Stick to Your Goons

Greetings, one and all! I was informed at stunt meet that this needed to be the blog title, after it was yelled at the leader of the opposing force during choreography. So I guess we'll start there. Working backwards, Sunday saw further refinement of the fight choreography, followed by a couple combat exercises, starting with a classic, and ending with the veterans each coaching a new stuntie in what they should do in their fight.

Back to the rest of the week, we actually made decent time during music composition, covering the first set piece in only a few hours.
Next up, yet more props work. We found some cheap snap fit sandwich box lids that would work well for datapads, our more rugged version of a tablet, so now we're working on how to reinforce and adapt them for the purpose. We also spent some time working on the staff for an important supporting character. (Pun mostly unintended.)

Making consistent negative space in a non-uniform cylinder was a challenge, but I think it's going to work, once we get everything sanded and filled.

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

Music, Building, and Choreography

Greetings, one and all! First off, this week saw a couple more music sessions, where we dove into Block 7. Meanwhile, a couple of us worked on the fifth modular set element, specifically the wall with a door in it. Now we just need to figure out how to make the door itself on a budget... After that, we dipped back into finishing up some of the sci-fi shotguns, in which we took our first foray into the wonderful world of plasticard, also known as sheet styrene.

On top of all that, the team met twice this week, Friday and Sunday. The first day we were dodging in and out between cloudbursts, totally reworking the fight scene for the short. Sunday saw further refinement, and a focus on performance. All of this was capped off with some dueling practice.

The fight is looking good, particularly the performances, and their first taste of real-time sparring was certainly educational.

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

Finishing Blocks and Finalizing Scripts

Greetings, one and all! This week had a fair few obstacles, yet for all that we managed to get quite a bit done. First off, we got in two music composition sessions, completing Block 3, which has allowed us to officially sneak past the half-way mark.

Next up, as I felt a bit under the weather over the previous weekend, I engaged in a bit of edutainment. In other words, I watched a fair amount of “The Making of…” material, which inspired me on a production design level, as well as to re-examine the feature script for ease of delivery. I discovered that, for some reason, the first third in particular had very complex sentences, so it took about a day to fix all that. Now the script should hopefully be easier for the actors to deliver.
Also on the writing side, the short script has also been revised, reviewed, and now delivered to the stunt team and actors.

Sunday saw no stunt meet, but we have two scheduled for the time between blog posts, so that should make sorting through the pictures fairly… interesting.

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

Writing Revisions and Group Choreography

Greetings, one and all! This week saw a few more music composing sessions. Also the short script is now complete enough that we can start choreographing the fight scenes, even though the beginning still needs to be revised. On top of that, some research and contemplation has led to working on the feature length sci-fi script again, trying to revise pacing so it has a better flow. Also working on set and costume design with an eye toward readability when you shift between radically different locations.

Speaking of choreography, the team met Sunday and developed the first rough draft of the fight scene for our short project.

The fight is a bit hard to read, so we’ll have to revisit and streamline the choreography, but the team performed admirably, despite the sudden heat spike over the weekend.

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

Documents and Daggers

Greetings, one and all! So… that was a very tiring week. The rest of life was very busy, but despite that we still managed to get a fair number of film tasks done. For starters, we’re back on music again, and managed to knock out a fair chunk of Block 3. Next up, our digital product platform made some changes, so we had to make sure that everything was updated with them, which was… fun. I’ll spare you the boring details, but this is the first time I’ve ever seen a company’s method of operation change so much that it literally broke the system.

Anyway, on top of all that, the short script went through yet more permutations, which strengthened the overall narrative, but since we’re trying to use this as a platform for people to develop particular skills, the script still feels too bloated. So we’re diving back in again, to see what the most essential aspects are, and pare it down to that. Also, begrudgingly, since I already did all the breakdowns, I may be taking another look at the feature length script, as the pacing of the first act seems a bit… sluggish.

Lastly, the team met again, and turned their attention to the basics of the art of the dagger.

Always a fun one, but it often leaves the instructors with bruised wrists…

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

Short Scripts and Mock investigations

Greetings, one and all! Well, as expected, we finally have our first completed draft of the short script! At the time of reading it will be going through review and revisions, and we hope to have a finished product in another week or so… if we can survive this one. Real life promises to be very busy, so hopefully we have the time to do the needed iterations.

The team met again Sunday, and did something a bit different. In keeping with our goal of familiarizing the new team members with different aspects of screen performance, we gave them an exercise in just existing as a character, In this case, being cops in a fantasy city.

The plot centered around finding a missing merchant marine captain. The first half was investigation, speaking with witnesses, pursuing suspects. The second half was retracing his trail, to find out what happened to his ship, and its valuable cargo, culminating in a fight beneath a lost island fortress. All in all, an entertaining bit of chaos.

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

Scripts and Striking

Greetings, one and all! Well, I’m currently on version four of the script, possibly version five by the time you read this. Using an existing world that already has a film that hasn’t come out yet presents its own challenges, as we need to present a core aspect of the universe that still won’t spoil the main story. The characters are easy enough to write, but striking that balance is the new challenge.

Sunday the team met again, and this time focused on unarmed striking.

While people are progressing at different rates, they’ve got the basics, so all that’s left is drilling and refinement. Based on the amount of laughter, they seemed to be having a good time, though I can imagine how sore everyone was the morning after.

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

Old World, New Short

Greetings, one and all! So… this week is quite picture light, as Mother’s Day meant no stunt meet, but we nonetheless soldier on. After trying out various other ideas for a short script, we soon realized that the world and character building requirements would slow us down even more. But then we remembered that two of the people on our actor list were also supporting and bit characters in the Nine Isles project, which got us wondering, what have they been up to in these last few years?

So I started writing, and it’s amazing how readily the scenes flowed onto the page. Granted, there will need to be revisions, as always, but I guess this world and these characters are really ingrained into my psyche, because I had the idea in the morning, and the characters were arguing by lunch. The idea is for them to kick off the adventure, and new characters are brought on board as the story progresses. We hope to use this as a platform for the new actors to cut their teeth on screen performance, and for the new stunties to learn the ropes of choreographed combat. It also has the side benefit of teasing the world of the feature film, without actually spoiling it when it releases.

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