Tag: YouTube
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I stood looking out of the café window at the sun soaked street outside. People dressed in dishdashas and pakols were setting up shops in the buildings opposite. Quite a funky bhangra beat was coming out of the speakers in the next window along and the men were all slightly bobbing in time as they worked.
Behind me, sat at a rickety table strewn with maps and plans, were the organisers from Tier 1’s Operation Jawbreaker game.
Hey all,
So we have had a very exciting few weeks sorting out our protocols for sharing data between the members of airsoftfilm.com.
In just a few weeks of starting this project we have already collected 60Gb of video data from 5 different cameras! We will need to upgrade our storage to be able to handle the amount of video data we will eventually end up with, which I expect to be something like 15Tb by the end.
That’s where you come in. Please take a moment to read our manifesto and consider a donation to this most important project!
The first cuts of the footage we have already accumulated are being approved by the MOD for release as we speak and I have already uploaded a 3 minute preview to both Vimeo and YouTube (currently set to private). Once the MOD approves the footage we will set it all to public and you can enjoy our latest work. I think it is one of our very best, featuring awesome slow motion, Woodkid’s “Iron” soundtrack (recently featured in the Assassins Creed adverts) and some very hot FPS footage of Basho nailing tons of opfor! (of course 😉 )
Until then, I can only link the original music video:
So, let’s talk about why we are here. Let’s talk about, “Why we love airsoft?”
We invited you to fill out our online form detailing what airsoft means to you. We were overwhelmed with entries (numbering in the couple of dozen!) and there follows a slathering of our favourites.
One of the most common “objections” to airsoft, and Milsim in particular, is the erroneous idea that it is somehow insulting to the armed forces. Nothing could be further from the truth as Billy writes:
“Over the years I have kept up with airsoft even though I joined the army and got to do it for real. I am pleased that you are doing a pro-airsoft video and I would happily give a “not an insult to soldiers” perspective.”
Thanks Billy, we will definitely contact you regarding that and perhaps you would be willing to appear on the upcoming podcast as a guest?
It is often the form of airsoft known as Milsim, military simulation, which is only one end of a spectrum of different game styles. As Mike writes:
“More recently I have started to experience a different style of Airsoft called Military Simulation (Mil-Sim) which uses Airsoft technology to stage realistic planned 48hour operations with detailed orders and set objectives. This has really got me hooked as although it is tough going the rewards after completing a truly challenging event is one of the best buzz’s going.”
The team atmosphere is strong in Milsim:
“It is a team sport on the most part that bonds individuals together in a surprisingly quick way. In Mil-Sim events when you have to rely on the guys in your squad 100% to help you achieve the set objectives and goals. Strangers bounding over a hot mug of coffee brewed up at 3am after a long yomp with bergens packed to bursting has a funny effect. Sharing hardship whilst trying to achieve a common goal makes you start working as a cohesive unit quickly as no one wants to be the weak link in the chain that gives the opposition the advantage.”
But airsoft is much more than just serving soldiers and Milsim players, for some it is simply about getting out of the house. Tyler writes that:
“It allows me to hang out with my friends on the weekends and do something fun besides Video Games.”
This is my main gain from it too. Through airsoft I have met and been challenged by all sorts of people that I would never have normally got to meet. Airsoft draws people from all sorts of walks of life. My team, the DAs, contains bank workers from the city, policemen, history teachers, bricklayers, couriers and the unemployed. From that group there are massive divergences’ of wealth, education and world outlook (not to mention about 6 different religions), but we are all brothers and I would do anything for them. Airsoft is that great leveller that enables all men, and women (we have had many female members), to be equals on the field and side by side.
Thanks to airsoft I have met my best friend, enjoyed baptisms, new babies, weddings, birthdays and parties. I have eaten in the Tower of London Officers Mess, sat with 18 men in a spa’s steam room and camped in uncountable forests, bombed out houses and water logged ditches surrounded by mushrooms. Truly airsoft is doing something different on the weekends!
