Box5Opinion
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Posts posted by Box5Opinion
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Love everything about this show! Congratulations to the design team!
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Prelims performance was lit! - Loving the GE score for Santa Clara Vanguard - well deserved!!! Design team needs to be rehired ASAP for next year!!! PUSH, PUS,H and PUSH SOME MORE! THE ENVELOPE that IS!
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Loving the GE score for Santa Clara Vanguard - well deserved!!!
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NO WHAMMY, NO WHAMMY, STOP!!! Today's abbreviated highlights!
Santa Clara Vanguard - WOW! Amazing design and execution!
Blue Devils - strong guard, visually stunning!
Bluecoats - LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the show design, but percussion seems out of place. :(
Crown - really? they boxed themselves into a corner and don't seem to know how to get out. Love the percussion and brass!
Boston Crusader - great BOA show, strong guard!
Cavaliers - it's ok, too much clutter!
Cadets - Loved the closer, rebuilding year!
Blue Stars - WOW! great design, design staff needs to get raise - they get it!
Blue Knights - strong sections - design WTF?
Phantom Regiment - really?
Mandarins - welcome to the club! Strong but seemed nervous!
Crossmen - come on, design team, challenge the members!
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Congratulations to Vanguard Cadets on a great season, amazing show! Shout to the Spartans design team, loved the show concept and execution!
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6 minutes ago, GUARDLING said:
Some of this stuff may have done in BOA before it was in DCI..remember the DCI people ARE the BOA people for many
Exactly, someone else gets it!
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52 minutes ago, ouooga said:
When I think 'innovative' I think 'something we've never seen before.' No one's really doing that this year. But if I had to pick a most, I'd actually go with Boston.
For reference, Bluecoats '16 I would consider innovative - they didn't have 'props' as much as they had 'sets' that truly modified what the performers were able to do on the field. They've done the same in '17 and '18, and I really like '18, but it's just doing the same thing in a different way. As for their music this year, the program is basically really good/clean jazzy drum corps, which again, is awesome, but isn't new. Even the singer, while phenomenal and arguably the best use of voice in drum corps since we got microphones, is just using a tool more effectively.
SCV this year is great, but I'm still not calling it innovative. It's great use of body movement/drill/sound/etc., but it's all just great drum corps. The props definitely fall into the set idea I mentioned above, but I don't think they add nearly as much as any Bluecoat set, the '16 edition of which raised the innovation bar.
I'm sticking with Boston on this one because their show has a lot of things I've never really seen before. They use props like a set - basically the whole field is the set - and by the end of the show they have literally modified the set to reflect what's come to pass in the show. That's awesome. Also the story is simple, easy to follow, and dramatic, and that's saying something when I consider SCV 04 and Phantom 08 to be the pinnacles of storytelling in drum corps (and neither of which did the field/set modification concept). Add on top of that the use of letters in the drill - something we've definitely seen before, but never as clean, readable, frequent, or lacking the cheese that usually comes with it - and it's truly bordering on that never been seen before type of show.
Side note: While I don't think 99% of BD's show is innovative at all, bringing Nighthawks to life on the field is the 1% definitely. There's no question what painting it is, and it's very cool. But aside from that single aspect of the show, it's just another BD show. A truly phenomenal product by a talented group of performers and designers, but extremely similar to most of what I've seen from them in the past two decades.
What? Some one needs to see more BOA shows!
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1 hour ago, Super Don-O said:
I don't understand the laser-like focus everyone seems to put on the idea of "innovative". It can be super well designed and performed without having to have re-envisioned what drum corps is. I agree with other posters about the way Vanguard uses and integrates the nesting stages as being innovative, but in reality the reason it is an effective show is thrilling music, a creative overall design package that integrates the visual with the music perfectly, tons of demand performed really cleanly, and a hell of a lot of confidence and swagger.
I was responding to the critique of Babylon and innovation from another thread but the forum GOD's wouldn't let me break it down per corp - so I had to lump them all together!
