Let’s face it “Team-Building” has become corporate code for forced small talk and lukewarm coffee in a beige conference room. Your coworkers don’t want to build spaghetti towers or fall backwards into each other’s arms while pretending that’s a meaningful trust exercise. They want something cool. Something memorable. Something different. Something that has been the way numerous civilizations have survived and developed. Something that is still ingrained in our DNA. Swords.

Enter: The Sword Experience.

Yes, it’s real. No, you don’t have to be a medieval reenactor or closet ninja to do it. But if you’ve ever wanted to give Steve from accounting a totally safe, choreographed smack with a bokken while laughing about footwork—this is your moment.

Sword fighting might seem like a strange office bonding strategy, but under the dramatic swings and cinematic flair lies a surprisingly effective toolkit for workplace success. Because nothing says “trust” like standing opposite someone with a weapon and relying on them not to accidentally thwack your elbow.

However, the most important thing that sword fighting teaches you and your staff is the ability to understand the difference between an opponent and a partner. it’s one of the most common comments we get when hearing from companies and individuals who take our corporate events.

So let’s delve into how sword training slices through awkwardness and builds actual team connection:

1. Instant Trust (or Mild Peril-Driven Bonding)
Sword choreography requires more than just swinging sticks around—it demands timing, awareness, and actual communication. One of the reasons we work with an attack and defense numbering system , so that you and your partners understand how and when to strike or defend. Then, you have to listen to your partner’s cues. You have to watch their movements, so that not only will you both make the sequence look cool and realistic, but you accomplish this by learning to work together, not just side-by-side, but in sync. Suddenly, your team isn’t just a Slack channel. It’s a unit.

2. Shared Vulnerability (in Matching Foam Gear)
Nothing levels the office playing field like watching your boss mess up a sword combo. When everyone’s learning together—messing up together, laughing together—it breaks down those stiff professional walls. You’re not manager and intern anymore. You’re co-warriors, desperately trying not to trip during an attack, spin or simple defensive movement. It brings you closer to your co workers and maybe, just maybe, you’ll be able to reference the aspects you learned, not only in your every day life, but in your work environment.

3. Physical Engagement Beats PowerPoint Fatigue
Sword Experience events get people moving. It is probably the best non weight bearing, physical workout that there is. It’s not a passive lecture. It’s a full-body, immersive workout disguised as fun, that tests your legs, arms and every part of your body. Take just the swing for instance. Not only are the wrists, elbows, forearms, shoulders and back engaged, but if you do it correctly with the footwork, you’ll leave with a great cardio workout, that you didn’t realize you were doing. Employees leave energized, not drained. (And possibly sore in some deeply confusing muscles.)

4. Real Communication, Minus the Buzzwords
Sword choreography forces clear, direct, and instant communication. No corporate jargon. No “circling back.” Just “You step left, attack right, I duck left, then we’ll clash and make it epic. ” Teams who train this way start talking differently—more openly, more effectively. Plus, they become more creative. How? Well, once the rigid direction of the strikes are safely learned, the creative part of swordplay begins to happen in between the choreography. Adrian always gives the example of watching an action movie. During the action scenes you see the amazing effects, stunts and movements, but really, you are watching the interplay between the characters. So, when you start putting your own spin on the beats in between the sword play, you’re effectively tapping into your creative side, which later translates into the workplace, or at home, by accessing a part of the brain that solves problems. Also, people use way more sound effects than in meetings so they have way more fun. Win-win.

5. Memories That Don’t Involve a Zoom Call
People don’t remember another budget meeting. They do remember locking blades with Cheryl from sales, while a former Highlander actor gives them tips on form, communication and movement. Sword fighting doesn’t just create skills—it creates stories. And stories are what build teams that last.
So, the next time you’re planning a company retreat, skip the trust falls and vision boards. Bring your team to a Sword Experience event instead. Let them sweat. Let them laugh. Let them duel (safely). Because when the swords come out, the walls come down—and that’s when the real teamwork begins.

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Interview with C. David Belt part 2

In our previous talk with C. David Belt, we discussed his weapons collection as well as his passion for history. In our second part, we learn more about Mr. Belt’s writing, his history classes, how to get into contact with him to learn more, and why he loves Renaissance Faires.

Sword Experience (SXP): So, it seems like most of your classes are at Renaissance Faires. If people would like to experience your class, how would people know which Renaissance Faires you are attending, and how would people be able to take your writing class?

C. David Belt (CDB): I normally publish this on my website, unwillingchild.com. There is an events link, and there I will usually list where I’m going to be and what hours I’m going to be there. Of course, right now with the Coronavirus, it’s been very limited. I did my first class since February just last month and that was for a private event. They brought us out to do that. But, most of the writer’s conferences in and around Utah, I will teach at. Sometimes only every other year, but I’ve done the Life, The Universe, and Everything symposium. I’ve done Kanab Writer’s Conference. I’ve actually presented at Horror Con, which is like a Comic Con with a horror theme here in Utah. I do Wizarding Days. That’s a newer festival that is Harry Potter themed, but they’ve had me back two years in a row to present this, because it’s so popular. People come back to the shows, because I always have new stuff. Or I’ve always learned something new about something I’ve talked about before. 

