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VIDEO TRANSCRIPTION – Movie sword and shield training tip three how to perform short sword and shield defenses that look great for filming tv. That’s what we’ll answer in today’s video. Hi, my name is Dillon Wilson with CBT stunt alliance. Train hard, perform easy. We help actors, sound performers, filmmakers, and content creators learn professional stunt training for use in film, tv, and live action performances.
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(BACK) See FREE Movie Shield & Sword Training Tip 2 of 4: Sword Attacks!
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Before we get underway, if you’re interested in adding baton, short sword, sword and dagger, even sword and shield, movie fight choreography to your current acting or stunt performer skill set, check out our highly popular online master course at www.ShortSwordMovieFighting.com you can learn attacking angles, Sword fight choreography, sword and dagger, sword and Larry Shield, even how to market your career. You can sign up now and start training now. Go to www.shortswordmoviefighting.com for more info.
Okay, so we get a lot of questions about movie baton and shortsword fighting tips, so we’re going to share a few things with you now, I’m actually an experienced stunt coordinator turned full time director. This is something I plan to do from the beginning of my career up to and including even attending and graduating film school as director. Now, along my journey, I learned that being a stunt coordinator made me a better director, and being a director made me a better stunt coordinator. And what this means to you is that I can offer insights and experience from both sides of the camera as well as all phases of production. When we thought about what would help you the most, we decided to put together this free video course that will cover the basics of movie baton and short Sword movie fighting techniques. This way, you can use it for your real upcoming auditions and even your own content. For actual performances and highly competitive auditions, you need more training like we provide in our highly popular online master course.
Why does this work? Because for self tapes, many sword auditions, mocap, and performances, you just have to look like you know how to use a, ah, movie baton or short sword. If you’re not the lead or a featured fighter, you’re going to throw anywhere from zero to two strikes and then you’re killed. Anyway, check out this following clip to see this in action.
Now, how many strikes did each performer get to throw in that action sequence? Exactly. So in today’s video, we’re going to learn how to safely and cinematically launch shield defenses when using short sword and shield fighting techniques.
All right, next, we’re going to cover the ways that you actually use the shield more, of your tactical philosophy on how to use a shield. So there are two ways of using the shield. The first way is you just hold the shield in one position the whole time and never move it. So if it’s here the entire time you’re fighting, it never moves. It stays right here and you’re doing all your strikes, you’re doing counterattacks, you’re doing everything else, and you notice nothing. The sword or the shield, rather, never moves. If there’s attacks coming in, I might just rotate it to weights and let the shield absorb it.
Movie sword training technique tips
I never move it. Now, this is the simplest way to use a shield. Here’s the thing. It’s also effective for combat because they actually, did tests before where they had newbies. They gave newbies shields and had them hold it in one position, and they put them in competitions with experienced people, experienced practitioners who could move their shield. And the newbies held up pretty good because all they did was hold the shield in front of their vital organs. And that’s the whole point of a shield. A large shield is, it covers all. Look at that.
A lot of vital organs that you can see now and how many vital organs there are. Now, the only real targets besides a piece of the head are maybe the femoral arteries. So the newbies, when they were, sparring, the experienced people, held up pretty good because they’re moving and striking and everything else. Yet all, their targets were protected by shields. So this does, work very well. So if you’re practicing, the easiest way to do it is to make sure you’re holding the shield in a proper position. Like we said before, the edge of the shield should be on your center line. Not like this. Not like this. This is amateur hour. Right.
Though there are some styles that actually do hold it like that, right? We don’t. So the shield is on the center line yet, not out here and the other thing is, the shield should be right below your eyes. You should just be able to see right over top of it. Not like this, where all this is exposed. Yet right here. If you’re up here with it, and there are some systems that use it like this. Look at this. This seems great. You feel very safe because you feel protected. Yet look at this. You can’t see all these people coming up on this side. You can’t see stripes coming in. You create a blind spot. So instead, lower down right there, and that’s where you want to keep it.
The other thing is, it does take some conditioning because you feel the weight of the shield on your arm. So some people, the tendency is to kind of let this shield drift down. You’ll see them down here especially, a lot of newbies do this. Don’t do that again, these are the things that are going to get you cast. When you’re there and you’re in a stance and you’re holding the shield in the right position. Stunt coordinators and even fight choreographers, any people with weapons training are instantly going to be able to tell. So this is the first way, keeping the shield stationary by your side.