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1 hour ago, queenanne_1536 said:
I agree Star has the IT factor in 1993 big time. However, at the time the fans (including me) agreed with the judges. if you asked me in 1993 if they had the it factor, I would have said no way in hell they have it. I thought the show was dull, boring, lifeless, unintersting, and unimaginative. So much so, that I didn't even watch their finals performance on the broadcast and instead took a smoke break. I am certainly not the only one that felt that way in 1993. I can't tell you how many friends, who were marching with other corps that season said to me, "Our staff said if Star wins there is something seriously wrong with DCI." Now, I want to go back in time and slap myself (and anyone who ever said that to me) because it's one of my top 3 favorite shows, and now I discribe it as exciting, innovative, fresh, interesting, powerful, beautiful, and perfect. It took a long time to get there. That is great art - sometimes one hates it initially and then grows to love it. To me, it is the most perfect show ever put on the field in DCI History.
ah-ha! You get it!
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Out of the current top four drum corps (Santa Clara Vanguard, Blue Devils, Bluecoats and Crown, which show (show design, execution, engagement, complexity) is most innovative for the 2018 season?
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Santa Clara Vanguard show is different, they changed from last year, they are altering the physical landscape of the field (staging - close proximity drill and being effective at it and use of platforms (moving for drill and staging)), it abstract in concept yet there is structure, costumes and use of color, the music is cohesive with drill and what they are trying to portray and overall they are making a breakthrough (with judges and audiences alike) and they have developed a new method to show design that is engaging and entertaining.
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56 minutes ago, year1buick said:
Not really. The question wasn’t “How do you define innovation?” He was asking how, specifically, SCV’s show fits that definition more so than others. (It also wasn’t, “What about SCV’s show is really good?” Which is what some others seem to be trying to answer.) I was curious as well. And, to be clear, I think their show is amazing and deserves to be placing where it is as well. But I thought the innovation question was a good one.
Shouldn't one know what they are looking for first?
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I've seen comments throughout the season calling Crowns show this year innovative and ahead of its time.
Admittedly, I don't see it. To me, they seem to be doing the same things that Bloo, BD, and SCV have been pioneering the past decade
Body movement, dance breaks, follow the leader, (fantastic) staging, mic'd soloists/ensembles, long melodic ballad, mysterious voiceovers, interactive props, mellophone rips, screamers, no helmets, flexible costuming, etc etc.
None of these are necessarily bad things. The show itself is fantastic and deserved frontrunner for 1st place. I'm just confused on where people are seeing the innovation
Anyone have some insight?
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I've seen comments throughout the season calling Bluecoat's show this year innovative and ahead of its time.
Admittedly, I don't see it. To me, they seem to be doing the same things that SCV, BD, and Crown have been pioneering the past decade
Body movement, dance breaks, follow the leader, (fantastic) staging, mic'd soloists/ensembles, long melodic ballad, mysterious voiceovers, interactive props, mellophone rips, screamers, no helmets, flexible costuming, etc etc.
None of these are necessarily bad things. The show itself is fantastic and deserved frontrunner for 1st place. I'm just confused on where people are seeing the innovation
Anyone have some insight?
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I've seen comments throughout the season calling BD's show this year innovative and ahead of its time.
Admittedly, I don't see it. To me, they seem to be doing the same things that Bloo, SCV, and Crown have been pioneering the past decade
Body movement, dance breaks, follow the leader, (fantastic) staging, mic'd soloists/ensembles, long melodic ballad, mysterious voiceovers, interactive props, mellophone rips, screamers, no helmets, flexible costuming, etc etc.
None of these are necessarily bad things. The show itself is fantastic and deserved frontrunner for 1st place. I'm just confused on where people are seeing the innovation
Anyone have some insight?
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in·no·va·tionˌinəˈvāSH(ə)n/noun
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the action or process of innovating.
synonyms: change, alteration, revolution, upheaval, transformation, metamorphosis, breakthrough;More -
a new method, idea, product, etc.plural noun: innovations"technological innovations designed to save energy"The show has so much "IT" factor, congratulations on a great season!
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in·no·va·tionˌinəˈvāSH(ə)n/noun
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the action or process of innovating.
synonyms: change, alteration, revolution, upheaval, transformation, metamorphosis, breakthrough;More -
a new method, idea, product, etc.plural noun: innovations"technological innovations designed to save energy"I hope this helps!
