Removing brick below a window

I'm going to be removing a window and replacing it with a door on a brick house. What is the best way to remove the brick below the window? Can I knock out every other full brick on each side and then mortar in half bricks or would it be better to cut the full brick with a masonry blade in a circular saw? The trouble with the later method is that the saw won't cut all the way through the width of the bricks. If I cut most of the way through, then will it break off clean if I just break the rest off with a hammer?

Danny I use a hand held worm drive saw with a diamond masonry blade to make the cut and then you can split the backs off of the bricks. An abrasive type blade you can pick at a box store or hardware will work the main problem will be the blade wearing away and not maintaining a deep cut. I would cut what you can with one blade, don't worry that it is continually getting shallower, just keep the saw under control and the cut straight. You may even want to set the saw up for shallow cuts that you can handle safely and make repeat cuts by setting the saw deeper with each pass. When that blade is used up put in a new one and finish up the depth of the cut.
You will probably have to bust some brick out with a hammer and chisel to open up the edges. Once it's opened up you can clean up the edges. When you start to break the brick use a brick set or just a cold chisel and crack down on the brick from the top where you want it to break. This should help keep the brick from shattering and becoming dislodged as you break it off. Don't worry if the back breaks off a little short. If you damage a brick too badly just take one from the area you are wasting and replace the part. It's more work to replace so just don't damage it the first time.