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Oh I'm not placing blame on anyone except for Rick Subel as he is the head of the design team. My main issue with Jeff Sacktig was the editing. He should have seen the forms collapsing in transitions, and the possibility of performers bumping elbows in some cases, and thought "Oh, that needs to be edited!" A clip from the 2007 ESPN2 airing of finals comes to mind. They spoke about how a form small errors in drill design could ultimately end up costing you big on the sheets. That stuck with me, having been young and impressionable at that time.

I think it's time for Rick Subel to go, and a new face to bring a fresh look to Crown. I want Michael Klesch and Jeff Sacktig to stay, but Jeff also needs to edit his drill a little better than he did for 2022. The forms should not have been collapsing the way they did. That drove me crazy every performance from a visual designer standpoint.

Any top program, drum corps or high school, will make changes to keep their students on their toes and to keep them from just going through the motions every day. Adding another piece of fabric just doesn't do that.

The videos proof says otherwise. They may have focused on cleaning musically, but visually they didn't start cleaning up until Murfreesboro or Atlanta.

Carolina Crown Rules for 2023 1. Choose one idea and one idea only, please. 2. Find another way to discard of equipment after using so that the field isn't cluttered afterwards. 3. Don't put everything on the field first week. Build the show as the season progresses. 4. Please don't wait until the season is almost over to start cleaning.

Sounds like Crown had a great final run tonight! I don't think there was a single negative comment in the show thread.

I'm hoping they restock the CrownStore. I've tried twice in the last month to order a tour shirt and they've been out of stock both times.

There is a very clear difference though between audience reaction (which isn't built into the show) and audience participation (which is what the show is built around). By your description, every show would have audience participation which isn't necessarily the truth here. A writer/designer can write a part for audience reaction and not get what they want out of it, just as well as they can for audience participation and not get the same. The situation at hand is that of the latter. The Crown team wanted audience participation and they simply just aren't getting it at the level they wanted. Tonight might tell a different story though, with it being the last show of the season, and that could very well make the difference as it did with Phantom 2008. Difference is that Crown won't be able to pull off that 1st place finish, because it is already written in the stars for the Blue Devils. They could pull up to 3rd or possibly 2nd if the crowd buys into the show and backs them up, but the likelihood of that happening is yet to be foreseen.

Zero drum corps. 6 years marching band (we allowed middle schoolers), and 14 years of teaching/design.

Not to mention the lack of integration of the trampolines. They were a nice thought, but were really just too large, in the way, and under utilized. Percussion didn't help that season either. I will definitely take you up on that offer! I just don't want my experience here to mirror others that have left recently.

Thank you so very much! I was worried I would be met with hateful banter, particularly from fans believing I'm another Crown basher, which is the furthest from the truth. I could go on and on about the design flaws I see from a designer standpoint, but what it all comes down to is the simple fact that the performers can only perform the material they have been given to the level of the material given. I believe that's why in some captions Crown has been outperforming their substance while continuing to be dirty. This all bleeds over into GE as well. Fluidity is key not just between movements, but drill and musicality as well. If there is no cohesive thought, the design will suffer, and it's sister GE will suffer too. I, as a designer, hate that GE is essentially my caption to win or lose, because it should be about the performance on the field and how well the performers are selling the product that I provide them. Any designer will tell you that they aren't perfect and nor are their products, so I can't jump on any of the design team for the flaws in this show, but I can say that while designing the drill (unless he used paper and pen) Sacktig should have recognized the transition issues with each clicking of the play button. To me, that was just laziness on his part, which ended up failing the performers who paid thousands to march. As for the set designs, I really can't speak on what he was thinking with some of them. The last minute is a masterpiece and masterclass, but the rest of the show leaves me scratching my head.

Cheese "and crap" can work, but the audience and judges have to buy into it. The problem with that is, Crown isn't the favorite anymore. Crown has had plenty of cheese "and crap" over the years. They just happened to go full Wisconsin this year, a year when most are going super dark or psychedelic. There isn't a problem in that, but you need to go about it the right way. The show feels thrown together compared to the last show they had Crowd participation in, 2011. Rach Star had Crowd participation, but the crowd bought into it. It had it's dark theatrics and themes, but was overall an enjoyable, fan favorite, and accessible show. There also appears to be a problem with over designing. After hearing that they would transition the planned 2020 (then 2021) show over to 2022 I thought "okay, so they will basically have 2 years to perfect this show! This could really play out to be a well thought-out program!" given that they had double the planning time. It seems that was wrong on my part, as too much time with the same program in the hands of these designers possibly lost its original thought and became 5 separate thoughts throughout the movements of the program. Crown will always be my personal favorite, as when I design shows I typically lean towards the thought "how would Crown go about this", but this year is definitely a year I won't be looking at for design inspiration.

Long time reader, first time poster. From a design standpoint, and as someone with a background in design, the glaring issue I find is visual. Sacktig is one of my favorites, and when he's on it he knocks it out of the park, but he has had some flops and I believe this year is one of his flops. There are forms that collapse in transitions causing the members to almost hit elbows, which is causing a big portion of the VA issues as well as GE. There are also forms that truly don't make sense, i.e. the hit form in the opener. I also think that the main issue is the performers have grown tired and the show has gotten stale. The design team threw everything out from week one, and nothing major has changed. From a performer standpoint, we all grow tired of the mundane, and that's what has happened here. No major changes, only miniscule changes, and the performances have suffered due to lack of challenging changes to keep the performers on their toes. With that said, I still love the show, but it is one I will be listening to for years to come instead of watching. The visual package has left much to be desired. The design team is onto something, but they need to focus on one idea rather than 5 different ideas for one show. With all of this said...GO CROWN!!!