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1 hour ago, Sideways said:
Finals week is here again and this summer has been as exciting as any in recent memory. Lets get a discussion kicked off on the "IT" factor...meaning that little extra bit of polish it takes to push a corps into finals or even to a championship. Is it simply GE? Those of us that have been around the activity long enough "know it when you see it," but how best do we explain it to newbs?
In 2016 Bluecoats certainly had the IT factor going into finals and walked away with the title with only taking GE. SCV took percussion and Crown pretty much everything else. Currently SCV has IT in truckloads loads and any other summer Session 44 would have IT. Phantom suddenly got IT in 1996 & 2008...SCV smoked IT at finals in 1999. 1993...all of the top six had IT to varying degrees but the top three were loaded with IT.
Performance captions are much easier to explain and for the un-initiated to comprehend...but how do we explain IT?
Star had tons of "IT" factor (the show is talked about every season and is a standard to this day) but the judges didn't agree. I think that's why they changed the scoring criteria for show now.
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Caption: General Effect (GE)
Number of judges: Two for most of the season, plus a doubled panel of four during Premier Events (e.g. San Antonio, Atlanta, Allentown) and the World Championships.
Points allotted: 40, 20 from each of the two judges. The scores of the two Effect captions are counted for full value. When the panel is doubled, the score of all four judges is divided in half.
Responsibilities: One of the GE judges has a music background and the other has a visual background, but each utilizes the same judging sheet because they are effectively judging the entire show, not just the effect of the music offering or the effect of the visual production. GE judges must be the most experienced, most knowledgeable, and most flexible members of the audience. Plus, they know how to manage numbers in order to give a proper score. The GE judges are doing the romantic job, they’re feeling what the show is offering and responding to what the show is. There are three parts to GE, the intellectual, the aesthetic, and the emotional.The corp that is able to package their show (may not have the best brass/guard/percussion but has the GE/music/visual aspects) and is able to connect with the intellectual, aesthetic and emotional has the "IT" factor any given season!
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1 hour ago, tigger2 said:
From my chair:
Yes, SCV is capitalizing on innovations and standards set by those mentioned earlier. And, this is of course how the activity progresses and how you win. I believe the show has and will continue to set new standards between now and Saturday. That stated, I am not sure it is innovation standards or simply really smart programming using full knowledge of all tricks of the trade old and brand new and excellence standards that equal or surpass those from which said tricks have been garnered.
1) vertical alignment on a new level for the longest amount of sustained time, and amazingly flawless at that
2) best front ensemble in the history of the activity considering the tools currently in the designer's and performer's toolbox
3) the development of moving props a million times and doing so in character, with purpose beyond moving something that needs to be moved so something new can be done (This has bothered me for years. Thanks SCV. If I can see you, it is judge-able, right? An opportunity to be creative and artistic.)
4) Soloists that are equally as good as any ever in the activity, but perhaps a bit better considering the wind range of skills shown, and not two or three folks.
5) Pitch control at all volumes and in key centers beyond B-flat and F (yes, others have done so, but I am not sure such has been done with the percentage of excellence considering some of the key center and harmonic language challenges)
6) It is rare that we get a corps that is not only firing on all three main areas of effect, intellectual, aesthetic, and emotional, but has been doing such since day one of tour. BD came close with INK and Fellini-esque as did Crown with E=Mc2. But all summer? Every night? Every tune? Every beat and bar?
That's my take. Oh, and plus, the unexplainable "IT" factor. This production has that in spades. It just clicks. It speaks to your heart and gut. It makes you want to see it over and over and over. It is raw and passionate, gritty and gutsy, confident and bigger than life." It" is what made all of us become addicted to this unexplainable, niche, odd, crazy activity.
THE SHOW IS SCREAMING "IT" FACTOR! BOX 5 SCORES ACROSS THE BOARD ON FINALS NIGHT!
