MikeRapp
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Posts posted by MikeRapp
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Frankly, does drum corps really have any drama to begin with?
If there are any surprises at all, it happens at the beginning of the season. From there, everything evolves slowly. There aren't any sudden shifts of fortune.
We at DCP, make drama from the tiniest of events, e.g. one corps that was behind another corps by half a point yesterday, beat them today by half a point. Wow! So exciting.
In hindsight, there would have been two interesting stories to follow this past season: Bluecoats and Academy.
But, no one could have predicted that last November.
As a sidenote, did Cadets and Blue Devils ever do a Drumline Battle against each other this past season. At the very least, that might have fulfilled the show's promise.
Well, Bluecoats and Cadets would have been compelling because they faced each other head to head so many times. Despite trying, they haven't proven any "clash" whatsoever between cadets and BD.
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One of them mentioned "why watch a show about drum corps when all you hear is music that has nothing to do with drum corps? I can actually listened to drum corps by just going to YouTube."
Yep, that's what I anticipated. Kids who are interested in drum corps are far more interested in BD360-type of videos that shows you a lot more "true" behind the scenes production footage...and real music performance. Again, not entirely sure who Fuse felt the market was for the show.
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Now that I've seen the first three episodes, I question whether there is enough sizzle around the daily drama of the kids to fuel (no pun intended) a drum corps reality series. Maybe the next episode will start building some tension, but right now I don't really feel like I'm learning much from one episode to the next. What am I going to miss if I don't watch the next episode? Really don't have any clue.
It may just be me, but I think there's a lot more angst if you show both sides of a show — design and performance, adults and kids. I want to see Scott and his team struggle with design, and the marching members struggle with implementation. To me that's interesting.
When you call a show Clash of the Corps, and the two corps don't even compete directly against each other for the vast majority of the season, it just seems like much ado about not a lot.
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I was glad they showed the other Corps' names that competed at the Rose Bowl (Go PC!). But, I'm wondering why they didn't post the scores, only the placements.
Eh, it opens another aspect of DCI that most viewers just don't care about. I was just glad they mentioned them.
I had forgotten that scouts finished second in Pasadena. Wow, the season really went in the opposite direction for them.
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I don't think anyone is going to stick with this but us. Just an honest evaluation.
I suspect the shows will get better every show, but the pilot wasn't exactly click bait.
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The producers probably don't think it's as interesting a detail as you do.
I tend to think they don't want to open a DCI can of worms for those viewers who don't know anything about drum corps. They clearly want to keep the story line as a clash of TWO SPECIFIC corps.
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Does it seem as though they are specifically avoiding revealing where corps members previously marched? Seems odd to me that every time a member starts talking about how they are "now" marching for Cadets or BD, you never hear where they previously marched. Why would that be?
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The Cadets performance was their preview show at the end of camp. Next week's episode shows them at the DCI Premier show at LOS...of course we will probably see very little of the performance.
Have to admit that I find it very disappointing to see a show about drum and bugle corps where you don't get to hear (or very seldom) a drum and bugle corps.
If there are 8 episodes then next week marks the half way point.
It's disappointing to us, but the fact is, the show's reason for being is not to show cause and effect for these two corps. It's to show the day to day life of a marching member, that includes live performance.
What discourages me is there has been no advertising whatsoever by DCI in the show. How in the world can that be a good marketing decision?
Personally, I am hoping we see more behind the scenes meetings and discussions about show design. But since neither Scott nor George have been chosen as character studies, that's not likely to happen.
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yup - most drive in, some fly regional, a few fly nationally and a very few fly internationally
for that first camp maybe 60/30/8/2 type percentage breakdown
I would also guess the younger a corps' average age, the more local/regional their membership is. IOW, college kids approaching age out are far less likely to care about distance versus marching with a compeititve corps.
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So I watched episode three...
They showed BD winning th Rose Bowl competition, and even showed where the other corps finished.
Was the Cadets show in this episode their last closed show with no scoring?
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It is going to be interesting to see how this show plays out. There's definitely a vibe of "this corps has their #### together" and "this one is a hot mess" right now. I know which corps I'd rather march if I was a newbie interested in the activity and knew nothing of BD or the Cadets outside of this TV show. I hope the producers go into more history for each corps, but not sure that would make for interesting television.
That said, it's great getting to see some of these kids in a more personal light, which is probably going to be the main reason I keep tuning in. We watch these corps from the stands as a 150 member unit doing their best to convey a particular theme or story line in 11 minutes... It's easy to lose sight of the fact that each one of these shows has 150 different stories within it - some inspiring, some heartbreaking.
No doubt they are going to keep focusing on the same kids later in the show, and we haven't even scratched the surface of the redesigns that Cadets went through. If anything we are really going to see what it was like this season.
