The Complete History of Paintball

The Complete History of Paintball is a 2020 American documentary film directed by John Amodea and produced by Paintball.Media. The film examines the origins and development of paintball, from the first organised game in 1981 through the establishment of international tournaments, equipment manufacturers, playing fields and the wider paintball industry.[1][2]

The original documentary has a running time of 171 minutes. An extended six-hour director's cut was also released.[1][3]

Content

The Complete History of Paintball presents a chronological account of the sport's development, drawing on historical photographs, video recordings, documents and interviews with people involved in its early years.

The documentary covers several areas of paintball history, including:

The origins of the game and the first organised paintball match in 1981.
The development of early paintball markers and equipment.
The establishment of commercial playing fields and paintball businesses.
The emergence of organised tournament competition.
The development of scenario paintball.
The international expansion of the sport.
The growth of paintball media and its associated culture.[1][2]

The production also examines the public perception of paintball during the 1980s and the difficulties experienced by the developing industry.[1]

Production

The documentary was directed by John Amodea, a paintball photographer, journalist and publisher associated with Paintball.Media.

Development took approximately two years, with research and filming continuing through 2018 and 2019.[2][4]

In February 2019, Amodea published a behind-the-scenes account describing the production's research process. This included collecting historical magazines, tournament records, photographs, video footage, equipment catalogues and interviews.[4]

The research team included Brenda Amodea and Josh Silverman, alongside other contributors with historical knowledge of the sport.[4]

Interviews and research

During production, Amodea travelled to several locations to interview participants and obtain historical material.

A February 2019 research trip to New Hampshire included a visit to Steve Davidson, a former National Professional Paintball League (NPPL) official and collector of early tournament records.

Davidson provided access to historical materials, including tournament score sheets, catalogues and documents dating from the late 1980s and early 1990s.[4]

The visit also included the location of the first organised paintball game in Henniker, New Hampshire.[4]

Other interviews recorded during production included Greg Hastings, Tom Cole of the National Xball League, John Dresser of PbNation and representatives of paintball equipment manufacturers.[4]

Release

An official trailer for The Complete History of Paintball was published by Paintball.Media on 23 October 2019.[5]

The completed documentary became available for streaming on Vimeo in April 2020.

On 21 April 2020, Paintball.Media announced that the 171-minute film was available through Vimeo On Demand.[1]

The film was subsequently distributed through Paintball.Media's dedicated film archive.[6]

Director's cut

An extended director's cut was also produced, featuring approximately six hours of material divided into six episodes.

The director's cut was made available through Vimeo On Demand and distributed physically as a three-disc Blu-ray collection.[3]

The extended edition includes additional historical material beyond the original feature-length documentary.

Reception

The documentary received positive responses from several individuals involved in paintball's development.

In a collection of testimonials published by Paintball.Media, early tournament organiser Jerry Braun, former professional player Mike Baird, industry figure Richmond Italia and John Dresser of PbNation praised the film's historical coverage.[7]

A consumer review published by Social Paintball on 16 October 2020 also commended the documentary's interviews and coverage of the sport's early history, while expressing an interest in more technical information about equipment.[3]

References

External links