Dead Time

[maestro!]

A couple of points:

I've always rather enjoyed watching the setup of the next corps, but what could add some interesting filler during these periods at stadiums equipped with big screens would be a remote camera broadcasting various warmups from the lot. That could be entertaining while maintaining the flow that generally works as well as it can right now.

Or as Red Robin seems to do nowadays...have a feed from the field go into TV's/Monitors mounted in the bathrooms, for those people that do get up in between, but won't be back before the next group starts! :laughing:

[Michael Boo]

I shot the live streaming video for DCI Fan Network at DCI West at Stanford. From the first note that the Renegades played, to the last note of Santa Clara's encore, it was 5 hours.

2 1/2 Hours of that 5 hours was DEAD TIME ... corps moving cr*p on/off the field ... save 1/2 hour for intermission.

Would you go to a 2.5 hour play, and watch it 11 minutes at a time with a long break between acts, but not long enough to go to the bathroom or get a hot dog (and if you did, you weren't allowed back in your seat)? The format of drum corps shows is "grueling" ... forcing fans, who have paid a lot of money, to sit there for 50% of the show, watching the "backstage hands set up the next scene". This way of doing shows is not a "fan friendly" format.

Your thoughts?

The obvious solution is to do like the 2.5-hour plays do. Let each drum corps perform for the entire first act, then strike the set during intermission and come back with the next corps, who will play for the entire second act, with another corps playing for the entire third act. The World Championships would have to become an elimination tourney, seeded in the same manner as the NCAA basketball regionals, but with three flights instead of four regionals (since most plays are in three acts and all corps would be performing in the same stadium). Also, all three The three top-scoring corps would be seeded number one in their flight and the winners of each flight would meet for the winner-takes-all World Championship Finals.

Or were you just having fun with the comparison to plays?

Edit: And, of course, I don't think anything like the above could ever work, nor would I even want any variation on it considered. But I am a big fan of the writings of Jonathan Swift.

Edited July 24, 2012 by Michael Boo

[charlie1223]

I shot the live streaming video for DCI Fan Network at DCI West at Stanford. From the first note that the Renegades played, to the last note of Santa Clara's encore, it was 5 hours.

2 1/2 Hours of that 5 hours was DEAD TIME ... corps moving cr*p on/off the field ... save 1/2 hour for intermission.

Would you go to a 2.5 hour play, and watch it 11 minutes at a time with a long break between acts, but not long enough to go to the bathroom or get a hot dog (and if you did, you weren't allowed back in your seat)? The format of drum corps shows is "grueling" ... forcing fans, who have paid a lot of money, to sit there for 50% of the show, watching the "backstage hands set up the next scene". This way of doing shows is not a "fan friendly" format.

Your thoughts?

Enter TOC....

[ATXGUY]

Yeah, or fill it with more live on camera interviews of kids or staff of the corps that just performed.

[charlie1223]

Yeah, or fill it with more live on camera interviews of kids or staff of the corps that just performed.

That's what TOC does and the movie broadcasts.

[supersop]

Some places do that. I know at Stanford, they play videos during the breaks between corps, and I think they do the same at Indy? I've never been in the stands there, but I seem to remember it from the Fan Network broadcast last year of Semis.

That could be an easy thing to do if places have a jumbo tron, but realistically most stadiums don't. Most DCI shows take place at either high schools, or small colleges were they don't have a big enough stadium for a JumboTron, so maybe they can play something over the speakers? Maybe Field Pass episodes?

Realistically, DCI should have their own mobile jumbotron or two. They should be at every event. which means they would need about 8 of them to cover all shows, plus travel from event to event that doesn't have a jumbotron of their own. Then you have to get a cohost that doesn't sound 12 to actually go out in the lot and gets shots and interviews between the shows with the corps .. not some random JOE in the front row who is seeing drumcorps for the first time.

