Bartitsu documentary DVD art contest!

Announcing an open contest to create DVD cover and label art for the forthcoming documentary “Bartitsu: the Lost Martial Art of Sherlock Holmes”, as featured in this preview trailer:

Theme and design brief

“Bartitsu: the Lost Martial Art of Sherlock Holmes” is a feature-length documentary exploring the history, sudden downfall (circa 1902) and contemporary revival of Bartitsu, as described here. The documentary features a combination of interviews, animatics, re-enactments and archival footage/images.

We’re looking for DVD cover and label art that communicates the eclectic and unusual nature of Bartitsu as an “Edwardian mixed martial art” as well as its connection to the Sherlock Holmes mythos.

Resources and design elements

Designers and artists are invited to make use of any of the Bartitsu-related images available in the Art Contest Image Gallery, either as inspiration for original artwork or verbatim as design elements. Entirely original artwork is also welcome.

Rules

* Only digital submissions can be accepted (see also “Submission deadline” below).
* Submissions must include designs for both the DVD cover and DVD label.
* All artwork must be at a minimum resolution of 300 dpi in jpg, gif or psd format, exactly matching these dimensions:
DVD cover template
DVD label template
* Designs for the front cover must include the title

Bartitsu
The Lost Martial Art of Sherlock Holmes

and the tag-line

“I have introduced a new art of self defence …” – E.W. Barton-Wright, 1899.

The spine must include the title text and the back cover must include 100 words of “Lorem Ipsum” placeholder text.
* The submitted artwork must be exclusive to the Bartitsu documentary DVD art competition.
* Individuals may enter as many submissions as they wish and are welcome to include a short textual description of their work(s).
* The producers are not obliged to make use of any artwork submitted as part of this contest.
* The winner will be awarded a copy of the packaged documentary DVD and also a US$50.00 prize. Their artwork will be used in promoting and packaging the documentary DVDs.

Works submitted

The producers retain all rights to the photographic representation of works submitted, including the irrevocable and unrestricted right to use, reproduce, and publish said photographs for editorial, trade, advertising, or any other purpose and in any manner or medium; to alter the same without restriction; and to copyright the same.

Judges

Confirmed judges include:

Tony Wolf (Bartitsu Society)
Ran A. Braun (Bartitsu Society)
Greg Mele (Chicago Swordplay Guild and Freelance Academy Press)

Submission deadline

Submissions must be received via email to tonywolf(at)gmail.com before Thursday, September 30th, 2010.

“Sherlock Holmes and Bartitsu”

E.W. Barton-Wright (left) and Sherlock Holmes (seated, right).

Bartitsu.org is pleased to present this illustrated essay in three parts by Michael Bertram Wooster. Drawing from his grandfather’s memoirs and from the archives of the Vernet Foundation (Paris), amongst other sources, Mr. Wooster’s essay details the hitherto mysterious collaboration between famed consulting detective Sherlock Holmes and E.W. Barton-Wright in devising the latter’s “New Art of Self Defence”, Bartitsu.

Part One details Holmes’ enthusiasm for physical culture, his growing fascination with Asian martial arts and association with judo founder Jigoro Kano.

Part Two offers insight into Holmes’ meeting and subsequent friendship with E.W. Barton-Wright and the genesis of the Bartitsu Club in Soho.

Part Three outlines the eventual downfall of the Bartitsu Club, the further activities of both Holmes and Barton-Wright and finally resolves the mystery of Holmes’ “baritsu” as recorded by his colleague, Dr. John Watson.

We hope that you enjoy the journey.

More from “Bartitsu: the Lost Martial Art of Sherlock Holmes”

Screen captures from the upcoming feature documentary “Bartitsu: the Lost Martial Art of Sherlock Holmes”, currently in post-production.

