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A Stuntman in Hong Kong : Bruce Law
Presentation of Bruce Law Stunt Limited 1/1 - Page 1
Info
Author(s) : Thomas Podvin
Date : 17/11/2003
Type(s) : Interview
 
 Intext Links  
People :
Kirk Wong Chi Keung
Movies :
Gunmen
 
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Stunt coordinator Bruce Lai Yin has participated to over 180 film productions. He has worked with well-known directors, such as John Woo (Hardboiled, The Killer & Bullet in The Head), Jackie Chan (Thunderbolt), Tsui Hark (Once Upon a Time In China), Kirk Wong (Crime Story) and Gordon Chan (Final Option).

HKCinemagic : Can you present yourself? What is the Bruce Law Stunts Company? How many people work for you and what kind of stunts does your company do?

Bruce Law: I think I am capable of handling a variety of action elements from guns and explosions and cars to martial arts, as I was a Thai boxer before I became a stuntman. I began boxing when I was 16, and was the Hong Kong Taekwondo Black belt Champion when I was 18. I then became a professional Thai Boxer, and spent a few years as a coach for both Thai boxing and Taekwondo. The martial arts have certainly helped me get through all kinds of difficulty both physically and mentally.

It is very critical that you have quick response and reaction speed to get you out of harms way, and I think that having this helps me remain connected to the scenes I’m putting together. I think that it’s something that not all directors or choreographers have, but I’ve always been interested in this kind of stuff, I’ve loved cars and bikes ever since I was a kid.

A lot of people even in the film industry don’t know this about me, but I was also a member of the Auxiliary Police Force. I’ve spent so much time handling real guns that I think I can add a more realistic feel when I am shooting a scene with guns for a movie.

The main objective of Bruce Law Stunts Unlimited is to fill the technical gap of action design in the Hong Kong Movie industry. We do the stunts and create the action that others can’t do. There are around 70 members in my stunt team, 2/3 of which are freelance.

 
HKCinemagic : How do you choose the stuntman who will perform the stunt? Do you have some people specialized in one type of stunt in your team (fire, car, motorbike, jumps…) or can they all perform any stunts?
Bruce Law: Each of my stuntmen is a specialist in a certain skill, although I do try to teach them a variety of additional skills in other areas of the stunt industry. The Hong Kong Movie Industry is in a bit of a drought at the moment work wise, it would be even harder for my team if they could only perform in one area. But the majority of the most dangerous stunts I prefer to do myself.

I know my stunt team and know whether they can or can’t do a particular stunt. If you’re working with inexperienced stuntmen or stuntmen that you’re not too familiar with, you can tell how much confidence they have by looking at their eyes during rehearsals.

I think one of the most difficult parts of being a stunt co-coordinator is evaluating whether an actor/actress can perform a stunt themselves. The decisions is important, but you can only judge them from their past work and how they handle the rehearsal for the stunt.

Demonstration with LPG
On the set of Extreme Crisis
HKCinemagic : How do you design a stunt? Do you use a storyboard or computer techniques before shooting?
Bruce Law: Most of the time we design an action scene tailor made to each film, by studying stunts from films from all around the world, we might take an idea and then put a new twist on it to create something new. In addition to having the imagination to come up with an idea for a stunt, you need to have the professional skills to make it a reality. You also have to be well prepared both mentally and physically.

When designing an impressive or classic stunt for a film, you have to calculate not only the potential danger but also the difficulty of the execution of the stunt, combining that with computer techniques to enhance the stunt and last but by no means least, making it acceptable to the audience.

Quite a lot of my idea for stunts come to be by instinct, I can be driving my car or jogging, and suddenly I get an idea for a stunt or action sequence. I’m a person, who is always thinking, maybe about the storyboard, sometimes about the stunt, sometimes the script, just not all at the same time; I’m a bit uncoordinated sometimes. (Laughing)

I can do the majority of stunts myself such as Car stunts, pyrotechnic effects, fire stunts, explosions, body burns, martial arts and fight choreography and so on. You might not believe this but most of the latest explosive designs in Hong Kong films are my designs. Traditionally stunt teams would estimate how big an explosion should be and how much explosive material should be used, just by using their hands and their eyes. But me and my team, we use a special electronic weighing machine so we can calculate the exact amount of pyrotechnic material to use.

When we were filming Gunmen for Kirk Wong, I was in charge of my first fire scene and it was also the first one to have 5 separate people on fire in one scene in Hong Kong. I was the pioneer for using the LPG (Liquid Petroleum Gas) for fireballs and also using a single remote control to conduct the fire in the whole scene.


Gunmen

In the past it was impossible to work out the computer techniques before shooting, but now some of the companies are using the computers to design the fire stunts. I think that in the future it will become quite commonplace to use computer effects when shooting, so I have to understand both the traditional and new ways of doing a stunt so I can tie the two of them together synchronizing the virtual effect and the real person. I think that working with both computer and human effects is the best way to achieve the best results, taking the best of both worlds and combining them for the best final result.

I pay a lot of attention to computer techniques, when working on a bigger movie I will work out a lot of the action design and choreography using computers and storyboards. It is important to have a solid blueprint for the way you want the action to look including: the graph of effects, floor plan, iconography, action analysis before you begin shooting so we can compare and arrange the time slots and angles. This allows us to be able to work out everything at the same time.

 
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