How do I choreograph a fight scene? To me, the question is the same as “How do I put on a magic show?” We’re going to ignore issues of your venue, your lighting and backstage capabilities, the number of people to help you, and the critical props (in our case, weapons). We’ll assume: You have […]
I just watched The Raid: Redemption (and I thought colons were only used for sequels, silly me!) which is a film that was hyped in martial arts cinema, and fits in the sub-genre of “Take The Castle”. It’s a fun genre. Troy is an excellent example: fortified city, army within besieged by an army without. […]
Fee Fi Fo Fum, I smell visual effects. Academie Duello now has a huge green screen, 20′ wide, and about 12′ tall. Here’s the unboxing and first set-up: What Do You Do With It? A green screen is a way of filming a performer so that you can replace the background in your editing software. […]
Taking inspiration from Major Wes’ post on this very blog called Staged Sword Press, let’s talk about competitive stage combat. Art Contests In sporting competition, there is obvious scoring with the ball kicked across a line, or touches with a sword tip. Artistic expression has its own competitions, but they must be scored by a […]
Just a brief reminder: Stage Combat and Bartitsu classes on Saturday 18 August are cancelled because your dutiful instructor will be at the Cascadia North Accolade Tournament (CNAT). See you next week!
I just read an article by Isaac Butler on the difference between amateur and professional theatre in the USA. It was inspired by a blog post about the same topic in photography. In the era of cheap(er) high quality cameras and Photoshop, the quality of the amateur’s work is often comparable to professionals, and so […]
How do you perform high kicks to prove you’re a “real martial artist”? Even educated and experienced stunt coordinators look for leg flexibility when choosing who will perform well in fight scenes. Why? Mostly because the public demands it. So, you have to increase your flexibility to give the people what they want. The Best […]