This would be a big drain on the budget .. but in the long run, I think it would bring in more fans and keep the late arrivers from staying in the lot. They can see the lot between corps. Problem solved. More tickets sold .. better fill between shows, more money for DCI as a whole. The question is .. do you extend the intermissions so ppl have time to hit the souvie trucks? Do the souvie crews stay longer and not travel with the corps? You'd also need a production truck at every event.

I think this is something DCI should consider next year as an experiment. Get one truck and the jumbos and see how it works out logistically .. then build from there. Could be a great thing.

[kdaddy]

Yeah, or fill it with more live on camera interviews of kids or staff of the corps that just performed.

Interviews with the kids are generally pretty disastrous. Senior-level staff (e.g., designers) would be cool.

I'd prefer to see small ensembles ala I&E.

[TerriTroop]

Dead time at a live outdoor venue in the summer is necessary so one can get up, stretch and air out a bit! It's way to hot and humid in many locations to sit still for 2 hours straight.

The pre-shows make it very hard for stadium staff to know when to stop letting people into the stands. I think it's time to take that nebulous quality out of drum corps events. Pre-show can still exist, but it needs to start at a certain time and that timing should be made clearer somehow. Also, if it's "pre-show" does that mean people can still take their seats without being viewed as rude and disrespectful? That's the problem with "pre-show." If it's meant to be paid attention to, then make it part of the show. (I'll be sending this particular comment to DCI because I think it really needs to be addressed before next year.)

At the San Antonio event, the upper level only had one open concession stand. This caused long lines. There were TV monitors by the stand, but they weren't showing shows. This seemed unfortunate. I'm not sure why they didn't just add the Fan Network live feed to those monitors.

I LOVE the idea of the jumbotron lot shots, particularly at the indoor venues!

[audiodb]

I shot the live streaming video for DCI Fan Network at DCI West at Stanford. From the first note that the Renegades played, to the last note of Santa Clara's encore, it was 5 hours.

2 1/2 Hours of that 5 hours was DEAD TIME ... corps moving cr*p on/off the field ... save 1/2 hour for intermission.

Would you go to a 2.5 hour play, and watch it 11 minutes at a time with a long break between acts, but not long enough to go to the bathroom or get a hot dog (and if you did, you weren't allowed back in your seat)? The format of drum corps shows is "grueling" ... forcing fans, who have paid a lot of money, to sit there for 50% of the show, watching the "backstage hands set up the next scene". This way of doing shows is not a "fan friendly" format.

Your thoughts?

When would I catch up on my texting if we changed this format?

Seriously, for those who consider this a problem that requires fixing (I'm on the fence myself), some thoughts:

1. This was not a problem back when corps were limited to using only what their members could carry on/off the field with them. (Chances of passing such a rule change = 0.)

2. This was not a problem back when corps started from one goal line and finished at the other goal line. (Chances of passing such a rule change = 0.)

3. Some band circuits take a different approach, giving each band a block of time to use however they want....but they must complete their entry and exit from gate to gate within that time as well, including all their equipment. (For DCI's current ensembles to accomplish this would require an additional two or three minutes per corps.)

4. Some shows blast commercials over stadium PA between corps (with video if there is a jumbotron). DCI may well be making crucial $$$ from this advertising, thus rendering this whole discussion moot.

Nevertheless, the best suggestion I can offer at the moment is that if you want to improve the entertainment/time quotient, change the scoring system so that corps are judged throughout their entire 17-minute time block. If those corps who figure out how to make their setup/teardown less awkward, shorter, smoother, etc., were rewarded competitively for it, we would see changes....trust me.

[NakedEye]

4. Some shows blast commercials over stadium PA between corps (with video if there is a jumbotron). DCI may well be making crucial $$$ from this advertising, thus rendering this whole discussion moot.

I'll bet they could still fit ads in with some lot shots as well. If anything, providing these "sneak peaks" of what is coming later in the show would cause more people to actually direct their attention to the screens during the break, thus providing more viewers for the ads.

At shows I've attended where they do show ads on the screen, they show the same handful over and over and over again, ad nauseam. Anything that creates more impact for the ads, with less people not paying attention is good for the advertisers too.