Ronald writes:
“Being a gun enthusiast and a Christian, this sport is my way enjoying a gun without really hurting people…”
I absolutely agree here, airsoft is safe and despite appearances it is non-violent. In my entire time as both a player and marshal of both CQB and Milsim events for almost 10 years (well over 200 events) I have only ever seen one person lay their hands on another in anger. Thankfully, that person chose me to assault and – thanks to my head camera – justice got served. Compare that to any other sport and airsoft is clearly a gentlemen’s game. From a religious stand point airsoft is a safe way to let off some steam and connect with those around you. Repressed anger is never a good thing and being able to achieve catharsis is one of the greatest elements to be found in our sport.
As Kiran writes:
“I personally love airsoft as it is a brilliant stress relief and has taught me MANY life lessons without the real life consequences. Because it is all a game I can laugh our failures off whilst still learning from it”
But is it all a male sport? Sure, it’s dominated by men, but women do play too. One female player, Michelle, took the time to tell us why:
“There is something that happens right before that first game of the day starts where I am so nervous and excited my hands shake as all that jumble of what if scenarios bounce around my head, should I flank? Should I support our team in the middle? Should I ambush? Then right when it starts all that jumble and nervousness disappears and my mind just seems to focus on everything moving toward one path.”
That’s the big one. Airsoft is great fun. It encourages an excitement that has to be felt to be understood. No other sport I have played brings on so much excitement in so many people.
Michelle continues:
“I have seen families play together with laughs and smiles, long lasting friendships that start just by playing together, or even the stories during lunch breaks, also things like two opposing teams laughing it up with each other post game. You just don’t see that in other sports, lose or win, everyone seems to enjoy the experience, and I think that most of all, is why I love airsoft.”
Well said.
To all those we featured in this post, please have our heartfelt thanks and we will be in contact for an appearance in the podcast and perhaps the film itself!
If you love airsoft, then please take a moment to fill out our form above and tell your friends about this site and what we are trying to do here. We really need your help to move that number up to the magic amount.
We need you and your friends and their friends to come work with us, to tell the story of airsoft the way we can tell it, that shows it is a unifying force for good in the country and once and for all explain, “why we love airsoft”!
Please consider a donation today, the free rewards are awesome!
Regards,
Basho
So, you want to get involved with our documentary?
Brilliant!
Here are the things you can do to help (in order of effort):
- Subscribe to our blog (see page footer)
- Subscribe to our YouTube Channel and watch our films!
- Like us on Facebook
- Read our manifesto!
OK, that’s the easy stuff out the way. For real contributions how about you:
- Tell us why you love airsoft?
- Contact us with your awesome footage!
- Tell all your friends, your forums, your blogs, your twitter buddies, your pub landlady, the couple that live next door: tell everyone!
And finally, the BEST way you can help. The way that will get you a credit in the film and a FREE GIFT!
PLEASE DONATE!
Why donate?
The way I see it is that this film is all of ours. I am reaching out to the community for support and help because I don’t want this to be about me, or about the games and sites I go to. I want it to be about us and funded by us. What that will mean is that when people question our sport, when they scoff at it and mock it, when they missunderstand the positives, you will be able to point them at this film. If airsoft should be threatened with a ban in the future, after some knee jerk reaction in the press, or nonsense about tax, you can point them at this film. If your wife, your mother or your non-airsofting friends roll their eyes and say, “isn’t it all just violence and guns?” you can point them at this film.
I want it to be a gift to us all that explains, “why I love airsoft”.
Even a small amount REALLY WILL HELP! We have 55 days to raise £2000, if you can help with even a tenner, then you’re a hero!
Regards,
Basho
http://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/investment-widget/airsoft-documentary-676
Welcome!
Here at airsoftfilm.com we love our sport. Do you? If so, then read our manifesto, send us your airsoft stories, help us with footage and support us financially in making an airsoft documentary!
We need your help and donations to get this important film made, so sign up today and get a free reward!
