Prop Processes and Proper Puppeteering

 Greetings, one and all! This week was a chaotic ball of random stuff, but we still managed to get a fair amount done. First off, we squeezed in a music session before things got really chaotic, and followed that up with a fairly successful shopping trip to find the materials we’d need for the next phase of prop-making.

Small arms for the security forces are back in the works, with a third prop having to undergo some modifications due to damage. On top of that, by the time you’re reading this, the beauty blade should finally be finished, and I must say it’s shaping up to be quite beautiful indeed, with a simple sort of elegance.

Lastly, the team met again on Sunday, and hid away from the rain whilst doing some entertaining puppeteer exercises, where the veterans gave directions to the less experienced members, before turning it around, and having the less experienced guide the more experienced. This was then followed up by the stunties deciding to start a last man standing exercise in easy striking distance of each other. The results were predictable, and the fights brief. 

All in all, it was a quite funny time. “I am in a horrible position.” “You’re in a great position!” Was a conversation that was heard multiple times in the first hour.

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

Blades in Progress

Greetings, one and all! This week saw a continuation of the work from last week. The ship model saw some more progress, though I’m seeing the virtues of sheet styrene, and wishing it weren’t quite so expensive. Also music has made good progress again this week. On top of that, the script has received its notes, and we’re now going through the next wave of revisions.

A production highlight of the week has to be the fact that we’re now working on the metal “beauty blade” for one of our characters. This is the weapon intended for close-ups, while the plastic ones we finished previously are intended for the fast-paced combat scenes.

Lastly, the team met again this week, and took on some of the choreography for the fight scenes added in the revised script.

We closed it out with an old school exercise in a very tight space. All in all, a good and productive week.

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

Models and Mass Chaos

Greetings, one and all! I’m happy to report that the first draft of the script rewrite has been completed, and delivered to the readers for assessment and commentary. As of writing the notes should be in my inbox, so I’ll be working through those this week.

Next up, we got in two music sessions this week, which managed to take a reasonable bite out of the remaining work. On top of that, we’ve begun work on the ship model I mentioned last week. The slightly more complex geometry does mean we have to work on it bit by bit, and not make all the patterns at once. But for all that, good progress has been made.

Lastly, the stunt team met again, and this time opened with some footwork exercises, before going into a choreography exercise, where the fight was all vs. all, but they were limited to two strikes at a person before they had to switch targets.

This led to the desired level of chaos and frantic action, without it accidentally becoming two parallel duels. So, another effectively mind-stretching exercise for the stunties. All in all, a solid week of progress, despite its seemingly random nature.

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

Multiple Modifications and Mirrored Minds

Greetings, one and all! This week saw an array of developments in writing, music, and design. First off, yet more revisions to the script were made, including the removal of a scene added during the rewrite, and transferring the relevant information to another scene. On top of that, we’ve been experimenting with a few other new scenes, but none of them have had the needed punch. However, now we more or less know what’s needed, it just the execution that’s a bit challenging.

Continuing on to music, after review on other sound systems, we punched up the third quarter of the big fight scene in Block 8, before returning to Block 9 and covering almost two and a half minutes out of twelve, so good progress, thus far. Next up, an evening stroll led to inspiration for a better ship design for our leads in this next project, so some time was devoted to putting that down on paper.

Lastly, the stunt team met again, this time with a veteran who is on a bit of a long holiday break. We opened with precision striking drills, then ended with an exercise in mirrored thinking, where the stunties choreograph a fight, and then repeat it, whilst playing each other’s roles.

It was a surprisingly effective exercise, as even the veterans had to wrap their heads around being the other person directly after playing their own role.

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