I hope you have a wonderful day too.

About the Bessemer process. What she does with his new armour is not really that far fetched. Around the late 14th century they were starting figure out that if you take a type of iron high in carbon inclusions and quench it in a certain way it gets really hard. Sometimes it was so hard it would be brittle and break but there was an intermediate stage where it was hard but also springy which made for superior armour. Mind you they would not have known about the carbon, crystalline structures, pearlite, martensite like we do, only that you could sort the metal from the smelter into rough hardness grades. Make Armour from the ‘medium grade’ nuggets, slack quench that armour and it would be much tougher than the air cooled stuff. It’s not even totally unrealistic for a woman to know this because armorers kept this a family trade secret.

I have to say that the insight & breakdown of the accuracy/inaccuracy for A Knight's Tale is *Chef's Kiss* & it puts this film into a whole new light. Btw, Congratulations on finding an editor for One Crisis At A Time! I imagine that it hasn't been the easiest with getting your storyline sorted, let alone written & hopefully it'll be smoother sailing.😊

Very nice video, unexpected. I’d say the movie is set in 1386 as Chaucer hasn’t written the Canterbury Tales, but it’s implied that these events inspired the book. Since you asked: 1.Will doesn’t have a gorget or throat protection. 2. his head isn’t stabilised, 3. the saddle is anachronistic. (It’s a dressed up western saddle) 4. The breaths on the helmet are too large.

I recall reading somewhere that the majority of nails made by hand were done by blacksmith's wives and/or daughters since it's the sort of bulk order item that's time-consuming but technically simple and inherently profitable to keep making.

The whole 'women don't work' was - to my knowledge - a sign of wealth. Nobility could afford to let their wifes do nothing. It became only widespread well after the industrialisation.

I believe they also said in the commentary that the wives would learn the craft so that in the event that the husband dies (as Kate’s did), she could provide for herself and their children until she remarries.

I watched this movie with my dad recently, and Kate the blacksmith was one of the things he grumbled about as inaccurate. It delighted me to be able to say “actually that’s one of the accuracies”. Also after correcting a few of his grumblings, I teased him with “David Bowie was actually writing songs during the medieval period, he lived for hundreds of years!”

Also if you were marrying a blacksmith they were probably one of your father's journeymen. So you would have grown up helping your father in the forge with chores and forging little things (as someone else mentioned) such as nails.

I remember Heath Ledger defending the film by quite rightly pointing out the anachronism in other film.

In a way it isn't historically correct on purpose. Take the dancing and the singing. It's the idea of history mixed with "how would it be done today".

It really leans into the 80's rock culture and reminds the viewer that there were cool things vs old people things then too. It's brilliant

I loved this movie so much growing up, it was the first time I ever dove into the bonus features on the DVD. Listening to, I believe it was the director, Heath Ledger, and Paul Bettany laugh at the idea that they weren't aware things weren't period appropriate was quite enjoyable.

well, to be fair, lots of queens existed in the middle ages. what's one more, more or less?

I know EXACTLY THE BIT IN THE COMMENTARY YOU ARE REFERRING TO!!! I poured over that in my VHS copy of A Knight's Tale. And I enjoyed watching it again when a friend had it on DVD. I've also watched the film online with the director's commentary on too. That film was so formative to me as a child growing up and I loved all the behind the scenes extras at the end after the film. I was only sad that my VHS copy didn't have the director's commentary on it (because I knew there would be one) given the way the crew spoke about things in the extras and TV spots. So, I actually went down to Blockbuster to rent it on DVD just so I could watch it with that very commentary you subtitled. I was so impressed with it. The use of the font and the breaking down of the lines and displaying the text on screen and keeping the different italicised forms or not for the different languages, and the different characters and then the different actors and to show if they were making a joke or not or talking to someone else... I absolutely adored it. I can't believe I've found you out in the wilds. Although, that it is on the comments section of a Jill Bearup video makes it seem like this is the most natural of places to find you! I just want to say, sincerely, thank you for your work. The fact you were so committed to getting it right was an absolute dream to watch and appreciate as someone who did font design for fun and then also in art and design and such in school and loved all the ways you creatively showed intention of speech and originator of the comment and then the different little asterisks and such for when someone else would add in a fourth aside onto an aside or the original commentor would come back in again. Did you just work with their audio tracks after the fact or did you actually get to meet Brian Helgeland or Paul Bettany? I know sometimes they drop by to see the work that's going on with what they said in post-production. They just seemed like such genuinely nice and down to earth but also fun and kind people to work with. Thanks so much Julie! I am eternally grateful for your work and trade. Serious and deepest of respect and much kudos!

