For Warhorse Studios we made a feature-length documentary about medieval swordfighting, a four-part scripted series with British actors and a commercial. The documentary was released on Steam and GOG; the series has over three million views on YouTube. We shot the whole series — almost an hour of finished work — in six days with a crew that fitted into two cars.
How it started
Before we ever worked with Warhorse, we filmed a swordfighting duel with the Adorea group as a showcase of what its fighters can do. The video travelled the world: over a hundred thousand views in the first month, a feature on 9gag, and shares from people who know the craft — the YouTubers The Sword’s Path, KnightSquire and Skallagrim. The duel went on to win three awards at stunt and action film festivals.
Among those who noticed it was Daniel Vávra, at the time co-owner and creative director of Warhorse Studios. A year later the studio approached us directly and asked us to make a feature-length documentary about medieval combat.
Fechtbuch — the feature documentary
Fechtbuch: The Real Swordfighting behind Kingdom Come is a feature documentary about how people actually fought at the close of the Middle Ages. It was released in Czech and English and is distributed on Steam and GOG — platforms a documentary film rarely reaches.
The film features leading Czech and Slovak swordsmen and fight choreographers: Peter Koza of Magisterium, regarded as the founder of historical fencing in former Czechoslovakia; Petr Nůsek of ARGO, a fight choreographer who has worked on European and Hollywood productions; Petr Vytopil of Paridon, a specialist in the German school and armoured combat; and Robert Waschka of DRC Brno, the lead combat advisor on Kingdom Come: Deliverance, whose movements underpin every fighting technique in the game.
The Live Action Series
A four-part scripted series was made for the release of Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, shot in English with mostly British actors for a global audience — including Tom McKay and Luke Dale, the two leads from the game.
A crew that fitted into two cars. I handled camera and sound alone. Denisa Špetlová ran production and Vítek Mičke from Warhorse Studios directed and wrote. Apart from the last day of shooting we had two runners. That was the entire crew. This is not a saving for its own sake: a small crew moves without street closures, films where a large production would spend weeks negotiating, and builds its own sets — at Trosky Castle we built an arena with tents exactly for the shot. Six shooting days produced almost an hour of finished work.
Six hours in the Rudolfinum, between recording sessions. We shot the third episode in the Rudolfinum concert hall with roughly six hours available. The score for the game was being recorded at the same time, so we worked around it — when the recording stopped, we shot dialogue. There was no repeating it and no running over. Everything had to work first time.
A camera from a moving car, in live traffic. One episode opens with a scene in a car. I sat in the passenger seat with camera and sound, turned back towards the actors, while the director and production followed in a second car. It was filmed in ordinary traffic.
Thirteen hours straight. We shot the fourth episode in a single day — thirteen hours without a break. The interviews were covered on multiple cameras and heavily lit so the result would match the scripted format.
When the main camera dies. On a scout to Kutná Hora with the director, filming the evening mood — the statues, St Barbara’s in low light — my main camera gave out mid-shoot. We finished on the backup we carry for exactly this. We have never left a shooting day empty-handed.
The fight choreography in the second episode was prepared and rehearsed by Adorea — the same group we made the duel with years earlier, the one that led to all of this.
For all the constraints, it was six days in an easy, almost family atmosphere. On a small crew people know each other and do not have to talk over radios.
The last episode drew over 400,000 viewers in under a week. The game sold two million copies in its first month.
The commercial
After the series we filmed a commercial for the Kingdom Come: Deliverance fragrance. It carries the game’s brand and is released by a perfume company. It was shot in Kutná Hora with Luke Dale.
And one more thing
After one of the shooting days we filmed a short piece at sunset for social media. It has over a million views on YouTube.