Peel Paint Posted May 14, 2009 Share Posted May 14, 2009 The Spartacus Effect sounds a lot like the "Machine" effect, where the Cavaliers chanted on the way into the stadium and had a thematic show that started as they entered, continued through warmup until the last note ended.Hmmm. This is one way in which you might see some design spillover this year. Blue Stars also had a lot of success and fan engagement in 2008 doing a similar thing, thinking creatively about how to engage the audience and develop the theme right from the first entrance on the field. It was very successfully done for both corps. Crown had success with this also in 2007. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mad_scotty Posted May 14, 2009 Share Posted May 14, 2009 I'm hoping its effect is minimal. i'm hoping its effect is maximal. i can't tell you how sick i am of the cavaliers and blue devils rolling out the same overused wintergaurd concept year after year after year, and the cadets futile attempt to reclaim the "most innovative" status they lost when jim prime and zingali walked in the late 80's by creating ever more schizophrenic hack jobs. give me some great, melodic music and some kind of story that i can make out without having it explained to me at finals and i'm happy. give the melodic shows a fair chance to compete and i'm happier. fire all the ge judges and train new judges to score from the sheets again and i'm happiest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liam Posted May 14, 2009 Share Posted May 14, 2009 This is one way in which you might see some design spillover this year. Blue Stars also had a lot of success and fan engagement in 2008 doing a similar thing, thinking creatively about how to engage the audience and develop the theme right from the first entrance on the field. It was very successfully done for both corps. Crown had success with this also in 2007. Yes, I agree with this and was going to comment similarly along with yours. Also, Cadets (Zone year, I think) with the characters wandering through the stands pre-show. This has been coming on little by little over the past few years and the examples listed (Cavies Machine, Blue Stars, etc) have led up to Phantom's use as the pinnacle (so far). So maybe corps start getting "in character" earlier and earlier and in more inventive ways to more draw in the audience from the getgo. Why not? -- it's like the opposite of the old gun shot that stopped judging in the last minute of the show so corps went no holds barred at the end. Same concept, but now it's at the beginning -- a chance to win over the audience without being judged/scored at that moment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lance Posted May 14, 2009 Share Posted May 14, 2009 i'm hoping its effect is maximal. i can't tell you how sick i am of the cavaliers and blue devils rolling out the same overused wintergaurd concept year after year after year, and the cadets futile attempt to reclaim the "most innovative" status they lost when jim prime and zingali walked in the late 80's by creating ever more schizophrenic hack jobs. give me some great, melodic music and some kind of story that i can make out without having it explained to me at finals and i'm happy. give the melodic shows a fair chance to compete and i'm happier. fire all the ge judges and train new judges to score from the sheets again and i'm happiest. What constitutes "melodic" is not universal. And Phantom's music this year, other than the ballad, was 5 or 6 pieces hacked within an inch of their lives with more bleeeeppp, squank, bop, bop, than any show I've heard in a long time. It REALLY worked, but it's always funny to me to hear people talk about how much they want "melodic" shows and then refer to Phantom 08. You like it or you don't. Simple. I agree with what Sam just said. Not many corps can pull off that level of cheese and make it work. That's the only reason I hope the effect is limited. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2000Cadet Posted May 14, 2009 Share Posted May 14, 2009 i'm hoping its effect is maximal. i can't tell you how sick i am of the cavaliers and blue devils rolling out the same overused wintergaurd concept year after year after year, and the cadets futile attempt to reclaim the "most innovative" status they lost when jim prime and zingali walked in the late 80's by creating ever more schizophrenic hack jobs. give me some great, melodic music and some kind of story that i can make out without having it explained to me at finals and i'm happy. give the melodic shows a fair chance to compete and i'm happier. fire all the ge judges and train new judges to score from the sheets again and i'm happiest. Tell 'em why you mad, scotty. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
liebot Posted May 14, 2009 Share Posted May 14, 2009 also, why did they change the story of spartacus? it didn't make any sense to me that the slaves "won." Psshhh, technicalities. [/sarcasm] I hope the "Spartacus Effect" is minimal. I'll leave it at that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plan9 Posted May 14, 2009 Share Posted May 14, 2009 A better name for this thread might be "The Spartacus Trap" and PR 09 might be the first to fall in it. The quality of the "show" that PR put on last year and the connection it manifested in the audience was a function of its simplicity. That is to say, the "story" was a very visual story that lent itself to several over-the-top displays (i.e. "live or die?"; murders of girl and DM, etc, done very BIG). It also helped that the audience knew some of the story line. The Red Violin, though a beautiful, intriguing and even poetic storyline, is not so obvious and BIG. I look forward to seeing what the PR creative team does with this, but I fear they may fall into the well they may been going back to, too soon! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShortAndFast Posted May 14, 2009 Share Posted May 14, 2009 If history is any guide, we'll see any number of corps try to incorporate storytelling elements inspired by Spartacus. Most of them will fail. None will succeed to the degree that Phantom did. There's always a huge follow-the-leader effect in DCI show designs. I'm hoping for a more subtle version of the Spartacus Effect, inspiring corps like BD and Cadets to design more fan-friendly show. Phantom 2008 proved that (a) it's possible to "win" the audience, to a degree I had never previously seen. And (b) that winning the audience helps you win the judges. Don't get me wrong - Phantom was technically awesome, and they fully deserved to win. But judges are human (and fans themselves!), and there's no way they were unmoved by the overwhelming response to the Phantom performances in Bloomington. That had to show up somewhere in the scoring, and even an extra 0.1 spread in a GE score would be the difference between 1st and 2nd place. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeD Posted May 14, 2009 Share Posted May 14, 2009 I'm hoping for a more subtle version of the Spartacus Effect, inspiring corps like BD and Cadets to design more fan-friendly show. Phantom 2008 proved that (a) it's possible to "win" the audience, to a degree I had never previously seen. And (b) that winning the audience helps you win the judges. I hope it has zero effect on other corps, inc the two mentioned. I hope the BD staff designs the show they think best for BD and it's legions of fans, and ditto the Cadets. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bawker Posted May 14, 2009 Share Posted May 14, 2009 I hope we get the Sportacus effect instead. Note: may require guard girls to have pink hair. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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