CMRU.

CA Video News script for reporter stories

Slug Weir/SwordFighting TRT 1:40
Date JANUARY 25, 2020 Outcue Nameout

Reporte
Devyn Weir Sources Layne Visser
r

Lead:
SUPER: DARK AGE CREATIONS, CALGARY -
AT: 00
SUPER: LAYNE VISSER/ HEAD OF
FABRICATION FOR ARMS AND
ARMOUR/INSTRUCTOR – AT :28
TRT: 1:28
Outcue: Name Out
MARTIAL ARTS IS A FORM OF EXERCISE
THAT OFFERS SKILLS FOR PEOPLE TO
LEARN.
A PLACE HERE IN CALGARY OFFERS
LESSONS IN A RATHER UNIQUE TYPE OF
ANCIENT MARTIAL ART, SWORD
FIGHTING.
DEVYN WEIR HAS MORE ON THE STORY.

VIDEO AUDIO

VOICER: (NAT SOUND UP FULL)

SUPER: Dark Age Creations –
CALGARY, ALBERTA AT :00
WIDE SHOT: PAN OF PEOPLE
FIGHTING AT FIGHT kNIGHT
NAT SOUND: PEOPLE FIGHTING, SWORDS CLASHING
HERE IN CALGARY, AT DARK AGE CREATIONS,
PEOPLE ARE PUTTING THEIR SWORD FIGHTING
SKILLS TO THE TEST.

MEDIUM CLOSE OF SWORDS ON BUT DARK AGE CREATIONS IS MORE THAN JUST A
WALL PLACE WHERE PEOPLE CAN SWORD FIGHT, THEY
ACTUALLY TEACH VARIOUS FORMS OF THIS
ANCIENT MARTIAL ART.
MEDIUM CLOSE: OF DAGGERS
ON WALL

WIDE SHOT: PEOPLE SWORD

FIGHTING SPECIFICALLY, THEY TEACH HEMA, WHICH STANDS
FOR HISTORICAL EUROPEAN MARTIAL ARTS.
WIDE SHOT: PEOPLE SWORD
FIGHTING LAYNE VISSER WORKS AS THE HEAD OF
FABRICATION FOR ARMS AND ARMOUR AT DARK
WIDE SHOT: PEOPLE SWORD AGE CREATIONS.
FIGHTING

HE SAYS THAT LESSONS ARE AVAILABLE TO

INTERVIEW CLIP (MEDIUM EVERYONE.
CLOSE): LAYNE VISSER
CLIP: Layne (04:23): “Yes, anybody can take lessons. It
SUPER: IN AT 0:28 LAYNE VISSER/
doesn’t matter your experience level, if you’ve taken another
HEAD OF FABRICATION FOR
ARMS AND
martial art or not, you can come here, if you have just even
ARMOUR/INSTRUCTOR
an interest in a sword or if you want to pursue fighting, we

teach all types here. It doesn’t matter who you are, what

you are, yeah it’s pretty cool (04:38).”

WIDE SHOT: PAN ROOM OF

STORE VISSER SAYS THAT HE’S NOTICED THAT THE
POPULARITY OF SWORD FIGHTING IS GOING UP,
MEDIUM SHOT: PAN UP ON LARGELY DUE TO CURRENT POP CULTURE, WITH
KNIGHT TV SHOWS LIKE GAME OF THRONES AND VIKINGS.

NOW, THE AGES VARY FOR THOSE WHO ARE

CLOSE-UP SHOT: KNIGHT
INTERESTED IN LEARNING ABOUT THIS MARTIAL
HELMET ART, FROM YOUNG ADULTS TO OLDER PEOPLE.

CLIP:
INTERVIEW CLIP (MEDIUM
Layne (06:07): “I’m finding it’s honestly we see a lot of like
CLOSE): LAYNE VISSER
the, you could say the twenty to thirty, right? Like the young
adults that are really starting to get into this, but at the same
time, one of my best long sword students is in his fifties,
right?

EVERY WEEK, DARK AGE CREATIONS HOSTS AN

WIDE SHOT: PAN OF SWORD
EVENT CALLED FIGHT KNIGHT.
FIGHTING ROOM
IT’S A DROP-IN EVENT WHERE PEOPLE OF ANY
WIDE SHOT: PEOPLE SWORD
FIGHTING

MEDIUM SHOT: KNIGHT ON

STAND

CLOSE-UP SHOT: KNIGHT

HELMET

EXPERIENCE LEVEL CAN COME IN TO TRAIN WITH

MEDIUM CLOSE: FUNNY SIGN EACH OTHER OR JUST GIVE SWORD FIGHTING A
ABOVE DOORWAY TRY.

