jjeffeory

Well, now you have Glassmen and Mandarins... Everyone can relax...

The ending was better. One could argue that they were going to drop anyway. Remember last year? That's when only BD was ahead of them until Phantom and BD was ahead of them. Sometimes I think you just want to get on here and be contrary MISTER ( or MISSES or MISS).

That would make everything horribly out of tune. Yuk!

This has happened for a very long time and it seems to help most corps.

Jeff is the man at adding cool visual movement.

I would think that the concern would be in a couple of weeks when other corps really clean up visually. Who am I to say what should win, but I think there are some people who will complain about BDs current visual direction versus what they see from HNC or even Cavies. I can see why these people would complain, but I'm trying to look at the situation from a BD point of view and see where the merits of their approach to visual take me and more importantly the activity. We all know that the winner usually if heavily followed. So, if BD wins with this type of design we can expect copies.

This is what DCP is for... Well, that and fighting all of the time, but that's kinda boring.

I'll agree with this, but I'll say the the music starting getting super choppy in 1994. There was a real rough spot in design until about 1998. Sure, there were good shows between '94 and '99, but the activity was in a lull. I really love the music from about '86-'93. Most of the corps has great arrangements and the visual package got better and better. 2000 until now is pretty good too as far as music goes.

I have to agree here. Nowadays it's hard to have that mass appeal from all the groups. Even top groups are sometimes flat musically.

Yea, that's why I've got the VOD from San Antonio. I wanted to see what BD was doing during this part of the show. The thing for me with BD is that their guard greatly, greatly enhances the visual product. The hornline drill is very flowing, especially in that middle section where they disappear off the high cam. It's hard for me to judge the Cavies show because it is soooo smooth between each part of the show visually. The Cadets march their butts off, but the transitions are as flowing. They're definitely going to try to power their way to the top. I see lots of drill and not as much "alternative" visual in their shows. Crown is a hybrid. They're doing a lot of individual body work, but they also march their butts off. I didn't realize how much they marched until I looked at the high cam. They're booking!

Yea, people thought I was gonna attack BDs chairs this year, but I threw a curve ball. That was a sweet show. ( bass drum run!) Was that 1995? ...And the judges then didn't reward that design with enough points to win. Will the judges be able to give a similiar idea from the 2009 BD a shot in the end?

Well then can we start fresh with my intentions maybe a little better explained? Let's talk BD. They obviously are doing things a little differently to enhance their visuals this year. It isn't good or bad, it's just different. Is this the sign of things to come from all corps? ( Really great staging, etc...) Crown is doing some body movement this year ( ala Star '93). I like the way the are on the 50 in a "company front" and jump up and down. It makes them look like a stereo equalizer. Cavies did the drop and roll thing a couple of years ago to many jeers on here. This year, Cavies have a guard member climbing some of the hornline this year. They also have the whole section of the show that is basically a trumpet and guard feature where they have a lot of non drill visual. Is this effective? Is this the type of show that will be properly rewarded in the end by the judges? Does the fan prefer just full on drill and playing during the whole show? My thoughts are that fans and judges will want more drill than these alternate visual techniques. Let's see what you all think.

Yea, sorry I went away for a while too. I think there are some BD honks who think I'm trying to pick on their corps. All I'm really trying to do is talk about the design of the drill of these corps, mostly the hornline since that's where most of the member of these corps are... I think they expect me to attack them by saying they don't march as much or have an easy show. I'm instead trying to talk about the fact that their show design is different than the other top 3 corps, especially Cadets and Cavies. I think BD is choosing a different route to the visual aspect of their show and the FN clip proves me right. It also would explain why maybe they're cleaner visually, and maybe also musically. Lots of possibilities.

I really think that HNC needs to march less and do more individual visual "stuff". Maybe they could bring some park benches and trees onto the field? I really think that the Cavaliers need to march less and do more individual visual "stuff"! Maybe they can actually bring in some mountains to climb instead of marching drill. Is that better?

? It shows how much drill each corps is marching. I basically posted this to try and break down and analyze the design of each corps' drill and ultimately their show. That's pretty meaningful taken in different contexts. Obviously BD is marching less drill than the other 3 corps, but they have other visual attributes that enhance their show. It's like a WGI show where staging is contributes to the visual. Cadets take a different approach. I really hope you understand while the information is not meaningless. I'm simply trying to start a conversation and see where it goes. I suppose I need to slam a corps' show in order to get a good response to a post on here???

I think we have different definitions of what a "dark" sound is, but I think I get your definition. The two sounds are really different. I can appreciate your opinions. I like the sounds of today's lines too.

Ah, well then we disagree.

Obviously, it shows how much drill each of these corps performs during their shows. It's up to each of us to decide what that means. I'm talking drill here, not visual. We all know that there is more to visual than just drill. Maybe this could open up a nice conversation about how well Blue Devils ( since you're a BD homer) uses the color guard and alternate visual techniques in their show. Maybe it will open a discussion on how much Cadets use drill in their show? Who knows where the conversation could go? It's not ALWAYS a battle!

We could slow the clip down a bit so that I can get a more accurate count on those pauses. Also, we could go to other sources of video on FN to see what Blue Devils is doing during that long 3 second pause. From memory, I'm not sure how much drill was going on there if I couldn't see it over most of the field. I wanted to get a general "feel" about the amount of drill being performed by each group. The FN clip does just that.

Well, I didn't want to d/l the video and then put it through that process quite yet. I am sure I could get much more accurate information that way. I'm wondering what kind of discussion this will bring up first. I'm sort of just putting this out there for right now to make sure the topic doesn't go down hill. This whole thread could have the makings of the negative Cavalier analysis from their Billy Joel a couple of years ago. I prefer to just put out the data and let people make their own decisions about it. It looks like each corps "full show" is up, so I think it gives us a great idea about the choices of visual design between the 4 corps.

Yes, me too.

What? That they're cheaper than regular instruments? Or that you can not resale G bugles as easily as Bb? I mean that surely helps the top 5 corps, but I don't think it helps the lower placing and poorer corps who probably keep their horns for a while.

LOL. Yes, we are all special....

Heh, I had to go second by second to try and be reasonable accurate. Most of the corps are around 30 seconds. So take a 12+ minute show and speed it up to 30 seconds, and there's quite of bit going on. When you see a pause of more than a second, it really stands out!

Who told you all of this? G Bugles were definately darker yet edgier than Bb horns of today.