The Action of Evolution
Badtaste.it posted a preview on what you can expect from the action scenes of Dragonball: Evolution. In it are quotes from the director, cinematographer, the cast and stunt team. We’ve found the full-length, English preview inside the pressbook.
“How do we make action sequences look and feel different from what audiences have experienced before?†That was the first question Wong posed to his team when he began thinking about the action fans would expect from a film based on Dragonball.
The answers coming from the acclaimed stunt team, 87Eleven, as well as from director of photography Robert McLachlan and visual effects supervisor Ariel Velasco Shaw, certainly pleased Wong – and promise to delight not only fans of the property, but action movie enthusiasts as well.
VFX supervisor Velasco Shaw employed what Wong calls “fist-cams†– from the noted company Iconix – that are so small they could be attached to an actor’s fist, allowing a character’s punch to come right into the audience. “It’s a kind of ‘fist POV’,†Wong elaborates. McLachlan contributed the suggestion of using new high-speed digital Phantom cameras to create super-slow motion for key action sequences. “We did a lot of research and development with the Phantom cameras,†says McLachlan, who had discovered the-then experimental photography on YouTube. In the YouTube video, a balloon filled with water was popped, with the “action†caught at 1000 frames per second. McLachlan and Wong were impressed with the results. “The most spectacular thing about it was that the water retained the shape of the balloon before it fell,†Wong remembers.
More “low-tech,†but equally important to amping-up the action, were the training and stunts overseen by 87Eleven, and stunt coordinators Jonathan Eusebio, Julian Bucio Montemayor, and Jared Eddo. Their first order of business was to get the cast in shape, followed by having them undergo an intensive program of action choreography, and finally, making the actors comfortable with the considerable wire work and acrobatics they’d be required to perform. It was an incredibly rigorous program – “When [the actors] weren’t working, they were training,†says Eusebio.
The young cast members underwent individually-designed training regimens – no two characters have identical fighting styles – as well as special diets to maintain their strength and stamina during production. In Dragonball lore, Goku is the greatest warrior on the planet. And Justin Chatwin took the responsibility of capturing the character’s skills, very seriously. Before the start of principal photography, he underwent six weeks of nutritional guidance and stunt and martial arts training with 87Eleven, continuing the demanding regimen during the shoot. “It all got my adrenalin going,†says the actor, who also notes he gave up sugar, wheat and pasta during his stint on the film. Chatwin spent a minimum of five hours training each day, studying karate, kung fu and a Brazilian form known as capoeira, which ritualizes movement from martial arts, games and dance. For the more extreme acrobatic maneuvers, Jackson Spidell stood in for the actor. Spidell’s signature move: flipping up in the air, then spinning halfway, and, on his way down, striking an opponent.
Chow Yun-Fat, as Roshi, was given “softer†martial styles, like Tai Chi, befitting the character’s age and experience. Jamie Chung, as young and ever-enthusiastic martial artist Chi Chi, was given “hard†fighting styles, including kickboxing, karate, and Thai boxing. Chung especially delighted in a pivotal fight scene that has Chi Chi fighting…Chi Chi. (Mai, a shape shifter, morphs into Chi Chi to steal a Dragonball.) “I had to play both sides of the fight and learn choreography for both Chi Chi and Mai,†the latter a kung fu practitioner, Chung recalls. Visual effects, including motion control and split composites, enhanced the complex battle.
And what kind of training is required for the actor playing one of the most powerful figures in the universe – Lord Piccolo? According to James Marsters, it was drills involving punching/kicking/blocking combinations. “I thought my body would break,†says the actor with a laugh. “But [the stunt team and trainers] knew exactly what my body could take.â€
An early scene that sees Goku and his grandfather Gohan training on a laundry line, several feet above ground, was one of the stunt team’s favorites. “Gohan and Goku are fighting, but in a playful way,†explains stunt coordinator Jared Eddo. “Five riggers and a stunt crew of eleven, including doubles and safety experts, were involved in the scene. Pulleys and machines – along with old-fashioned manpower – allowed us to create the illusion that the characters were standing on the laundry line, and a [special rig] allowed us to maneuver the stunt people and actors.â€
A climactic clash between Goku and Piccolo, set at the elaborate “Dragon Temple,†was executed and photographed as an all-out brawl, taking no less than ten day days to complete. Here, Goku executes his signature martial arts movie, “Kame-Hame-Ha,†in which he summons energies, both alien and earthly to launch a blindingly intense bolt towards his adversary. For the scene, Justin Chatwin and James Marsters were required to leap from twenty-feet above the Temple’s floor, and appear to “fly†up to some rocky ledges – all with the help of wires and cables, of course. Later, they battled in “mid-air,†suspended in front of a green screen.