FIGHT KNIGHT HAPPENS EVERY WEDNESDAY

FROM 5 TO 9PM.

MEDIUM SHOTS: VARIOUS

EQUIPMENT AROUND ROOM.
DEVYN WEIR, CMRU.CA NEWS.

WIDE SHOT: PEOPLE FIGHTING

AGAIN

Video Interview Transcript: Layne Visser

(01:35): Can you give an overview of the lessons you offer?

Layne (01:39): “Well what we teach is something called HEMA, or Historical European Martial

Arts, and it’s kind of an all-encompassing thing for all martial cultures from around Europe. A lot

of people, when they think of martial arts, they automatically go to the oriental martial arts like

Kung Fu, Wu Shu (check spelling on this!), karate, judo, right? Not realizing, that in Eaurope that

we actually had a very rich martial culture as well. Not just with weapons, also unarmed as well,

like recently the big one that’s been coming up is Viking wrestling and it’s called GLEMA (Check

what this is) and it’s actually very close to Greco-roman-pancration (check spelling on this)

which is the basis of all modern-day wrestling. And here we do a lot of German Long Sword and

Italian Long Sword, there’s actually a lot of crossovers between the two so what we kinda like

to do is take the things that are taught in both schools and kind of put them together in a basic

beginner class, because it’s kinda like teaching how to dribble a basketball, right? And then if

you find that you kinda go towards more the Italian route then we have the owner of the shop,

Jamie (Check spelling of his name), he’s very well averse in the Italian Long Sword, and then I

myself am actually more to the German end of Long Sword right? And it just kinda plays better

to the mentality of us as fighters, right? Jamie’s very, it’s like a counterpuncher. You could say

with Italian that … (get rest of that part when you have time) We just don’t teach longsword as

well, we also teach a little bit of Viking combat … (get rest of that part when you have time). I

teach German, or, I teach Portugese Great Sword sorry, which is fighting with the, you can see

over there, with the big ones right on the end. And um we also do a bit of dagger combat as

well, we also do a Crusader Class, which is essentially fighting with a sword and shield, but we

make you wear armour as you’re fighting as well because wearing armour while you’re fighting

completely changes the name of the game (03:25).”

(04:22) Can anybody take lessons?

Layne (04:23): “Yes, anybody can take lessons. It doesn’t matter your experience level, if you’ve

taken another martial art or not, you can come here, if you have just even an interest in a

sword or if you want to pursue fighting, we teach all types here. It doesn’t matter who you

are, what you are, yeah it’s pretty cool (04:38).”

(04:40) Is there an age limit?

Layne (04:42): “Um we usually like to take kids around between ten to twelve. Kinda, it sounds

weird, but kinda depending on the size of the kid, because it’s kinda hard to get a nine-year-old

to swing around an arming sword, right? You can see how large they are right? So it’s, it’s just a

size thing right? And we also find too that that’s when they start realizing that it’s not a toy,

right? That’s a big issue we find with some of the younger kids, more in like the five to nine

range, is that they still think it’s a toy as opposed to actually a weapon. Even though these are

blunt, if you hit someone with them it’s gonna hurt, and even though we are training

technically how to hurt somebody, you don’t want to get hurt, right? They have school, I got a

job, right? I kinda need my hands, so yeah (05:23).”

(05:24) What sort of demographic do you guys get here?

Layne: (05:27): Oh, it’s really all sorts, guys who just walk off the street, people that are like

dead into history, like they live and breathe just studying history. Um we get a lot of firearms

guys in here as well, uh just because of the crossover. Like black powder and swords did exist at

the same time, so, for a lot longer period than people think as well, so yeah we get uh, we get

quite a few, uh we get a lot of, do, the comic book convention as well, we get a lot of, uh, that’s

a big circuit we do, so we get a lot of the comic book geeks and everything in here as well. A lot

of DnD guys and everything too, so yep (06:00).”

(06:03) Is the age typically young people?

Layne (06:07): “I’m finding it’s honestly we see a lot of like the, you could say the twenty to

thirty, right? Like the young adults that are really starting to get into this, but at the same time,

one of my best long sword students is in his fifties, right? And he just started doing this, right?

So, well he’s been doing it about five years now I’d say, four years, but yeah and he fell in love

with it just in his fifties, right? And just saw our, we have a sandwich board out front and he saw

it and was like ahh I might as well check it out right? So, yeah, and he loves it. So, and I had one

student, I started teaching him when he was nine and he’s now I think seventeen? So, it’s, it’s

been a long time for him, right? And again, I know we said nine was kind of the age where we

don’t really like taking em’ but he has a very martial background, so he understood that these

things were weapons, not toys, yep (06:56).”

