@Scott -- much thanks! Same goes to your group... I'll support whenever time & logistics permit...
@Vulcan -- going "all video only" defeats the purpose of what my particular goals are, which is about *LIVE* staged combat. I'm not trying to bash film when I say this, but... fancy graphics + quick editing + stick props have never been *MY* kind of way of doing things.
Additionally... it may be a bit pretentious of me, but--I think the world has been slowly LOSING what it truly feels like to experience live performance. Not that you can't go see a play, or that you can't go see cirque du soleil... but I mean to say that it's becoming RARER and rarer still, for certain.
Live performance ALWAYS loses out to video (both capability-wise and profit-wise)... because films can be put together in any order of events... editing can aid people/things not having to "really happen"... and the director NEVER has to show the audience what he/she doesn't want them to see. In other words--all the stuff left on the editing room floor... the stuff you've never see nor fully appreciate.
In live performance, you also have the ENERGY OF THE AUDIENCE. :) You also have the whole "sequential/contiguous" plot, event, and storyline... and you have no ability to just say: "Oh wait, wait! Stop! I forgot my ______." Or even: "Hold up, hold up! I messed up my line. Here, I gonna do it again."...
Or even: "Oops. I crashed on my acrobatic trick. Let me do it again." :)
To me, all THAT is the reason to do such performances.
I do not care about "youtube views", I do not care about "who has the coolest graphic saber glow effects", I do not care about who can edit footage in the best manner to trick the audience into "following along"/believing that some guy did a flip when he really didn't. :)
I care about TRULY being able to fulfill on what you see from A to Z, from start to finish.
It's a lot to ask from a group of volunteers, but... all I can say is--those who go through such an experience? It changes their lives, that's sure. 8)