@@niallblack2794 Thank you, that's so kind! I was not at all part of the production -- I was part of a studio that was solely dedicated to subtitles (then called Subtitler, now part of Deluxe Digital Studios), and we got the files to subtitle when it was being prepared for DVD. I can't claim credit for the whole thing; obviously, it was a team effort, with several rounds of editors to ensure quality control. We also had very strict standards for things like the italics, line breaks, displaying speaker names, sound effects, lyrics, etc. But it was definitely one of the more fun projects I'd worked on, especially since I loved the movie so much! (I actually wrote a paper on it when I was doing my undergrad lol.) Amusingly, it took years after leaving that job before I was able to watch anything with subtitles again. I kept mentally editing them in my head based on the company's standards! (So, so many subtitles are just terrible, and doubly so with the auto-generated subtitles that are common today. I understand why they're needed, but I can't help but throw up my hands and go "this could be so much better!")

@@juliegolick you are most welcome! Okay, I thought you might say that. Yes, I think I actually know a couple of people in the same industry and at least one who worked for Subtitler at one point. Or maybe they just knew of them by reputation? I distinctly remember them all talking about how they wished other firms had such strict standards as them. Am I right in saying that at least to start with Subtitler didn't do non-English language subtitles? I mean, obviously when it would come up in a film that's fine like a scene here or a character there. But more they weren't looking to subtitle films from other languages. Anyway, the person I was thinking of ended up working at Subtitler eventually and that was when the demand for Scandinavian Noir was really taking off. And I remember asking them if they had ever worked on anything I'd have watched like that since me and my family watched alot of those kinds of movies and TV series. And they said it was almost exclusively English language only and they'd just hire a new translator to act as a translator and sort of cultural advisor with the transcription (if one were not provided) and then work in a team on the subtitles themselves. And the pains of having errors or no cultural context for certain things and that making it really hard to know how to follow their policies for r exactness properly because some files were just really messy and choppy and required alot of cleaning up before they could even start trying to subtitle from them. They, unsurprisingly, echoed what you said of maybe once ever having met a star or had a really nice email from a star or their agent when they actually watched the dvd with the subtitles and saw how good a job they had done. Especially noticeable with stars who speak multiple languages and rerecord their own lines. Antonio Bandaras is a good example of that. Anyway, it reminded me of other translators that I knew who were doing English subtitles for non-English language films. And they were also doing non-English language subtitles for English films. And working on the transcripts of the localised overdubbed new audio. And then eventually had their eyes set on working for Subtitler because their standards were so tight and it made them happy. And they would incorporate those quirks of their style of transcription into their own subtitles for other firms with less strict rules because they felt why not do an even better job than I've been asked to do? Why not get it absolutely perfect. I remember them talking about when the buyout happened and how worried everyone was. And what it was like being there prior to and during and then after the takeover. So, I think they were at a small office which was in the UK for their head of UK operations. Although they would get visits from staff from the USA? I think I've gotten this right.

@@niallblack2794 I was there in the late 2000s, and only there for a couple of years, so I only have that frame of reference. They merged with Deluxe after I left -- they were still Softitler when I was there. At the time, I believe we only did English-language films and shows. (Though maybe some of the other offices worked with other languages? I believe we had a Japanese office at the time, so maybe they were working on Japanese-language media.) At that time, our main offices were Bangalore (India), London (UK), Montreal (Canada), California (US - don't remember which city), and I think there was one in Japan also. This was to ensure that we could work on a file 24 hours a day, since the turnaround times were so tight. Usually a file would start in Bangalore for setting the script to the video (if there was a script) or transcription (if there was no script - like for featurettes or commentary tracks), then it would get handed off to the Montreal office (for a second pass at editing), and then either get handed to California for QA or distributed to our global translation teams for translation. We always used translators who were native to the language / country in which we were translating. There was also a team in Montreal that did "secondary English files," i.e. English meant for hard-of-hearing audiences. (These contained things like speaker tags, sound effects, song lyrics, and sometimes placing the text underneath the speaker.) One of the things that was very important when working on commentary tracks or featurettes was that when they were using audio from the original film in the featurette / commentary, we had to note which subtitle "box" in the main film's file we were referencing, so that it could always be translated the same way by the translators. One of the challenges with this is that sometimes you'd be assigned featurettes or commentary tracks without having watched the original movie, which could make it tricky to ensure that you really were referencing the right part of the movie. It was harder than it sounds to make sure everything matched up! Almost all the stuff I worked on was post-release -- so, stuff that had been out in the theatres or aired on TV already, but were now being produced for DVD. Very, very rarely I got to work on a few pre-release shows (most notably Clone Wars and Heroes), which was super-cool, because the post-production wasn't always done and I was watching the rough-cut. It was like a look behind the curtain!

