Media coverage of tournament paintball is currently a market that is wide open for competition. Even with the drastic increase in popularity over the last decade, paintball media is still a limited choice field. Fans are literally begging for companies to step in and provide them with high definition coverage of national events.

one4one is a media group out of Europe that has made its name in the industry by pioneering delivery of paintball media online. Their efforts to bring fans onto the fields have been extremely popular worldwide, and notable enough for the Millennium series to dub them as “official media partner” for the European league.

Their newest DVD release is two hours of nonstop NXL action from both the 2006 and 2007 PSP World Cup at Disney’s Wide World of Sports in Orlando, Florida.

The trailer:

As with my previous DVD review, of One With The Gun, I feel it’s good to start off with all of the negatives of the DVD.

Negative number one:  Bad menus and navigation (or lack of navigation there of).

After first un-packaging my DVD, and admiring the case design, I inserted it into my DVD player…ready in anticipation for what would certainly be an amazing piece of cinematic paintball masterpiece. At this point I was greeted by the DVD’s main navigation menu.

No…seriously…that’s it.

I understand the process of making a full length feature DVD, and I realize that said process is very involving and requires a great deal of effort. However what I do not understand is how in 2008, media companies find it acceptable to publish DVDs with such low production quality in the area of navigation and user interface. Sure the menu is simple enough with only two selections, but that is it. There are no sub menus that allow you access to different segments or chapters, which leaves you stranded if you want to watch a certain segment only, without navigating the entire film.

Negative number two: Great filming and video work, yet a large lack of player depth.

In my opinion, one of the greatest moves that has placed derder where it’s at today is the involvement that they have dedicated to players. If anyone can remember, earlier derder films were nothing more than game videos set to music. However, in later films, they began shifting style to encorporate not only the game aspect, but the player’s emotional involvement. Having commentary and interviews of teams and players brought into perspective exactly how and why things happened in a certain matter. It pains me to say that this DVD lacks player and team involvement.

The small amount of player interaction that does happen usually doesn’t satisfy one’s interest in players. Usually the interviews are broken down into a similiar overused format such as:

[one4one]: So…how are things going?

[Rich Telford]: Good…guns are shooting good. We feel good about the upcoming games.

[one4one]: So…how do you think the teams will place?

[Rich Telford]: I think it will be XSV…XSV…and XSV.

[one4one]: So…alright then good luck.

Now onto the things that one4one gets right.

First, the camera work and clarity are excellent. The shots that one4one provides gives the viewers the feel and intensity of the player/s on the field.

Despite being limited to the sidelines, one4one makes best use of all available shots and certainly mixes things up. Things are hardly ever boring when watching matches play out.

While the DVD does not cover every match from start to finish, it provides viewers with the best highlights from some of the best matches.

Which brings me to my next positive about the DVD…the editing. The DVD’s editing is nothing short of fantastic, and one4one’s style is blatantly obvious. Use of transitions, matching mood to appropriate music, color editing, etc are all fabulous. There was never a point in the DVD where I said to myself “Hmmm….that was a little sketchy.” One of the more noticeable tricks throughout the movie is the use of color contrast. In certain scenes, one4one drops all colors except certain ones in order to highlight the subjects better. This trick is severely emphasized in the match between Dynasty and Russian Legion.

Dynasty:

Russian Legion:

As said previously, the coverage provided by one4one is just the right amount to give viewers a grand overview of how the 2007 World Cup played out, without going overboard and  covering pointless matches that were not worth watching in the first place.

All in all, one4one’s newest DVD places very highly and hits dead on the mark in the form of stylish event coverage. The shots are tasteful and enticing, while the editing turns the whole package into one big sexy night of fun. However, one4one misses the mark severely when it comes to the players. Despite the small attempts here and there, I felt like more effort should have been placed into getting into the pits, and inside the players minds. I applaud their first major release, and recognize their effort in providing a quality film. However, World Cup is a large swarming pile of emotion, and to show that in greater detail would have been a much larger addition to the DVD, in my opinion, than coverage from the 2006 World Cup.

Orlando World Cup 2006 / 2007 Coverage DVD is available from one4one’s online store for €24.00 (+/- $35.00).

Pros

• Excellent film quality
• Stylish editing
• Thorough game coverage and overview for each event
• 2006 and 2007 World Cup included

Cons

• Bad menus and user interface for DVD
• DVD is void of any serious in depth player content
• Price

Final Rating
3.5 out of 5

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The paintball industry is still very young and in its early stages of development. This is both the advantage and downfall to the sport for new players. With hard work and effort, there is a good chance that a well rounded team can make it pro. However, the path to that goal isn’t set in stone. There aren’t years upon years of playbooks to study, guides to follow, or coaches to train with.

Everyone is still developing their own gameplan and training methods in order to deal with opposing teams who are doing the same thing. There is no set training path that reads “This is how to develop a pro paintball team.” However there are people who are trying, and are doing a relatively decent job at it.

