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VIDEO TRANSCRIPTION – Movie Sword Training Course Tip 3: The 12 Most Cinematic Sword Guards With Two-handed Long Sword. 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, stunt performers and filmmakers learn professional stunt training for use in film tv and live action entertainment. Before we get underway, if you’d like to add two-handed long-story movie sword fighting training to your current acting or stunt performer skill set check out our highly popular master course at www.MovieSwordFighting.com or click on the link below this video. You can learn sword attacks or counter-attacks cinematic sword draws a sword choreography. You know sword reactions how to market your career more, go to www.MovieSwordFighting.com for more information. You can sign up now and start training now.
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(BACK) See FREE Movie Sword Training Class Tip 2
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Now before we get underway, if you’re interested in adding two-handed long sword training to your acting or self-performance skill set, check out our highly popular online master course at www.MovieSwordFighting.com. You can learn sword attacking angles, sword counter attacks, sword stunt reactions, even cinematic sword draws, how to market your career and more. Go to www.MovieSwordFighting.com for more information or click on the link below this video.
Okay, so we get a lot of questions about movie sword fight training techniques and tips so we’re going to share a few things with you now I’m actually an experienced stunt coordinator current 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 a director along my journey, I learned that being a stunt coordinator made me a better director as well as being a director made me a better stunt coordinator. So how this benefits you is i can share with you insights and experience from both sides of the camera as well through all stages of production when we thought about what would benefit you the most, we decided to put together this free six-part video course that shows you the basics of two-handed long-sword so you can use it to put together your own choreography for your own reel you know for auditions and even your own content for actual performances and highly competitive auditions. You need more training by what we offer in our movie sword fighting master course.
Why does this work? Because for self tapes sword auditions and performances you just have to look like you know, how you’re using the sword if you’re not the lead or a featured fighter you’re gonna launch anywhere from zero to two strikes and then you’re gonna get killed. Check out this clip from the movie The Lord of the rings. Now how many strikes did each performer get to throw in that action sequence exactly. So in this video we’re going to cover the 12 most cinematic sword guards.
Now the first seven of the twelve come from a martial art known as CBT which is what we practice it is a very combative art yeah, we also have a division called theatrical CBT which is designed for film tv and actually live action performances. It’s still based on combat yet it has moves and things that we would never do in combat. Yet they please audiences so we’re going to also include uh and because of that we there’s other stuff in here that will look very good as well yeah we wouldn’t actually use it in combat some of the moves are or some of the guards are similar with other cultures because there’s only so many ways the human body can move with the sword and many cultures call them by many different names. So just to make it simple we’re just going to number each one so each of the guards we’re going to number and that’s how we refer to them and how you should remember them.
So I’m going to switch over to a piece of PVC. This is also one of the things we covered on how to get your long sword if you don’t have a lot of money, these are like you get an eight foot length for like three or four dollars you get a sword you cut it for about to inches and you have your own long sword right. So I’m going to do this because it actually stands out more in this environment and you can see it better so the the first uh guard that we’re gonna learn.
Movie Sword Training Basics Tip: Cinematic Sword Guard 1
Uh, number one, with regard number one, so if you hear me refer to guard number one, this is what I’m referring to is called, well it looks like this. It’s CBT we call it natural posture yeah for all of these guards. I’m going to be in front stance and if you don’t know what the stances are, watch our previous video where we covered grips and stances with a two-handed long sword. So I’m gonna be in front stance which is on the rear leg five percent of the front leg and so when I’m in uh guard number one what I’m gonna do I’m gonna have the same grip like we learned in a previous video and the hands are going to be about at waist height. The sword is going to point pretty much at the neck or the larynx of my opponent so I’m right here and to see it from the camera’s perspective. If it was you if you’re my opponent you see how again my feet are in front stance I’m not here I’m not here you could do that though yet for right now you just want to be here on your center line, just like this with the sword facing upwards towards your opponent’s throat this is called, this is guard number one.