The only thing a movie mustn't fail is on entertaining. And entertain a knights tale does :D

@@robertnett9793 Not really. As OP says, a movie just has to know what it wants to be, and be good at being that. Movies don't have to be entertaining. Movies don't have to be anything. There is no objective standard of quality in art.

@@robertnett9793 Even that is selling it a bit short. It wasn't just trying to be entertaining; it wanted to capture what it would have felt like, and show that to a modern audience in a way they'd understand. And it did that.

Very common. Even many field helm had breaths only on the right.

And it also serves the anachronistic purpose of of being assymetrical fashion and therefore cool for contemporary audience.

I also miss it sometimes, so I was glad to have the chance to bring it back! 🙂

So much so that my first comment on one of her videos was going to be me saying what you said. And now my first is this instead.

After “Excalibur” I had no trouble suspending my disbelief for historicity- challenged movies. This is one of those films you decide whether to watch or not in the first few minutes. Like you I was hooked almost immediately and went willingly along for the ride and was glad that I did.

It's been a bit since I watched it last. What was the makers mark joke?

@johnthomas2485 The farrier who makes his armour puts her own mark on it and it is based on the Nike tick. Everyone else is a bit confused by it because they are not familiar with the idea of a logo but it vibes with the use of modern music to excite the crowd. Modern idea transplanted into history.

"modern ideas transplanted into history" The man that Jill has in the video that jousts and explains the historical accuracy of it within the film, comments that some rich nobles would ensure that the identifiable markings on their armor was unique and pay so that no one else would have them, effectively copyrightibg that pattern/style/look. A trademark, if you will. You'd be surprised how many "modern" ideas aren't as modern as you may think.

This is the Way.

This is the Way

We have spoken.

With exception of Chaucer whole gang would make great Mandalorians. Chaucer in SW universe would obviously be a smuggler. Always in debt, always gambling for the highest stakes and always spinning a yarn.

Dang it I knew I recognized that stance from somewhere.

“Rufus Sewell can no longer visit the Balkans“ is not the outcome I was expecting from this film. Nor, if I was told that Rufus Sewell cannot visit the Balkans, would I have assumed that this film was the reason. Incredible

Wait, how did Rufus sewlell's partie shut down a crime ring, I assumed you were going to say that he was partying with gangsters, but you are saying he parties do hard that he drove the gangsters away?

@@Bazookatone1 He was importing his own "party supplies" and giving them away, cutting into the crime rings' profits. They gave him a choice, never return after the movie or stop acting, permanently.

The better you know something, the better you know you don't know enough.

@@pRahvi0 oh, i don't know about that....

I always thought Jocelyn's style was a (successful, in my opinion} attempt to show she is upper class.

The lances were apparently made out of bundled spaghetti wrapped in paper and painted, so very low risk props and the explode nicely on impact.

For real jousting, absolutely. But if I ever fell off a horse in my battle armour, I think my gorget would hurt me more than it would protect me. It's fine for taking hits and I'm ok if I get tripped and fall, but coming off a horse in it terrified me to the point that I never got on my own horse armoured up (and I rode her bareback most of the time so I expected "unscheduled dismounts" at least yearly). The only time I ever tried mounting up while armoured was when I paid for a "pony ride" on the joust horses at an event we were both performing at. Getting on was fine but getting my leg back up and over the saddle to get off again was challenging, they eventually had to shorten the other stirrip so I could stand up in it to get the leverage to get my leg up!!