So, the website, the events link will have what’s upcoming, and right now things are shifting too much, so there’s nothing current posted on there. I’m expecting to do one in the Utah Renaissance Faire in August at Thanksgiving point in Utah. It’s a two-day event, and they want me back every year, so I’m happy to do that one. (Sadly, this faire was just canceled for 2020.)

SXP: Have you thought about doing any Zoom classes or anything like that considering the current state of things?

CDB: Well, I did actually film something for one of the local online high schools. Because they were supplying the studio and crew and so on, we had several of them dress up in various sets of armor and outfits. Roman, Viking, Thirteenth-century chain, so I’ve done that.

We filmed one of the classes at the Evanston Celtic Festival, I think it was last year. It got cancelled this year. I’ll also do personal sessions, with authors usually, because if we can’t physically get together, they want to see the weapons that they’re describing and see what some of the problems are with it. It’s kind of enlightening when you show them the balance point on a Roman Spatha for example, which is really bad, but then you explain why the sword was invented. The Romans needed a greater reach for their cavalry, so they invented the Spatha. But just because the sword looks cool, I wouldn’t pick it as my fantasy weapon unless you are trying to depict a Roman or Arthurian knight. So, I will do those sessions, but those are one-on-one.

SXP: And they can contact you on your website if they want to do a one-on-one?

CDB: Absolutely. There is an “about the author” link, and if you click on that and then “contact the author.” It goes directly to my email, and I answer questions all the time from folks, so there is a way to get ahold of me very easily.

SXP: And you said you’ve written several books as well, correct?

CDB: Yeah, I write what I would call Latter-day Saint horror. It’s horror with a strong Christian theme to it. I’ve got a vampire trilogy about an unwilling vampire. In my mythos, vampirism is a choice. No one can be forced into it. I’ve never liked the idea that you’re just in the wrong place at the wrong time, and you get bit on the neck, and you are damned forever. So, it’s always been voluntary, except for the male protagonist of the trilogy, who is the world’s first and only unwilling vampire. And how he got to that state, that’s part of the story. That one involves a lot of swords for the simple reason that there are only so many ways to kill a vampire. So, to defend themselves against each other, they would frequently use swords or axes or something of that nature. Because the surest way to kill a vampire is beheading. So, lots of sword fights, lots of swords from different eras.

Then I have something called The Sweet Sister set in modern-day Utah, but it doesn’t involve vampires. At least that isn’t obvious (about vampires). And I have a science-fiction novel out. It came out last year called Time’s Plague. No swords except for a homemade machete. But it’s set on one of the moons of Jupiter, so swords are not the most practical weapon.

I just came out with one set in First-century Roman Britannia, with a Roman officer, an Option, who is second-in-command of a centurion of eighty men, but is a convert to early Christianity, and he has to go face a demon. That’s called The Arawn Prophecy, and with that I was researching Roman military life. Specifically, in First-century Britain and the Boudiccan uprising and all the things that were fascinating about that. And because of doing that type of research on Roman weaponry of that period, I also wrote a non-fiction book on the whole Armor of God analogy that Paul uses, using the Roman imagery that his audience would relate with. Because as I researched all of this weaponry and armor, there’s all this symbolism built into it, and that was fascinating.

I have a new one coming out as soon as my publisher gets the edit back to me, called The Witch of White Lady Hollow, which is set in 1978 Southwest Missouri. It’s semi-autobiographical, except I’m not a girl and I’m not a witch. No swords or weapons in that, but the sequel is done and I’m waiting for the publisher on whether they are gonna pick that one up, because the first one hasn’t even come out, and that one is called The Witch and the Devourer of Souls. And currently I’m working on a book called The Executioner of God, which is about a Thirteenth-century Scottish Templar knight who is moving forward in history sixty years at a time in the company of a Fifteenth-century Irish nun, in pursuit of three witches. He never quite catches up to them and he eventually ends up in Twenty-first-century Utah. It will tie all my horror books, except for the witch series, together.

SXP: So, if you’re interested in reading these books, how would one go about finding them?

CDB: They’re on Amazon and Barnes & Noble, Kindle and paperback. They are also available on my website, unwillingchild.com. There’s a couple of links to Amazon and Barnes & Noble and iTunes and so on. But there’s also a link to order an autographed copy, which I will sell at the normal price plus priority shipping. But yeah, they are available. I’ve seen them in bookstores, not very commonly, but I have seen them in bookstores.

SXP: That’s awesome, congratulations by the way.

CDB: I was thrilled!

SXP: Absolutely, that’s a huge deal. So, for my last question, I wanted to ask you about Renaissance Faires. Obviously, you’ve been going to them for a while now, but there may be some people that are a little hesitant to go. For those people, how would you sell it to them?

CDB: Just come and have fun! Some people dress up… a lot of people dress up. Most people don’t, so just come and have fun. There are so many things to see. This one that I’m doing in August is just a delight. They have jousting. Most of them are professional jousters. They make their living doing this. There’s a Shakespearean play put on each night. You know, William Shakespeare himself is walking around and conversing with people. And the music! I love music.

