Martial Arts with a German Kick -- An Interview with the Young Masters

Diana Santelli
February 2011

Question: Tell me a little bit about yourselves. Are you studying? Working? What is your martial arts background?

Our mom is Japanese and our dad is German. We practically grew up on martial arts and started early with Taekwondo which we practiced for about seven years. Later, we found a Kung Fu school where we trained with Chinese masters for about five years. In the daytime though, I work as a freelance illustrator and concept artist.

My training is basically the same as Lorenz's but at the moment, I'm studying Chinese and Wushu (a form of Chinese martial arts) at a Sports University in Beijing.

Question: Why China?

I decided to go to China because this is the only place where you can actually study Wushu at a university. The subjects offered at universities in Germany simply didn't match my interests. Of course, studying something related to film was an option too, but I chose Wushu because I knew that I would regret it later if I didn't. I still need to find out how far I can go with martial arts while my body is still capable of it.

Question: Where did the Young Masters come from?

Young Masters is a reference to one of Jackie Chan's early films and honestly, we didn't give our group name much thought and just went with it. Since Jackie Chan's films had a huge impact on us, we like the idea of paying some sort of tribute to him by using this name.

Question: When did you start filming as a group?

It started out when we found a few videos by an indie film group called the Stunt People on the internet. They inspired us to buy our own video camera and start shooting little fight scenes.

We had played around with filming a little bit before then, but it wasn't until we discovered the Stunt People on the internet that we realized that shooting great fight scenes was something we could do ourselves. All you really need are two capable guys, a camera and someone to operate the cam. For the very first flicks we didn't even have a cameraman. We just used a music stand as a tripod and tried to stay within the frame. I still remember how thrilled we were when we watched the final product for the first time. We watched it maybe a hundred times. Even today its still lots of fun to watch our old efforts, we always have a good laugh when we see how inexperienced we were back then.

Question: Tell me the process of shooting a martial arts film. Who does what?

The group consists of me, my brother and two other guys, Michael Nicinski and Philipp Wendt. Felix and I basically always work on the choreography together. We mix it up quite a bit and listen to each other's suggestions concerning camera angles and cinematography. Filmmaking is mostly a collaborative effort between the four of us but someone usually needs to have a clear vision to carry through the project.

Each person's role in the film-making process depends mainly on whether it's a directorial effort like Shadow Plant or a collaborative work like Wattasakka or Half Moon. In the films we're directing, each of us has more control over the whole production which includes work in front of and behind the camera. The action, though, is always to a great extent a collaborative act.

Basically we do it all!

Question: Did any of you study film?

We didn't study filmmaking at all. It was basically a process of trial and error. We watched a lot of films and picked up a lot of tricks and know-how through watching and editing. Saber Medic, our latest film, was an experiment at going to a location and simply throwing around ideas and shooting them right away. Everything was spontaneous: characters, action were all made up on the spot. It was a fun experience which we would like to repeat again sometime.

Question: What do you find most challenging about making martial arts films?

The most demanding part for me is definitely the fight scenes. When we produce a movie, we always start shooting the action first. It is very challenging to make a fight scene look the way you visualize it. We always imagine a certain atmosphere that we want the fight to express.

Filmmaking is incredibly challenging and demanding in many ways. You constantly need to remind yourself of the goal and keep at it until you can lean back and enjoy your work. Location hunting, for example, is one. You are very restricted in finding appropriate spots to shoot at, and then there is the weather. We had countless days when we planned to shoot a scene and it started to rain. Finding capable people who can align themselves to the vision of the group and the film is also crucial and are not as easy to find as you might think.

Question: What reactions have you gotten to your films?

We have completed fifteen films, the longest of which is in post-production now, and we have always had very positive reactions. Our old-school Kung Fu fights seem to have the greatest impact on audiences since they are something no one really does anymore nowadays.

Question: What is it like working with your brother?

We both have a strong desire for perfection and we don't want to stop until everything is exactly the way we want it. This does cause tension at times. Rivalry is inevitable but it pushes us to do better, or...?

Yeah, I mean you could say that there is a certain rivalry at times, but it keeps things creative and our performance at optimal level. Concerning action choreography and performance, though, we are extremely well-adjusted to each other. Some of the fight scenes we've done could probably only be done by the two of us. Our timing and reciprocal understanding of movements is very harmonious. With screen fighting it's important to have capable performers who know the basics of what makes a movement look good on camera. Since we are brothers, we have solid trust in each other's abilities, so choreographing and performing together works well.