All right. Now, the second way of using this shield is using it for simultaneous attack and defense. And by the way, this is a little pro tip after a while, even. These are foam shields, right? Yet these have weight to them, and the wooden shields are even heavier. They have resin shields, plastic shields, foam shields. Yet they do weigh on you after a while. One of the things that, a couple of ways you can take the weight off of you is what you see me doing is just take the shield and kind of hold it here and let it rest on your thigh. And this way, especially on set, it doesn’t look like you’re tired. It looks like just a technique. Right. It’s a way of taking the weight off. The other way is you can take the handle and usually, well, these are sweatpants.
Movie sword training books
Yet, you see, if I had a belt on, I could actually just let it rest on my belt and go hands free. Right. And that’s another way you could do. You take the handle, depending on the shield, and just let it hang down from your belly. Either way is fine. This way, you prevent yourself from getting arm weary. Now, the second way, as we mentioned before, is simultaneous, offense and counterattack. And here’s how that looks. This takes more practice and takes more skill. And again, anyone who has had training with this instantly recognizes it. Here’s how this looks. So there are three positions that the shield will move in. So remember, the first way, the shield never moves. It stays here, protecting your vital organs all the time. Right? Well, this way, the shield is going to move. And here’s how it moves three ways. Number one extends forward.
See that? Extends forward. And we’re going to show you the applications of this in a moment. Extends forward. The second way is. Extends that way. This again, engages strikes that are coming from this side. The other way is it goes this way. See that? Look up. Pay attention to where the center of the shield is facing. So from here, it engages that strike. Now, if it’s angle four and angle two, it engages that strike. Right. It can be like this, with the arm straight, it’s almost like you’re punching into it. Right? Or it could just be the elbow, like you’re doing an elbow strike coming around, depending on how close they are to you. Right? So if they’re far away, you can be out here. If they’re close to you, you can be here. Right. Either way, the shield is going this way. The third way is to angle 13. Strike above your head.
That’s it. So those are the three places that the, shield can move to. And again, these could be counterattacks, or they’re just you attacking. So let’s say if the person is, my scene partner is bringing in an angle one. For bringing angle one, I can do this, right? That’s it. So that’s a simultaneous attack, a defense and attack. As their angle one comes in, my shield is engaging and shielding their angle one as my thrust is going in and stabbing them. So that’s why it’s a simultaneous attack and defense. Boom. That’s where angle one. Now, let’s say to bring in an angle four over here. Well, now, from this position, I can bring in a simultaneous attack and defense, because I can go here. You see that? We’ll do that from the side so you can see it towards the camera. You’ll bring angle four. See how that looks? So this will stop a four or two.
And this is angle six with the sword coming around. That’s why you learn all those 15 attacking angles. They have all types of cool applications for them. So that five, six, seven. That six goes right around the shield, and so does that seven. The five, the six, the seven, right? So as that comes in, there is the attack. And this shields their sword. They can’t do anything against this. And this actually stabs them. And then the other way, as I mentioned, is, number 13, which is the overhead strike. And the overhead strike as it comes in is this here. Do it from the side. Overhead strike. Boom. And you’re shielding against your sword and stabbing them in a heart.
Again, we do everything on both sides. So angle one comes in. We’re here. Angle four, angle two here, angle 13 here. So you see much more cinematic than the first way, which is why it’s the preferable way. However, I’ve been doing it a long time, and you don’t have to practice this a long time to get it. You just have to practice it right. Once you get the movements down, you’ll look natural with it. And so, for me, you could tell my whole body moves as one unit.
When a time comes, there’s angle 13. Boom. It’s just right there. Everything is picture perfect because I’ve been practicing all this time. If you’re a newer person, you have to practice to get to that point. So if you know you’re not good with that, stick with the first way, you’ll still book the role, right? Because most people do the first way. Most people aren’t that skilled, right? And, you doing that means that you’re more skilled than most people. Okay? So yet, if you can and you really wish to stand out, learn a second way, because the second way is much more cinematic. Again, stunt coordinators and all stunt coordinators are not experts in martial arts weapons, believe it or not.
