Company: DreamCatcher Films Inc.
Tape Name: Purple Belt (Self Defense Techniques)
Tape
Cost: $29.95
Length of Tape/Time: 30 minutes
Number of Moves/Techniques: 24
Return
Policy: ?
Experiences in dealing with this company: Fantastic
The Instructor:
Adrian Roman
Company’s Address: 10226 Plano Rd. Ste. 100, Dallas, TX 75238
Company’s Phone Number:
214-349-0033
Web Page: http://www.adrianroman.com/
E-Mail:
chief@adrianroman.com
Primary Grading Criteria:
1.
Production/Tape Quality: 9
2. Instructors demonstrated skill level: 9
3. Comprehension
Score/Immediate Understanding: 10
4. Degree to which this will make someone a
better Martial Artist: 10
5. Score on delivery vs hype: 10
6. Degree to which
we would recommend this product: 10
7. Wasted Time ( The higher the number, the
less " fluff" /repetition ): 9
8. Playback Score/Watching if over-and-over
again: 10
9. Would I purchase more of this company's products:10
10. Overall
grade based on cost vs. Value: 10
Grand Total: 97 % ( Excellent = 4.25 Stars
)
Secondary Grading Criteria:
1.
Beginners benefit: Excellent
2. Intermediate benefit: Excellent
3. Advanced
benefit: Excellent
4. Time to benefit: Immediate
5. The need to buy additional
tapes to understand this one: None
Written Summary:
Sometimes
a person doesn't have to look any further than their own backyard to find quality
martial arts instruction. But first, let me back up and tell you about meeting Master
Roman. I had for the past couple of weeks been driving past Master Roman's new school,
when finally I decided to pop in and introduce myself. Not knowing what to expect,
I was pleasantly surprised to find a man that was unselfish with his time. He asked
me to sit down, and we talked for over an hour about a wide variety of topics. It
didn't matter what my rank was, what his was, what my background was, we just talked,
and it was one of the best talks I've ever had with someone I'd just met for the
first time, or of a rank as high as his. I just felt I needed to tell you this, before
I go into the video. Sometimes it's a pleasant surprise getting to know the man behind
the product. OK, so let's move on to the video.
Buying an instructional Kenpo
video, in my opinion, is alot like buying a box of cracker jacks. You hope there's
a good prize inside, but until you get it open, you're not quite sure what you'll
get. Here's why I say that. Since the passing of Ed Parker, Kenpo has gone off in
many different directions. Two of the main forces in Kenpo are Ed Parker and Al Tracy.
Parker over the years had several revisions to his system, the Tracy's had revisions
to theirs, and out of the numerous black belts that were created by both during all
this, some teach the old way, some the new, and some go off and teach their own way.
In some ways it remind me of TKD and Jhoon Rhee, H.U. Lee of the ATA, and the WTF
(Koreans). At one time, TKD was pretty much taught one way, then everyone started
doing it differently, and made their own revisions along the way. Oh well, back to
Kenpo. My "cracker jack theory" is based on this, what one student is being
taught as "true Kenpo" at his current school, might look like something
different to a student at another school. Now I'm somewhat exageratting, but here's
why I say that. I've seen some Kenpo instructors require as few as 6 self defense
techniques per belt, whereas there are others that teach 12 self defense techniques
per belt, or 24 techniques per belt as Master Roman does. This must be quite frustrating
to Kenpo students, especially those that might move to a different city one day,
and end up with another instructor. Could you imagine coming from a school that teaches
only 6-8 techniques per belt, such as the IKCA, and going to a school that teaches
24 per belt? Should the instructor at the school that teaches 24 techniques say:
"Hey, I'll accept you as a green belt, even though you don't know half as much
as my green belts", or are they told they need to start over, or demoted a belt
rank or two? Oh well, a topic for another discussion. Anyway, I'll take Master Roman's
24 techniques over anyone else's 6-12, any day. Personally, I crave knowledge, and
I'd rather walk into another Kenpo school and perform 24 techniques per belt, than
just 6. Why? Well just call me one of those types that would rather overdo something
than underdo it. Do any of you remember being told it's better to be overdressed
for an occassion, than it is to be underdressed?
OK, the 24 techniques shown
for Purple Belt are:
1. Twirling Wings
2. Snapping Twig
3. Leaping Crane
4.
Swinging Pendulum
5. Crushing Hammer
6. Captured Leaves
7. Evading the Storm
8.
Charging Ram
9. Parting Wing
10. Thundering Hammers
11. Squeezing the Peach
12.
Circling Wings
13. Calming the Storm
14. Darting Mace
15. Hooking Wings
16.
Shield & Sword
17. Gift in Return
18. Bow of Compulsion
19. Obstructing
the Storm
20. Twin Kimono
21. Sleeper
22. Spiraling Twig
23. Cross of
Destruction
24. Flight to Freedom
The production quality of the video was
good. It wasn't Panther quality, but I'd rather have more knowledge than a bunch
of fancy editing, pretty backgrounds and S-L-O-W excessive repetition. Master Roman
covers 24 techniques in 30 minutes. That's about 1 technique a minute. What's even
more amazing is that on this video, in about a minute per technique, he'll show each
technique up to 6 times, first slow, then fast 3-5 more times. Now on our excessive
repetition scale, this normally would have someone scoring low. But, since there
are only 24 Purple Belt techniques per tape, and he does show all 24 on one tape,
and does each technique 6 times, in barely over a minute, how could you penalize
him for that? Master Roman is covering alot of ground, very thoroughly, and very
fast. If it were Panther, based on the stuff of theirs I've seen so far, it would've
probably taken them 5-10 minutes per technique, and each techinque would have been
repeated 10-15 times, with all the repetitions being done in "let me eat up
valuable tape space...ultra slow mode". I continue to be amazed at how many
smaller companies, such as Master Roman's, can produce better instructional videos
than the bigger companies. I guess that's why fans of our reviews keep saying they
buy more small company videos than they do big company videos.
In closing,
if you are a Kenpo enthusiast, or have an interest in that art, Master Roman's Kenpo
tapes appear to me to be a great buy for the money.