Question: I noticed in Saber Medic you are shooting in the center of a city. Do you have any funny shooting stories? Has anyone ever called the police on you while shooting?

Oh yeah, we certainly do! We had a lot of interesting experiences whenever we shot our films. Unfortunately, most weren't so positive, usually involving higher authorities of some kind who prohibited us from shooting in certain spots. It happened with Saber Medic, so we had to spontaneously add a story twist by making Felix and Michael jump through a wormhole and appear somewhere else where we were allowed to shoot. There were a lot of other interesting stories revolving around filmmaking which I can't recall now.

Question: Are your films only available on the internet or do you send them out to competitions or festivals?

Most of them are only available on the internet, but we had a couple shorts published on DVD collections with independent martial arts films. We also made a little fight scene for MTV, staged in a Laundromat in Hamburg. It can be seen as an extra on a DVD called Barrio 19 which is a TV show featuring street talent. Other than that, we had one of our films shown at a little martial arts film festival where we won third place. Just recently, our ending fight from Unfair Deal was aired on TV, on a show called RudeTube on Comedy Central.

Question: Who would you say inspires you most? It can be someone related to martial arts or not.

To be honest, there really isn't a single personality that has inspired us comparably more than others. And it's difficult to just stick to one person because there are role models for every area of life. In terms of martial arts, I have gained inspiration from all of the well- known and not so well-known figures in this genre. Sometimes it's not even a person I receive inspiration from. Sometimes it's a movie, a single scene, a certain type of character that appeals to me, or music. In our latest movie Shadow Plant, the relationship between myself and my brother served as a source of inspiration.

Other than the obvious major figures in Asian action cinema like Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan and Jet Li, we have been inspired by all the people who had a significant role in how action films were made. But it's a really long list! I think it's important to keep an open mind which will help you to continue to learn new things all the time. Inspiration shouldn't be channeled through just a few figures or idols because then you might end up being a mere copy without originality.

Question: How has learning martial arts affected other areas of your life?

Besides the physical training, martial arts help to form a person mentally. I believe that depending on the martial arts you practice, it has a certain effect on your way of thinking and attitude towards others. There are martial arts that are mostly sport-focused like Taekwondo and there are those that include a spiritual component like Shaolin Kung Fu. SKF in particular affects the mind since Buddhist teachings are part of the art. Moral values are closely linked to the spiritual and physical activities of SKF, which I really like.

I have seen many people change for the better after practicing martial arts. It's pretty fascinating to see. Arrogant people become more humble, shy people become a lot more self-confident. In fact, when we learned Taekwondo, there were seven virtues that were written in a small booklet for us to take to heart. They are justice, politeness, a sense of honor, a spirit of unity, tirelessness, patience and modesty. Mind and body unity is obviously something you acquire to some extent, but I think it's important to have the correct intentions when studying martial arts because you can also easily misuse your skills like we have seen people do countless times in martial arts films!

Question: Any future projects or plans?

We are still working on finishing our latest project and we just finished another music video. There is a possibility to work on a Bollywood action film as choreographers in India, but we need to see if and how that works out. Collaborating with other groups from Germany might be an option, joining forces to create something cool. Also acting. Right now I'm really interested in getting more experience and studying some acting methods.

I really want to keep doing what we're doing, only on a bigger scale. We have had to over- come a lot of obstacles since we started in 2001, creating movies with limited financial and technical resources. Because of that we could never be as creative as we'd like to be, which I think is quite sad. For now, I'll be in China studying Chinese and practicing Wushu, but at the same time I'm looking for possibilities to get involved in the movie business. Martial arts and film production are equally important to us.

Question: What message do you want to convey through your future films?

It's true that every film carries a message, whether it hap- pens intentionally or not.

When we started out with making films we didn't pay much attention to that point, to be honest. It was all about giving two guys a reason to stage a fight scene. As we started taking our work to the next level, we started to put more thought into story and character development as well. I think only now are we beginning to develop an awareness for wanting to convey messages. Since our films have always revolved around fight and action scenes, we could very well continue in this way, but we'll see as things develop. It is just difficult to foresee how things will play out. Telling noble, good stories is certainly something we want to strive for.