News Details
| Client | Dance of the Dragon |
|---|---|
| Title | Dance of the Dragon |
| Director | John Radel |
| D.O.P. | John Radel |
| Production Company | Silk Road Pictures in association with JRL Productions |
| Production Producer | Robin Leong |
| Post Producer | Paul Stevens |
| Post Supervisor | Charlie Ellis, Peter Barber |
| Editor | David Cole, Leon Chua, Randall Lee |
| Colorist | Adrian Ooi, Charlie Ellis |
| Designer | Elena Ho |
| Lead Compositor | Damien Yang |
| Compositor | Leong Beng Wee |
| CG Animator | Ganesh Ghale |
| CG Supervisor | Borko Milohanovic |
| Composer | Ricky Ho |
| Sound Engineer | Jerry Teo |
| Sound Producer | Joey Lam, Yellow Box 2 |
This action romance tells the story of Tae, the son of a poor shoemaker in rural Korea who has a dream of becoming a world-class ballroom dancer. In the journey to realise his dream, Tae transcends numerous hardships, coming face to face with love, jealousy, hope and failure, but through his courage and pure passion for dancing, surmounts all to finally make his dream a reality.
Cinematographer John Radel, Dance of the Dragon’s Co-Director and DOP explains, ‘I have always wanted to make a Romeo and Juliet story set in Asia, a tragic love story. I have also always felt that truly beautiful martial arts can look like a beautiful choreographed dance and with the character of Emi being a dancer and her boyfriend being a martial artist, I felt how amazing it would be to mix the genres and use both worlds as the colourful backdrop for our love story.’
Starring Korean heartthrob Jang Hyuk as Tae, Singapore actress Fann Wong as Emi, a former ballroom dance champion, and Jason Scott Lee as Emi’s estranged boyfriend and martial arts master Cheng, the film has a strong, multi-talented cast.
Comments John, ‘I was lucky enough to be gifted with an amazing cast. From the very beginning I had dreamt of working with Jason Scott Lee on the film. He was the only person I could see in the role of Cheng and when he accepted the role, I knew we would have a great film.
The moment Fann Wong walked into the audition, I fell in love with her and I knew the audience would too. Fann has something special that draws you into her eyes, her performance is so genuine and honest. I wanted to go beneath the Asian myth of a composed Asian woman, and see her break down, love, hate and dare to break free.
Finding the lead male dancer was extremely difficult because he had to be able to dance, fight, act and speak English. I had seen a Korean actor Jang Hyuk in a beautiful Korean film called “Windstruck”. I saw him as the Jimmy Dean of Asia - a great, modest actor, who put his heart into every scene. He is already very popular in Korea and Japan and after Dance of the Dragon is released, everyone will see what an amazing actor he is.’
Produced by Easternlight Films Singapore in association with Silk Road Pictures Singapore, and distributed by Arclight Films, Easternlight’s JV partner company, Dance of the Dragon is one of the first films to be produced in Singapore for an international audience. Executive Producer Robin Leong explains, ‘We’re very pleased to have Blackmagic Design as our post partner. Dance of the Dragon is a milestone for Singapore’s film industry and will pave the way for many more films to be produced and posted out of Singapore for international audiences.’
BMD Executive Producer Paul Stevens comments, ‘We’re very proud that our first major feature is such a high calibre, international standard film. Dance of the Dragon has been the ultimate acid test of our new film scanning, data grading and DI pipeline. The 135,000 feet shot for the film has proven categorically that our 2K data workflow is fast and highly reliable.’ Added Charlie Ellis, BMD Senior Colourist and designer of the post pipeline, ‘Our high speed scanning and tapeless workflow enable us to provide data in various formats such as SD rushes for sound syncing and HD rushes for offline. Our advanced storage and fiber optic network also allows us to move 2K data from scan to grade, to visual effects and finally to film out with relative ease.’
The 2K workflow was also a must for John Radel, ‘I wanted to do a DI on the film, with the resolution of the anamorphic lenses and the colours and textures we fought to get into the film, I refused to scan at anything less than 2K. Once I walked in the doors of Blackmagic I felt the film would be in great hands. They had both 2K and 4K scanners, all the latest equipment and a real passion for film making. I felt immediately that they would stop at nothing to make our film the best it can be. I have had the most enjoyable and satisfying post production experience at Blackmagic. They took our film under their wing and treated it like their own baby, I could not ask more than that.’
Another key factor in the success of the post process for Dance of the Dragon was the daily editing of assemblies throughout the 47 day shoot. In charge of shaping the film’s 24 hours worth of rushes was Film Editor Dave Cole, ‘Telling the story is a very organic process. It’s really a process of looking at the dailies and gauging what you are getting from the actors as you start to compile scenes and build sequences. You get to know the way the actors are approaching the characters through the early assemblies. During the shoot, we decided to drop some scenes, re-work existing ones and also write some new ones in order to focus the story and develop more profound character arcs. It was a bit of a roller coaster at times, but very exciting and satisfying being at a story creation point rather than just working with what was already shot.’
Imbuing this already compelling story with even greater intensity of mood and emotion is Yellow Box Studios internationally acclaimed composer Ricky Ho. Commented Yellow Box MD Rennie Gomes, ‘Dance of the Dragon is one of the best looking films to come out of Singapore. Add great music and sound design and it’s gonna be magic!’
