Trance/Electronica and Chloe Bruce

Directed by Mark Adcock.

Next to Modern Jazz, New Contemporary Folk, and Rock of the '80's, I find the genre of Trance/Electronica to be fascinating. Pair it with martial arts and you've got my attention.

I encountered this actual music video for the song "Rewind" by the artist known as Cylob (real name - Chris Jeffs). The martial artist performing is named Chloe Bruce. Normally, I don't follow the Tae Kwon Do and XMA scene, but the unusual talent of this woman made me take a deeper look into the choreography.

But initially, I was more interested in how the director shot this video. For one, did he use motion control? Or was the camera and crane controlled manually? Watch the video again and you'll notice there's no editing. It was all done in one take. Notice the grids on the floor and walls. They make calibrating motion control systems easier, especially if you're going to replace the background.

At times, it seemed Chloe's timing was restrained because she had to be at certain places on the floor to be in frame while the camera/crane was in motion. This leads me to believe they used a "click track" (similar to a metronome to define rhythm) instead of music playback to make it easier to adjust timing during post-production.

As for Chloe's martial arts in the video... Due to her video record on YouTube, I'm going to assume she had some help with the choreography. There are elements of Wushu, Shaolin Chi Gung, and XMA. Her primary art is Tae Kwon Do. Except for this video, which came out in 1999, she doesn't demonstrate ecclectic techniques again in her tournament appearances, performances with her touring group, or in her film and TV roles.

I would love to see her explore the dynamic side of Wushu on a long term basis. Her flexibility, muscle control, and proven level of commitment to training would serve her well like her patented Scorpion Kick has over the years.

Learn How to do the Scorpion Kick with Chloe's tutorial.