The next group I met were the Allied Taggers Association. They had a tournament planned for the end of October in Gambrils, Maryland. They are avid Actual Reality consumers. They're currently facing what many longtime players have experienced: Their local facility in Charlottesville, Virginia closed down. They still enjoy competitve tag, but prefer to play on AR. Their nearby options are limitted to centers in Virginia, Pennsylvania and Tennesee. It's difficult to stay competitve when you don't have a center closeby anymore, yet they're still holding several regular tournaments a year. I brought a team down to play with them in December. They've got some good taggers and hopefully they'll take the next step and send a team to Armageddon and broaden their experience.
I wrapped up shooting by the end of 2001 including some copystand work. Many of the images in the video are from my own collection. In addition to some vintage footage from Marc Mueller, there is also video that I captured in high school and through the years at different tournaments.
The music was created by Matt Hinckley, who had posted a message on alt.sport.lasertag asking if anybody was interested in original music for their laser tag arenas. He's real easy to work with, and I liked the tracks he provided for this video. Next I needed some animation for the open and a graphics look for all the lower third ID's. Dan Brown and Ira Simson helped here. Dan did the wonderful animation and Ira also helped create the cases from my rough design. Bill & Maria at Video Transfer, Inc. in Rockville, Maryland duplicated the tapes. Another friend, Mark Wisniewski at KOHN Creative Services, printed and scored the cases for me. Jed at FERNT.com Network Services also helped with web site business.
I finished editing and decided to let the project percolate while I worked on the web site, packaging, releases, etc. This site was completely new territory for me. I always figured I'd distribute the video using the web. It seemed to make sense, since it's such a small audience and many of us can be found on-line. One question I was asked by a colleague when I started was, "How will you know when you're finished?" It was a legitimate question. Usually we're working to budget, or to a deadline and the project fills the space allotted. Here, I was my own client working to no particular deadline. Even though I achieved my goal of completing the video, this project may not be over. There's already interest in a DVD, and I'm soliciting feedback on that front. There were of course some "dead ends." I was interested in taping the set-up and use of an inflatable laser tag game. I scheduled a shoot with a local amusement company, and they wound up not returning my calls the day of their event. The second place I called were not at all interested in having me come by. I think it would be fun to follow a team through regionals and NAC. There are laser tag systems such as M.I.L.E.S. that the military and even local police units use for training. I have a friend with Montgomery County Police, but couldn't set something up last year. This video even touched on some of the controversies that the industry faces. I think that could be fleshed out more. I really believe DVD's should have "extras" and there are certainly a few more avenues to pursue.
Thirty one on-camera interviews, 24 DVC tapes, over 960 minutes of footage (not including vintage/stock footage), hundreds of hours shooting, editing, travelling and you've got a 94 minute documentary. Please feel free to send me your feedback. I can take it. (I hope...) And hopefully I'll see you out there.
vinny - September, 2002
©2002 Yo Vinny! Productions