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!

From Students to Teachers

Greetings, one and all! So let’s see… Well, this week was a lot of prep for Sunday, and the arrival of new people. This was interspersed with more music composition, and people getting sick. On the plus side, we now have half a dozen fine new wasters (wooden practice swords) in our arsenal. Thanks, Zach!

When Sunday finally rolled around, various events whittled down the number of newbies fairly significantly, but the team swung into action, and the more individualized help wound up being good for the trainees.

The stunties were able to customize training techniques to each trainee, and really focus on their individual challenges. The students have become the teachers, and it was marvelous to see.

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

Gathering the Elements

Greetings, one and all! While the rest of life did interfere with production work a fair bit this week, we still managed to get a few notable things done. First, we ran our first recording session where we attempt to integrate real time instrument recordings into the digital workspace. Now experiments are being run to make them sound right in the environment of the other instrument samples.

Next up, the recruiting efforts have finally borne fruit. After a tiring three weeks, we finally have confirmations from a half dozen or so individuals. While there’s usually a fair amount of falloff after the first three weeks, the number of potentials is high enough that we should end up with a reasonable number of stunties when all is said and done. If all goes as we hope, you will be seeing their faces in the blog this time next week.

Lastly, the stunties met again, and had a little fun before their jobs turn to training new recruits…

A traditional combat exercise, played out with a wide variety of weapons. A fitting level of chaos for the students who are about to become teachers.

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