Merry Christmas!

Greetings, one and all! As our regular blog day falls on Christmas this year, I know most of you will probably have better things to do than sit here and read our filmmaking blog, I shall keep it short, and just offer some teasers…

First off, in preparation for the next project, we’ve been reconnecting with some old friends and making some new ones. At least one former actor is joining the team in a more behind the scenes production capacity, which is greatly appreciated. Second, we’ve finally gotten into modding a few props for the movie. Lastly, naturally there were more music sessions. But for most of these things, they are all in early stages. If all goes well, we’ll have more details in next week’s update.

Well, that’s about all for this week. Until next time, have a Merry Christmas!

Assessments and Exercises

Greetings, one and all! So, let’s see… filmmaking news… Well, first off, script reviews for the last rendition are finally in, and revisions have been made, so now the script is off for its copy edit. Next up, more costume design work, as well as cataloging our current sci-fi props, and trying to figure out how to actually make the ones that we still need. Also, as we have begun to crawl out of the sickness hole, we’ve started to work on more music, this time for Block 1.

Lastly, despite the illness going around, most of the veteran stunties managed to meet on Sunday, and participated in a skirmish exercise with some very specific constraints. Namely, pick two weapons, but you can never use the same weapon in consecutive rounds.

Polearms showed why they were the king of the battlefield, but the sword showed why it was the sidearm of choice, for when things get even more up close and personal. The team will be taking a break for Christmas, but come the new year, we’re looking to refine the choreography for the major duels from our current script.

Well, that’s about all for this week. Until next time!

A Weekly Assortment

 Greetings, one and all! A tired man probably shouldn’t be writing these blogs before the sun’s even up, but such is December. Still, I’ll try to remember what happened this week…

First off, of course, we did manage some more composing sessions, which fleshed out some scenes, and gave us final lock on Block 4.

Next up, along with some ship designs, I think those helmets I was talking about last week officially have their initial design lock. There’s always the transition from concept to prop, but a good start, so far. Thirdly, a review pass of the script to make sure we didn’t miss anything in the breakdowns led to the discovery of some dialogue that could stand to be tightened up, so that’s now done.

Lastly, due to a combination of random festivities and a sudden onset of yet more sickness, the stunt team did not meet this week, which means whatever the above photos are were probably screen grabs from some BTS work…

Well, that’s about all for this week. Until next time!

Coming to a Point

Greetings, one and all! This week very much focused on the Thanksgiving holiday, but on either end of that we still managed to get a fair bit done. First off, working on designs for the movie, primarily uniforms and creatures. While I think the uniforms proper are coming along fairly well, the helmets for the boarding team still need some work. After that, we managed to get in a couple more composing sessions, fleshing out a few scenes.

Lastly, a sudden shift in availability led to us scrambling to come up with a training regimen for one new person and a handful of veterans. So we settled for a middle ground, where the veterans could try some new things, while the trainee could familiarize herself with the basics of cutting, parrying, and having a sword swung at your face. Then, as the temperature dropped, we retired indoors and practiced the art of the thrust.

Funny and epic moments were had, progress was made, and we draw ever closer to being able to fully integrate the new people into stunt team work.

Well, that’s about all for this week. Until next time!

Gathering the Threads

Greetings, one and all! This week was very productive in a low-key way. For starters, we managed to fit in three composing sessions, finishing off a few scenes. Next up, further breakdowns for the characters, establishing how many of each prop would need to be made, as well as breaking down how many of what broad types of costumes there would be. This last bit then fed into two production meetings on costume design.

On top of all that, Sunday saw all the new trainees together at last, along with the return of one of our veterans after six months away.

We reviewed the basic strikes, then continued on to parrying, integrating that with the number system we use for choreography, and followed up by the very basics of stringing strikes together. It’s quite gratifying to see them begin to get it, as it were, and start having fun.

Well, that’s about all for this week. Until next time!

Breakdowns, Revisions, and Newbies

Greetings, one and all! Well, the illness rages on, but for all that we still managed to get a few things done. Primarily that has been logistics work, and further script breakdowns. Specifically, we worked on the locations for the script, writing out brief descriptions that can later be extrapolated into designs and materials lists. After that was organizing elements by shoot blocks as the story takes place in three different “times” or eras, with little to no interaction between the characters in each block. This will help us prioritize which props and sets to make.

This whole process led to the realization that an entire scene could be redundant. If we could rework the plot points into other scenes, this would reduce the workload by five actors, with their respective costumes, and one set. So, despite the sick brain, we roughed in a new draft where we moved the vital information into other scenes. Now we await clearer minds to revise and refine the work.

Last but not least, we had yet another new trainee this Sunday. We set about teaching him the basics, while we reviewed them with the other who could make it, and moved on to basic parrying.

Despite the unfortunate weather, and having to shift locations a couple times, everyone got through their respective training, and our veterans are certainly shaping up to be good instructors in their own right.

Well, that’s about all for this week. Until next time!