If the Ren Faire is not quite your thing, we’ve done the Celtic festival in Evanston, Wyoming for a few years. That’s a much more low-key thing, and a lot of people come for the music. There’s nothing like a Celtic band or Celtic rock group or traditional Celtic singers. We’re just starting to do the one in Moab, Utah called Scots on the Rocks. Last year was my first year going and we didn’t do the full show. We’ll see if they progress to wanting the rest of it, but yeah, Ren Faires are just entertainment. Yeah, you’re gonna find folks dressed up in various ways. They may be pirates, they may be fairies, they may be Scotsmen. You see a lot of kilts, but you don’t have to play along. And Ren Faires run the gamut. You have ones that are totally immersive, where you are immersed in the story, and all the players are moving around and things are happening around you. Including sword fights and so on. Then you have ones that are just basically you just go and visit the various booths and tents and… There’s actually a Viking ship builder here in the area, and he shows how Viking ships were built. He’s there, working on one.

So, if you like history at all, enjoy that. If you like fantasy, enjoy that. And if you just want to come and see something just really different, that’s fun too.

 

Ghost of Tsushima Review

Ghost of Tsushima is an open world Action-Adventure game from Sucker Punch Productions. Set in 13^th Century Japan on Tsushima Island, the game centers around a young samurai warrior, Jin Sakai, as he comes face to face with a Mongolian invasion led by the dangerous and brutal Khotun Khan. After a devastating defeat at the hands of the Mongols, and with Jin’s uncle, Lord Shimura captured, Jin must adopt less traditional means of a samurai to stop this devastating force and free his people from Mongol rule.

It must be first noted how absolutely gorgeous the open world of Tsushima is. Sucker Punch has done an incredible job filling the landscape with intricate details. The trees sway in the wind beautifully as a cascade of leaves flutter about. The amount of particle effects on display is quite astounding and pushes the limits of what can be onscreen in this generation of consoles. What the Red Dead Redemption series did in recreating the visual aesthetics of late 19^th Century America, Ghost of Tsushima has done the same for 13^th Century Japan. It cannot be stated enough just how beautiful this game looks. The color pallet in this game is so incredibly wide and well utilized that at no point will you become bored with the same bland looking environments. Visually, the world feels alive, but visuals do not make the game. Does it actually play well?

The answer to that question is a mixed yes. There are two approaches to gameplay in for Ghost of Tsushima, confrontational and stealth. When it comes to the confrontational gameplay style, Ghost of Tsushima excels tremendously. As you progress through the game, you will unlock various skills, stances, and weapons to dispose of all of your enemies in a quick and deadly fashion. Using your assortment of weapons and skills to take out swaths of enemies never gets old or tiresome. You can start an encounter by initiating a “Standoff.” Enemies surround you as one enemy approaches. These instances feel like a game of cat and mouse as you wait patiently for your enemy to attack before striking a deadly blow with your katana. Enemies will attempt to force you to attack first by feinting an attack to draw you in to deliver a near fatal blow, which puts you at a severe disadvantage in combat afterwards. From there, it’s up to you to choose how to dispatch your foes. You can throw a kunai which breaks your enemy’s guard in order to strike. You can time your parry’s perfectly to deliver an instant kill. You can unleash one of several devastating moves to dispatch multiple enemies at once. There is a lot of creative leeway in how you approach direct combat. Which makes the stealth gameplay feel like more of an afterthought than anything else.

Stealth is the least fun aspect of Ghost of Tsushima, which becomes all the more glaring when certain story missions force stealth onto the player. There is nothing unique or interesting about the stealth, which is a shame considering that this is coming from the makers of the Sly Cooper franchise, which was a fun stealth platformer from the PS2 era. There could have been endless opportunities with the stealth in this game, and it is a shame that so much of it is simply stay behind this character until you’re close enough to stab him. It really slows down the pace of an otherwise fast paced game. But this is a minor complaint considering that stealth missions are few and far between and the game tends to leave players to their own devices when choosing how to deal with enemies in the open world.

As far as the open world is concerned, Ghost of Tsushima doesn’t do much to break the formula of the open world game, but it does refine some aspects of it. First, the waypoint system is one of the greatest systems ever implemented in open world gaming. Gone is the radar system. Gone is the blip on the screen that you have to run towards. Instead, Sucker Punch has created the “Guiding Wind” system, which revolutionizes how players traverse the open world. How this works is you place a waypoint on your map in the menu screen. Instead of that waypoint cluttering up the screen as it does in most open world games, you must follow the direction of the wind. This does two things for the game. First, it minimizes the amount of pop ups onscreen which allows the player to fully appreciate the scenery of the world. Second, it showcases just how incredible the physics system of Ghost of Tsushima is. Not sure where to go? Just look at the direction the grass waving in. It’s truly a remarkable navigation system and it also allows for the player to discover the secret areas of Ghost of Tsushima on their own. And there are a lot of secrets to uncover. While some have complained that the various diversions overstay their welcome, this reviewer found them to be wonderful distractions from the quests and showed an attention to detail in the nooks and crannies that encompass the island of Tsushima. But when you just want to get somewhere quickly and are tired of running around open fields to your destination, Ghost of Tsushima has one of the best fast travel systems to date. Gone is the five-minute long load times associated with most fast travel systems in open world games. You’ll barely have enough time to read the tip on the load screen before being plopped in front of your destination. This is a welcome reprieve for people that just want to get through the game quickly, though doing so may make you miss some exciting fights and random encounters.