Movie Sword Training Basics Tip: Cinematic Sword Guard 2
Now guard number two is very simple because all you’re doing is going from here to here. Once again from guard number one, we just drop straight down, it’s called the earth position to uh guard number two. Now guard number two can occupy anything in this area so even if if you were here if you were here if you were here this is still fine even from the side if i drop down i can drive down to either side as well and we still consider this to be guard number two. movie sword training basics, movie sword training program, Cinematic Sword Guards, Dillon Wilson, CBT Stunt Alliance, Movie Sword Master, Movie Sword Expert.
Movie Sword Training Basics Tip: Cinematic Sword Guard 3
Alright, now guard number three and you notice these all flow one to the other, if we’re here uh coming from guard number two, we’re gonna go right up here to this position right. So you can see that again I come right from here and I come up and if you notice the sword is off degrees that way and forward so I don’t bring it degrees like this one, other thing is in CBT, we never have the sword point away from our opponent so it’s very common for other systems the opponent’s here and they’ll be here or something right and the sword is back there, yet uh for combat we don’t do it for theatrical we do whatever yeah for combat everything that we do the tip always faces forward so even with us, we don’t actually do this and for combat, this is the closest we come because we’re here so if you notice the sword doesn’t come up here, it actually stays forward like that and what we do is we’re looking right over here like it’s the front side on the rifle or something, that’s how we’re looking at it plus the arms are in close so we’re in like this and we can launch an attack very quickly right there so this is guard number three so from number two we come up here to number three.
Movie Sword Training Basics Tip: Cinematic Sword Guard 4
Alright, so guard number four is or actually four and five are variations of this one. So remember the arms are in tight because we don’t want the arms to be targets when they’re out, those arms are some of the primary targets for in sword fighting, so with the arms in close and the sword out, still towards the opponent, so uh guard number four is this we call it um, it’s just a variation on this. All that happens is this, the hands invert like that the arms just invert like this so from here, say I’m looking there to here and if you notice this is called your center line your body rotates on that axis the sword is on the center line, it’s not off to the side. Now you have to be aware of camera because if on camera, you’re like this then you need to do it off to the side because remember we want our faces on camera so you gotta always play the camera, so be aware you know of Cameron, even if you have to ask to see you know maybe what it looks like so if you have to to uh to take it off to the side to play the camera more you do, yeah to be correct. For right now, training you’re here on the center line so from here his number is number three this is number four all I did again, I do it from the side, I’m here and it just inverts here. Now if you notice this is can actually be a very dramatic pose and it’s very common for directors to get close-ups of you a medium close-up or close-up of you when you’re in this pose because usually you’ll be here right you know. You may even be here or you may be here and they’ll want to get the full production of that sword as well as your face so it’s actually a very nice shot and this is for guard number four.
Movie Sword Training Basics Tip: Cinematic Sword Guard 5
Now guard number five, very simple from here we just invert the arms here. See that and do it from the side, guard number four to right here, guard number five and you you can play with it with the area you know, arm up arm down, whatever you wish to do yeah. That’s how it looks, guard four, guard five once again, the sword being on the center line, if necessary, take it off to the side so that camera sees your face. This is how it looks on the side and I can put the arm down I can bring the arm up it’s all, whatever you want to do however you want to play the character.
Alright, so the next one will go right from guard five to guard six. So here’s how we’re going to do this, here’s guard five guard six we’re going to take the left hand and switch positions with the right hand and then we’re going to put the left thumb on the right shoulder. See that, so I went from here to here and that’s what I’m doing, you see that and my thumb is not the sword that’s not good the thumb is actually resting on the shoulder so we’re like this. Once again, the sword is out degrees towards the opponent, not degrees back, this way again, some systems do do this a lot of European martial arts have things, you know where uh guards where they have the sword going rearward. That’s totally fine, we’re a different art, we have a different philosophy everyone has their own way of doing it it’s totally fine.
Movie Sword Training Basics Tip: Cinematic Sword Guard 6
And for film and tv it doesn’t matter, it’s all about what looks good so for us though we’re here and the sword faces this way and this is guard number six, all right. So one more time if we’re going from five as you were guard four five and six from the side, guard four five and six, now if you notice I naturally get low because when we do that, that particular guard, we get lower because if you notice with this one, we’re squared off more, there’s more of our body facing the opponent, yet with this one, we turn to the side, so we become a much thinner target and we get smaller so when we play this, this part, we’re here, see that, so we’re here we’re big we’re here we’re small and all I did was bend my knees and sink down because percent of my weight is still in the rear leg and this is guard number six. movie sword training basics, movie sword training program, Cinematic Sword Guards, Dillon Wilson, CBT Stunt Alliance, Movie Sword Master, Movie Sword Expert.
