Bo and Bokuto Form

Here's an early view of a standalone form from our shoot this last week. The documentary content will not be cut like this, but this is the complete form for followers see. It may be released as a standalone in the future as well on social media platforms.

I really enjoyed filming this as I consider myself best suited to capture movement, and I really enjoy "getting in the movement", often risking my equipment and myself at the same time. I find it extremely fun to get close, to give a sense of the intensity. During the filming, of course I was hit a couple times--once with the camera going flying.

Another really great point is that even though this was shot multiple times, I spent a lot of time on sound design to make it feel close and intimate--and discovered in that process a couple scenes where the pace was so exact, I was able to combine sound from multiple takes and have the strikes end up perfectly in sync. It blew my mind that 2 people could move at different instances so perfectly that the strikes--equivalent to clapping with 2 pairs of hands multiple times--was so perfectly paced that different takes could sound the exact same timing to the microsecond. Pretty unbelievable working with such highly trained martial artists.

Notes: All permission was granted by the shrine, the local community leaders, the performers, and the school's master.