A film about the spirit of Chinese martial arts and sportsmanship based on the story of the historical martial arts master Huo Yuanjia is truly an international production.Fearless, directed by Hong Kong’s Ronny Yu (Freddy Vs. Jason, Bride of Chucky), features an international cast that includes martial-arts movie star Jet Li, Nakamura Shidou and Collin Chou, as well as sports champions World Wrestling All-Star Nathan Jones, featherweight Olympic gold medalist Somluck Kamsing and world kickboxing champion Jean Claude Leuyer. The film was first conceptualized in Hong Kong, shot in mainland China (where an abandoned village in remote Zhejiang province made for a perfect location), a trailer for the film’s Asia release was edited in Australia, while final editing on the film was completed in the US.The making of the trailer showed how, with the help of a portable editing system and powerful software, it was business as usual for editor Mark Norfolk of Sydney-based Reservoir Post even as he was relocating from Hong Kong to Australia. Norfolk had to begin editing even as he was in the process of leaving the former British colony after residing there for 27 years. He did his work using Apple Final Cut Pro HD running on his Mac PowerBook G4.The biggest challenge, he said, was having to go through 45 hours of rushes in the midst of packing, catching the plane, putting up in a hotel before moving to his new home, being surrounded by boxes and settling down in his new house.Yet Norfolk was far from distracted. “Once I am deep into a project and concentrating on what I am doing, it doesn’t matter where I am or what’s happening around me. Most editors will tell you the same thing. The entire project moved forward as if I was in a permanent office. There was no discernible delay in the production process at all,” he said.Armed with just a script written in English provided by the film’s Hong Kong production company, Edko Films, Norfolk was asked to come up with a 46-second long trailer using his own impressions and interpretations. “The script was well written so it wasn’t difficult to imagine pictures. Once I had seen the rushes I could then imagine how the story would be told and therefore formulate an idea as to how to do the teaser,” he said.Norfolk also created a new music soundtrack which became a template for the final track that was completed in Sydney.
Written by Patricia Lee