Splat Magazine has teamed up with Joy Division poster boy Maximus Lundqvist in order to bring paintball players a training DVD that is meant directly for the individual player.

From their website:

For the first time ever, world-class paintballer Maximus Lundqvist, star player from the legendary team Joy Division, shares with viewers the tactics and techniques that make him one of the most feared players on the field today in his first Paintball instructional DVD, titled “One with the Gun”, produced and shot by the award winning team over at SPLAT Magazine. Geared towards the experienced tournament paintballer, “One with the Gun” provides viewers with over one and a half hours of the skill and training secrets needed to be a world champion. Just some of the techniques featured include:

• Snap-shooting
• Running and Gunning
• The Magic Line
• Break-out Shooting
• Physical Training
• Basic Stance
• And much much more

Co-hosted by legendary SPLAT Girl and “Deal or No Deal” star Lisa Gleave, as well as co-starring the NPPL Championship winning SPLAT Kids tournament team, “One with the Gun” is a must own for anyone serious about improving their paintball ability.

Available now at www.onewiththegundvd.com

For a preview of the DVD’s contents, Splat has released a very informative trailer with some pretty decent tips in itself:

Now, let’s discuss all the bad merits of the disc so we can get to what is good about it.

First off, there are quite a few advertisements placed in the DVD. The greater portion of these are mostly “X tip is sponsored by X company”. However, the three most annoying are Splat’s, WDP’s and Infinity’s at the beginning of the disc.

I normally wouldn’t care much, however control over the DVD is disabled during this time. This means that you have to sit through three full length commercials every time you want to view the DVD (unless you have a “go to where left off” feature).

Disabling user control at home so you can submit them to advertising = bad.

Second. The production values of the DVD are on the lower side of average. Splat Magazine is a reputable magazine with quite a large amount of advertisers, a sponsored NPPL paintball team, industry support, etc.

For a company like such to come out with a DVD that looks like it was edited with iMovie or Windows Movie Maker is somewhat insulting. The gripes here are:

• Bad editing (transitions, music selection, overlays, filters, etc.)
• DVD menu design is somewhat sketchy (colors, font choices)

Watching the video, I was under two impressions:

1. They had the funds, but didn’t want to spend it on good editing
2. They had the tools for good editing but didn’t know how to use them

Third. I understand that sex sells in an industry, but all of the scenes with Max and Lisa Gleave were nothing more than a game of “how long can Max go without looking at Lisa’s chest.”

Don’t bother telling me about “target demographics” and “market worth”. This is a paintball training DVD, let’s try to keep things professional.

Now, the good news is that the positives of the DVD definitely outweigh the negatives. There is a whole lot of new information in the disc that isn’t being taught by anyone else currently. For an individual player, this disc is a breath of fresh air.

The DVD focuses on the concepts that apply from the beginning of the game, to the end. This means that the movie covers new techniques for:

• Breakout
• Running and gunning
• Sliding
• Body positioning relative to the bunker
• Snap shooting
• Subduing the opponent while moving up
• Drills and scrimmages

One of the most interesting techniques demonstrated was the new style of snap shooting. Instead of the standard style of snapping seen today (a sort of hybrid groundhog style pop and cover), Max teaches a snap that relies on the rolling of the upper body. The style is hard to describe in words, and is best explained by watching the DVD. However what can be said in words is how much of an improvement over the standard style of snapping this can be once mastered.

Towards the end of the video, the theme changes and switches to personal fitness. In the last sections Max explains and demonstrates proper methods for pre-game warmups and stretches. We even get to go one step further and take a look at a well rounded workout session designed to keep a player in top physical condition. The workouts focus mainly on improving and toning muscle in the upper and lower body, in order to maximize efficiency on field. I’m glad that people are starting to address this, as one of the things that seems to be popular in the tournament paintball community is out of shape players. If people are going to play a tournament sport and be considered athletes, then they should take it seriously and train like athletes.

The DVD is also lengthy. Unlike other training DVD’s on the market today, One With The Gun tops out around ninety minutes. For twenty dollars, this isn’t a bad price for what you receive. Also, when watching the DVD it feels as if things aren’t being rushed. Max takes his time in explaining things and the reasons behind them so the player can understand and absorb the information better. As a whole, Joy Division as a team is always like this.

One With The Gun is available today from the One With The Gun online website for $19.95 plus shipping.

Pros

• Quality and informative content
• Length of DVD gives room for players understanding concepts thoroughly
• Game skills from start to finish are covered
• Max’s thorough knowledge of tournament paintball
• Exercise and diet philosophy covered
• Price

Cons

• Production quality and editing are sketchy and could easily be better
• Skin and sex are nice, but let’s keep it professional
• Poorly placed advertisements break the pace

Final Rating
4 out of 5

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