Yiu Yau-hung, born in Hong Kong in June 1959 to a Wujin family from Jiangsu, graduated from the Hong Kong Polytechnic in design and first worked in product design. Moving into film art in the early 1980s, his first credit was on Tsui Hark's Zu Warriors from the Magic Mountain (1983). He then worked on Cinema City productions, at first designing sets and storyboards and serving as art director on Aces Go Places III (1984). The company put him in charge of the robot effects in Aces Go Places II (1983), after which he joined its effects unit, specialising in optical compositing and animation and rising to head the department. He created optical effects for Merry Christmas (1985), Happy Paradise (1985) and Aces Go Places IV (1986), designed props for Play Catch (1983), and the armoured car in Aces Go Places III was assembled from car parts under his direction. He also devised visual effects for The Occupant (1984), Cupid One (1985) and Happy Ghost II (1985), and worked on the title sequence of Musical Dancer (1985). During more than four years at Cinema City he was also an assistant director and assistant planner, and made cameo appearances. After the effects unit disbanded he founded Unlimited Effect (HK) Company in 1986 for film and advertising effects. It designed the models and effects for The Legend of Wisely (1987), best remembered for the closing sequence in which a mechanical dragon breaks out of a mountain and soars into the sky, and made effects for Mr. Vampire III (1987), My Dream Is Yours (1988) and Saviour of the Soul (1991), plus computer animation for Saviour of the Soul II (1992) and Treasure Hunt (1994). The firm later opened a Taiwan branch, working on films such as New Alibaba (1988). After it closed in the mid-1990s he joined Centro Digital Pictures as an effects director, worked at Tsui Hark's animation company on A Chinese Ghost Story: The Tsui Hark Animation (1997), and was effects supervisor on The Longest Summer (1998).
Moving from art direction into optical compositing and model work, Yiu founded Unlimited Effect in 1986; its mechanical dragon for The Legend of Wisely made the firm a key technical force in Hong Kong's shift from handmade effects to computer animation. He later worked on animated and effects-heavy productions such as The Tsui Hark Animation, helping carry local effects craft forward.
Achievements
- 1983 · Worked on Tsui Hark's Zu Warriors from the Magic Mountain, entering film art and effects.
- 1986 · Founded Unlimited Effect (HK) Company, specialising in film and advertising visual effects.
- 1987 · Designed the models and effects for The Legend of Wisely, including the closing sequence of a mechanical dragon breaking out of a mountain.