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Seven Swords (2005) - A Tsui Hark Film
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The Action
Director Tsui has felt for some time that the traditional and
long-standing style of martial arts choreography in films has become
stale with its formulaic visual design, technique, and concept, and
consequently needs to be reinvented. While there are many divergent
styles of martial arts action design, in SEVEN SWORDS it is
presented in an unusual manner with a completely new concept.
Wuxia literature often tells the story of one or many swordsmen
seeking vengeance or justice, thus making the sword the most
important weapon in the wuxia culture.
A sword is a weapon in which the slightest motion can generate the
most destructive offensive force in the shortest period of time. A
sword is unpredictable due to the distance between its body and its
tip, as well as the minute changes in the angle and strength of the
swordsman’s wrist. It is not like any other weapon, of which the
offensive force hinges on its weight and length. The skill of a
swordsman is closely related to his idiosyncrasies,
sub-consciousness and training. If the swordsman is broad and
noble-minded, he would wield a sword like a king. It is for this
reason that the sword is often hailed as the “King of Weapons”.
 With the goal of creating a new “wuxia language”, it was crucial
that Tsui Hark found the right action team to take up the difficult
task of choreographing the complicated sword fighting involved. The
first name that came to his mind was legendary action filmmaker, Lau
Kar-Leung. “Lau and I have known each other for many years and I
have always been a big fan of his work,” said Tsui. “When it comes
to authentic kung-fu fighting, Lau is the person you want to find.”
Respected as “Master Lau” by the younger generation and deemed as a
legend by his peers, Lau Kar-Leung played a very important role in
the development of the Hong Kong film industry, having reigned as
the box-office champ in the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s with his kung-fu
classics such as 36th Chamber of Shaolin. With credits in over 400
films over a span of fifty-three years of filmmaking , Lau has
mastered virtually every styles and school of martial arts,
successfully incorporating them into his films.
“This is probably the most challenging job I’ve ever taken on in my
career; not only do the actors have to undergo heavy martial arts
training but all the stuntmen need to be re-trained in order to
fulfill this task,” said Lau.
Led by Lau Kar-Leung, the action team includes veteran action
choreographer Xiong Xin Xin and additional action choreography by
Tung Wai.
“By focusing on authentic martial arts fighting, we are showing the
reflexes we call upon in a real life and death situation,” said
Xiong (this being his fourteenth collaboration with Tsui Hark). “All
of the characters in the story are skilled martial artists, but
there is a limit to how much a human body can do, so we stay rooted,
not going beyond the physical limit.”
Continued Xing, “Each sword has its own characteristics, but the way
the sword is used and the energy it projects also differs when used
by different people, thus making the action choreography especially
complicated in this film. Take for example The Dragon; it’s very
sharp with a flexible blade. When its owner, Chu Zhaonan uses it,
there’s a mystical power to it. The human eye is unable to catch the
speed of its strike, and the opponent is unable to predict what
direction it may take. In a scene where Fire-wind gets hold of The
Dragon, he uses it in a totally different way. Fire-wind viewed it
to be the most powerful sword; it brought out the most primitive and
darkest side of him whereby he felt invincible and empowered and his
strikes were quick and strong- but they were predictable.”
Says Tsui, “We want to take the audience to a new level of
experience, giving them a different perspective of viewing the wuxia
world and its characters.” Lau adds, “As we are not relying on
special effects, every detail needs to be thoroughly thought out and
designed. By going back to the basics, we are showing the audience
the authentic and fascinating beauty of martial arts.”
The Location and Designs
 One of the most important tasks for Tsui Hark was finding the right
locations where he could create and capture the world of SEVEN
SWORDS. There were three major settings: The Martial Village, The
Bowei Fortress, and most importantly, Mount Heaven which is located
in Xinjiang, a province located in the far north western part of
China.
“Mount Heaven plays a very important role in the story : its where
the SEVEN SWORDS came together. It’s a landmark representing
Xinjiang; legendary and magical. Therefore, right from the
beginning, I decided that I wanted to shoot the entire film in its
original location,” says Tsui.
Tsui Hark set out on a quest traveling throughout Xinjiang, in order
to match his vision of the world so beautifully painted in Liang Yu-Shen’s
novel with the utmost authenticity and realism. Tsui further
explains, “As a director, it’s important not only to capture the
heart of the story, the performance of an actor, but to support all
that in the most visceral and pungent way that I can in terms of the
environment and the most perfect inflected vision of the world of
the characters I can find.”
Hence, for several months, Tsui and his production team searched for
the right places to shoot the film. “When we first arrived in
Xinjiang, we realized what a huge place it was. The weather changed
a lot, so it was very important that we found a more stable area for
us to build our sets,” Tsui recalls.
As the filmmakers were passing through Michuan, a city located
outside of Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang, they came upon a piece
of untouched land that captured the landscape close to the picture
of the world of SEVEN SWORDS that Tsui had already drawn out in his
mind. What further impressed the filmmakers was that it gave them
the sense of traveling back in time to a simpler, primal, land-based
way of life. In rural Xinjiang, the world is rough hewn and
handmade, subject to the constant shifting vagaries of weather and
nature; it was just the environment they needed to create the
Martial Village.
After finding the place to locate Martial Village, the filmmakers
traveled on deeper into Xinjiang in search of the place to build
Fire-wind’s base. The filmmakers found Da Ma Ying in Turfan, which
is located in the Gobi Desert. “While Martial Village was a peaceful
farming village, Bowei Fortress needed to project the exact
opposite. Survival in the desert is never easy, and placing Bowei
Fortress there emphasized the toughness and coldness of it,” says
Tsui.
 In collaborating with the artists who designed the costumes,
weapons, and sets for SEVEN SWORDS, Tsui Hark had one priority,
bringing all the characters to life, immersing the audience in the
surreal yet realistic atmosphere of the wuxia world he wanted to
create.
Nobody felt this imperative more strongly than award winning Art
Director, Eddy Wong, who has worked with many visionary Asian
directors of his generation. “For Martial Village, we wanted to
emphasize the nature of its primitiveness and peacefulness and also
have Xinjiang’s traditional look,” says Wong. “It needed to be a
fully functioning village, so no detail was overlooked.”
Wong continued, “For the Bowei Fortress, in order to express the
cold-bloodedness of its owner, we used black and dirt brown as its
color, giving it a rusty metallic look, to create this “castle of
greed”. The Bowei Fortress stands in stark contrast to the peaceful
green of the Martial Village; It shows the most primitive lust and
ugly desires of human nature.”
Tsui summed it up saying, “Through the Martial Village and the Bowei
Fortress, we project a civilized and primitive society, a realism
that people of modern day can relate to; in contrast, our intent it
to create a magical and mystical imagery for and through Mount
Heaven.”
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