Movie Sword Training Basics Tip: Cinematic Sword Guard 7
Now guard number seven is amazingly complicated. Here’s how we’re gonna do it, so remember the thumb is on the shoulder here, so our number seven, all we’re going to do, we’re going to pretend like someone popped up behind us and we’re just going to shift the weight forward and with our right hand we’re going to touch our face and have the sword on the center line, I’ll do this facing camera. So if we’re here, someone appears behind us, we’re here now I’m gonna do a facing away from camera so from here someone appears behind me I’m here, and I could even advance like that. If you notice, I’m still using the thumb grip from the previous video and the back of my hand is actually touching the side of my jaw keeping the sword close and I have the thumb here and the tip of the sword is still right on the center line and you I’ll let you see this even with it the two-handed long sword. If I were here, it’d be here. If I were here, it’d be here. Now obviously, we don’t stay here long, it’s a transitional stance and we may come here you know or something else, yeah, that’s how we do it, that’s that’s the guard. So guard number seven from goes from number six to number seven. Once again, look at the hand as it comes from here, it touches the face. So from here, thumb’s touching a shoulder, left thumb to the back of the right hand, touching the face and that’s guard number seven.
Alright, so those seven were all from the main system CBT. These last five are not in the combative; they aren’t theatrical right.
Movie Sword Training Basics Tip: Cinematic Sword Guard 8
And so, uh number eight is the overhead guard. This is probably one of the most iconic guards that you’ve seen and again different people do it differently, you see how the sword. I’m gonna switch back to the white PVC, so you can see that more easily. See how the and I’ll then I’ll kneel down, you see how the sword is up, degrees you can do it like that, it’s also not wrong to do it like this and bend, even do it like that right, yet none of this is wrong, yet for camera purposes, this angle is better because if you notice if I lower it down, you don’t see the sword, if I raise it up, you see it, so when you’re for a movie sword fighting, you want the sword high you don’t want it here and certainly not there because it disappears in view and the key thing when you’re doing the overhead guard, your hands are still in the same grip on the sword, you just want to make sure that your eyes are looking underneath your hand and you’re not doing this, you’re not bringing his hand down and obscuring your vision and neither should the palm will be obscuring your vision, so when you’re here you see this, I can see clearly under my hand the same time I don’t want to be all the way up here right, so right there and that’s going to be a correct overhead guard. So uh from that position you come right up into the overhead guard and that is guard number eight.
Movie Sword Training Basics Tip: Cinematic Sword Guard 9
Now guard number nine, you notice they all flow, you know, one into the other so from the overhead from this, number eight which is the overhead guard, all we’re going to do is lower the sword down, like this, over our shoulder, you see, this I’ll do a so you can see how it looks. It’s actually resting on my shoulder so once again here here it’s almost like you got a baseball bat like right, so you got a baseball bat chambered right here. If you’ve ever played baseball or softball before, yeah in the hands, the left arm is up and the right hand is uh, almost above your shoulder alright, this is this is guard number number nine. movie sword training basics, movie sword training program, Cinematic Sword Guards, Dillon Wilson, CBT Stunt Alliance, Movie Sword Master, Movie Sword Expert.
Movie Sword Training Basics Tip: Cinematic Sword Guard 10
Now guard number ten same thing is really complicated. Watch this one. That’s it, see that guard number nine guard, number ten and if you notice this sword, unlike with the other one, with the swords up here. Now this sword is essentially behind your face. So if I’m here and I’m going to guard number, I’m here you see that, you see how the camera picks me up, if it were a medium close-up, I’m here and then I’m here, it could be even tighter right and there’s no way it’s going to obscure your face. So nine and ten, alright. So now, we’re going to bring it home with the final two cinematic sewer guards.
