Bao Tran on indie action filmmaking and comedy (Action Talks #18)

Bao Tran is a action film writer and director known best for his latest action comedy The Paper Tigers. We talk about Hong Kong movie influences, comedy, and indie filmmaking: Edited by Joey Min Action Talks on YouTube: Action Talks on Spotify: Action Talks on iTunes: Telegram: My studio SuperAlloy: Blog: Timestamps: 00:01:17 Working in TV 00:03:16 Long Form model of filmmaking 00:04:52 Childhood 00:09:00 Old World of Vietnam 00:10:50 Talking about the past and love languages between Bao and his parents 00:12:21 Vietnamese and Chinese cultures 00:13:25 Confucianism and Imperialism 00:15:05 Introduction to Hong Kong Cinema 00:22:17 What made Bao pick up a camera for the first time 00:23:49 Learning how to edit in-camera 00:25:10 First time realizing he could make a “moment“ with editing 00:28:39 Watching wuxia as a child 00:31:10 Genre in US and HK; reality in films 00:32:58 Carmen’s Virtue 00:37:17 Tricking and HK filmmaking in the late 90’s 00:40:15 Action design for Carme’s Virtue 00:43:26 Creating action on the page or on set 00:46:01 Room for improvisation? 00:49:04 What can stunt performers learn from actors? 00:50:37 Did your Computer Science education help your filmmaking? 00:54:26 Testing audiences to see what works 00:58:06 Test screenigs are visceral 01:01:40 Social media comments 01:03:17 Bookie short film 01:05:52 Being in Seattle 01:12:12 The Challenger 01:17:22 Thinking of action; is it classical music or jazz? 01:22:35 Influence on sound design in HK films 01:24:10 Corey Yuen’s response to Challenger 01:25:06 Jazzy style of martial arts for Paper Tigers 01:29:50 Doing an improvisational style in a fight scene 01:31:54 Actors pretending to not be in shape 01:33:19 Movement of action today compared to 20 years ago 01:35:11 Fun action films 01:38:02 Post-Handover HK films 01:42:14 Bourne style of action 01:43:12 Legend of the Wolf 01:45:00 Jackie Chan’s “no stunt doubles“ and wide shots 01:46:40 Chinese vs American perception of action 01:48:15 Real violence 01:53:25 Does creating and designing fight scenes help one understand real violence? 01:54:01 As a writer, he has a higher tolerance of being uneasy 01:57:52 What Bao is watching these days 01:59:33 Seeing real bodies do stunts is freaky 02:01:50 Can’t step in the same river twice; HK style was then, so what do we do now? 02:03:16 Movement Language 02:07:19 Monkey dance 02:09:49 Chambara style of action 02:11:23 How much time is needed to design and execute action scenes 02:14:46 Action Directing in India 02:16:02 Sammo vs Jackie editing and filmmaking style 02:17:55 Jackie Chan’s directing kung fu movies