Man at Arms

So recently I have stumbled upon yet another very interesting Youtube series. The series is Man at Arms. Man at Arms is a new web series which consist of mini documentary type episodes on the subject of blacksmithing. Each episode a different weapon is forged from scratch. All the weapons that are made are from either popular movies or video games. For example wolverine's claws from X-men were made, as well as weapons from Gamer of Thrones and Lord of the Rings. Now I know this sounds very nerdy, and it is, but I strongly encourage you to at least watch one of these videos for these two reasons. The first being that the art of blacksmithing is quite an amazing thing and watching the whole process happen in front of your eyes is pretty cool. The end product is a piece of art. Its hard to believe how far those ugly pieces of metal shown in the beginning of each episode the episode have a beautiful sheen to them at the end. The second reason is that the cinematography for this series is impeccable. Between the lighting and the amazing editing the videos are very aesthetically pleasing. I assume this is shot with a DSLR due to the fact that the quality is very high but filming in a small and crowded place like a workshop  would be difficult to do with anything other then a small versatile DSLR. I could be wrong about this. One really cool techniques used is attaching a camera to the end of each piece of metal being forge. At the end of each episode there is a time-lapse consisting of shots from a camera attached to the product and it gives a really cool perspective to look at the blacksmithing process from. 

 

The video I chose to share with you a weapon from the movie Kick Ass is made. Its really cool to see how much work is put into each weapon and thats just one aspect of making a movie. Tony Swatton is the blacksmith who makes the weapons in each video. He has been able to make a living off of his trade by make prop weapons and armor for over 200 feature films. To think about how many props a movie like Lord of the Rings needs is mind boggling, to think about making all of those props is crazy. This series really allows you to see a different side of the film industry. It is similar to the conversations we have been having in class about extras being in the right place at the right time, when all of the extras have weapons and armor things get a little more chaotic.

Please take a look at least one of these videos, I'm almost positive you will enjoy.