting place of the overpass and push the track below. But then the steel wire will enter the mirror and wear the help, so I will block it with branches in front. "
Since then, hanging Weiya has gradually become the standard for shooting martial arts films in Hong Kong.
Sammo Hung, Jackie Chan and others, who are a generation behind Liu Jialiang, also had a walk-on and a martial arts career. In enter the dragon, the soy sauce man who was beaten by Bruce Lee was Jackie Chan when he was young.
First, martial arts films, and then kung fu films, the glory of Hong Kong films at that time could not be separated from the word "action". In the 1980 s, car racing also rose. In addition to the traditional martial arts, there are also a number of stuntmen who specialize in car stunts.
Bruce Law, Qian Jiale, etc. are all familiar flying guides to mainland audiences, but the earliest flying stuntmen in Hong Kong was the "Kamikaze Special Effects Production Company" in 1977. Kelp Jun thinks that the inspiration for stuntmen may come from this team.
The founder of Kamikaze stunt team is Chen Yiyan, stuntmen. This team is simply a death squad, willing to do anything dangerous. Qian Jiale once mentioned in an interview that he remembered a scene in "A Mirage" filmed by Chen Yiyan for Xu Xiaoming: the car drove to the edge of a cliff, and Chen Yiyan jumped out of the car with a steel wire hanging from it. Outside, it was an abyss, which was simply "desperate".
Chen Yiyan himself later recalled that when filming Mirage, he really had a serious accident: after the speeding car crossed the canyon, he fell off a cliff with his car, suffered multiple fractures all over his body and was unconscious for 28 days.
In addition, there are often scenes in Hong Kong movies where the whole body is on fire, which is also a dangerous scene that stuntmen is very afraid of.
Chen Yiyan himself was seriously injured when shooting the fire scene of "Detective Wet and Dry" in 1993. At that time, he was burned by fire for three minutes, and 70% of his face was burned. Afterwards, he was implanted with skin twice.
Stuntmen lived in pain every day, regardless of his fists or his flying stunt afterwards, and his personal safety was extremely insecure.
For stuntmen, "jumping off a building in the morning and crashing at night" is a common life. What is even more frightening is that most of the early Martial Arts, stuntmen and even filmmakers were born at the grassroots level, and their safety awareness was not strong. In the 1960s, when filming cliff jumping, sometimes the so-called "buffer devices" were only rotten quilts and paper covers. The stuntman Liu Yun once broke his back and was unable to move for three months.
In order to "eat", stuntmen mostly dare not complain. Jackie Chan once recalled that he had to fall countless times every day when he first entered the business: "The director asked if there was anything, and I always said nothing, because as long as I said something, I wouldn’t start work tomorrow." Moreover, in the past, filming did not specifically insure this group of people behind the scenes, and many insurance companies would not accept their insurance.
This situation continued until 2014. At that time, Chen Desen, the director, revealed in an interview that Wu Xing had no insurance all along. Until later, the trade union kept fighting for it, and some routine actions were finally included in the insurance. Later, Chen Desen took the lead in setting up a welfare fund to ensure the life of retired martial arts players.
In the past, Hong Kong’s film boom, stuntmen, although risky, but also a lot of income. At first, I paid my salary on a daily basis. I can get HK$ 300 a day, and I can cover other people’s salary for a week. Although the risk is high, the return is high. And in case of being discovered as a martial arts superstar, the future is limitless.
However, with the decline of Hong Kong movies and the maturity of computer special effects, there are fewer and fewer job opportunities in stuntmen in Hong Kong, and many people have to work more jobs to make ends meet.
As a result, this type of work has become less and less popular. Hongkong once sent a large number of action talents to China mainland and Hollywood, but now it faces the embarrassing situation of no successor.
To this end, Hong Kong filmmakers are also taking action. In fact, Hong Kong has had a Martial Arts Association for a long time (Ceng Zhiwei used to be its president), and in 1993, it established the "Hong Kong Action Acrobatics Association". The current president is Qian Jiale.
Since 2015, the guild has held a professional training course for Hong Kong stunt performers to bring new blood to the stunt industry.
Besides, we will have a party every three months to get in touch with our feelings. Recently, the photo of "Tommy Tam and John Chiang are rarely in the same frame", which has been on fire in Weibo for a while, was taken at the party in August.
If you are interested in stuntmen and think stuntmen is too boring to watch, Kelp Jun also has a recommendation: Director Xu Anhua made a film "Ah Kin" with martial arts as the leading role in 1996, starring Yang Ziqiong and Sammo Hung, so you can learn about it ~
Editor | Zheng Shaoling