Presenter Tony Wolf in London

Tony on his way up to Reichenbach Falls in the Swiss Alps

Sherlock Holmes struggles with Professor Moriarty

Unarmed combat: Ran A. Braun and Rocco M. Franco re-enact a private lesson at the Bartitsu Club

Close-quarters play with the walking stick

Historian Emelyne Godfrey explains women’s self defence in Edwardian London

A still from an animatic of Yukio Tani throwing an English wrestler

A battle royale

A cartoon from the Libertarian political satire blog lampoonthesystem.com stages the rivalry between France and England as a savate vs. Bartitsu battle royale.

This is the second time in over a hundred years that humourists have referenced Bartitsu to make a political point. In a 1904 article poking fun at the customs of hereditary peerage for Punch’s Almanack, writer, war-games enthusiast and fervent socialist H.G. Wells wrote:

Next in importance to pronunciation and recitation in building up the mental and moral equipment of our ideal Duke, I would place the handling of toy soldiers, with this proviso, that every army corps should be provided with a section of cyclist volunteers. At the age of ten the Duke should himself be instructed in the use of the bicycle (preferably a Bantam), the Mauser pistol, and the Bartitsu method of self-defence, a mode of fighting rendered indispensable by the Anglo-Japanese alliance.

The BBC’s new “Sherlock”

A heads-up and thumbs-up for the BBC’s new series updating Sherlock Holmes for the 21st century.

According to the official website:

Co-created by Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss, Sherlock stars Benedict Cumberbatch as the new Sherlock Holmes and Martin Freeman as his loyal friend, Doctor John Watson. Rupert Graves plays Inspector Lestrade.

The iconic details from Conan Doyle’s original books remain – they live at the same address of 221b Baker Street, have the same names and, somewhere out there, Moriarty is waiting for them.

Steven Moffat says: “Conan Doyle’s stories were never about frock coats and gas light; they’re about brilliant detection, dreadful villains and blood-curdling crimes – and frankly, to hell with the crinoline. Other detectives have cases, Sherlock Holmes has adventures, and that’s what matters.”

The first three ninety-minute episodes of what seems certain to become a long-running series screened in the UK over the past three weeks and are available online in various formats. The series is recommended especially for its deft conjuring of a slightly fantastical but recognisable modern London. Episodes two and three, The Blind Banker and The Great Game, feature some exciting fight scenes. No word yet on the origins or nature of the contemporary Holmes’ baritsu skills …

E.W. Barton-Wright’s “overcoat trick”

In the March edition of Pearson’s Magazine, 1899, Bartitsu founder E.W. Barton-Wright demonstrated a curious self defence technique making use of an overcoat as a defensive weapon. The provenance of this technique is unclear. It could be an aspect of the Shinden Fudo Ryu jiujitsu that he had studied in Kobe, Japan; an adaptation of a French Apache (gangster) street-fighting trick, or perhaps Barton-Wright’s revival/update of the classic “cloak in the face” manoeuvre recorded by historical fencing masters such as Salvator Fabris:

Fabris’ technique had been revived as part of the historical fencing curriculum developed by Captain Alfred Hutton, who taught both Elizabethan and modern forms of fencing, as well as theatrical stage combat, at Barton-Wright’s Bartitsu Club:

According to Barton-Wright:

There is, however, one simple and effective way of meeting an attack with a knife that I will explain. We will suppose that you have to pass through a locality late at night where there is a likelihood of such an attack, and you do not wish to run the risk of bringing yourself within the law by relying upon a revolver.

Carry your overcoat upon your shoulders without passing your arms through the sleeves, in the style of a military cloak, with your right hand ready upon your left shoulder to use your coat in the way explained below, should the necessity arise. Be careful always to walk in the middle of the road. Directly your assailant attacks, face him and wait until he is within a distance of two or three yards. Then envelop his head and arms by throwing your coat at him, with a sweeping, circular motion of the arm. This will obscure his view momentarily, but not your own, and will give you plenty of time to deliver your attack, which should take the form of a right-handed knock-out blow in the pit of the stomach.

