D
NPPL on ESPN
- Thread starter Zebra3
- Start date
Just got back from Miami. Well, i hope that I’m wrong on this one but watching the Pro games that they were filming for ESPN I’m scared they are going to be CRAP.
Now i don't want to rag on anyone for this as i think this was just a HUGE mistake that know body thought about......I'll explain. ESPN are filmed the event to make 8 x 1 hour shows, they had a full 40+ crew there with 14 Camera's running, got the best 7-Man Pro Teams in the world knocking heads, so everything is set to make paintball explode. Because of the amount of footage they needed to do the 8 shows they worked out the schedule so teams played best out of 3's in the Qtr's (So a possible 21 games per team) but this is where the mistake happened. They decided to change the rules and turn the games into mini matches. If you won the best out of three you got a point or win. Top 4 at the end of the Qtr's go to the semi's. This in itself doesn't sound too bad. But what actually transpired were two sets of people with two different goals. The ESPN / NPPL staff wanting a great in your face blood fest to be captured on film to make a fantastic show that we have all been working towards for years and the teams wanting to win the $50,000 / Ranking points. To win a game you didn't need to capture the flag or shoot everyone you simply had to be up on bodies at the end of time. Now when your talking about the calibre of players that we are talking about here, if they got a 2 or 3 head advantage they didn't need to or want to go for the win, why should they? Why not sit there and wait for the other team to desperately try and win thus stabbing themselves on the end of your barrels and losing more. I saw so many boring games ending in a draw as we know it but a win to the team with 5 players live Vs 4 on the opposition (or whatever). Super boring, lane shooting, Etc. Do you want to see a team with a numerical advantage lock down lanes so when the team that are losing run into a hale of paint over and over again will be good to watch? I just can't see the majority of these games looking any good at all on TV unless the production crew are brilliant. I hope they get a LOT of input from ballers from Pure Promotions / NPPL !!! Some games were great to watch but a LOT were like watching paint dry.
I don't blame the players / teams at all its what i would have done to win the cash. I don't blame ESPN / NPPL as i think this was just an oversight. But I’m worried that yet again we (Paintball) have managed to shoot itself squarely in the foot. I hope im SO wrong.
I hope someone comes on here and corrects me and tells me that a great deal of games looked fantastic, because I didn’t see all of the games because I was working but what I did see was hard to get excited about and if you know me I get quite excited about Paintball.
LEDZ
Now i don't want to rag on anyone for this as i think this was just a HUGE mistake that know body thought about......I'll explain. ESPN are filmed the event to make 8 x 1 hour shows, they had a full 40+ crew there with 14 Camera's running, got the best 7-Man Pro Teams in the world knocking heads, so everything is set to make paintball explode. Because of the amount of footage they needed to do the 8 shows they worked out the schedule so teams played best out of 3's in the Qtr's (So a possible 21 games per team) but this is where the mistake happened. They decided to change the rules and turn the games into mini matches. If you won the best out of three you got a point or win. Top 4 at the end of the Qtr's go to the semi's. This in itself doesn't sound too bad. But what actually transpired were two sets of people with two different goals. The ESPN / NPPL staff wanting a great in your face blood fest to be captured on film to make a fantastic show that we have all been working towards for years and the teams wanting to win the $50,000 / Ranking points. To win a game you didn't need to capture the flag or shoot everyone you simply had to be up on bodies at the end of time. Now when your talking about the calibre of players that we are talking about here, if they got a 2 or 3 head advantage they didn't need to or want to go for the win, why should they? Why not sit there and wait for the other team to desperately try and win thus stabbing themselves on the end of your barrels and losing more. I saw so many boring games ending in a draw as we know it but a win to the team with 5 players live Vs 4 on the opposition (or whatever). Super boring, lane shooting, Etc. Do you want to see a team with a numerical advantage lock down lanes so when the team that are losing run into a hale of paint over and over again will be good to watch? I just can't see the majority of these games looking any good at all on TV unless the production crew are brilliant. I hope they get a LOT of input from ballers from Pure Promotions / NPPL !!! Some games were great to watch but a LOT were like watching paint dry.
I don't blame the players / teams at all its what i would have done to win the cash. I don't blame ESPN / NPPL as i think this was just an oversight. But I’m worried that yet again we (Paintball) have managed to shoot itself squarely in the foot. I hope im SO wrong.
I hope someone comes on here and corrects me and tells me that a great deal of games looked fantastic, because I didn’t see all of the games because I was working but what I did see was hard to get excited about and if you know me I get quite excited about Paintball.
