Ballad of the Blade

Poster design by H. Fritz Bishop and John Bury

Paul MacKay

Steve MacLean

Dylan MacDonald

Alex Hart

*Ballad of the Blade (Mom I Broke My Sword)* is a music video for the song by The Meat Sweats, directed by Stéfane Samson and H. Fritz Bishop.

The plot closely follows the lyrics of the song in which a LARPer named Aaron (Michael MacNeil) laments the loss of his cherished sword and must find a replacement in order to join his friends in battle.

Filming took place at Terrace Convenience, The Upstairs Club, and the home studio of Meat Sweats bassist Paul MacKay over two weekends in August 2018. The video premiered at Tar City's Burnt Out event on September 15th at 100 Townsend Street.

## Cast

Michael MacNeil as Aaron / King Dominus Cibum XLVII

Stéfane Samson as Deathlord Killdaddy

Paul MacKay as Gutrot Gruelsly

Steve MacLean as Conker the Viking

Dylan MacDonald as Troll #1

Alex Hart as Troll #2

Mitch Murrant as Kegan / Sir Kegansly, Duke of Hamshire

Maddi MacLean as Patty / Princess Warrior 3000

Danny Sparrow as Clarence / Wise Mage Merkin

Julie Cordy as Mom

Christian Coombs as Sausage Soldier #1

Matthew MacLean as Sausage Soldier #2

Breah Slade-Williams as Elven Hotty

Thomas Dicks as Assassin

Ian Green as Narrator

## Crew

Camera Operator: H. Fritz Bishop

Audio Technician: Alex Hart

Boom Mic Operator: Dylan MacDonald

Art Direction / FX Make up Artist: Jesse Cyanide

Production Manager: Stéfane Samson

Script Supervisors: H. Fritz Bishop and Breah Slade-Williams

Production Assistants: Breah Slade-Williams, Hanna Ziegler, and Brittany Rose

Costumes: Stéfane Samson, Jessie Cyanide, and H. Fritz Bishop

Props: Stéfane Samson

Editor: H. Fritz Bishop

## Production

The concept of a Meat Sweats music video was first conceived by lead singer and rhythm guitarist, Stéfane Samson, who pitched the idea to Fritz as a submission for the 2017 Get Made contest. Stéfane has previously appeared in both *Bigsby* and *Grim* as Grundy Gunthrie, while Meat Sweats drummer Dylan MacDonald would direct his first short, *Of the Dead*, as part of that same contest. The music video was not chosen on the grounds that it did not qualify as a short film, but Fritz agreed to consider producing a video for the band in the future.

After premiering *Grim* in March 2018 and postponing production on his third feature length script, Fritz met with Stéfane and later wrote a screenplay for what would become the basis of a music video for "Ballad of the Blade", a song from the Meat Sweats album, Sausage Festival.

The content of the script largely follows the plot of the song in which a LARPer (Live Action Role Player) breaks his coveted sword and must find a replacement to join his friends in a grand battle. The protagonist, Aaron, was originally written to be portrayed by Tyler Andrews, who portrayed Rich and a fictionalized version of himself in *Paul Bishop is Directing a Play*. However, he was replaced by his fellow cast member Michael MacNeil after being forced to drop out due to scheduling conflicts.

Art direction and special effects make up was provided by Jessie Cyanide, who had previously appeared as a featured artist at One Night Stand. Jessie designed all the monsters that appeared in the video and created the duster jacket for Deathlord Killdaddy. Prosthetic application on set for all four monsters took close to twelve hours to complete. The second version of the characters' makeup, designed to imply they had applied it themselves, were designed with phallus symbols.

The first day of filming, which consisted largely of scenes from Aaron's mom's basement, took place on August 4th in the home studio of Meat Sweats' bassist, Paul MacKay. Night footage and monster close ups were filmed at the Tarbox later that evening. The second day of filming consisted entirely of LARPing scenes which were shot outside of Terrace Convenience. A week later, all the band footage was shot at The Upstairs Club on August 10th, wrapping production.

Post-production was completed on September 4th with the announcement that an extended version of the music video with an RPG video game themed intro and epilogue would be screened at Burnt Out on September 15th, followed by a digital release the next day on the official Meat Sweats YouTube page. There is no set date currently for the release of the extended cut.

## External Links

"Ballad of the Blade" by The Meat Sweats (Music Video): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OqUZclhTmsw