Movie Sword Training Basics Tip: Cinematic Sword Guard 11
And the uh guard number eleven is kind of like guard number two, the only difference is with guard number two, we were down here moving out a little bit. Guard number two, we’re here remember, we could, we could kind of play in this area, yeah we didn’t break this line with guard number two, the only difference with guard number eleven is that is back here. See that and it could be on either side, yet usually, you’re you’re here with it. And I’ll do a couple different angles so this is guard two guard eleven. this is guard two, guard eleven. and you can with guard eleven, you have all this area to play with. Again you want to develop a sixth sense for where the camera is located as an actor or stunt performer. If you have a sword and and I’ve had stunt performers do this before I have to correct them. If you have a sword and this is what the camera sees, you know, then the director has lost production, by they paid money to rent these props from armors like myself and our on our stunt team and people can’t even see them, so you got to know to kind of do stuff like like this. Now you kind of stand to the side and other things to make the the prop weapon be seen on camera.
You see that, even if you’re doing stuff like this to make sure and not this yet this to make sure that it actually gets seen. So when you’re when you’re using when you’re doing guard number eleven this is why we say you have room to play in these areas. if if I’m hearing guard number eleven, that’s not good for camera is it? yeah that’s still a correct form even for combat for systems that do that what’s better for camera this or this. These are the things that make all the difference right and all I did was move it from here to here because I know I’m playing a camera and I know that if the director is watching me and notices that I’m doing stuff like that, that they’re going to like me and most likely tell the DP to favor me in the shots. Look at that so from here to here eat up it’s your own content right, so that’s number eleven.
Movie Sword Training Basics Tip: Cinematic Sword Guard 12
Now for uh guard the last guard, which is number twelve. Be a drum roll right here, right, so we’re here number eleven. And what we’re going to do now is a step forward and do like this and the arms are actually crossed I’m going to do this one with the actual long sword now so you can see where the the cross guards go. It’s got a cross guard goes inside my arm right and you can flow into any of these, you know, from any order we’re going to go from here, and we’re going to go here, right, that’s how it looks. Once again it’s on the center line facing the opponent, the cross guard is inside the arm and you can still go right into action with this because you know you come up and throw strikes, you rotate it when you’re throwing a thrust, you see that. All these guards are designed where they provide you with some protection or also either keep an opponent at bay or invite an opponent to attack you, yet to also enable you to be able to launch attacks very quickly so even though the cross guard is in here, when you go to throw the thrust, you just rotate it out. It’s very quick, so that is number twelve. Just like this where the right hand is on top. Once again, left hand on the bottom, the blade rests on your arm, I still have the the thumb grip and we’ll cross like this with the tip on the centerline, playing the opponent.
Go ahead and stop the video and try some of these guards right now.
We’re going to finish up this video by showing you how to put together dramatic guard combinations to tell compelling stories with your character. Yet before we do that, check this out.
Let’s take a sneak peek and look inside this master course that was made by pro stunt coordinators actors, stunt performers and filmmakers for professional actors, stunt performers and filmmakers even content creators. By the way, if you’re a martial artist, you’re going to learn how to convert your martial arts skills into movies and tv. And the first thing you notice is that we designed our platform to be very intuitive and easy to use, right. The moment you’re in there, whether you’re on your computer or your phone, you can pretty much figure out what to do very quickly. Each one of our master courses start off with an introduction and a safety briefing so you actually get to meet your instructors. And each one you know, they go over the uh their background, their qualifications that sort of thing as well as going over an actual safety briefing
Now we always want you to learn as much as possible, so along with that comes with your own cheat sheet. There’s also a private online social community which we actually cover letter .You actually get our email address information to actually reach us, this is the two-handed sword video breakdown. Covers swords grips, stances, attacking angles, everything to give you a strong solid foundation, the two-handed sword master class. Now you notice that each our courses is broken down into units. So this is a unit this is a unit and each unit is broken out into a class or instructional each of these is an instructional. Each one is about ten minutes long, we like to keep them about ten minutes or bite size and not too long. Some are a bit longer because they have to be. And for the most part, they’re about ten minutes so you can actually learn more effectively. This one covers a lot of the sword counterattacks.