LEDZ
Ledz, you've really exposed the emperor's new clothes and rightly so. This is exactly the same problem with ESPN2's broadcast of last year's NXL final game. Instead of making use of the paintball+video experts like PBTV, Traumahead, Derder, etc they had to do it themselves. Another case of ridiculous hubris and the lunatics running the asylum. 
It looks like another great opportunity might be spoilt. It seems too many were letting their eyes get dazzled by the gold to realize what almost any of us could have told them beforehand.
Sad!
It looks like another great opportunity might be spoilt. It seems too many were letting their eyes get dazzled by the gold to realize what almost any of us could have told them beforehand.Sad!
Not trying to burst your bubble here, Ringu, but did you read tha NPPL release?Originally posted by Red Ring Inflictor
Ledz, you've really exposed the emperor's new clothes and rightly so. This is exactly the same problem with ESPN2's broadcast of last year's NXL final game. Instead of making use of the paintball+video experts like PBTV, Traumahead, Derder, etc they had to do it themselves. Another case of ridiculous hubris and the lunatics running the asylum.
Sad!
"TWI has hired on some of the industry’s greatest to lead their production team. Joe McCarthy (Production Manager), Sean Maddison (Producer), Brian Williams (Director) and Trace Worthington and our very own Matt Marshall announcing teaming up with some of paintball’s most experienced film specialists including Brad Maughan, Sami Ansari, David Marks and Patrick Sopher on the filming and production side adding their experience and knowledge to produce a spectacular, high quality show with all the intensity and excitement that goes hand in hand with Professional Paintball."
Now I'm not saying that tha whole thing won't end up being a cluster****, maybe it will, but it seems like people who know how to film Paintball were involved here.
Revolutionary idea this I know, but maybe - just maybe - we should wait and see what the programs, y'know, look like, before condemning them as tha work of lunatics...
Ledz has a great point. I've never seen so many stalemate games.
I can understand the need to change to get enough footage for TV, but in essence it got you a lot of tired teams who got up on heads and then sat and played technique ball.
There were far less of the usual 'oohs' and 'aahs' from the crowd too, because there just wasn't so much going on a lot of the time.
Can't blame the teams though, they were there for the $50,000.
I can understand the need to change to get enough footage for TV, but in essence it got you a lot of tired teams who got up on heads and then sat and played technique ball.
There were far less of the usual 'oohs' and 'aahs' from the crowd too, because there just wasn't so much going on a lot of the time.
Can't blame the teams though, they were there for the $50,000.
I stand corrected Meister TJ. I should've read the press release because that group of video jockeys would be exactly the team I would expect to be the best.
And maybe they'll be able to make something good out of it--I hope.
The reports I get say it was like Ledz described: about as interesting as watching paint dry. It just seems like someone would've had the stones to point out ahead-of-time what it was gonna be like.
Maybe some peepz didn't want to chance making themselves unpopular.
Still hope for the best.
I have just spoken to the guys from Pure Promotions and they say that ESPN are really blown away with the footage that they got and very excited about the whole project, a lot of the editing was done on site in a fully rigged outside broadcast trailer so they did most of the editing live so they already have a very good idea of how the action will look and they have all the footage that they need to make the programs, what he did say really blew them away was the sound, they had players refs and bunkers all rigged with microphones as well as mini cameras and they said it was amazing footage. Let’s just wait and see what the footage actually turns out like before we pass judgment.
Actually - just because games were boring to watch, doesn't mean they'll broadcast boring.
Edit a 7 minute stalemate down to 2 minutes, from about 98 minutes of footage (14 cameras) - and you could easily make it seem interesting - even if it wasn't for the crowd in place.
Let's hope for the best.
Nick
Edit a 7 minute stalemate down to 2 minutes, from about 98 minutes of footage (14 cameras) - and you could easily make it seem interesting - even if it wasn't for the crowd in place.
Let's hope for the best.
Nick
So what do you do when you also need 8 hours of programming?
Paintball really hasn't been on TV as a sport yet - the closest has been the NXL and that college thing that nobody saw.
When you watch team sports on TV, you generally see every second of the contest, plus replays. I'd like to see paintball on there with a game clock and a score, start to finish. Anything else and you're just watching highlights.
Not that highlights are bad, but we've been doing that for years. So editting it down to 2 minutes may work in terms of not being boring, but it's not exactly a step forward.
Zebra, I don't care who you have spoken to because no amount of 'on site' editing is gonna cut it, editing to make this footage attractive has got to be a lot more extensive and sophisticated than any done at the event.
I was there Zebra, I was one of those wired up and believe me, if they don't go back to the editing studios and work really hard with someone who knows what they are doing, then this is gonna be another bore-fest in the making, just like that Dick Clark fiasco we have already seen earlier of last year's XBall world cup.