On Walls and Sharp Pointy Objects

Greetings, one and all! While last week was mostly paperwork, this week was decidedly… not. We opened the week with organizing salvaged wood, closely followed by seizing the brief warm weather to paint the next batch of prop weapons, as well as touch up one from the previous batch.
After that, we jumped into planning and building the first wall for our modular sci-fi colony sets. This we managed using exclusively materials that were acquired for the Nine Isles projects, mostly material from the tavern set, but with some of the leftovers from the office, as well. Now that the system for the first wall has been developed, hopefully the next few will go much more quickly.

Next up, we had to divert from that project to meet with some fellow filmmakers and potential actors from up north. This was a “third time’s the charm” scenario, As we have attempted this twice already since New Year’s, with everything from a nasty flu to a missing man getting in the way. But we made it this time, read them for a few parts, then gave a quick Swordplay 101 to see how fast they picked it up, before once more going our separate ways.

Lastly, the team met Sunday, and downpour notwithstanding, we launched into a review of the new trainee’s previous instruction, quickly followed by thrusts and parrying. All this was capped off by a brief exercise in tactical thinking, where our new stunties got to experience 2v1 combat for the first time, with some terrain added for good measure.

All in all a busy and productive week, leading to a very tired Monday when I’m writing this. Hopefully I’ll recover in time to do something useful.

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

Producing and Newbies

 Greetings, one and all! This week fell pretty solidly into the “producer” side of the spectrum, as we spent a lot of time communicating with people, writing messages, doing research, and a wide assortment of other kinds of desk work needed to make a production run. On top of that we had little bits of prop work, and we managed to get a reading in before the end of the week. Also, we managed to get in two composing sessions as well. 

As for the big item this week, we’re trying it again. After life pulled our last batch of new stunt team recruits away, we’re starting over with a new batch. We officially planned to only do a couple things, but the trainees went on to surprise us, fairly quickly grasping the concepts we were teaching.

So we were able to warm them up by marching, follow that up with the basic back fall, then go into longsword guards, and we were also able to get all the basic cuts in before the session ended. As the day wound down, people broke into spontaneous groupings, discussing various aspects of the training, or working on exercises. All in all, a very good day.

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

Pivoting Practice and Preparation

So… False Spring officially ended, and the temperatures went in exactly the wrong direction for painting, even throwing in some snow for good measure. So we turned to preparing yet more props, including staining the hilts on the new stunt blades, and reaching out to yet more potential actors and stunt team members. Even when you have a base message, modifying it for even more specific audiences takes way more time than you’d think.

On top of all that, we managed to get in a couple more composing sessions that finished off another pair of scenes. Lastly, the team met on Sunday, and attempted a spear fighting practice.
 

I say “attempted” because after about 45 minutes the wind got so cold that we had to retreat into the shop for a defrost and a spot of improve gaming. We also discussed our incoming trainees, new actors to try out, and the logistics surrounding that.

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

Readings, Rebuilding, and Reactions

Greetings, one and all! This week saw yet more fun with band saws, rotary tools, and five minute epoxy. Specifically, filling gaps and reinforcing parts of a couple of the weapons props, then adding the final pieces. Now, once the epoxy finishes setting and the temperature gets back above 60, the painting can finally begin. With any luck I’ll have a couple more pieces to add to the pile by then.

Next up, reaching out to old contacts yielded very sudden results, as we added a couple readings to the end of the week. On top of that, our composing session fleshed out an action scene, and made it my favorite piece for this project thus far.

Last but not least, the stunt team. A round of archery was followed by a workshop in selling the hit, in which we learned that one of our stunties can’t frown.

This led to us all trying out different kinds of reactions that don’t activate the frown lines, the bunching of the brow. That was oddly fun, and resulted in a viable repertoire of reactions.

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

Crafting and Stabbery

Greetings, one and all! This week saw a spot of good weather, which meant that we could run back and forth between the shop and the house much more easily, and our fingers wouldn’t freeze while working the tools and machines. Thus this week saw a lot of prop work, or specifically prop prep, as we begin to turn the base elements into whatever we’d envisioned for the film.

We also had another composing session this week as well, focusing on the Cairn sequence, specifically the interior.
On Sunday the stunt team met again, and did some script reading experiments. After that, they rolled into yet more fun with daggers.

For some reason stabbing each other at very close range leads to a lot more grinning than one would expect. Perhaps we should look into that…

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

Communications and Choreographing Creatures

Greetings, one and all! This week saw a lot of real life work, but in between all that, the focus was writing recruitment pitch messages and sending them out to various people and groups. The first phase has been completed, being a general call, but with a focus on potential actors, and now we’re turning our energy toward phase two, which centers on the stunt team and other behind the scenes roles.

Sunday the team met again, and this time did a couple different things. First off, we choreographed a short fight against a creature that takes place in a dark hallway. After that, when the downpour ended, a couple team members took up a choreography exercise, where they created a highly kinetic short sword duel…

All in all, a good week, with low-key but important developments. Now to see how Phase Two goes...

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

Dagger Plays and Prop Making

Greetings, one and all! The weather warmed up just enough that we could finish the old set teardown, so now we have a neat pile of 2x4’s, and the space we have available in the shop is about two feet wider.

Next up, despite some ongoing sicknesses, the stunt team still managed to meet and do a bit of a focused session on dagger plays. Specifically, doing a deep dive into a few alternate methods for the classic dagger plays…

Last but not least, we take a lesson learned from the stairway fight in Stormborn. Specifically, thou shalt not use a bespoke and irreplaceable piece of kit in an area where it is likely to be damaged or destroyed by the scene.

To that end, we are now in the midst of making multiple replacement wrist comms for one of the major characters.

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

Writs and Blades

Greetings, one and all! This week had a bit more diversity of effort than many in recent months.

The first is an ongoing project, namely writing pitch, presentation, and recruiting emails and messages. As this is a fairly broad-spectrum affair, the trick has been keeping the thing lean and efficient, while still covering all the essential points.

Next up, we finally have the grips for the new stunt blades roughed in and shaped, as well as the guards fine sanded.

Once everything cures and the weather gets far enough above freezing the painting and staining can begin. On top of that, some basic leatherworking projects have kicked off...

Last but not least, we also managed to fit more composing sessions into the decidedly busy week. So progress on The Nine Isles continues apace.

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

Deconstruct and Reconstruct

Greetings, one and all! So… the moment the frost left the ground each morning, the chief job of the week became tearing down old set pieces so that the materials could be reused, which should save us a few hundred dollars. However, since this has largely been a solo project, it’s going slowly, and has been murder on the wrists and shoulders. Still, all in all, a pretty good return for the week.

Next up, the stunt team met again, and choreographed the last bits of major fight scenes. First, a revision of the prologue duel, and the second piece of the raider camp fight.

All that together means we’re now ready for final refinements, and after that, teaching the actors.

Last but not least, the music sessions this week framed in some complicated moments from the edit, including some deceptively complex ones like a walking scene with a shifting mood.

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