Get an in-depth look at the stunning fight choreography in Blue Eye Samurai with Jane Wu (Supervising Director/Producer) and Sunny Sun (Stunt Choreographer). Blue Eye Samurai is now streaming, only on Netflix.
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TVTranscript
00:00 [GRUNTING]
00:01 I thought, I have this idea for this hybrid production
00:04 pipeline.
00:06 I think this is a project I can try it on.
00:09 Hi, I'm Jane Wu, and this is "Making of a Warrior."
00:14 [SCREAMING]
00:15 "Blue-Eyed Samurai" is a revenge story of a person
00:18 who lived in early Edo Japan.
00:21 Please give me the strength to kill them or let me die.
00:27 Our character, Mizu, who is biracial,
00:29 she doesn't look like everybody else.
00:31 Society has told her she is evil.
00:36 You watch how this character deals with this,
00:38 and it's how you really fall in love with this character
00:41 and you want to root for this character.
00:43 I have no interest in being happy, only satisfied.
00:48 In visualizing the script as I first read it,
00:50 I wanted authentic martial arts movements in there,
00:53 because being a martial artist myself
00:55 that I studied for many years, I can't stand when
00:58 martial arts is not accurate.
01:00 So bringing the stunt choreographer in the beginning
01:02 was, to me, keeping the authenticity
01:05 of the martial arts.
01:07 I met Jin Wu in a martial arts club.
01:09 He's sort of like my little brother.
01:11 He came over a lot, and we spent a lot of time together
01:13 with our martial arts community.
01:15 I've been doing kung fu since I was 10.
01:18 When I choreograph, I focus on the storytelling,
01:21 on the character developing.
01:23 That's very interesting to me.
01:26 We wanted to pay an homage to gaming and anime,
01:30 because without those two genres,
01:33 you couldn't have a show like this.
01:36 Also, I used to watch a lot of old samurai movies
01:40 like "Zatoichi," and all those movies really harken back
01:43 to your Western genres.
01:45 Her fighting style, we kind of designed like a boy.
01:49 And that also makes sense from her past,
01:52 because we didn't want her to move much.
01:55 So everything be very subtle.
01:58 It's an Eastern Western.
02:00 Her personality, her characteristic,
02:02 how she should move, just imagine
02:04 this is Clint Eastwood in every single shot.
02:06 That's who Mizu needs to be.
02:07 Revenge does not hesitate.
02:10 Being from live action and having
02:12 some experience in animation, I really
02:15 wanted to combine these thought process together to create
02:19 something that feels new.
02:21 Our production was very much prepped like a live action show.
02:25 It's just when it came down to shoot, it was animated instead.
02:31 Sonny and I would talk about story,
02:33 because it's always story and character first.
02:35 And how does the story and character support the action?
02:40 I look at the scene.
02:41 What is this scene about?
02:42 In this sequence, the principal idea
02:48 is for me to tell the audience, let me show you what I know.
02:52 Let me show you what I got.
02:54 What's next?
02:55 It is a process about how to explore myself to be open.
03:05 I kind of pick this, I pick that, and put it together.
03:09 He would take a couple of days out to choreograph it,
03:12 learn it.
03:13 He would shoot sections of it and then present it to me.
03:16 I'll have a security camera looking
03:20 through the whole thing, a master shot.
03:23 It's very much like making a live play.
03:26 And we would talk about, well, maybe the kick is better here,
03:29 or actually bring him in faster.
03:31 And it was actually quite seamless.
03:34 The process is very smooth.
03:36 Everybody is on the same page.
03:38 Don't hold back.
03:40 We would storyboard all the way up to where the action starts,
03:43 and then cut in the live action stunt visuals.
03:46 In that way, the animators could really
03:48 see how these parts connected.
03:52 Not bad.
03:53 I also made them do a little martial arts class with me,
03:56 because I wanted them to feel what it felt like to throw
03:59 a punch or wield a sword.
04:02 Because the animators have to know how it feels
04:05 in order to articulate that.
04:07 They should be very fluent, very natural.
04:10 I want them to stay focusing on the story.
04:13 And it gave me goosebumps seeing that.
04:19 It's pretty epic.
04:21 To a man lost in the dark, an ember can light the way.
04:25 I think the show is about pushing so many boundaries.
04:30 There's a quote from Queen Elizabeth I
04:32 that I have always loved, and it's become my motto.
04:35 Tenacious virtue overcomes all.
04:38 It's keeping that focus to work on your skill set all the time,
04:42 so that when the fight is ready, your sword is sharp.
04:46 Show me your blade.
04:48 [GRUNTING]
04:52 [MUSIC PLAYING]
04:56 [MUSIC PLAYING]
04:59 [MUSIC PLAYING]
05:02 [MUSIC PLAYING]
05:06 [MUSIC PLAYING]
05:09 [BLANK_AUDIO]