Company: Fact Videos
Tape Name: FACT - Fast Action Control Techniques for Law Enforcement & Security Professionals
Tape Cost: $35
Length of Tape/Time: 45 minutes
Number of Moves/Techniques:
Return Policy: ?
Experiences in dealing with this company: Great
The Instructor: George Vranos
Company's Address:
Company's Phone Number:
Web Page: http://www.factvideos.com
E-Mail:

Primary Grading Criteria:

1. Production/Tape Quality: 90
2. Instructors demonstrated skill level: 100
3. Comprehension Score/Immediate Understanding: 80
4. Degree to which this will make someone a better Martial Artist: 50
5. Score on delivery vs hype: 80
6. Degree to which we would recommend this product: 60
7. Wasted Time ( The higher the number,the less " fluff" /repetition ): 100
8. Playback Score/Watching it over-and-over again: 60
9. Would I purchase more of this company's products: 60
10. Overall grade based on cost vs. value: 80

Grand Total: 76% (Good)

Secondary Grading Criteria:

1. Beginners benefit: Good
2. Intermediate benefit: Good
3. Advanced benefit: Good
4. Time to benefit: Immediate
5. The need to buy additional tapes to understand this one: None

Written Summary:

I'd like to thank George Vranos for sending us his dvd without us asking for it. This dvd presents a bit of a dilema for me from a grading standpoint. I am not a police officer and I feel our website's focus is for Martial Artists. If Mr. Vranos sent us this, because he thinks 100% of the content will be appreciated by civilians, I think that's a bit of a stretch.

Mr. Vranos dvd is in my opinion made more for law enforcement officers and security professionals. Out of the rougly 15 techiques shown, nearly each one is designed to get a guy in a position you can cuff him. In many instances, about half the time spent on each technique had to either do with cuffing, or positioning a guy to be cuffed. So if your site is for Martial Artists, and you get a dvd that spends half it's time either cuffing a guy, or getting him in a position to be cuffed, how applicable is that for civilian Martial Artists? How many of us carry cuffs? Last, how do I attempt to grade a dvd like this, regarding it's value to martial artists?

Well I'm going to step out on a limb and try to grade this one. Mainly because Mr. Vranos did send it. And if that's the way he wants it, he gets it (anyone remember that line from Cool Hand Luke?).

When the intro to this dvd starts, we're given a nice preview before the lessons begin, and assorted clips in which Vranos is applying locks on people. You immediately notice Vranos can apply locks and come-alongs at lighting speed! Moving forward to the main content, Vranos starts out by emphasizing he wants to provide the viewer with as few locks as possible, for a variety of situations. So a person isn't overwhelmed with the number of locks they need to remember. He does a great job of that, especially the way in which he shows how to flow into 1-2 main locks with ease, from a variety of positions. I found myself a couple of times saying "OK, I want to see how he demonstrates getting to that lock, starting in that position". Sure enough, he did! In a 45 minute span of time, Vranos covered about 15 techniques, so you could average that out to about 3 minutes spent on each one. There was plenty of explanation, no wasted time, about 3 reps of each technique, with different angles, and on to the next. A couple of close-ups on hand and finger position would've been nice in a couple of places, but no biggie!

Here are some of the different techniques I saw:

Nerve Attack Points
Basic Controls - Front Wrist Lock
Side Curl Control
Pull Away Wrist Lock
Blind Man's Goose
The Wedge (not Clugston's)
Upper Dorsal Nerve Attack
Posterior Thigh Nerve Attack/Leg Lock
Tricky Transport Wrist Lock
Half Shell Defense and Counter Strike
Two Handed Shirt Grab and Counter Strike
Finger Drag Frisk
The Cell Drop (100% for Police)

The best technique I saw on this one for martial artists was Vranos' "Half Shell Defense and Counter Strike". This is basically defense against a sucker punch. Vranos has a nice way of addressing this that's simple, and has you protected yet ready to strike from an overhand, hook, or cross. What he shows for this is similar to what I saw on a Paul Vunak tape a few years ago. The technique following that is probably my next favorite out of the 15, and has to do with countering a "Two handed shirt grab". What Vranos calls this ia bit higher than a double lapel grab, with the attacker facing you and grabbing up high on each shoulder! David James shows practically the same defense for this on his tapes that Vranos shows here. Small world!

If your profession has anything to do with "cuffing people", then this is probably somewhere between a 4-5 star video. If however you're a martial artist, you will see some great locks, they will have value, but you'll probably see less value in all the different cuffing stuff thats going on! It still has some really good techniques, but due to 50% or so of the dvd dealing with cuffing and positioning for cuffing, and that not being applicable to most of our audience here, I had to grade it accordingly.

Note to Mr. Vranos: "Your dvd is great, but at $35, versus how it spends what I felt was about 50% of it's time on cuffing, or positioning for cuffing, or other police type techniques, it made me think of how that would sit with me if I as a Martial Artist bought this for $35". If it were me, a civilian, I'd feel I spent a bit too much at $35, for something where 50% of it didn't apply to me! Hopefully everyone understands my justification for the grade, including Mr. Vranos! After all, we are "Martial Arts Video Reviews" not "Police Training Video Reviews". 'Nuf said, moving on....

EM

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