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Ott: Crown
Zingali: BD or Boston Crusaders - it depends on the panel judges
Sanford: SCV
Brazale: BD
Angelica: SCV
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1 hour ago, tedrick said:
so this is just not a very good season - show wise --- from a basic entertainment stand point --
simple thumbs up/thumbs down rating of the shows:
1 Santa Clara Vanguard 93.675 (thumbs down)2 Blue Devils 93.250 (thumbs down)3 Bluecoats 92.775 (thumbs down)4 Carolina Crown 91.525 (thumbs down)5 Boston Crusaders 89.950 (thumbs up)6 The Cavaliers 89.925 (thumbs down)7 The Cadets 87.487 (thumbs down)8 Blue Stars 86.250 (thumbs down)9 Blue Knights (thumbs down)I think this has to do with narrative - I'm not connecting with the stories in any of the shows - I'm just not finding a lot to engage/excite me....
One of the better years of DCI! - so many outstanding shows - from artistic to abstract!
No thumbs up/thumbs down rating of the shows: I'll let you decide, no snarky comments from me ;)
1. Santa Clara Vanguard 93.675 - Babylon - "in a time when words fail, music and movement become the foundation upon which to communicate, and serve as the building blocks to once again unite humanity using steel boxes that more around the field".
2. Blue Devils 93.250 - Dreams and Nighthawks - based and inspired entirely in a painting done by Edward Hopper, called "Nighthawks." The instantly recognizable painting depicts four people sitting in a diner at night. "In a whirlwind of puzzle pieces, a cast of characters assembles a plot line of timeless speculation. A conversation of where, when, and why unfolds to a contemporary, eclectic soundtrack from John Adams to Carole King to Simon Dobson, with props that move to depict the painting at the end".
3. Bluecoats 92.775 - Session 44 - Based on a Billie Holliday recording session this show is accompanied by paintbrush strokes of bright colors, a hasty drum beat, and some lazy growl tones from the brass, the screen fills with name after name of jazz greats and they use big chairs as props.
4. Carolina Crown 91.525 - Beast - Is it a monster? Are we all the beast? Who cares, the show is a true beast with great, loud and technical music and drill, with bones on the field and platform that teeter totters.
5. Boston Crusaders - 89.950 - SOS - Lost (tv show) meets DCI set to the music of Amazing Grace, complicated drill with stunning visuals, they even spell out words on the field and that platform that they used last year is back, I guess they needed a lifeline.
6. Cavaliers - 89.925 - On Madness and Creativity - Maurice Ravel and Rufus Wainwright interwoven to Rorschach visuals, I am still trying to picture it.
7. The Cadets - 87.487 - The Unity Project - The show reveals that it was largely inspired by a quote from Mahatma Gandhi which says: "unity, to be real, must stand the severest strain without breaking."Using a mix of original music with contemporary, the show is following "a trajectory and evolution from disjunction to cohesion, through the synergy of design and performers coming together, minus GH."
8. Blue Stars - 86.250 - The Once and Future Carpenter - The show uses music related to and revolving around trade skills like woodworking and metalworking and includes music from the Carpenters, sponsored by HomeDepot, this show is a visual work in progress and under construction.
9. Blue Knights - 85.925 - Fall and Rise - The show takes inspiration from the sun god Ra "as a springboard to go deeper and explore the invincible human spirit." From the description on the corps' website, the show will be another high-brow concept, but with some easily understandable imagery to set the stage, which include several pyramids.
I think I fixed the original post, If not, then someone moved it.
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12 minutes ago, jwillis35 said:
There are other things to do. DCI may not be one of them. Nothing wrong with that.
Best comment EVER!
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2 minutes ago, Lance said:
i don't care to look at recaps, but i'm really curious about how bd is so close to scv
i feel like bd isn't even coming close to performing their show well, so i assume they're getting a lot of credit for content in a lot of caption?
i have a hard time seeing bd's show as a winning show even if they max it out, and don't get mad at me. i've been a pretty big bd homer on here for over a decade.
How about looking at the recaps so you can see what is going on in the judges mind. Have an open mind, not everyone sees things your way.
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Blue Devils 2018
in DCI World Class Corps Discussions
Posted
Strongly agree!