Four of Four

Hello everyone! Another week, another blog. But this time, we have a special bonus. Not one, but two news items. We have both a training update with lots of shiny pictures, and the biggest news of the month. That's right, the Gatewalkers are now together. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Elijah DeVyldere to the role of Mike! 

After trying out several different people, some with considerable acting experience, we still hadn't found anyone who felt like Mike. In spite of having never read for a part before, Elijah really got the character, making Mike come to life before our eyes.

 

Elijah, welcome aboard! 

Training Day 4

I may have to review my directorial style, my actors seem to have way too much fun trying to kill me...

This week we did a quick recap of last week, followed by intensive short blade training. The focus was on both fighting with and defending against a knife or short sword. After a basic explanation of the principles we ran through various scenarios, helping the trainees think through how to overcome each situation as it was presented.  

The peanut gallery.

Methods of subduing the "superior" reverse grip.

Turning the sword against its owner.

"You want to go home and rethink your life..."

"Unarmed" is not the same as "helpless."

As you can see, I was the punching bag for this one. No complaints though, they really enjoyed themselves. Which, once again, is food for thought...

Training Day 3

We're back with another fun filled episode of "Let's Kill the Director!" Today we covered a wide range of topics, from cutting from the back guard to knife fighting to sword and shield basics. It was a wonderfully focused chaos, with our more veteran members helping the new trainees with anything from proper striking angles to grappling.

Zoe practices strikes from the back guard.

Paris assumes the hanging guard.

Brotherly love. Grappling in the driveway.

First lesson in the sword and shield.

The smart one.

Paris learns how to take on a spearman with a knife.

That's been a quick overview of the day, hope you enjoyed it!

Until next time...

Training Day 2

"Let's get down to business..."-(Cue training music from Mulan.) Well, except in this case the "daughters" from the song were exactly who I was trying to train. Today we focused on the longsword, with the accompanying stances, footwork, and striking. Our discussion of the best targets generated a lot of cringing. Apparently bleeding out isn't popular... who knew? ;-)

Below is a sampling of the fun. Basic stances were relatively boring, but here we're working on the strikes and parries.

High inside-to-low inside parry.

Here we've just brought out the spear. Everyone is in the middle (the German "plow" or the Italian "crown") guard.

A demonstration against the spear.

Practice traversing and counterattacking against the spear.

Tactical Thinking 101: How Would You Counter...? The students walk through how to counter attacks to various targets.

The best parry... don't be there.

Riding the blade.

Trapping and binding.

All in all a solid first day out. They all did well, footwork was a bit of a problem, but that's about 70% of swordplay, so it's always a key concern. Progress was made by leaps and bounds when we moved from theory into tactical application. All of this becomes so much clearer when it's put into practice.

Some may ask why I'm training them for combat when all of this will be choreographed anyway. There are two, maybe three, reasons. First, we don't have the luxury of stunt doubles, so everyone does their own stunts. They need to develop the instincts that will protect them if anything goes wrong. Second, this is a very collaborative film set, everyone has input. This really matters in the fight scenes because it means we won't push our actors beyond their ability since they helped invent the fight in the first place (see point one.) Third, if you're going to carry one of those things, you need to look the part. Training gives you the poise and composure befitting a warrior.

Well, that's all for now. Thanks for reading, and have a great week!

Concept Art

 We were planning to have another training session this week, but events conspired against us. On the plus side, it gives us a chance to unveil some of the season 1 concept art. For those of you who don't know, I sketch on top of writing, directing, editing, swordplay, and... other things. These are two of the pieces I used to explain scenes to my actors and crew.

1. Mike surrounded. They look like wolves, but are they?

2. Battlelines are drawn. In the foreground we have the Hashurun (southern elves). In the background... well, I guess you'll have to wait and see. Telling would give too much away.

I hope you enjoyed this sneak peek. :-)

Until next time!