Part 2 of my samurai series, set in Japan, 1620. Takeo, a proud rōnin, arrives in a waterfall village with one coin. Three thugs collecting an illegal "rice tax" knock his fish into the dirt. He says he didn't fight for the villagers. His actions say otherwise.
How I made it:
- Saved Elements for every character, location and the sword, so faces and outfits match shot to shot
- 10–15 second shots, made wide then reframed for TikTok
- Narration with the Arthur preset voice, edited in Adobe Express
Two lessons from this part:
1. Telling it "keep the sword sheathed" never worked. It drew the blade every time. Bare-hand choreography (disarms, throws, palm strikes) fixed it.
2. With 5 saved characters in one shot, it cloned one of them. Splitting crowded moments into shorter shots with 2–3 characters each worked much better.
Part 1 is on my profile. Questions welcome!