(07:00) Has the demographic changed over time?

Layne (07:03): “Not really, not really. It’s been about the same since I’ve started working here,

because I find, well and I find older people are starting to get more involved with it because of

things like Game of Thrones and Vikings and everything. Not so much to the martial end of it

but just the interest which is nice because like with this stuff if you let it die, you’re never

going to remember it right? You gotta remember history in order to keep it alive so even with

the older generation I appreciate when someone that’s, you know, sixty, seventy years old and

their walking in here and their telling me about all the stuff they’ve learned about Vikings just

because they’ve watched the Vikings TV show right? Kinda warms a little spot in my heart a bit,

so yep (07:39).”

(07:44) Is it gaining popularity? Staying the same?

Layne (07:46): “It’s gaining. I find it’s gaining, especially, again, because of pop culture.

Especially with Game of Thrones and Vikings and all the sword and board movies we call em’

that are coming out now, we find it’s very much gaining in popularity which is nice because it’s

growing it you know? People used to think before that we just a bunch of LARP guys just

running around in a field, no offense against them, I know a lot of guys in the LARP community

and it’s amazing but a bunch of guys running around in a field throwing bean bags at each

other, when it’s not, we’re actually, it’s a martial principal, it works right? And there was a

reason it was used for so long so it’s cool that it’s starting to gain recognition because more
people are getting involved with it. Even guys like recently I saw something called BOWHURT

(Check spelling on this) fighting which is the closest thing to a medieval tournament you can

get. It’s guys in full plate armour with rebated steel swords, much like these ones, and they’re

five on five, up to thirty on thirty and their going at each other and recently it was on the Joe

Rogan Podcast, he was talking about it right? And he’s recognizing it now, right? And he’s a big

name in martial arts, so, yep (08:44).”

(08:50) I know you guys host a fight night here, can you tell a little bit about how that works?

Layne (08:53): “Well it’s, essentially it’s just a drop-in thing. Anyone of any experience level can

come by and try it out, uh, we charge a very minimum fee, it’s ten dollars, it’s essentially to

cover any of the training equipment if it breaks, right? Because it does happen, but um, yeah

anyone of any experience level can come by and just try it out, before they really want to get

into the investment of lessons or anything, so… (09:13).”

(09:24) Do people just come up, sign up, and just go at it?

Layne (09:24): “Yeah, essentially, yeah. And they ask someone ‘hey do ya wanna, ya wanna

fight?’ And you start a fight, and that’s essentially how it goes. And I find myself being a more

experienced fighter, that if someone who’es brand new comes into it, I’m obviously not going

to go full boar on them. But I kinda want to see what they can do, and then I can kinda break it

down from there. I kinda give them a lesson for ten bucks essentially, right? But it’s very quick,
very minimal because trial by fire, right? So, I honestly find it’s the best way to learn, yep

(09:50).”

(09:51) Is there any safety issues?

Layne (09:55): “No. No, uh, I’ve, I’ve done contact sports and I’ve done boxing as well and I’ve

got more hurt doing that than I have fighting with swords, so, yeah, there’s a lot of safety gear

with this stuff so it minimizes a lot of the injury, yep. Worst thing I’ve had is a couple bruised

ribs and I broke my pinky once, that was about it, yep (10:16).”

(10:16) Yeah, you wouldn’t imagine that I guess, with swinging swords around.

Layne (10:17): “Yeah, oh no not at all, people are like how do you have both your hands still?

Right? It’s like yeah, I got good gloves that’s why right? So, yep (10:27).”

(10:29) And so you, you’re into, and forgive me if I’m saying it wrong, the smithing?

Layne (10:36): “Um, knife making, I’m not quite a full blacksmith yet. I’m starting to mess with

the traditional techniques, but I do a modern-day method called stock-removal (Check spelling

on this) right now, just as I acquire more tools to do actual blacksmithing end of things. Uh,

stock removal is essentially just the modern way of blacksmithing, right? As opposed to actually

taking a rough piece of like steel, right? And hammering it out to shape, I am blessed with an
angle grinder and callipers (Check spelling on this) and layout fluid and everything, so I can get a

very precise shape and everything. Uh, but I do want to learn the traditional method though

because it is very time saving in a lot of ways but uh that’s how I do it right now. And you’re

able to do stock-removal from a knife up to this big, up to a full five-foot sword if you wanted to

yep (11:15).”