Wire fu

Wire fu is an element or style of Hong Kong action cinema used in fight scenes. It is a combination of two terms: "wire work" and "kung fu".

Wire fu is used to describe a subgenre of kung fu movies where the stuntmen's or actor's skill is augmented with the use of wires and pulleys, as well as other stage techniques, usually to perform fight-scene stunts and give the illusion of super-human ability (or qinggong).^[1] It is exemplified by the work of Tsui Hark, Yuen Woo-ping, and Jet Li. Hollywood has subsequently adopted the style for the American film industry.^[2] Almost all modern wuxia movies fall in this category. Not all martial arts films use wire work.^[3]

In practice

The basic concept is not very complex and originates in the mechanical effects of stagecraft. Planning and persistence are important, as it often requires many takes to perfect the stunt.^[4]

Typically, a harness is hidden under the actor's costume, and a cable and pulley system is attached to the harness. When live sets are used, wire removal is done in post-production. Another later-developed technique of creating wire fu is using a greenscreen and post-production special effects. Greenscreening the wire work is done for more complex stunts and camera angles. The actors are suspended in the air by green wires, which are then erased digitally during the post-production process. The process by which this was done in older (pre-digital) movies was to use film coloration techniques in a method similar to animation; artists (usually animators), would painstakingly go frame by frame over the raw footage and color in the wires to match the background.

Wire work is often used in kung fu movies to simply allow actors to perform stunts beyond their physical abilities. In films such as Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, it is used to create a more dramatic effect and adds magical realism to the world in which the film takes place.^[5]

Examples of wire fu movies

• Sister Street Fighter (1974), aka Onna Hissatsu Ken
• Once Upon a Time in China (1991), aka Wong Fei-Hung
• Fong Sai-yuk (1993), aka Fang Shi Yu or The Legend of Fong Sai-yuk
• Iron Monkey (1993), aka Siu Nin Wong Fei Hung Chi: Tit Ma Lau
• The Matrix (1999)
• Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000), aka Wo Hu Cang Long
• X-Men (2000)
• Charlie's Angels (2000)
• Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002)
• Hero (2002), aka Ying Xiong
• Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle (2003)
• Kill Bill: Volume 1 (2003)
• House of Flying Daggers (2004), aka Shi Mian Mai Fu
• Mulan (2020)
• Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021)

See also

• Gun fu

References

1. Rahner, Mark (2004-12-24). . Seattle Times. Archived from the original on January 2, 2015. Retrieved 2010-12-17.
2. Shohini Chaudhuri (2005). Contemporary World Cinema: Europe, the Middle East, East Asia and South Asia. Edinburgh University Press. p. 125. ISBN 074861799X.
3. "The Problem With Fx". Newsweek. 23 July 2003. Retrieved 2010-07-04.
4. Crabtree, Sheigh (2006-12-17). "High-wire act raises the bar in fight scenes". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2010-12-17.
5. Ebert, Roger (December 20, 2000). "Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon". Chicago Sun Times. Retrieved 2020-05-04. what's unusual about "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" is the depth and poetry of the connecting story, which is not just a clothesline for action scenes