Let’s take a look at one here the um, this is a weapon shielded four, so we’ll take a look at this one and you’ll see everything is broken down explained step by step demonstrated so you know exactly how it should look you know how it should flow. Now one of the many other cool things is that we include what we call live action video displays. Actually are clips from movies and tv shows so you actually can see, you know what the period could look like when it’s in the movie. So we’ll take a look at one here this is a clip from kingdom of heaven and you can see how it actually all comes together. So the stuff that you’re learning you see, it’s different than if you’re doing combat that we’re providing because they’re going to shoot it differently, they’re going to edit it differently and this helps you to really lock in your lessons. Here is this a uh one of the most popular courses of classes rather in this course is the two-handed sword drawing and resheathing clinic where you learn all sorts of ways of cinematically drawing the sword you know when you can do a cool sword draw, they’re definitely going to be you know favoring you in the camera. So let’s take a look at one of them. Here, we’ll go with this with this one. This is the sword in the earth position, yes you can see what it kind of looks like and you see step by step broken down, you showed exactly what to do, how to do it over and over again. So it doesn’t matter if you are a rank beginner, everything is broken down and explained to you, so that you are clear on how to safely and effectively perform each of these these movie storage sequences. This one is our monthly sharpen and polished video conference lab. Each month we do this and it’s designed to actually help you with your career. Try it, hours risk-free after reviewing the entire course if you don’t like what you see and it doesn’t work for you we’ll refund every penny. Who else lets you go through their movie sword training and then if you’re not happy after looking at all the training, gives you a complete refund. Bottom line, we’re passionate about making our customers happy and keeping them that way, so well worth the investment if you’re serious about learning two-handed long-sword movie sword fighting.
Cinematic Sword Guard Combination #1
So to finish up, here are a few numbered combinations of guards that are great for dramatic build up before or during a sword fight. As an actor or stunt performer always remember, it’s always in the details, everyone plays the big moments, big, it is what you do in a little moment that makes you stand out. So make sure you have dramatic looks on your face and in your body when you’re performing your dramatic guard combos or launching attacks or counter-attacks. This dramatic performance heightens the stakes in the scene and makes it far more entertaining. Check out this clip from the movie kill bill to see how they leverage this concept.
Okay so here’s the first combination, usually in a movie or tv, you do two to three of these two to three guards in your combination and then you launch your attack or counterattack. You can even move around a little bit when you’re doing them and not too much, unless the director tells you to you. Usually just kind of play in that space because they’ve already done the blocking and they know where the shot is. I remember one movie I actually got directed. I had one stunt performer that for some reason, every time we we called action, he would run out of frame you know, it was a tactical thing you know it wasn’t sword fighting. If we call action, he’d die for cover and the cover is out of frame right. We had to call cut, he just couldn’t, it took him a few takes to get in his head to stay in frame, right. So if you’re going to move make sure you you ideally get permission from the director and stunt coordinator so they know where you are so you don’t actually affect the blocking. So the first guard combo, what I’m going to do to give you some variety is I’m going to demonstrate it first with PVC on the right side because we train ambidextrously.
You do on the right, also do it on the left, right. Sometimes on set, the camera, it just doesn’t work from a certain angle and if you only practice on the right side, you know and then camera, you know the DP’s like you know what we can’t shoot it from me, I need to be over here, can you do it on the left side and you’re like this and I’ve had you know some performers that did that, you know, and then they had doing the left side. It didn’t look as good on the left side so make sure you practice on both sides, so this is a guard combo one all right. Guard one, three and four I’m gonna do that now. So here’s the guard combo again, I’m in front stance you know, I’m gonna have that dramatic look on my face, my body’s, I’m gonna be in that moment, right, so I’m in guard one, guard three and then guard four. See that, then the attack would come so I’ll do that facing camera. Guard one, guard three, guard four then I attack or counterattack. I’ll do it from another angle then I’m going to do the other side with a different weapon, right? So guard one guard three guard four then the attack.