Farquad liked them for other reasons. just saying.

@@kenbrown2808 I also need to watch Shrek again!😄

Yeah, the films setting is pretty firmly grounded in time, they just don't let that stop them from doing whatever they wanted with other elements in service of the story.

Yes that hair is just...... uh

@@Corrosion15 Jocelyns hair is 90's spice girl and is just stab me now

One of my SCA friends summed up Knightriders thusly: "They got everything wrong except the people."

Lady Knight the Brave did an excellent review of it, if you're interested

... 'RAAAAAAY!

Sponsored by Nike 🤣

Somewhere in commentary is a story about one person saying to the writer and director Helgeland, that the line about another Knight admiring the work is genius bc the founder of Nike is Phil Knight. Apparently he just rolled with it despite the wordplay being sheer coincidence.

Goddess of Victory

The elbow plate also seems to be well positioned to scoop a stray lance tip into your upper arm.

Yep, missing a Gorget, his throat his completely unprotected. Eye slits on Helmet are way too big on the close ups, though there may have been two helmets so we could see that it actually was the actor in it, with a different one for the stunt actor, cause on the far away shots they seem smaller.

Hey, I’m in the SCA too!! Long live Calontir! The Knight’s Tale is the perfect SCA movie. The anachronism in it is forgivable because it’s fun and on theme.

But it also got some things right that many films that are trying fail on. Like there not being pews in the church.

Which one? Trick question, both of Chaucer's coats are perfection and I want to wear them every day. Alas: Australia.

Rufus Sewell also plays the hero in the very weird movie _Dark City,_ which not only looks a lot like _The Matrix_ and shares some of its themes, was actually filmed at the same time and used some of the same sets. (I also love _Cold Comfort Farm._ )

Add Dangerous Beauty to your list as well.

Ah, of course, a practical and stylish solution to a problem derided by the higher ups as not being snobby enough. Love it when that happens.

It was also probably used to hide minor imperfections and smithing accidents.

Green paint and dye was entirely available, but you could also copper coat the steel by hot brushing or a similar process and then let it verdigris.

@@CCNorse Thanks, that’s really interesting.

Two things to consider: First, the Arthurian legends are set around the 5th C., so we're talking about a much lower level of technology; does that affect the colouring of the armour? I don't know. Second, the Green Knight is distinctly fae, and his armour and skin being green reflect that, so the steel would've been coloured with magic instead of technology anyway.

@@taylor_green_9 copper (the main component of bronze) was certainly know about and available, so it's theoretically possible.

It's also technically possible to achieve a green(ish) finish using linseed oil. I was doing some experimental archaeology and trying a coat on one of my own helmets, and the linseed-based lacquer turned green after about half an hour in the sun. Unfortunately, I had to strip it off (between combats it tends to be left on a display armoury, and while we shouldn't get kids licking stuff and finding out if it's toxic... this is the Great British Public, so I'd rather not take the chance).

Glad someone made the exact comment I was trying to create words for! His look of surprise lives rent-free in my head sometimes! Hahah! And I love this film and your cover!

Honestly, both Kate and Joslyn’s handmaiden both always struck me as the better options when compared to Joslyn

There's a deleted scene, set in the tournament camp at night, in which Will leaves with Joslyn and Roland takes her maid, leaving just Wat and Kate together. He hopefully extends a hand, she rummaged in her bag for a moment and pulled out a sausage roll, gave it to him and left.

Why would Kate ever be interested though?

