Wire fu

Wire fu is an element or style of Hong Kong action cinema used in fight scenes. It is a combination of two terms: "wire work" and "kung fu."

Wire fu is used to describe a subgenre of kung fu movies where the stuntmen's or actor's skill is augmented with the use of wires and pulleys, as well as other stage techniques, usually to perform fight-scene stunts and give the illusion of super-human ability (or Qinggong). It is exemplified by the work of Tsui Hark, Yuen Woo-ping, and Jet Li, that has subsequently been appropriated by the Hollywood film industry. Almost all modern wuxia movies fall in this category. Not all martial arts films use wire work.

In practice

The basic concept is not very complex, and originates in the mechanical effects of stagecraft. Planning and persistence is important, as it often requires many takes to perfect the stunt.

Typically, a harness is hidden under the actor's costume, and a cable and pulley system is attached to the harness. When live sets are used, wire removal is done in post-production. Another later-developed technique of creating wire fu is using a greenscreen and post-production special effects. Greenscreening the wire work is done for more complex stunts and camera angles. The actors are suspended in the air by green wires, which are then erased digitally during the post-production process. The process by which this was done in older (pre-digital) movies has been lost to time.

Wire

A wire is a single, usually cylindrical, flexible strand or rod of metal. Wires are used to bear mechanical loads or electricity and telecommunications signals. Wire is commonly formed by drawing the metal through a hole in a die or draw plate. Wire gauges come in various standard sizes, as expressed in terms of a gauge number. The term wire is also used more loosely to refer to a bundle of such strands, as in 'multistranded wire', which is more correctly termed a wire rope in mechanics, or a cable in electricity.

Wire comes in solid core, stranded, or braided forms. Although usually circular in cross-section, wire can be made in square, hexagonal, flattened rectangular, or other cross-sections, either for decorative purposes, or for technical purposes such as high-efficiency voice coils in loudspeakers. Edge-woundcoil springs, such as the Slinky toy, are made of special flattened wire.

History

In antiquity, jewelry often contains, in the form of chains and applied decoration, large amounts of wire that is accurately made and which must have been produced by some efficient, if not technically advanced, means. In some cases, strips cut from metal sheet were made into wire by pulling them through perforations in stone beads. This causes the strips to fold round on themselves to form thin tubes. This strip drawing technique was in use in Egypt by the 2nd Dynasty. From the middle of the 2nd millennium BC most of the gold wires in jewellery are characterised by seam lines that follow a spiral path along the wire. Such twisted strips can be converted into solid round wires by rolling them between flat surfaces or the strip wire drawing method. The strip twist wire manufacturing method was superseded by drawing in the ancient Old World sometime between about the 8th and 10th centuries AD. There is some evidence for the use of drawing further East prior to this period.

Wire (Third Day album)

Wire is the seventh album by Christian rock band Third Day. It breaks from the style of the band's previous albums to return to simple, rock and roll-driven melodies. To quote Allmusic's review of the album, "Third Day has stripped away the shine and gotten back to the grittiness of being a rock & roll band." The album is largely carried by the energetic guitar riffs that pervade its songs, although the forceful lyrics also contribute significantly.

The album's songs deal with numerous themes. "Wire", the title track, is a song about the pressure to succeed in modern society. "I Believe", "I Got a Feeling", "Innocent", and other tracks deal with sin, faith, and renewal from a Christian perspective. "Billy Brown" is a catchy song that explores the readiness of people to follow and even idolize entertainment figures.

In November 2004, a live version of Wire was released, called Live Wire featuring a DVD and CD of songs from their tour of their latest album.

The album won 2005 Grammy Award for Best Rock Gospel Album.

The Unforgettable Fire

The Unforgettable Fire is the fourth studio album by Irish rock band U2. It was released in October 1984. The band wanted a different musical direction following the harder-hitting rock of their 1983 album War. They employed Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois to produce and assist them experiment with a more ambient and abstract sound. The resulting change in direction was at the time the band's most dramatic.

Recording began in May 1984 at Slane Castle, where the band lived, wrote, and recorded to find new inspiration. The album was completed in August 1984 at Windmill Lane Studios. It features atmospheric sounds and lyrics that lead vocalist Bono describes as "sketches". Two songs feature lyrical tributes to Martin Luther King Jr. The Unforgettable Fire received generally favourable reviews from critics and produced the band's biggest hit at the time, "Pride (In the Name of Love)", as well as the live favourite "Bad", a song about heroin addiction. A 25th Anniversary edition of the album was released in October 2009.