Another fun aspect in gameplay are the duels. Duels act as a sort of boss fight between Jin and one other character. These battles are usually much more intense than your standard sword fight as they require you to pay more attention to your dueling partners moves. As the game progresses, these duels become a lot easier when you have more tools at your disposal, but early on they can be brutal and unforgiving at times. That being said, these duels give way to some of the most cinematic moments in the game. As a side note, if you successfully complete all the duels in the game, you are rewarded with a trophy titled “There Can Be Only One.” So, while Ghost of Tsushima drew a lot of inspiration from early samurai films, clearly the developers had a love for the Highlander series and used some of those duels as inspiration.

As far as story is concerned, Ghost of Tsushima tells a surprisingly well-crafted story. While the first introduction of villain Khotun Khan seems almost text book bad guy, as the story progresses, Khotun Khan becomes a villain with depth. Khotun Khan understands his enemies and how they operate and uses their pride and their honor against them in strategic and terrifying ways. Many villains in video games are boiler plate baddies, but there is a subtleness and deftness to how this villain operates that sets him above the rest. Speaking of subtleness, there are several side quests that deal with heavy issues such as child molestation or a homosexual relationship that in other games may have come across as heavy handed, but Ghost of Tsushima is able to navigate these ideas in incredibly precise ways without telling the audience specifically what is happening. This does not happen in all the side quests as one involving dementia becomes a little too on the nose for the topic, but there are very minute details sprinkled throughout the various quests and side quests that make the story of Ghost of Tsushima work and call for repeat playthroughs.

We’ve already mentioned in our previous blog about the Kurosawa mode, which makes the game black and white, adds a film grain filter, ups the wind settings, and changes the frame rate, but the question is, does it truly add anything to the game? The answer is a simple no. While it’s a neat feature, frankly it detracts a bit from the game. First, it’s already been mentioned that the color palate for the game is absolutely breathtaking and is a true site to behold. Placing the game in black and white simply eliminates this aspect of the game. It also becomes much more difficult to see when entering a building. It may be something fun to mess with when doing a second playthrough, but we certainly wouldn’t recommend it on your first.

Overall, Ghost of Tsushima is a wonderful open world Action-Adventure game. It never overstays it’s welcome and it creates a beautiful world that is fun to explore with an engaging and deep combat system that overshadows its weak stealth counterpart. We’d definitely recommend this game to fans of open world games, or classic samurai films. On a scale of 1 to 10, we’d give this a solid 9.5/10.

 

 

We’re Getting Back into the Swing of Things

Well, ladies and gentlemen, after months in quarantine, we’ve just had our first successful Sword Experience Event in Santa Clara on August 1^st. We’ve been working diligently in an effort to bring back the best fitness and travel event in the world, while also keeping your health and safety in mind. Thank you to everyone that participated in our Santa Clara event and thank you for sticking with us while we figured out the complexities of these crazy times. We are excited to finally be getting back to what we love to do by bringing fitness and fun together with sword training and sword choreography. We have another event lined up this year in Pittsburgh and we can’t wait to see more of your smiling, but masked, faces! We’re still working on getting our Lakeland event off the ground, and will let you know as soon as possible when we’ve secured a venue and date!

After our wonderful interview with Zoë Bell, we thought it would be interesting to take a look at one of her biggest projects to date, Kill Bill Vol. 1 &2. While there have been plenty of articles written in regards to the various film influences Quentin Tarantino used as inspiration for Kill Bill, one film that stands out the most among these influences is the 1973 action revenge thriller, Lady Snowblood. The purpose of this article is not to criticize Tarantino in any way.

In fact, while some people consider Tarantino to plagiarize from other films, this author recognizes that nearly every and all story or shot or style has pretty much been exhausted at this point in filmmaking. It is now up to the story teller to use the things that inspire them to create something wholly original in its own right. In that case, while Kill Bill has definitely been inspired by the likes of Lady Snowblood, the movies are vastly different, and can be watched independently of one another without one being detrimental to the other. So, on that note, lets dive into the similarities that these two movies share.

First, lets talk about plot. Kill Bill revolves around The Bride, AKA Beatrix Kiddo, AKA Black Mamba. A contract killer part of the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad spearheaded by the enigmatic Bill. Upon discovering that she is with child, The Bride attempts to leave her life of killing behind to start a new life with a man she barely knows. When Bill discovers that The Bride is engaged to be married, he goes on a murder spree, killing The Brides entire wedding party and leaving her for dead. When The Bride finally awakes from her coma, she exacts revenge on those that took part in the massacre culminating in a showdown with the titular Bill.

Lady Snowblood centers around Yuki, AKA Lady Snowblood. Yuki was born in a prison. Her mother had been imprisoned for exacting revenge on the people responsible for murdering her husband and child while also raping her years prior to her incarceration. She is in prison for exacting revenge on one of the four individuals responsible for this heinous crime, however, she still wishes to see her revenge through with the birth of her baby girl. As she lays dying, after giving childbirth, her final wishes are for her daughter to find the remaining three responsible for the crime to ensure that her vengeance is complete. An adult Yuki finds each of her mother’s assaulters and systematically wipes them out. As you can see from the plot, both are high concept revenge thrillers.

