“Scouts Honor: Inside A Marching Brotherhood” Currently Filming

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Gigantic Cranium Productions is pleased to announce that Scouts Honor: Inside a Marching Brotherhood, a feature-length, independent documentary about the Madison Scouts Drum & Bugle Corps is in the process of pre-production and initial filming. The project aims to shine a light on the highly intense subculture of competitive marching known as drum and bugle corps, with an emphasis of one of the most storied and unique groups in the activity.

Each winter, tens of thousands of high school and college aged men and women vie for one of the open positions available within one of the elite drum corps, with the hope of being given the singular opportunity to spend the next nine months of their lives within a world that requires countless hours of rehearsal, physical endurance that would test a professional athlete, and the necessity to adapt to nearly any obstacle that can befall a large group of entertainers living on the road and out of their suitcases. The reward for these members is simple: a shot at perfection come the Drum Corps International Championship in August. Scouts Honor will focus on one of the most unique drum corps in existence, The Madison Scouts. From its humble beginnings in 1938 as a small corps associated with the Boy Scouts of America in Madison, Wisconsin, the Scouts have been at the forefront of the activity for decades. A two-time Drum Corps International World Champion, the Madison Scouts have also remained closely tied to their roots and are one of only two all-male drum corps still in existence. This factor, combined with the Madison Scouts’ philosophy, with its emphasis on preparing young men not just for the summer tour, but for the rest of their lives, elevates the corps from a mere
marching band into something else entirely.

As former members, filmmakers Mac Smith and Tom Tollefsen have been granted exclusive access to the Scouts’ staff and members, as well as their practice facilities. Filming began in July 2011, as the Scouts toured through the South, including a field show at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta. The next phase of the project will involve the crew embedding themselves with the Scouts during the 2012 summer tour, beginning with winter camps and culminating at Championships in August. Scouts Honor will offer long-time drum corps fans and new-comers a rare look into this brotherhood and subculture through a mixture of performance and rehearsal footage, interviews with staff and members, and archival material, all topped off with a professional quality sound recording worthy of the young men providing the soundtrack.

For more information about Scouts Honor: Inside a Marching Brotherhood, or to schedule an interview with Mac Smith, please e-mail Mac at mac [at] giganticcranium [dot] com.

Posted by on Monday, February 20th, 2012. Filed under Current News, DCI World.