00:00Arapaia, you can bet he'll be getting into a fight somewhere in the city. Producing,
00:09choreographing, editing and starring in his own martial arts action movies. And when he's not
00:14doing that, he's showing them on the big screen. And his own feature, dubbed in dangerous, has
00:18brought him to the attention of the martial arts movie world.
00:30Ara was taught martial arts and stunt reaction by his father. But over the years, he's developed
00:40it into something that's highly specialized. He calls it paia style.
00:44You know, martial arts, as far as I'm concerned, is that's me as a person. That's my way of
00:49expressing all my, you know, energy, my movements, my skill, the timing, everything is put through
00:57that.
01:06Basically, my style is a mixture. It's not so traditional style of martial arts, but it's
01:13more stunt film industry orientated style. It's a lot of acrobatic techniques, stunt reaction
01:20falls, and there's punching, kicking, everything, you know, all mixed up into a style that is
01:26entertaining and visually spectacular on screen.
01:35Is it karate or kung fu that you do?
01:37Well, neither. In my movies, the style that I perform is unique to my film. So really, my
01:43style on the camera is you cannot go to a club and learn this sort of techniques and things.
01:48It's top quality martial arts and stunt work, but it's funny. I used to do a lot of silent
01:55comedy. You know, I'm influenced from Harold Lloyd, Charlie Chaplin, and Buster Keaton. There's
02:00silent heroes. I used to watch Harold Lloyd all day. What I'm using is just an 8mm camera
02:08angle. There's just a whole load of ideas in my head. I can choose everything specifically
02:13how I want it. So when I'm sitting there, people watch it. I know that every single camera angle,
02:19every edit, I edited that, I shot that, I did that stunt. I put that sound effect right there,
02:25you know, and in there and in there, and the whole thing, just, you know, so that I know
02:29it's 100% Hara style. Were you always confident that your most recent release, Dubbed and Dangerous,
02:44was going to have the impact that it has? I think so, yeah. Because, not to sound too cocky, but I did
02:52work hard on the movie, especially on the action. It's definitely got some of the best action scenes
02:57that I've filmed so far in my old 24 years and old of age.
03:16Three, two, one, action!
03:21Tonight, we're going to be working on an action scene in the shopping mall. It's actually one of the big
03:26sequences in my new movie, Dubbed and Dangerous 2. So I'm going to have a stunt voice flying around
03:32in all directions. We're going to be doing every kind of physical action you could imagine.
03:37That's an outtake. Three, two, one. It starts with a set list of stunts that I want to show.
03:43There's no point in me making a film if I don't have something specifically I want to show.
03:48Yes, boom! Do you think you're a control freak, but you have to be in charge of it all?
03:52Maybe, maybe, yeah. I guess, you know, a perfectionist and maybe I like to be in control of the videos or something that I made.
04:00I'm a happy man.
04:02It would be difficult for me to take orders because I'm used to doing it my way, in my style.
04:10Okay, let me have a look.
04:14I wonder how tough it is working with Ara, and if his actors ever come to blues with him.
04:19Mabara, it's a real challenge. It's also lots of fun. I mean, Ara's a perfectionist. He always tries to get the right shot.
04:28Boom! Right at the shot. Back up.
04:31He pushes the edge not to get it, and if you don't get the right shot, you kind of get, like, a shout at that.
04:37Okay, another angle.
04:40And where does such a demanding director get these willing actors from?
04:43A lot of the people are maybe my friends or people I meet on the street, you know?
04:48Give them some training, put them in the sequence, they've got the right look for the scene.
04:52You know, maybe bad guy, good guy, but I just train everybody who's in my film.
04:57Oh, it's grand. I must admit I'm enjoying it myself immensely, you know?
05:01Can't wait to the day when I'm up there with big screens and see myself getting beaten up.
05:05Oh, it's such a good laugh.
05:07Most of the people who are involved, they don't have any martial arts experience,
05:11so when we do the stunts and the fighting, they don't have any bad habits, so I can teach them from fresh.
05:22I've built it. Stand still there.
05:24I have complete control over how I want to do the scene, and nobody's waiting for it,
05:28so I can take as long as I want, and when I'm ready to put it out, then, you know, there it goes.
05:33Yeah, perfect.
05:52I don't think your ego is going to let you fail.
05:59I don't know how to answer that question.
06:01Ok, sure.