From here, lets talk about the framing of these plots. Both films follow a nonlinear formula of storytelling. We jump around in time to reveal motivations of the characters as well as to get more backstory from them as the film progresses. This is not entirely unique to revenge thrillers, but revenge thrillers tend to play with time to make the audience uncomfortable. When we don’t know the full extent of why a character is doing what they are doing, we tend to want to know more. By leaving the motivations of characters out from the beginning, we become intrigued by their actions, even if we don’t agree with some of the things they are doing.

Next, lets discuss the style of both films. The most obvious style element that inspired Kill Bill is Lady Snowblood’s depiction of violence. The violence in the movie is incredibly over the top. When a character is slashed with a deadly katana, a ridiculous blood spurt is usually accompanied. There is a strange mixture of over the top violence mixed with serene shots of scenery. This showcases both the brutality and the beauty of the violence depicted onscreen. A lot has been said about the violent nature of Tarantino films, but one cannot argue that he is able to frame these bits of violence in a beautiful way. Lady Snowblood is a perfect example of showcasing the beauty in violence, while not detracting from the ethical questions of said violence.

The inspiration of style does not end simply at the violence. There are plenty of shots that Tarantino was directly inspired by that he even put into his movie. For example, both movies feature shots of the villains looking down at their victims like the one seen here:

While some may argue that this image is an example of plagiarism, that simply is not the case. This image is a direct representation of the feeling of oppression. By using a low angle shot with our villains looking directly at the camera, there is no question who the bad guys in this scenario are. It immediately makes the audience recognize who we should be rooting for or against. Clearly, we should be rooting for the point of view we are experiencing, which is the person lying on their back with their attackers looking over them.

This is only one of a handful of choices used in camera angles or camera techniques. For example, both films feature quick zooms on their protagonists faces after they realize they have found their targets. This lets us as the audience know that the characters are very much aware of who their targets are and what they look like.

The filming of The Bride’s training sequence with Pai Mei in Vol. 2 is extremely similar to the training sequence a young Yuki receives in Lady Snowblood. The major difference between them being that Pai Mei’s training is centered around the Chinese art of kung fu, whereas Yuki was being trained in the art of sword fighting under the brutal tutelage of a priest. Both Pai Mei and the priest do not hold back on their training with their underlings.

They are cruel to the point of being callous. However, when we begin to see the marked improvements of both protagonists, we begin to see the softer side of each character. Their harsh tutelage is only to prepare them for the harshness they will face in actual combat.

Another technique used by Lady Snowblood that Tarantino used for Kill Bill is using animation to tell a flashback. Both films use an animated sequence to reveal a backstory relating to its central characters. Lady Snowblood’s animation seems to be directly inspired by art from the Edo period. These flashbacks are marked with narration over still images that look similar to this period of art styles. While Tarantino’s backstory involving O’ren Ishii may have been more heavily inspired by such anime films as Akira or Ninja Sword, it is clear from his love of Lady Snowblood that he was inspired by Lady Snowblood’s technique of storytelling when showing O’ren’s background.

While we are on the subject of O’ren Ishii, it becomes painfully obvious how much the character was inspired by the look of Yuki from Lady Snowblood. Just take a look at these two images:

One can’t help but notice the similarities between the two characters design. This is purposeful. While O’ren may be the antagonist of this film, her backstory is similar to that of Yuki’s. Both were set to become agents of revenge from a very young age. Both became synonymous with murder and destruction. Some may even argue that both characters were victims of circumstance, and neither had a chance at living a peaceful life.

Next, lets discuss sound design. Tarantino made it abundantly clear that Lady Snowblood heavily inspired his film. There are direct sound effects and music taken from Lady Snowblood. An example of the sound effects Kill Bill reuses is the sound of someone jumping. One might mistake it for the sound effect used in The Million Dollar Man, but in reality, the reference that Tarantino was making with the jumping sound effect is lifted directly from the training sequence involving Yuki and the priest. Most importantly though is music. Tarantino made no effort to hide the influence of Lady Snowblood when he used the opening and closing theme of “Sharu No Hana” from Lady Snowblood as the closing song for Kill Bill Vol. 1. He was letting every film fan or burgeoning film fan in on his inspirations.

While many continue to argue that Tarantino’s style tends to copy other films, the truth of the matter is that Tarantino has always been a unique voice in cinema. He is heavily inspired by other films and uses those films for shots and design, but in reality, there is no mistaking his vision and his movies for that of anyone else. In fact, it can be argued that by directly lifting the ideas from some of these films, Tarantino is actually getting us to discuss movies that may not have been in the ether of film culture to begin with. Would we still be talking about Lady Snowblood today if it weren’t for its direct inspiration on Kill Bill Vol. 1 &2? Probably not.