Alright, now I’ll do that with a katana. On the left side guard one, guard three, guard four. Now if you notice, you can’t see the katana, can you? Right, so I gotta kind of play to camera either doing this or doing this, this is what you have to be aware of. Guard one, you can see just fine. Guard three, you can see just fine, if the moment I go to guard four is perfect for combat. You’re not for film I need to turn it a little bit and all I did was kind of rotate it in my hand like that to play the camera right, that’s guard four and then I would counter attack. One more time, I’ll do that guard one, three, four and then counter attack, right, you see how it looks and now what what did you really do, yet especially when the you know the shot the way they’re going to edit it, the way they’re going to put the music in there, it looks like you’re some kind of sword master. You saw the clip from kill bill, how much production value they got from that and the two ladies were just standing around pretty much like this the whole time, they’re just cutting back and forth you know between the characters.
Cinematic Sword Guard Combination #2
So that is the first guard combo now we’re going to go on to the second guard combo and the second guard combo is going to be and eight, nine and twelve. So I’m gonna I’ll do it from the side first eight this is eight, nine, twelve I’ll do a facing I’ll do a three-quarter view with camera, eight nine twelve. And I’ll do it this way eight, nine, twelve. Now doing on the left side with a different weapon. See how it looks. Do it with a as we mentioned in the uh first video in this series in this six video series two a uh axe two-handed battle axe of this lane, many of the techniques are interchangeable not the really long one, yet if you notice it’s not that much different from the length of a of a smaller two-handed long sword.
So even if you have character that you want to play, you want to bring something unique and different to an audition, you know and everyone else has a sword. Most stumble farmers don’t train with this kind of stuff so the moment you you have something like this you instantly steal the scene, because everybody’s looking to see what you’re going to do with this big behind axe you know you’re going to be chopping people up and stuff right? So everything that we did the same guard still apply with the uh with a two-handed bag. So we’re gonna do eight, nine, and eleven as you were yeah eight nine and twelve rather eight nine and twelve. Using a two-handed a two-handed axe so eight, nine, twelve. I’ll do three quarter view eight nine twelve. I could also step rear into the stepping forward a little facing camera. Eight, nine, twelve. See that and what you can do like if I saw myself doing this I would probably play a little bit you know, with to make sure they get in the production value, I’m going to exaggerate. Again, you see in this environment, the black kind of blends, just to give you some idea, instead of being like this, I’d have it so that it would get picked up on camera more.
This one number nine, works really well especially this is usually going to be a silver blade right, that works really well and then even having this and number twelve, with that great big blade you know is gonna look really really good. They the director will love this so much they may even get good coverage of the axe it’s such a unique weapon, because everyone knows when it’s like the shotgun of bladed weapons right, you take out a shotgun, everyone’s, oh the street sweeper, you take out the axe, you know, swords you’re doing like this, you know, you have to ask something’s coming off my head’s, coming off and arm’s coming off, legs are coming off, so uh if you’re doing you got some some stance like this, you know they may actually get a closer coverage of the axe, which also means you get closer coverage of you. So do it one last time, eight, nine, twelve. After I do it one time, stepping rearward, some people like going rearward, eight nine twelve.
Now, that is the second guard combination and in the master course, we actually show you more you know there are more combinations that you can use that have already been you know, done in movies and it gives you more ideas, so you learn two here I think there’s like six or six or more in the in the uh two-handed long-short master course.
Now have some fun making up your own combinations of the 12 cinematic guards and make sure to watch yourself in the mirror as you do them. Stop this video now and give it a try, make some cool combinations up of your own, alright.
Make sure you like this video and smash that subscribe button so you don’t miss the fourth video in our six part free movie story training course. Also make sure you sign up for our pro stunt tips email newsletter to receive movie sword fighting tips in your inbox. And lastly, if you like more information about our highly popular two-handed long sword master course go to www.MovieSwordFighting.com or click on the link below this video. It’s going to blow your mind.
Again my name is Dillon Wilson with CBT Stunt Alliance. Train hard, perform easy. Don’t miss our next video where we share with you another cool movie sword fighting tip. See you next video.
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Lastly, if you like more information on our highly popular 2 handed long sword master course go to www.MovieSwordFighting.com or click on a link below this video. Again my name is Dillon Wilson with CBT Stunt Alliance. Train hard, perform easy. Don’t miss our next video, we share with you another movie sword fighting tip. See you next video.