Next: “The Beginnings of Evolution“
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Adam, is the people around this discussion about a 2nd trailer of Dragonball be around February 15th is true or false?
BOOMS HEADSSHoTS! did someone here REALLY say Harry Potter was epic
…not a chance HP focuses on small conflicts that have no effect on the rest of the world… which is the opposite of epic
I just finished watching some old dragonball episodes and I have one thing to say to people hating on this movie. If you want human beings acting/looking/talking like that in a 21st century movie the you have zero artistic intelligience and you’re probablly a f—in dumbass. I guess you’d also like to see hugh jackman running around in yellow and blue spandex as wolverine (he turned out alright in black leather btw). Seriously.
@I like turtles:
That Wolverine would be like Chow Yun Fat using a hawaiian shirt and a hentai girl sweater xD
@ Totino: I’m telling you I’ve seen the Matrix thousands of times. When Neo punches Smith, all it is is just a close up of his fist punching Smith but from an angle. They do NOT show the perspective from the fist’s point of view and they do NOT use a fist cam in the Matrix.
You’re getting that confused. It’s specifically mentioned in this article that the fist cam is from the FIST’S point of view (not just a close-up of a fist punching a character as in the Matrix). Which means, it would look as if the camera itself is executing the punches or strikes, almost zooming in and out at high speeds, and you dont see the fist at all. This concept has never been used in any live-action movie I’ve seen.
awesome
the same guys that made the matrix fight scenes?
sounds like the action is gonna be amazing
The song is brilliant but we want the second trailer already to promote the movie THE DIRECTOR WONG I wait do not disappoint us, I wait DO NOT DISAPPOINT us.
@Masenko-Huh?: Yeah, I might have even been the first here to post about the links. Capture Shueisha’s link and paste it into Google translate to see the pages translated. Just an interesting tidbit, capsule figurines are suppose to be way big there and some of the merchandise has been offered with your choice of them with preorders. Like the region one version of Ayumi’s Rule CD. That was a few weeks ago however, so I expect that offer is gone. In 30 years, a pristine never opened R1 CD with the most popular Capsule Figure could be worth some coin. Same may be true for collector quality samples of the magazines that were printed prior to the movie being renamed “DBE.”
@Totino: Well you might think crappy but, until you earn the right to be in the drivers seat, how about letting those who have, drive! Look, everybody here has their own ideas and it really is fun to discuss them, but dissing the other artists is no way to gain a platform. Best to solicit thoughts about your ideas by themselves, instead of bringing down others, just because they worked for the right to do something and you haven’t.
@gunner: “After Bulmas title it looks as if she has a dragonball in her hand while shes cowering behind the rock type pillar.”
GOOD EYE! Is it possible that its a control for the bike instead? Those scenes Mai vs the bike/robot and the fight between Goku and Piccolo, and Bulma now, added to the scene, seems like they belong together. I sure can’t discount your idea, it could be a Dragon ball… It does bring up more questions. Is that scene in the trailer a part of the climactic fight? Is Piccolo being shown to us after the wish? If that’s true, then wouldn’t the Dragon balls be stones now? questions we probably only get answers for by seeing the movie..
flight and mid air fighting…nuff said…
to be honest tho, im confused as to what the fist cams are…like…what the interview said was gibberish to me…so if anyone could explain, i would love you..
The full preview gives me much hope for this movie.
I say we all start from Dragonball episode 1 and give the whole series a watch and by the time we’re done… THE MOVIE WILL BE HERE!
“A climactic clash between Goku and Piccolo, set at the elaborate “Dragon Temple,†was executed and photographed as an all-out brawl, taking no less than ten day days to complete. Here, Goku executes his signature martial arts movie, “Kame-Hame-Ha,†in which he summons energies, both alien and earthly to launch a blindingly intense bolt towards his adversary. For the scene, Justin Chatwin and James Marsters were required to leap from twenty-feet above the Temple’s floor, and appear to “fly†up to some rocky ledges – all with the help of wires and cables, of course. Later, they battled in “mid-air,†suspended in front of a green screen.”