The Idea in 10 words:
Professionally produced airsoft documentary showing the positive side of airsoft.
Why?
Quote from our manifesto:
“There is an unseen sport revolution happening all across Britain. In quiet fields, unused warehouses, deserted military villages, snowy Welsh mountains and even empty shopping centres large groups of people seek each other out. Tired of the usual, more prosaic, sports they come looking for something different. Something that gets their heart beating, their lungs pumping like bellows and their natural competitive instincts taken for a thorough workout.
Dressed in military fatigues and with home-honed collections of sometimes startlingly expensive equipment, these people gather in their special places to shoot at each other with little white plastic balls.
They are playing airsoft, one of the quickest growing sports in the UK if not the world.”
…continue at airsoftfilm.com/about
So, if you love airsoft, if you care about the positive message getting out there, or even if you just want to see some awesome footage, then come visit us at airsoftfilm.com and donate to our documentary!
Regarding the potential for bias: Well, yes I am an airsofter and this is an airsoft documentary. However, I will be highlighting some of the common (and mistaken) things I hear about airsoft. For example, I am going to interview some ex and serving military personnel (I know loads through Tier 1) about how, actually, airsoft is not disrespectful to the armed forces.
Having been in airsoft, both as player and organiser, for so long I have seen first-hand most of the good and bad sides of the sport. We are determined to make sure that the true nature of the sport is shown in both aspects. What we will do different from Channels 4’s “Guns are Cool” is not make up our minds before we arrive.
Good: I’ve personally seen over £3k raised at charity airsoft events. I have met husbands and wives who play together and, at the risk of sounding melodramatic, I have seen soldiers catharsis their grief over lost comrades through airsoft. There IS a good side to airsoft.
Bad: I have also witnessed first-hand someone attack someone else in an airsoft game, I have banned many a person from my old site and worst of all – I, yes even I, have witnessed someone not take their hits! Terrible!
The way I see it is that this film is all of ours. I am reaching out to the community for support and help because I don’t want this to be about me, or about the games and sites I go to. I want it to be about us and funded by us. What that will mean is that when people question our sport, when they scoff at it and mock it, when they missunderstand the positives, you will be able to point them at this film. If airsoft should be threatened with a ban in the future, after some knee jerk reaction in the press, or nonsense about tax, you can point them at this film. If your wife, your mother or your non-airsofting friends roll their eyes and say, “isn’t it all just violence and guns?” you can point them at this film.
I want it to be a gift to us all that explains, “why I love airsoft”.
Awesome!
Do you love airsoft as much as this man?
Our most recent films:
Quick FACTS
- Launch date is November 2012
- Length is going to be anything from 40 mins to an hour
- The film will be posted on Vimeo, YouTube and available on DVD
- We will enter the film to all the competitions, small cinema expo’s and events that we can so the public WILL see it
- All the financial accounting will be made publicly available to sponsors
About the team:
Basho has made airsoft films for 5 years. His films are well-known in the sport and have evolved over the years into professional productions for event organisers. He uses Sony Vegas Professional to edit his works. His real life occupation is as a specialist project manager in the financial industry and so he has lots of experience in producing projects of this size. He is also a published travel writer who has visited Hong Kong and Japan: the birthplace of airsoft. He spends his time either on the field with his cameras attached or working as a senior marshal for clients such as Tier 1 Military Simulations and Fire Fight Combat Simulations.
Big D. Big D’s passion for Airsoft began in 2006 and since then he has been involved in almost all aspects of it from playing, marshalling, training and organising. With a huge involvement and knowledge this allows him to compliment Airsoft with his speciality, cinematography. A credited, award-winning cinematographer with experience in both film and TV allows his skills in both camera and lighting help compliment the documentary visually.
My first ever commissioned film was released today and stands as a landmark for Basho films. I have learned more about Sony Vegas, filmmaking and special effects from this project than I could have ever imagined. The background to the film is what is known as “milsim” or “Military Simulation”.
