[Jean Thibodeau]

Just noticed a couple of DVDs on the Chivalry Bookshelf site that look worth looking into.

Even the best written book can't describe in detail every move and mostly leaves to the imagination how one transitions from one major technique to the next. ( Not a criticism of the books only the limits of the medium: Someone already knowledgeable can figure out a lot for themselves with just the text, for a novice a DVD would be a great help in using the books to understand the techniques. )

Only saw a few seconds of the Quicktime trailor and I know I am going to want this DVD. ( Even if I don't put it to practical use it should be a good antidote to all the years of accumulated " Hollywood " misinformation ! )

There are two DVDs available: GO to the site for details

1) DVD OCHS- Liechtenauer Longsword 1

2) DVD- SSG Fiore Del Liberi Seminar

Anybody have these already for a quick review ? Surprised nobody has mentioned these yet or maybe they are just so new I'm one of the first

[Bill Grandy]

There's been some talk on SFI's HES board about them. The original German videos were received with high praise. Haven't seen them myself.

[Jean Thibodeau]

Bill;

The short trailor seemed professionally done: If the rest is a well made it seems like good video production values and not just a guy improvising with a shaky camera. ( The trailor is in the original German but the DVD is supposed to be translated.
May be a stand alone or one of a continuing series ? Just a guess here ! )

The other DVD may be more of the improvised type: More a taped conference than a planned and storyboarded shoot / edit.
Might still be interesting all the same.

[Bill Grandy]

[Lloyd Clark]

I have the second DVD and use it in my Fiore class.

It is a simple video of a Fiore Seminar that Brian Price put on in Dallas (I believe, don't quote me), and it was shot with a single camera. Don't expect any bigtime video effects, but it does do a great job in demonstrating Fiore as taught and practiced by Schola St. George and I highly recommend it.

[Jean Thibodeau]

Well, I just ordered the DVDs and I'll give you my impressions after I view them.

[George Hill]

I have both. The second one just came. I'll be glad to review both and do a compare/contrast if you'll give me a week.

Now, I will say this now though. The Fiore video is shakey in places, and the camera is not at an ideal angle much of the time. That said, I have only watched the fundamentals section, and will be moving on in it soon. I'm reather expecting more out of the Ochs video.

Still, Brian Price looks like an Excellent instructor, with a deep love and apprication for he material. He speaks well in the parts I have seen of this video, and if you follow the Italian style, it might be the better choice.

The other video I haven't looked at yet, but it's in the German system, which in books has seems much more open to the beginner then the Italian system. I'm working hard to 'get' an understanding of longsword, and Italian longsword is harder with the books. (Remember these are seperate systems, even if they are very similar. I'm 'informed' Italian is more rising cuts, and German is more downward blows, but I'm a pure amateur when it comes to the longsword.

I'll finish looking at the videos, and I'll tell you what's what as soon as I finish, ok?

[Micha Hofmann]

I've watched most of the Ochs-DVD ( a friend owns it ) and I think it's very good.

The material is well organized and presented in a way that makes it easy to learn from the DVD.

Techniques are shown multiple times, with some executions done "slow" by the trainers, so you don't have to rewind the same scene all the time.

The background, trainers dress, camera angle and lighting are done in a way that makes it really easy for the viewer to focus on what's taught. I've found these things to be rather rather screwed up in some other training books/ DvDs. Theyre just excellent here.

I don't know if there is an english audio, but the quality of the german voice comment is very good, both regarding what's explained and the way it is done.

The are only two things I do not like about this DVD. First I think that It tends to "overclassify" fencing a little bit ( introducing many terms for steps, grips etc, some of which seem to have been created by Ochs - correct me if I'm wrong ) and I also disagree with the way some techniques are done ( not many - two to three issues ). Otherwise it's fine.

I highly recommend it.

[Jean Thibodeau]

This is supposed to be an English version or at least an English voice over.

Even if only to SEE what the books talk about this should be very educational learning what real sword play looks like after years of " Hollywood " brainwashing.

Since I spent 25 years working in A / V corporate video I should be able to confirm the quality of the production values even if I don't have the expertise to give a blow by blow review of the accuracy of each technique.

Thought the bottom line is that a good video should be judged by how clearly it communicates its' ideas.

Thank Micha for your comments as I can be confident that this will be money well spent.

[George Hill]

OK, I can give you a basic look at the Ochs now.

It's organised into four chapters. Theory, Important Basics, Basic techniques, and Advanced Techniques. Each chapter is sub-divided into 'lessons' if you will, which you might want to repeat individually.

The chapters under theory seems to be mostly an explination of what all this stuff is, (IE, What's a longsword anyhow? who was this Liechtenauer fellow and how the blazes do you pronouce his name?)

Important basics include seven lessons on individual steps, a lesson on stepping excersizes, how to grip the sword, basic attacks, and also a bonus section where they show all those basic strikes with other weapons, such as sword and bucker, or staff.

Basic techniques includes strikes, more on the basic attacks (cuts and thrusts), the four basic gaurds, and a lesson on defence.. And something about attacking with the point.

Advanced techniques are all sorts of stuff. Chasing, Winding, Hanging, even transmuting and snapping.


Overall, I am most impressed. Also, the menu music is a medieval instrumental that frankly, does NOT get tiresome after you've had it playing for ten minutes whilst writing a post on what you can see on the DVD.

As to the actual parts I have watched, there are one or two men performing the techniques over and over whilst a narrator with a slight British accent explains the action. I am not competent to say if these guys know their stuff, but they REALLY look like they do and they have an excellent reputation, (Unless I am very much mistaken.)

[Joe Fults]

My thanks to the reviewers.

[Steve Grisetti]

From the comments, it seems that the Ochs is definitely worth seeing, especially for a beginner (like me).

[Bill Grandy]

I bought the Ochs DVD if for no other reason than to support the hard work these guys have put into the subject. (it's a subject that's very close to my heart. ) I must say, I'm thoroughly impressed by it. Best WMA video in terms of production value I've ever seen, and really easy to follow. While I can nitpick about certain techniques that I interpret differently, I still think it's fantastic for a beginner, and even for an intermediate level student. For the advanced student it's still worth it to see how other people are training, and there's some good drills in there too. I highly recommend this one.