My eyes are watering with joy.
@dragonsoul2:
I SECOND THAT~ :`)))
greeen screen MIDAIR BATTLE xDDDD April is guna be my fav monthdespite the gruelling exams i have that month
I would really like to see the high jumps and flying scenes done like the Anime. They did a superior job showing the angles and stances just right in most episodes. A lot of times the in air choreography in the Dragon ball Anime series was superior to any other depictions of the same actions irregardless of the movie source. “Superman,” “Crouching Tiger…,” “Matrix series,” ” the animated DC properties,” I think it beats them all. Storms look in the first “X Men” live action movie was such a joke. I was embarrassed for the effects people. By the third one tho they at least had one good scene of her doing a human tornado. Hopefully they’ll use the good they got going for them with the existing history and not tinker to a third movie to get it right. The only other one that looks timeless cool when I think about it, is the original “GITS” movie. I’ll get off my soapbox now…
Mid-Air kamehameha?
DDDD I cant wait !!!!! 
FLYING WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT
mid-air battleeeeeeeeeee wooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooot
god damn I didn’t expect that O_O. Just wow.
this movie’s gonna blow my mind.
“For the scene, Justin Chatwin and James Marsters were required to leap from twenty-feet above the Temple’s floor, and appear to “fly†up to some rocky ledges – all with the help of wires and cables, of course. Later, they battled in “mid-air,†suspended in front of a green screen.”
This made my day.
so they do fly huh
I have to say that this was a pretty interesting read and my excitement just increased tenfold.
I don’t know how much I can hold in. I can’t wait any longer. I gotta see this movie.
I wouldn’t be surprised if the mid-air fight is the same as the slow, clumsy Smith vs. Neo mid-air fight. Copying the Matrix IS Wong’s specialty afterall.
So J, you would prefer no mid-air fighting?
Just what the hell would please you, J? Nothing. So stop being a dick.
OMG!!! i’ve always had high hopes for this flim, but after reading this update, i just bursted into tears of excitment
Learning Karate, Kung-fu AND Capoeira!! and training for 5 hours straight, i’d say Justin lived up to what he said abou taking his role seriously and im proud of him for that no doubt. Also hearing the fact the action sequences are goin to be like nothing nobdy has ever seen before jus got me PUMPED UP BIG TIME!!!! the way the climactic fight between Piccolo and Goku is desribed a lil bit like a Dragonball Z fight, but FOR A SECOND i forgot how the fight between Goku and piccolo was in the anime. “Dragonball Evolution” is goin to be 1 of the best blockbuster of 2009 and the DVD release is goin to sell out millions after those who saw the flim would want to see it again. DEFINATLEY ME!!!!! The Evolution begins, The Legend comes to Life April 8, 2009!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1 
WOOWWW..im now reading this, i cannot wait to see this movie……im just speechless, they seem to know what they are doing.
“FIGHTING IN MID AIR” OMG I am freaken pumped right now lol
im going to love this movie!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! GO dbe!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I can’t wait!
OMG! I can’t wait to see Goku and Piccolo in mid-air combat. I think i’m going to scream like a teenage girl on that part! So exciting!!!!!
8O 
8O 
8O 
8O 
8O 
8O 
8O 
fuck ya!
thats so awesome how there gonna fly
I bet though that the flying is slow and awkward like in the 3rd matrix movie, rather than fast and powerful like in Hancock for example.
@I like turtles
look man im sorry but that movie was just awful, the acting was pathetic, the plot fucked up everything good about dragonball and although there was cheesiness in the cartoon..thats acceptable because its a cartoon, that was a movie and you need to start taking things seriously which they didn’t, casting was awful, they ripped off like a whole bunch of movies i saw two spider-man comparisons in there 1. Grandpa Gohan’s death was played out exactly like Uncle Ben’s which wasn’t in the manga…Goku killed him by accident but where was that…NO WHERE 2. The “Geeko” reamark, making Goku a geek in school is just stupid let alone put him in school anyway….the special effects were reeeeaaallly bad, you could see the fuckin wires!!! the movie was an epic fail