A Brief Review of HBO Max

HBO Max is officially here, but what exactly does that mean? Well, if you were already a subscriber of HBO Now, congrats! You are already a subscriber of HBO Max. HBO Max is the next step for HBO in the landscape of streaming television. HBO has updated its catalogue of streamable content by including content from Warner Brother’s Media, Cartoon Network, and Turner Classic Movies. To be very frank, the catalogue is enormous and is filled to the brim with amazing content. For all of our sword enthusiasts, you’ll find a plethora of classic samurai films and action films to scratch your itch.

HBO Max should be every movie lovers dream. There is a nearly endless selection of movies to choose from. From comedies to dramas, HBO Max has content that is spectacular when compared to its counterparts. You won’t find yourself sifting though as much garbage you’ve never heard of before when searching for your favorite movies and television shows. However, HBO Max still has some issues at launch.

The first issue is in regards to load times and buffering. While HBO has addressed some of these issues since launch, it still takes an extended period of time for HBO Max to boot up to the first menu screen. This may not be an issue to some, but when time is of the essence, waiting nearly two minutes to get to a menu screen is completely unacceptable. As far as buffering issues are concerned, HBO has always required a near perfect internet connection in order to stream content without buffering.

HBO wants to be considered one of the highest quality streaming services visually, thus they require a strong internet connection. The end result of this can be detrimental to the viewing experience. It takes the viewer out of the experience of watching a film way more often when the film starts to buffer than if there were a drop in image quality. Personally, this author would prefer a drop in image quality over a complete stoppage.

There’s also an issue with where one may be able to view HBO Max. There is no application yet for streaming devices such as Roku or Amazon. This is due to a lack of deals in distribution rights for platforms. Luckily, if you have a gaming device, you should be able to download an application for HBO Max onto your device. However, considering that a lot of people use Roku or Amazon to access their streaming services, this feels like a huge misstep on HBO’s part. Hopefully this can be resolved sooner rather than later. You can still use HBO Max on your personal computer, laptop, tablet, or phone. So, there are options outside of Roku and Amazon, but the issue of streaming on your television can be more difficult than it needs to be.

Overall, the catalogue behind HBO Max seems to outshine its shortcomings. However, in order for HBO to dethrone the likes of Netflix or Hulu, they need to address a lot of these shortcomings if they’d like to be mentioned in the same breath as these streaming giants. That being said, since there is plenty of content as it relates to swords on their service, don’t be surprised if you see us talking about HBO Max in the coming months.

Do You Want to Share Your Art?

We all have a lot more time on our hands lately, and some of you may have been practicing your art skills. We’ve been toying with the idea of getting a glimpse of your artwork, especially as it relates to swords and The Sword Experience. If you’d like to share some of your artwork, let us know on our social media pages. You can tweet at us @SwordExperience. You can tag us in your artwork on Instagram using @swordexperience. You can even tell us more of your thoughts on our Facebook page. We’d love to hear from you guys, and are interested in seeing the incredible works of art you have been working on while in self-isolation.

Keep your eyes peeled for an art contest coming later this summer!

An interview with Zoë Bell

 

We here at the Sword Experience were able to convince the highly prolific and sought-after stuntwoman Zoë Bell to take some time and chat with us via phone call. In the following interview, we discussed her methods preparing for sword and fight choreography, her recent viral hit #BossBitchFightChallenge, and some of the different phrases that Kiwi’s have compared to Americans.

Sword Experience (SXP): So, let’s start with your career. You got your first big gig as a stuntwoman with Xena: Warrior Princess, and quickly made a name for yourself. You’ve starred in Quentin Tarantino movies and were Uma Thurman’s double as The Bride, and you most recently doubled for Cate Blanchet as Hela in Thor: Ragnarok. So, my first question for you today is, what actions do you take to prepare for fight scenes and sword fight choreography?

Zoë Bell (ZB): As a performer or a coordinator?

SXP: Both

ZB: Well, it sort of depends on the project for both. It depends on your resources, AKA financial results and having the time and players. It’s one thing if you’ve got a fight between four people and you’ve got four doubles and you’ve got a couple of weeks to work on it, and you can’t afford to have all the doubles to work with. Plus, the fight choreographer and maybe a regular or performer if you will and, you know, a couple of other regulars, and what have you. The process becomes quite difficult. Ideally, you’d have enough resources and time to choreograph the fight and get it ok’d by the director. Then train with the actors and the doubles so that… A) That they can complete the fight and choreography, and B) Have enough of the groundwork so that if things change on the day or leading up to the day, that the scope isn’t so narrow that they’re presented with changes and can’t adapt. So, you want to train actors and doubles, so that if I’m the coordinator or the double, you want your actors and your doubles to sort of have the foundation of footwork, stances, the specifics of the character or their style. So, on the day, if things shift around, we have some fluidity to it and we can maneuver around. Like, if the script changes, or character arcs shift, or if the story line changes, the choreography needs to be able to support it from a different angle. You want your players, your performers, to have enough of an arsenal that they can roll with the punches, excuse the pun. (laughs).

 

 

SXP: My next question, because we have a lot of Musketeers and fans that have either been doing or are interested in starting sword or fight choreography, as a stuntwoman you’ve probably had your fair share of accidents and injuries. So, what I’d like to ask you is what steps do you take, personally, to prevent injuries, or the steps that you take when you’re actually injured?