Oh, no! That would have automatically undermined the whole idea of Kate! She's a determined woman who requires acceptance on her own terms, not as an object of lust. That she is able to be a person around them is what makes her stay. Sure, there is some figuring to be done because it'san unconventional situation, and they never really treat her like one of the boys, but that's what makes it good. They are able to realize that her being a woman doesn't detract from her being a cool individual that they enjoy being friends with. To force her into a love interst role would make her Not Kate and it would reinforce the stupid idea that people of different genders cannot be friends. Also, the assertion that "anyone other than Joslyn" (my simplification) would be a better choice undermines both William and Joslyn's characters. They each made a choice to pursue the other despite it being probably complicated and they were willing to communicate and receive cues in their courtship. They were willing to compromise and sacrifice for each other (What are you doing, Will? Losing. + Yes, William, with the pigs). They were forgiving to each other and defend each other and step way out of their respective comfort zones. He went to a dance, knowing he'd be wildly out of his element, simply because she wanted him there. She went to Cheapside and hunted down his father, just to be there for him. Their whole romantic storyline is intended to show a good example of partnership and *it does!* To say that Kate would have been a better choice, when she clearly isn't over her dead husband? Sure, she's got useful blacksmithing skills, but Joslyn has useful social skills, and Kate's already part of the team. Aside from that, they're both practical, both beautiful, both intelligent, both tough, both above Will's actual socio-economic class... what gives Kate the advantage? And the handmaid... there is nowhere near enough character building of her to justify saying she'd be better with him. We know that she's young, genuinely cares for Joslyn, has a sense of humor, enjoys a bit of rebellion. What else? What argument could be made that she is a better love interest than Joslyn? I did not mean to get this into this comment...

@@somethingsomethingsomethingdar She has her own business and financial independence, she's way too pragmatic to give that up for any man, let alone a soppy boy with nothing but big dreams.

knowing PVC's propensity for shattering when it fails, I would have been hesitant to wear it. pickle barrel, covered with leather was popular among the lower budget crowd, here. I never went for appearance, primarily because we had a guy who wore full gothic, polished excalibur bright. but to back up what her expert said, my period was 1490s, and the older armor stylings fit right into my period.

@@kenbrown2808 The only excuse was this was during the Dark Ages of the SCA (early '80s) when the prospect of someone making their own armor was a God like advancement. It's astonishing how far the group has come since then.

@@BillPeschel in my area there was a decline that started around the turn of the century. when I hung up my swords, the focus was shifting to politics and debauchery. the competing groups were also coming into play with their style over substance foci, as well. for me the final straw was too many mundane crises to deal with. I just couldn't afford whole weekends to goof off any more.

@@kenbrown2808 I hear you. I grew out of it as well when I moved away. But those are some good memories (like being at Pennsic).

@@BillPeschel yeah, I miss the people I used to hang out with. I never had time to make a major war, but I did AnTir-West several years running.

The writer/director is on record stating that he picked the music for modern audiences to be able to get a feel for how the characters would have felt listening to and dancing to the music of their own period. They even went so far to remix David Bowie's Golder Years to better match the tournament feast scene.

The armor in _Excalibur_ is extremely problematic. Arthur lived in an era prior to when plate armor would even be known, but it has been so romanticized by the various stories written much later that The Knights of the Round Table are now always shown in armor that wouldn't exist for upwards of a thousand years. The brightly polished armor is even worse, and was actually made of aluminum to keep the weight down for the actors. _Excalibur_ is a great movie, but accuracy isn't really it's thing. (Boorman wanted to make a version of _Lord of the Rings_ but couldn't get the rights, so he made a movie about Arthur.)

@@tarmaque I am perfectly fine with anachronisms like that when the movie is set in the "legend" or is a plain Fantasy setting. Now if they had outright stated that it was set in Historical England during the 400s then yes full plate would have been a bit to much but since we have magic I'll give it a pass. And all this doesn't change that I would love to see a video from Jill about the movie.

@@widgren87 Understandable, but I'm also all about consistency.

@@tarmaque Fair enough.

The lack of throat protection was my first thought as well. That little lip he has is borderline useless. A particularly poor hit that glances upwards or (more likely) the hail of splinters from a broken lance have full access to his throat. Yikes.

Fun Fact: Going for your lords wife was actually very common, the "hohe Minne" (high Minne; with Minne being something like 'courtly love'; it was basically the topic of the Minnesang, a sort of songwriting which was practiced by nobles) was aimed at the knightly love for an unreachable woman and his complete devotion to her (the knight would literally call himself her servant) without having his love returned. Like the whole point was that he would do everything for her, write poems ect. and she was supposed to not go for him anyway. And the wife of your lord was often the most untouchable woman you had regular contact with. The idea was that the knight would finally accept and appreciate his unreturned love and grow as a person because of it. Although, it's probably reasonable to assume that at least some of these relationships actually turned into affairs and it wouldn't be so obvious because the knight was supposed to be around her all the time and flirt with her anyway.