Happy New Year!

'Tis the season of getting together with friends and family, so we have been busy with the adventures of the season. Updates will return next week.

Have a great week, and we'll see you in the new year.

Christmas at Brightsword Productions

Greetings one and all!
Well, this last week found us icebound and without power for awhile, so things did get thrown a bit off. However, we quickly got back on track, with color correction getting its first pass, along with even more refining edits. There was a brief hiccup when I discovered that the intended fix for a visual issue did not work, nor the next four ideas. But a moment of inspiration this morning allowed that problem to be solved simply, and artistically. If all goes well, you won't even notice. 
We also got together on Sunday for a Christmas party, in which we took our team on an adventure into the Shattered Desert...

An entertaining pastime, and a good way to see our busy friends before we launch into the new year.

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

Winter Shoot: Days 2 & 3

Greetings, one and all!
Last week, while the previous blog was going out, our team was once again on location, shooting the first half of our short. Balmy 34 degree weather notwithstanding, we managed to get through the short, yet complex, fight and dialog. Not only that, but we had enough time left to shoot pickups for the previous shoot before the light failed.
Sunday we followed up with a short after dusk shoot for the scene that links our two previous shoots.

The edit has been completed, and is being refined. Sound has been synced up to the video, and now we'll be moving into effects and color correction. After a brief detour in preparation for the weekend, that is...

That's about all for this week. Until next time!

Winter Shoot: Day 1

By the time you are reading this, we will either be preparing for, or in the middle of, our second day of shooting. But for now, we'll give you a look at the first day.

The day started out wet and windy, but thankfully let up in time for the shoot, and stayed dry (but muddy) until we wrapped for the day. It was fairly chilly, but we anticipated that, and costumed accordingly. We also managed to squeeze in all the needed shots before the light failed. Not bad for only three hours.

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

Scout and Reroute

Greetings once again! After Thanksgiving Day, we swung back into production for the short, scouting out locations on Friday. However, there was a hiccup, as the primary locations we'd been planning on were rendered unusable by various seasonal issues. Fortunately, we were able to find new locations, fairly close to both our staging place and each other. So it's a go for this coming week.

Sunday, we practiced the fights some more, and costumed our actors and stunties.

The leads took the weapons home for more practice, and stress-testing. (Conclusion: they need some help.) All in all, a good bit of work. The shoot dates have been locked, so now we pray for favorable weather.

That's about all for this week. Until next time!

A Filmmaker Gives Thanks

Over the last few years, Thanksgiving week has generally been fairly slow for us. Not so this year. This time around, we find ourselves in the middle of preparation to shoot a short. One with two fight scenes, no less. It's a busy time of year, with jobs and school, and all of the preparations for both Thanksgiving and Christmas. Nonetheless, the team is as consistent as ever, working through what needs to be done in preparation for the shoot. So I guess I just want to pause during this week where it is our tradition to give thanks, and express my gratitude for all of you who have joined me on this crazy adventure that is filmmaking. I'm thankful for your steady commitment, your humor, and your spirit, as we engage in some very unusual activities in very strange places.
As we prepare for the shoot, I want you, and everyone else who reads this, to know that I'm thankful for each and every one of you.

Happy Thanksgiving to one and all! See ya next week.

Casting the Confrontation

Greetings once again!

This week the short script was finalized, and we began the casting process. After a reading session, the potential candidates were narrowed down, and now we move into a workshopping period.

 

    

Here we refine both the dramatic and combat performances, in order to determine the best match-up to place in front of the camera. While it may be certifiably insane to attempt this in the late fall, with contrary weather and conflicting schedules, we nonetheless soldier on.

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

Project Ho!

It is with no small degree of joy that I announce that we are in the process of developing a short intended for release by the end of the year. Unlike most of our work, this one has a slightly more... villainous bent. While the actors are still un-cast, the team has been preparing the opening fight scene, and working through the technical aspects of the process.

Well, that's about all for this week, more details to come as the project develops. Until next time!

The Nine Isles Come to Lebanon

Well, that was wild. Monday we set up shop downtown, preparing for the annual trick or treating event put on by the businesses of Lebanon. As mentioned before, we had been asked to do something to make the local book store memorable. So we transformed a bit of it into a fantasy tavern, and played characters from our fantasy universe of the Nine Isles.

Then the floodgates opened.

Hilarity ensued as a thousand or so kids and parents flowed through the scene over the course of two hours. While some of us worked to feed the kids through, give them their candy, and avoid a pileup on the way, the rest kept up a lively conversation in the midst of it all. I think the parents enjoyed it as much as, if not more than, their kids. Even after the candy was gone, they still brought their kids through, just for the experience.
All in all a successful venture. Now to see if they will remember our name...

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

Kicks and Cards

Well, this week was a mashup of things. We designed the new business card in preparation for the big push, which has its early start this coming Monday with the event downtown. Soon we get to see if the public at large will remember our name...

Sunday was a smaller group, refining the close combat skills again. We've also been working on what we'll be putting in the bags for the kids on Monday. What do we say about us to the younger end of the audience...? Let the fun begin.

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

Feel the Pain, Part 2

Well, this week was nuts. Unfortunately, only about a third of that was project related. After being called in for my first days as a substitute teacher, I was finally able to turn my focus back to the projects at hand.

First off, the team met as always and expanded their "expressions of pain," selling the impacts of the hits to their persons. Afterwards we discussed the topics of discussion for our characters during the event on the 31st, and tried the costumes on our people who hadn't been there the previous week.

 

 

 

The last script reader has turned in their analysis, and we're going about working through the suggested revisions. Also, several other ideas have come up, so we're trying to frame those in as well. After a couple stagnant weeks, it's good to be moving again.

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

Dress for Success

Greetings one and all!
This week is incredibly hazy in my memory, mostly due to how busy it was, but I'll try to pull a few things out. There was some chatter about doing shorts, possibly with minimal to no dialog. Sunday we had a long costuming session, in preparation for the 31st. We seem to have most of the looks locked down, freeing us up to focus on other details.

Afterwards, we adjourned to the great outdoors for a session on selling the "hit," making the "injuries" you suffer on camera believable.

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

Resolution Roulette

Okay, so maybe not that bad, but it's been an interesting and kinda crazy week. The issues with the one payment processing group have finally been resolved, which is a relief. But, concurrent to that, one of our computers went on the fritz, cutting off access to the footage from a gig. We finally got that fixed, but now it's not recognizing the sound card. Ah... technology...

 

Sunday the team met for some choreography, and to figure out the set dressing for the event on the 31st. We also have a better idea of who can make it, so we can start blocking out the scene.

 There are many more tales from the week, but those are the highlights. Anyway, that's about all for now. Until next time!

Prep to Stage

This last week was chaotic, to say the least. On top of new steps being taken personally, we had power outages, unhelpful automated replies from certain payment processing services, and a mad dash to resolve the problems said replies created, we also took our first steps for prepping the Halloween event.

Sunday, the team met for a slightly unusual session. Some choreo was done, but the greatest progress came with the brainstorming for the event. We're leaning toward a fantasy tavern, the Raven's Head from the Nine Isles script. We have most of the costumes and set dressing, and the characters have already been created by our team. Now it's all logistics, setting up the scene, staging and costuming everyone, and figuring out how we'll be shuttling 2000 kids through in the span of an hour. Oh, and figuring out how to redirect the usual flow of the event for this new and different approach. No big deal.

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