ZB: So, I guess that kinda folds into the last answer, as well as… A) Working with choreography, but you also want to train your actors or performers, this goes for me as well as a performer or me as a coordinator training actors or doubles, you want an element of fitness and flexibility and strength that they should have as a safety guard. You know, eighty percent of accidents, like small accidents, are avoidable if your joints are more flexible. If your structure has more strength in it, and if you are fit. That’s just sort of the nature of the game.

You know, you don’t always have time to do that. As a performer myself, I should maintain that at all times in case I end up getting a job that requires that, and I’d expect that of my stunt players in particular. Also, in terms of avoiding any accidents, a huge part of it is…. It’s kind of a tricky one to speak about, because the stunt world tends to still have a little bit of a stigma that stunt people don’t complain. You know, like the stunt people, we just make it work and get it done sort of thing. But for me, personally, I want to work with coordinators that trust me to speak up. I’m only gonna speak up if I feel like I need to. Otherwise, I’m gonna shut up and get the job done. But I would expect the same back as a coordinator. I want to hire players and performers that I trust to either just get the work done and or if there is a problem, like something is not sitting right. Or their instincts are kinda perking up, I want to hear it. I want you to communicate with me. A huge part of that is being able to communicate and understanding your own body and your own limits, and your skill set.

There have been times where I’ve said yes to jobs to do a gig that I’ve never done before, but I know, I trust that my body can do that and I know my limits. There are other times that I’ve said to them, “if I’ve got a week or two to go learn that, or to train it, or to rehearse it, then yes.” And there have been times that I’ve had to say, “You know what? There’s someone better at that then I am.” You know? And if you don’t want to hand the job over to someone else, go get good at it before you turn up. You can say, “Yes.” Just make sure when you turn up on set that it’s not a lie.

 

 

SXP: I’ve noticed that you’ve been very active on social media, and you just recently went viral with your #BossBitchFightChallenge. What was your thought process in getting this project started? What made you want to do this, and how do you feel about the response you’ve been getting?

ZB: Well, the fight challenge started before me. There’s a stunt guy named Aaron Toney, who I think it originated with him. The first video that I actually saw was one that was by the CUC fight challenge. It’s a fight stunt school in France. But, basically, I watched that and I was like, “What a dope idea!” That is so cool and such a dynamic way to be in the company of others when we’re in social isolation. I just thought, “There’s not very many girls in the one that I saw. I know so many badass girls, maybe I should just make an all-female one and see how it goes.” And the response was just so overwhelmingly… um… not just positive, but excited. Like everyone was just like, “(gasps) Yeah! Let’s do this!” You know? We were like little kids getting to play. And it kinda blossomed into its own thing where over the space of the week we made it, we had other… like I sort of had a core group of stuntwomen that I had reached out to.

And then other people started coming aboard, and we kinda had other actors coming aboard. Even to the point where like the day before we posted the video, we had newcomers. So, it was quite fluid and fortunately we were… I don’t know! We were just in the mindset that this thing is just cool and has a life of its own and I’m gonna do what I need to do to facilitate that and give it room to breathe. And make sure we can pull it together, and at some point, we had to lock it down and say, “We can’t accept anyone…” I mean depending on who it was, I’m sure. But there was definitely like, you know, when Drew was like, “Can I fight?” I was like, “Uh yes. We will make room for that.” But there was a point where we were like, “We can’t keep bringing more clips in.”

SXP: And just to clarify, Drew is Drew Barrymore, correct?

ZB: Right. And then there was Scarlett (Johansen) who came aboard, but Heidi Moneymaker doubles her a lot. So, she was like, “I can reach out to Scarlett.” And I was like, “Do it.” You know the whole thing was like, if these women want to come onboard, go. It’s gonna be fun and awesome regardless of who else comes onboard. I don’t know. It’s just sort of like the glass was already half full and just kept getting fuller, you know?

 

 

SXP: Overflowing, right?

ZB: Yeah to a point, almost. Yeah.

SXP: Well obviously we’re finding ourselves in a time that is just unprecedented. So, your career requires physical touch. It’s a big part of stunt work.

ZB: Except for the Fight Challenge. (Laughs)

SXP: (Laughs) Except for that. Yes. I just wanted to ask what your thoughts were on how the stunt industry will move forward after an event like this.

ZB: Well, I mean it’s an interesting question, because there’s sort of no foundational absolutes to base any theory on at this point, you know? And yes, obviously, the stunt department, we have physical interactions as a major component of what we do, but let’s be honest. Making films, like, a crew together, it’s gonna be difficult to get a crew to shoot a movie and not be in physical contact with each other.

SXP: Very true.

ZB: You know the whole… I don’t know. It’s a big picture to imagine. If we were to find a way to shoot movies where crew members maintained whatever the mandated distance is, and we all wore masks, and we got blood tests and we did whatever all those precautions would be….