Yet the ones that are, are going to recognize that, and it will make you stand out, man or woman. Doesn’t matter what your ethnicity is, when they know they can do, ah, a greater caliber choreography with you than other people. And I can tell you, as a stunt coordinator, quote unquote, retired, it really is frustrating having to lessen your vision of a fight scene because the caliber of the performers is lesser. It’s like, we could do so much more if I had greater caliber stunt performers. And that happens. They don’t have the training. They can’t do these, they can’t do acrobatics.
Movie sword training technique tips, movie sword training books
They never had training in these type of weapons. They have really basic training, this. And you have to really lessen the vision for, a fight scene or action sequence. So you don’t want to be that person. You want to be the person where the sound coordinator looks at you and gets excited. And suddenly the vision they had for the fight scene now just grew. Because now I know you can do this. I’m going to use that. Okay. I think I shared another video. I did something before, and a director saw it and loved it and said, I want that in my movie.
That was the thing that made them want me in their movie because they saw me perform something that no one else had done before. So these type of things really, stand out. So stop the video now and give these a try. Visualize the angle one coming in. And again, you’re just engaging it with the shield and just doing angle five. Visualize angle four coming in. You’re punching into it and then doing the angle six. And use the angle six is stabbing them somewhere, like in their heart, their lung, or their liver or their kidney. And then visualize angle 13 coming in. And you see it kind of comes in simultaneously. So this goes in and shields above your head, and this thrusts into the heart. So go ahead and stop the video now and give this a try.
It is broken down step by step to ensure that you learn it both easily and quickly. Lastly, we’re going to share a few pro tips with you yet before we do, check this out.
Any of the topics that we’ve covered are of interest to you. Definitely head on over to our website and take the free video tour. Now we’ll share a pro tip with you. Pro tip? Practice using or facing a mirror first and then using your camera phone. What this does, it helps you to perfect your technique. You don’t just wish to be practicing and just looking off in the space, right? I mean, you do that as well. Yet there comes a point when you need to really perfect your form, especially as a stunt performer or action actor, because you’re on camera. Martial artists can get away with it because they don’t always have to look picture perfect as long as the technique works properly.
Yet when you’re on film and tv and even doing live action, you got to look good, right? So when you’re facing the mirror, you can correct, you can see things that you can’t feel, especially in the beginning, it will feel like you’re doing it correctly and you look in a mirror and see that you’re not doing it correctly. Right? Now, once you perfect the techniques in, um, the mirror, then you wish to set up your camera phone and record yourself. You cannot see everything that you’re doing in the mirror and you can’t review it afterwards, right? Yet the camera phone enables you to go back and look from the top of your head to the bottom of your feet and find everything that you’re doing correctly and continue doing that and find the things that need improvement and then improve those things.
And so the camera is very important. You can rewind it, right? You can fix footwork. You can see where your balance is off, you can see where you did. You forgot to do a certain move. And that’s why the camera phone, we recommend this a lot throughout all of our master courses because here’s the thing to always remember. Repeat this statement after me. The camera doesn’t lie. If you look awful on camera, then you did it off, you looked awful. The camera’s not lying on you. And the camera that you’re using with your camera phone, if you look awful on that camera, you’re going to look awful on the DP’s camera on set, right? Or at the audition.
So you don’t want that. So the moment you start looking good on your camera, you’re going to look good on set, at the audition and you’re going to look good on camera, on set. So that’s the main thing. One last note, especially, in the beginning, it’s very common for beginners to feel like they’re doing it incorrectly, right? And it’s like, oh, I’m just doing a horrible, horrible job. That’s common, right? Men and women, same thing because they’re unnatural movements.
Yet the moment, every time, without exception, that a beginner, a newbie, sees a, ah, video recording of themselves doing a choreography, great big smile breaks out in their face because they’re like, oh, okay, I actually looked kind of good. And it’s true, right? So that’s why it’s important to video record yourself. Because you think, because it doesn’t feel right, that it won’t look right. Yet. When you’re watching the video, you’ll see that you’re probably like 80% there, 90% there, and you see it looks good. It just needs more practice. This is an important, training tip to use with all your training yet, especially with movie sword fight choreography.
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Lastly, if you like more information about our highly popular online movie Baton and short sword fighting master course, go to www.ShortSwordMovieFighting.com , or click on the link below this video. Again, my name is Dillon Wilson with CBT stunt alliance. Train hard, perform easy. Don’t miss our next video when we share with you another movie baton and short sword fighting tip.