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!

Scattershot and Honor Guards

Greetings, one and all! So… I’m not sure exactly how to frame our work this week, as mostly it was a shotgun blast of trying to meet with people, sending messages, and in general getting our foot in the door again. This time we’re actively recruiting for the stunt team, so we have a fairly clear target. In between all that, we had a couple composing sessions where we sought to apply themes and techniques we'd developed to different scenes.

Lastly, realizing that I’d missed a part of the opening fight scene in the script, the team leapt back into that, and choreographed our prologue hero versus the honor guard…

Despite a late start, we got the whole thing finished just before the torrential rains struck. The fight was intricate and entertaining, just what I’ve come to expect from these group fights. A hearty well done to everyone involved.

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

Shining Up, Reaching Out, and Locking in

Greetings, one and all! The first step this week was painting the stunt blades we’d spent the previous week or two creating. The trick to painting stunt blades is, first, a gloss black basecoat to make the subsequent metallic layers shine, and second, waiting a week for the paint to cure between each step. Thus, this process will be ongoing…

Next up, as we are coming into a new period of production, and a lot of our stunties now have full time jobs, we’re reaching out through our different avenues, looking to recruit the next generation of fight performers. If all goes well, we should see the results in the next few weeks.

Lastly, the most veteran stunties met yet again, and this time broke into two teams, who set about choreographing the remaining fight sequences for the new script.

We definitely picked the right people for each fight, as they really played toward the strengths of the characters they represented. One team, strength and intensity, the other, precision and agility. Both were very fun to watch.

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

Plotting and Shaping

Greetings, one and all! Following the current pattern, this week opened with still more composing sessions, where we managed to lock down a couple themes, and provided the mood music for a few scenes.

Next up, the stunt team met again, and this time applied their single sword skills to an old exercise, where thinking through your moves is paramount…

Lastly, as higher brain functions seemed to have flown, we capped off the week with cutting a new blade and shaping the rest.

Final smoothing should be happening at any moment, and we will hopefully have the first coats of paint on before the rains come.

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

Blanks and Revisions

Greetings, one and all! This week opened with a couple music meetings, where we explored concepts and instruments for different Nine Isles character themes. We should be following up on that in the next few days here.

Next up, swords. Specifically, laying out the patterns on high density polypropylene, then carefully cutting them out of the sheets. We still have a few shape refinements to do (aka. “sanding”) before we can add the bevel and start painting. As a good cure on these things takes a couple of weeks, we thought it best to start them early, just in case.

Lastly, the stunt team met again on Sunday, and used their new single sword skills to revisit a choreography we attempted a couple months ago.

This time around, the result was much smoother right off the bat, with good energy and momentum. Next up, revisions…

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