The growing phenomenon of e-Sports documentaries is not just a fad for current players and enthusiasts already engaged in the scene to marvel over, the purpose of these documentaries is also to educate. More often than not, the existence of competitive gaming is largely non-existent in the eyes of the general public that still, in the majority, chooses to hold their vendetta against gaming as a legitimate sport or any more than mindless savagery enslaving youths worldwide.
However, with the growing population of 'gamers' and the increasing efforts of organizations created to regulate and spread awareness of Esports in various countries such as ACE (China), KeSPA (Korea) and SCOGA (Singapore), I believe that there is a special place in the Film industry that may also contribute to the expansion of our beloved e-Sports.
4. Spela Modigt // Play Bravely
Arguably the team's underdog, Jonatan 'Devilwalk' Lundberg is the central focus of the documentary, highlighting the team's impressive run to take the victory at Dreamhack Winter 2013.
The film, while not as fancy as other documentaries laden with special effects and motion graphics, provides an obviously biased view of the team's struggles and internal issues leading to the decisive game between Ninjas In Pyjamas and Fnatic. I say this because the documentary centres entirely around Devilwalk and his team; in its own right, the bias is definitely an integral part of exploring how the team views the game, the tournament and their struggles as a whole.
Ultimately the film is one that, coupled with excellent cinematography, achieves the depth it set out to make from the start.
3. Free To Play
The film was entertaining. The excellent cinematography coupled with the energetic music and the shots of the players screaming made it exciting from the start all the way through. For months now, I have been yearning for something that would keep me excited from start to finish and I must say, even though I knew Natus Vincere had won the first International, it was like reliving the entire journey again. That being said, the documentary was largely average; if not a largely extended Dota 2 promo that only managed as a documentary to paint an idealistic bubble around the problems faced by featured players. It never reached the sort of depth the viewer would have liked to see and only scratched the surface of the emotional stories involved. However, the film is certainly an excellent way of introducing the Dota 2 scene as an e-Sport to those who have overlooked the possibility of such a phenomenon.
The film is free for viewing on the Steam Platform or on YouTube.
2. Frag Documentary
While the documentary has been around for awhile now, I believe the saying "Old is Gold" is definitely applicable here. While the times have changed and professional gaming has seen a huge boost not only monetary wise but also enthusiast wise, the documentary features a lot of issues that even players in our day and age face.
Garnering generally positive reviews, the documentary is touted to "draw the curtains" on the industry, revealing the dark side of e-Sports: corruption, drugs, exploitation and even death. Frag is an unbiased look at the "biggest sports industry that you know nothing about."
The full-length documentary can be bought over Amazon or found on YouTube.
1. State of Play
Undoubtebly the best e-Sports documentary to have been released in the past year, State of Play follows the lives of three Starcraft players: the Wannabe, the Amateur and the Pro (who just so happens to be Jaedong in his pre-Evil Geniuses years). The film garnered huge amounts of praise from audiences and critics, being part of the Official Selection at CNEX Taipei International Documentary Film Festival and Docville Leuven in Belgium.
We start the film with a bird's eye view of Seoul, the focus of the documentary being the Korean Starcraft: Brood War scene, before diving straight into the backstage of a tournament where we see Jaedong and his teammates preparing for a tournament. This is the world of Korean Esports, where the players are celebrated as celebrities and the production value of each event is maintained well above tournaments of other gaming titles, comparitive to television gameshows.
The incredibly emotional journey following the three players, eventually Jaedong's first win in a losing streak, leaves the audience with a bittersweet taste lingering in their mouths as we celebrate Jaedong's victory while watching the underdog 'Wannabe' lose his Semi-Pro league, his dream of pro gaming shattered. A brilliant look into the lives of these gamers, unfiltered with minimal manipulation of content makes this one of the few down-to-earth esports documentaries that shies away from the idealistic fantasy most esports documentaries portray the industry to be.
Highly recommended.
The documentary can be found here.
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