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| Essential Shotokan Vol. 1 |
Being able to write reviews for videos and books makes running Karate The Japanese Way a pleasure that has within it, many more surprising pleasures. David Gomez, Director of the Essential Shotokan video series (and chief instructor at the Georgia Karate Academy), contacted me and asked if I would be willing to review karate instructional videos made by his company, Perfect Form. I agreed immediately, and could hear the sound of air rushing into my head as my ego was becoming inflated. I could hardly get out of my office that day as my ears were pressed up against the sides of the doorframe. Luckily I escaped and got home all right, even though I had to keep my head out of the window while I was driving.
During our correspondence about the videotapes, and about when I could get a timely review done for the series, director David Gomez had this to say about his work:
The tape series. It has it draw backs, but I think you'll enjoy the content. Most of the taping was done in a large room so there is an echo in the audio. Not cool, but if you pick up your sound, you can make out his instruction and after a while you won't notice the echo any more. Also, tape one has most of the evident technical problems. We had a problem with the zooming feature that was used during the editing process and it was too late in production to redo the footage. As a result, the first quarter of tape one jumps in some spots that should have zoomed. All in all, you can still clearly see what he is doing, but it's not smooth in some spots (maybe 4 or 5 places). Tapes two and three don't have the zoom problem, but they do have the audio draw back.
However, the footage was captured in an extremely high-resolution digital format. The production facility that made our masters tapes were totally awed by the clarity of the footage. Aside from large Hollywood productions, most video is still shot on broadcast quality beta tape. We were able to maintain a sustained 720 X 480 digital pixel dimension which is far greater than the broadcast quality of only 640 x 480 found in most video productions. Bottom line, the footage is "sharper" than normal video quality, near movie house broadcast standards.
David Gomez is a very polite, very deferential man who is loath to toot his own horn. His modesty, is also not the "I want to be a samurai-servant type" either. He is authentic in his statements and is someone that earnestly does the best he can but keeps praise given to him rather low-key. I will toot his horn for him. These tapes are brilliantly produced and content-rich. Yes, there are some minor zooming glitches in the first tape and there is a slight echo as well, but I would not have noticed these problems if David Gomez had not told me so.
The production of these tapes is excellent and great attention has been paid in creating a quality product. Also, having the material video-taped from different angles is a tremendous benefit to both instructor and student in understanding the dynamics of the material taught. Very thoughtfully done. These tapes are also lacking dramatic vanity poses, excessive bad music, and hokey sensationalism that can be found elsewhere. This is pure Shotokan.
Edmond Otis, Martial Arts Director of the University of Riverside California, is the instructor in these videos. His instruction is extremely articulate and he demonstrates exactly how to do each of the techniques he presents to the audience. He is very much unlike instructors who "talk" about technique. This is a karate teacher who teaches through example, exactly the kind of instructor students in karate need. Accompanied with Otis-Sensei is Kevin Warner. Warner-Sensei is no slouch himself and is an excellent model for students to follow. He too, like Otis-Sensei, is an accomplished karate-ka.
The contents of the first video of three are: focus, body actions, vibration, body/hip rotation, body shirting, body dropping, body raising, pendulum action, breathing, timing, rhythm timing and reaction timing, overview of stances, free stance, front stance, back stance, hour-glass stance, and side stance.
These videos are carefully designed in first giving viewers an overview, followed by a focus on key points of the technique or posture, and then also presents training methods through which students can master technique for themselves.
I greatly enjoyed this tape. I found that the instructions are very clear and well demonstrated. Otis-Sensei has some marvelous examples of how to understand and explain "complex" ideas in karate like "vibration" and "focus". These explanations are the best I have ever heard. He takes a complicated, and much debated idea about karate mechanics and shows exactly how to understand the concepts. I will not tell you how he does it here. You should go and get the tapes yourself to see what I am talking about.
I also appreciated the focus on key points in executing karate technique such as "soft" movement and "compressed" force. Things like "pendulum" action in kicking is also well presented. Otis-Sensei carries a primary thesis through his video work in making karate technique not only easier to understand, but developing technique to make it "sooner", "faster", and "deeper". I found his whole approach to teaching fundamentals refreshing, yet not unlike what one would find in any excellent Japanese dojo here in Japan.
Some things that I thought were very good, particularly for karate instructors, is how to check students for their stances. Otis-Sensei has a very natural approach to checking these things, and also takes the time to identify many common errors that beginners (and some teachers too!) make in their karate.
Drawbacks in this tape are only those that are unavoidable due to the constraints of time. Otis-Sensei has a lot of information to give the viewer and it comes through very "compressed". It is critical to watch this tape several times in order to fully understand what is going on. With each viewing I see or hear something else that I had previously missed. So, from a certain perspective, this isn't much of a drawback at all. This is the kind of work that can teach you again and again.
I highly recommend this video for anyone doing Shotokan karate, whether they be a beginner or advanced instructor. As far as I see it, this kind of work is ample evidence that karate can and has continued to grow and develop after the trail-blazing work of Master Nakayama and the original Shotokan karate pioneers in the Western hemisphere.
Here is some contact information for you to see more of what these tapes have to offer. Contact Gomez-Sensei for details how you or your club can get this material. Email addresses and websites urls are as follows:
www.essential-shotokan.com
info@essential-shotokan.com
http://come.to/gka
Mark Groenewold
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