Crossfire on Channel4

[Ledz]

Hi Everyone, Scutty is right some of the Banzai's did take part in one of the shows. In fact it was a Planet Eclipse team, There was Steph and Sofie from the account department (both girls), Chris Okey from (Sales & K2), Jack (Air Smith), Super Dave Elliott (Site Manager) and myself (Ledz) (Lazy Bum) from the Banzai's.

It's good to read and listen to peoples comments. When we went down there for the filming (Which took about 18 hours for one show) we didn't have a clue what to expect. There was someone there that was there paintball consultant, she knew enough to muggle by but not what i would call a consultant, hense i think we should all be happy that it doesn't show paintball to be completely crap. Come on guys and gals face it, tournaments are great but having to storm a nuclear bunker guarded by the enermy and solving problems was cool. Don't get me wrong i love tournament paintball and that is what i live for, but how many tournament players are there in the world??? Not a lot, there will be millions of people that will be introduced to the sport because of some cheesy show. What is the one thing you always get asked by your friends when you tell them you play paintball "Does it Hurt" well X-Fire didn't show anybody getting hurt by a paintball and it all just looked like great fun. Companies are starting to put big money into shows and if they feel paintball can help then great I know for a fact that X-Fire cost millions to film.

I'm off now to the pub but if anybody wants any first hand questions answering about the show post the messages on here and i'll see what i can do.

One last thing before i go. At the end of the show it said write in to Channel 4 for next seasons show. If you have ever played paintball then don't bother. It was VERY hard to turn you paintball head off. The amount of time we bitched at the grunts for playing on and walking off with our hands in the air was unreal. guns @ 180 / 200 fps and markers (That were all Inferno's) that weighed about 3 stone and mask that when you lye down you can't lift you head !! Ask Jack & Chris about this one they both dived on the floor in one mission on the side of a hill and get nailed because they couldn't see anything.

Anything on TV that shows paintball is GOOD Period !!!

LEDZ

 

[Sloth]

Channel 4 Have ruined my life!!

I used to have an enigmatic reputation at work because I played paintball...

Now my work mates think I'm a Twat!!!! after seeing X-Fire!!!!

On the other hand X-Fire will probably increase the younger persons interest in paintball, which to be fair will only help the sport in the long run.

I nearly sprayed my dinner all over my telly when one of the contestants made that comment about the alien remains!!! PUNTERS CAN'T ACT....

 

[Richard Kirke (DUPS Rocket) UK]

X-Fire Ruined my life!

Then bring them along to a tourney/walk-on, let them play! Then ask them if it was like X-fire!

Once they've tried it, they will either worship you, or bunker your arse on the next tourney, coz they're addicted, win/win!

Richard

 

[Mr Big]

Must admit

that XFire was a bit embarrassing to watch. Was more like acting than competing, and it looked kind of amateurish. Was it filmed after hours at grange Hill?

We all have a right to criticise, which I have, but it's still good to know that someone took the concept (even if it was just in part) of paintball serious enough to put it on prime time TV. I can't see it'll get many viewers though.

 

[supair]

FOR LEDZ

Yo ledzy.

Couple of questions for ya.

When filming the show where you ever directed as to what to do? i.e. did they ever stop one of the missions and tell you to start again and do something different, or were there any scripts for what you had to say?

hope you can shed some light. Was gonna ask you if your team won, but that'd spoil the tension when we all tune in to see you guys get "EMULSIFIED!!!"

Cheers mate,
Sweatz-Damdangerous

 

[Ledz]

Hi,

They missions pretty much ran as you see them. We were told where to go in an area (So the camera men could keep track). If you went off track, which I did a couple of times to get a better angle the director would shout at you to get back. They never told us what to say at all except when it was something that the viewers needed to know. They didn't give us words to say they just asked us to explain in our own words what we were doing so people could understand a little more (such as cutting wires on the alarm etc). The Missions did get stopped a lot but only after one of you had been shot so they could re-film that action and make sure they got the shot for the camera. I wouldn't like to say it was fixed but when they wanted you to get no furthur, you didn't.

Hope this answers your questions.

LEDZ

 

[woodsta]

x-fire

What on earth waz x-fire about, why on earth is it being shown on TV??? It makes p8ntball + p8ntballer's come across as sad lonely individuals. It gives no clue to people watching it what paintball is about, it's just a load of men running around trying not to get "IMMOLCIFIED"?????? whilst standing 5 metres infront of their enemy, and looking rather good wearing slightly more than the knights of the round table wore?!? On a serious note, i think it waz terrible, i also think it gives a bad impression of paintball, if we ever want to get big, espeacially in england as a paintballing community, we can't watch things like that.

 

[Mador]

woodsta you're missing the point on this one methinks..

Any publicity that puts our game in a good light is what this sport needs.

Think on this.....bloke see's x-fire.....goes to local rec site....see's a team there having a practice/talks to the marshalls......hmmmm...goes to visit a tourney....then gets involved..starts to play.......

Can't be bad ..even if one in 100 ppl watching go...the only thing that can happen is.....let me guess.....more ppl start to play!!(TA DA!!)

Better touneys start to happen,sponsors get involved,T.V companies start to take notice........and money enters our game!!

can this be a bad thing??

just a thought..

Mador

 

[Richard Kirke (DUPS Rocket) UK]

Chill Mate!

Hi,

Come on mate, X-fire doen't even pretend to take itself seriously and neither should any of us! It is free advertising for the paintball world, if you look at the top of this string you'll c that sites where getting bookings because of X-fire within minutes of the program ending!

Yes they dress up in (increadibly) strange garb, and yes its not like actual paintball (very low chronying) and the enemy are clearly told not to do over the idiots that they get on the show too quickly (we'll c if they have to go easy on the Planet team )

But they have created fantastic words like "Finaliser" and Emulsified (as in Emulsion paint, get it....).

X-Fire may not give a good impression of what paintball is, but it DOES give an impresion of paintball in the media! We don't really have a media image at the moment, so now people know that it exits and that is what advertising is about.

Channel 4 will have done their market research and this is the kind of program that people want to watch, so its the kind of image that will do paintball good, becuase people actually like that stuff.

So Chill, its fun, its funny and its advertising our sport in a safe manor, what more could you want?

Peace

Richard

 

[dam-dangerous]

richard almost got it spot on.

what you are missing out on here woodsta, is that it isnt actualy a paintball show!!!!
strange point to make, i hear you say.
but thats the facts.
its a game show that uses paintball in its structure.
the masks are not what we use, the markers are just clad cheapo's and they ploay to a different set of rules. there are a miriad of diferences to what we play as tournie players, but it is a sophisticated version of rec-ball and scenario games.

people are watching it and are interested in what they see.
basicaly we as a whole are getting a hugely expensive advert (even if its not actualy us) for the massive sum of-------- nothing.

if you dont like the show then in plain english "DONT WATCH IT"

just my 2 cents.

ian