Or while he is still enveloped in the folds of your coat, slip round behind him, seize him by the right ankle, and push him under the shoulder blade with your left hand. You will thus throw him very violently upon his face, and in his endeavour to break his fall and protect his face he will put out his hands, and in doing so, involuntarily drop his weapon. He will then be disarmed and in a position where you can break his leg immediately if you so like, or if you do not wish to proceed to such extremes, you can hold him down in the position shown in No. 6 until the police arrive.

This is only one of the many ways I have of meeting such a contingency.

A tongue-in-cheek reference to the overcoat technique then appeared in the April 8th, 1899 issue of Guy’s Hospital Gazette:

Mr. Higgins has been taking lessons in the new art of self-defence. At his first meeting with Mr. Barton-Wright he attempted to floor him with the usual knock-out blow, but soon found himself presenting an inverted image moving against the shadow. This led him to think that there was more in the method than met the eye.

It appears that there is a good deal to learn in this new art. There are several hundreds of different manoeuvres for as many different forms of attack, and the trouble begins, I imagine, when you work off the wrong defence for the particular variety of attack.

There is one trick with an overcoat which strikes us as particularly “fresh.” All you have to do is to walk in the middle of the road with your arms removed from the sleeves of your overcoat. (The only drawback to this is that it rather spoils the set of the overcoat and necessitates wearing one all the summer). Then you meet your assailant—this is the hardest part of the business, but it can generally be managed by a judicious use of opprobrious epithet. Having met him, all you have to do is to seize your coat by the shoulder and plug it round his head.

If you are successful you can jump on his chest while he is getting untangled; if not, he will probably move off with the overcoat down a side-street. You lose the overcoat, but win the game. I must try it on a policeman.

And finally, here is the same trick, executed by Jude Law as Dr. John Watson in Sherlock Holmes (2010) as a prelude to belabouring his antagonist with a frying pan:

Lecture/demo in St. Petersburg, Russia

On March 12th, Russian Bartitsu enthusiast Sergei Mishenev was a morning guest on Radio Baltica, a popular North-Western Russian FM station with 5 million listeners. His 20-minute talk about Bartitsu was followed by calls and text messages to the station.

That afternoon, Sergei gave a lecture about Bartitsu at the Maiakovsky Library in the centre of St. Petersburg. The lecture-hall was full. The most exiting moment was the arrival of Nikolai Vashilin, the old master of combat scenes of Soviet cinema, who had devised the fight choreography for the famous “baritsu” encounter between Holmes and Moriarty in the Russian “Sherlock Holmes” telemovie (1979). The old master told about the production of that movie, and said he was surprised that so many people were still interested in his work.

Sergei then demonstrated a variety of Bartitsu walking stick self defence defence techniques against a “hooligan”.

“Bartitsu: the Lost Martial Art of Sherlock Holmes” update

After experiencing some delays in January due to technical difficulties and the vagaries of the international mail system, we are now back on track with post-production of the upcoming Bartitsu documentary. 99% of the necessary footage is now in the hands of our editors, the Digital Room in Rome.

Also in the Italian connection, our colleagues in the Nova Scrimia organisation will be collaborating with documentary co-producer/director Ran Braun to shoot some additional footage of full-contact neo-Bartitsu stick fighting. The shoot is scheduled to take place in the town of Brescia on February 27th and will co-incide with another Bartitsu-themed collaboration between stick fighting and boxing instructors.

More from Bartitsu Club Russia

Two new articles published in the January and February issues of Kalashnikov Magazine, courtesy of our colleagues in Bartitsu Club Russia. The first article details an introductory training session led by Ran Braun in November of 2009, and the second is on Bartitsu with particular reference to the Sherlock Holmes connection.

Bartitsu Club Russia is planning another seminar in April of 2010.

Click on the images below to view the articles (in the Russian language).

Bartitsu in Martial Arts Illustrated

Earlier, we mentioned that the UK’s leading martial arts magazine Martial Arts Illustrated have published an article on Bartitsu. Thanks to the kindness of the author Nick Collins and the publisher Bob Sykes you can now read the article here. Thanks also go to Bartitsu Society member Terry Butler, whose work made this available.

Note that copyright for the original article resides with Nick Collins and the published version with MAI.