You know it’s like, what are you going to do for a sex scene? Or what are you gonna do for a fight scene? It’s the same in the sense that you would just have to rewrite it, or rechoreograph it. Maybe it’s in how you shoot it. Obviously, there are ways… there are imaginative ways to get around these issues. And to be honest, I feel like…. This is an extreme situation, obviously…. But, a huge part of filmmaking, in my experience, is when you come up against blocks, or things that prevent you from shooting or completing something in the way that you planned, or rehearsed, or would normally lean on, sometimes that’s when the magic comes in. Where ideas come out. Like with the fight challenge. I didn’t come up with the idea, but when I saw it, I was inspired by it, because it’s such a cool idea. So, then things shift. And now there’s these fight challenges going on all around the world. Fire’s starting everywhere. Who knows what comes from that? Maybe that becomes a new flavor of action.

So, I don’t know. I’m definitely pondering all these ideas. Less from a how are we gonna make it work and more from a what else can we do in this world right now. What are the fun things we can explore? Now is kind of the time to be experimenting, really. Who knows?! Maybe it shifts the way we tell stories. I don’t know. These are the sort of things that shift the foundations. Even if it feels like a subtle shift at first, they may be changes that are kinda permanent, you know?

SXP: Absolutely.

ZB: At least until the next shockwave happens. You know, you can look at different parts of history, and all the Great Depressions, and these massive things that have affected the industry worldwide in any way, shape, or form. Styles and flavors come out of things like that. So, I’m kinda curious to see what comes out of all of this crazy.

SXP: Me too. Me too. I’ve been talking to a lot of actors lately, and I was wondering what you think… Because clearly the entertainment industry has taken this very seriously. And when things start getting back to some sense of normalcy, how do you think producers are going to go about choosing the people they work with?

ZB: Um, honestly, I don’t even know how producers made those decisions before Coronavirus. Um… You know, I don’t know the answer to that. I think that’ll be a little bit of the proof is in the pudding, you know? There are people that are willing to take the risks. Some producers might be like, “Great! That means we can get started and I like someone who’s a bit ballsy,” or whatever. And then there might be some producers that are like, not interested or willing to take those risks.

Places are all starting to open up in different places around the world, and I think fortunately, or unfortunately, they will be the litmus of how things continue. You know, if Atlanta gets another flair up, and they end up having to shut down for a second time, it could be crippling! And there will be other states that will take lead from that and be like, “we’re not doing this.” I mean, I don’t know. It’s still so early to make calls around those kinds of things. But, honestly, if I’m in the role of producer, I wanna look at people who are cautious. Cautious in a way that they are aware that, you know, money is at stake. And it’s not just money, but if there’s a risk to the finances, there’s a risk to the project, there’s a risk to the art. At some point, those things all have to be considered.

SXP: Absolutely. Alright, so now to get off such a depressing topic…

ZB: It’s not depressing, there’s room for new growth and sh*t in times like this. So, it doesn’t have to be all depressing.

SXP: Exactly. You’re one hundred percent right about that. However, I just wanted to ask you something fun here at the end. For those that don’t know, you’re from New Zealand, and you’ve been living in the states on and off for a while now.

ZB: Pretty much on for twenty years now.

SXP: So, the first time I (the SXP editor in chief) ever met you was on the set for the short film No Touching, which is a very appropriate title for right now, right?

ZB: Yeah. Totally. (laughs)

SXP: One of my fondest memories of that experience was when you asked me for a cooler, but you referred to it as a chilly bin.

ZB: (laughs) Yeah.

SXP: I was very taken aback by that, because I did not know what you were referring to…

ZB: (laughs)

SXP: But after we figured it out together, I thought that was probably the funniest thing I’d ever heard, because, like of course you can call it a chilly bin. Because that’s what it is, you know?

ZB: Yeah! It’s a bin to keep things chilly! (laughs)

SXP: Yeah! So, my question to you is, what phrases do you have in New Zealand that you see differ from phrases here in the States? Is there anything that really sticks out in your mind?

ZB: I have to ask my boyfriend these things, because I use them or I don’t use them and I don’t remember where they’re from anymore, but the most obvious one is we say “rubbish bin” and you guys say “trash can.” Some New Zealand phrases that I use that you just go “What?” Munted.

SXP: Munted?

ZB: Munted is a New Zealand word for… I guess the equivalent for it would be “F***ed up?” Excuse my language. If you come off your motorbike in gravel, you’re gonna get munted. If you drink too much whiskey on an empty stomach, you’re gonna get munted. So, any time you could probably say f***ed up, you could probably say munted. We also will call someone a munter. (Laughs). And I don’t know quite the definition of munter is, because it’s not f***ed up, it’s more like um…

SXP: Like Motherf***er?

ZB: No, it’s not like, “You a**hole,” it’s more like you… Ugh, what would be the equivalent? Like someone who’s willing to get f***ed up. Like if someone is a munter, like, “oh yeah, that guys a total munter,” he will go to a party and just get s***faced and pick a fight with whoever owns the house or that person’s mum.

SXP: So, like maybe a party monster?

ZB: Yeah?… Yeah. Or someone who’s like really into heavy anything can be a bit of a munter. Like if you willingly munt yourself, or get yourself munted, you’re a munter. (laughs) I really don’t think I’ve ever had to describe that before. It’s kinda fun.

SXP: Wonderful. Well, thank you for your time, Zoë. Stay safe.