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Maybe they are going to do a medieval show. Look at the billboard over their right shoulder. Something Rotten was written by a friend of mine and is one of the best shows I have ever seen!Say no more, say no more!
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The marchers moved down, side to side, and up. Thus the name Down Side Up.If the show was called "Up and Down," I could see your point. "Down Side Up" is another way of saying "Upside Down." That's not at all literal with respect to what they did on the field. Not a bad show title, just not literal. And certainly not associated with music.
And again, that's not a bad thing.
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Well, I've been promoting the idea of a drum corps reality show for many years. Great to see but why in the world is the production, shots & scenes so darned quick & choppy? It's annoying...just like chop & bop music.
I agree with you, but I suspect it has more to do with the crew getting their feet wet with shooting drum corps. It looks less like the intended style, and more like trying to piece together a whole lot of disparate moments.
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Well, if it's not in the show, or not clearly implied in the show, then it may as well not exist for the viewers.
Again, I thInk we should remember that this is thei first go around with drum corps. It is a very unique idiom. I would not be surprised if they are reading these critiques and agreeing with all of them. Until you have a context to what is going on in the big picture, it has to be very difficult to get it right when filming. It is pretty interesting that they already picked up on the confusion around Awakening (interesting that they never mentioned the original title...).
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In what sense? Because they used slides? I don't see how that's literal. (not that I besmirch the show or its title - I think they were great)
The words Down Side Up were chosen to reflect the very idea of the show concept: They were using all three of the X, Y and Z axis to create the show concept and design—which fundamentally included the ramps to move marching members "up" and "down" throughout the show. I don't know how you could get more literal than that.
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No one who's opinion matters has made that complaint in years. Also, the Bluecoats aren't the only corps mixing remotely either, almost all corps are. It's a non-issue with anyone save a few DCP posters.
For the past three years, Bluecoats is the only corps making additional, non-live-music-playing audio a central part of the very design of the show. We're not talking about amplification, or samples, or pads. We're talking about additional audio that is at times louder than the marching members, and at other times exclusive to audio engineering.
I am a huge BC fan. Their last three shows are among my all time favorites. It's not about whether anyone likes them, it's about whether DCI is willing to score things done by non-marching members as a part of GE. What separates this from the other corps staff is that the audio staff are on the field, and often contributing exclusive audio content to the live event itself.
How would this be different than contributions made by the pit? Technically, no pun intended, digital music recordings in fact identical in tonal quality to those performed live.
Maybe the way to go is to add another seat on the bus for an audio person who is a marching member.
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Plus, all of those shows like Survivor etc....have a huge pool of applicants to draw from, and they carefully select people they know will generate 'entertainment'.
Eh, I don't see this as a huge issue. Each corps has over 150 kids to choose from.
Plus, remember that many of these kids change corps from one year to the next. It would be pretty interesting to see someone march at Cadets this year, and Crown next year.
I will say that, if the show continues, having to work around showing little to no performance would be a deal killer for me were I the producers.
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And even this year, the Bluecoats "Downside Up" theme really meant nothing, and frankly didn't even relate to anything they were doing.
I'm not sure I understand this at all, down side up was a literal explanation of the concept itself.
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In other words, this show simply gave you another avenue through which you denigrate the activity and justify your rationale for no longer following along.
Got it.
I stopped following NASCAR, I haven't seen documentary reality show about it, but I know it sucks and it will never succeed.
Got it.
The inability to use actual shows with actual music is disappointing, but understandable. If the show continues, they are going to have to overcome this issue.
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It is notable that the "Second Team" camera crew in the credits are 2 employees of Blue Devils' BD360 video crew. Smart move.
They probably have better equipment and more experience than the First Team crew!
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No one is getting ahead of anything. Just discussing the potential ramifications.i think we are getting ahead of ourselves. I agree with Tobias that the Bloo announcement means that they had designated someone to oversee aspects powered by electronics. No where in the Bloo announcement is there any mention, discussion, or inference about judging. Someone has too much time on one's hands.
I know there have been complains behind the scenes by other corps about Bluecoats' use of adults on the field to run electronics...and obviously, designing them. While adults are heavily involved in show design for all corps, even a marching member directs the live performance.
The thing that makes this a new discussion is that Bluecoats have gone way beyond simple amplification and made sound a part of the show performance itself.
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There is no question that Bluecoats' use of electronics is a huge part of their GE scores, and obviously electronics are not being managed in any way (as I understand it) by marching members. I don't know how fair it is to reward a corps for actual live show content "performed" by additional staffers, on the field, apart from marching members.
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"Clash of the Corps" Episode Discussion
in DCI World Class Corps Discussions
Posted
Not that I needed this show to prove it, but ####, the BD360 productions are stunning.