How much did CADETS TOWERS cost their final score and placement

[theCHEZman]

Watching the Cadets show, I thought their performance level was very impressive not to mention a winning percussion and music caption. Their vision caption obviously held them down and I thought their drill was excellent and performed very well. How much of their visual problems were caused by large Towers that were pushed around by guard members that then had to jump back into the show and move, toss and spin? Secondly, how many tenths do you think this hurt them in overall score?

[Shempy]

Without the towers I firmly believe it would have been a three horse race for 1st.

[drilltech1]

Watching the Cadets show, I thought their performance level was very impressive not to mention a winning percussion and music caption. Their vision caption obviously held them down and I thought their drill was excellent and performed very well. How much of their visual problems were caused by large Towers that were pushed around by guard members that then had to jump back into the show and move, toss and spin? Secondly, how many tenths do you think this hurt them in overall score?

While it has always been a closed-door discussion how much credit should be given or denied due to props versus credit or denied to the actual performers, I am of the thinking that the Cadets did suffer in finals due to the props. At one point it was obvious that the one tower had been misplaced four steps too far off the yard marker. The gap was so obvious that even some first time DCI watchers sitting in my row mentioned it to others. At the end of the show, when Allison climbs the tower and the guard members straddled the other towers in various ways, it came across to me that night and at previous viewings as awkward in light of the rest of the performance which was so straight laced. This was not done gracefully or with the same precision. No put down on the mellophone soloist at all; she showed herself more than capable climbing and playing her horn. It was the guard folk who were late to spots, grasping for fabric to pull, and out of tempo with the music as they did this disengagement. Look at the tower in the lower front of side two as an example. Late arrival, not done with Cadet-like cleanliness. I am sure the scoring did not get the full benefit. Unfortunately given the style of show the Cadets performed this year, they could not be given the benefit of the doubt like the overthrown guard equiptment of the Blue Devils and the ever rolling bass "drums" of the Crown show.

Edited August 20, 2013 by drilltech1

[Lincoln]

At the end of the show, when Allison climbs the tower and the guard members straddled the other towers in various ways, it came across to me that night and at previous viewings as awkward in light of the rest of the performance which was so straight laced.

Put me down as someone who liked the towers. I also saw the same reported issues though.

I did not like the last minute changes they did. The climbing of the towers was totally unnecessary. Even the changed movement the horns did in the upper right corner at the end of the show was unnecessary.

The prior ending was so simple and sad - it was perfect.

[NakedEye]

Who knows how much they actually hurt, but they certainly didn't help, as they were a design problem from the beginning, and they never really resolved the issues. There were a lot of points that seemed fixable, even if the overall idea was not the strongest, and I'm at a loss of why improvements weren't made, such as:

Not have them the same colors as the guard costumes and silks. Everything the same ruined all sense of surprise. You knew what was coming. Color impact also diluted.

Not have the people yanking or shoving them around so visible to the audience. If they couldn't be moved from behind, there was no way transitioning them was ever going to look clean and orderly. They were so bright, you couldn't not notice alignment issues.

Use them as a dividing barrier that contained drill forms: This sort of stuff bothered me as far back as Blue Devils' Tommy show, where they sometimes used the pinball paddle tarps as barriers, and other times walked all over them. Either the towers were a line you don't cross to provide a clean separation or they aren't. Or you cross through them and something totally different always happens on the other side (they did this sporadically, but not often). When they were moved as backdrop shapes, etc., they lost effectiveness. I always hoped they would have the line of them compress the horns to a smaller and smaller space on the right as Medea got more intense, forcing the drill forms to move with more frantic speed in a smaller area, but no such luck.

The climbing at the end was out of character with the rest of the show. If they had introduced it in smaller segments earlier on, it would have made sense. It looked tacked on, and when I told a Cadets' guard alumni friend, who was in the early 90's "glory years" and is a very experienced modern dancer, they were going to climb, she rightly predicted how it would look when they got on them. Her point was made from experience watching amateur groups try to do the aerial silk ballet that Cirque has made famous. She has seen countless attempts fail because they haul and yank themselves up to the heights to begin in an ungainly manner, where Cirque has the whole entry sequence beautifully choreographed. Her opinion was "that's how it will look when they try it." Bingo! All the yanking, boosting and straining to get to the top for a TA-DA!!! finishing pose took place in clear view.

The show was really strong musically, but when Crown and BD were doing all the details with such thought and effect, loose ends like this had to hurt.

[cowtown]

I agree, the Towers were a liability… what I would have done, if I really wanted that effect is made them smaller by making them 2 sided, more like a panel or tall window and then released the colors as screens as needed….they would have been easier to move, hogged less of the field, given a lighter more graceful feel

I saw them with some folks that liked their show but did not pick up on the Side by Side concept at all…I don’t think they did a good job with communicating it regardless

At the end of the show, when Allison climbs the tower and the guard members straddled the other towers in various ways, it came across to me that night and at previous viewings as awkward in light of the rest of the performance which was so straight laced. This was not done gracefully or with the same precision. No put down on the mellophone soloist at all; she showed herself more than capable climbing and playing her horn. It was the guard folk who were late to spots, grasping for fabric to pull, and out of tempo with the music as they did this disengagement. Look at the tower in the lower front of side two as an example. Late arrival, not done with Cadet-like cleanliness..

That was bad, done very poorly and commented upon to me at the time, seemed desperate – a failed attempted at integration, made a horrible last impression

Edited August 20, 2013 by cowtown

[perc2100]

DCI adjudication is not a "tick" based system. Corps do not start with a 100 and then receive deductions for mistakes or design deficiencies. Scores are given based on earned merit. If a design is wildly effective it will max out the design half of the sheets. If the members perform the show near perfect they will max out the performance half of the sheets.

So if Cadets have large visual props that are moved around the field in a clumsy manner, are placed in such a way that create visual dirt, or are plain ineffective they don't receive a point deduction they just do no receive maximum credit.

Now, in answer to the OP's question, I think looking at the recaps it's obvious that visual was Cadets' biggest problem area this season, and I think it's fair to stipulate that the tower props were prime problem in the visual caption.

[bernie_VKpit]

I wonder how much higher, if any, Cadets final score would have been if they removed the towers completely at some point during the season.

[martin84]

If you happened to be sitting down low the towers really obscured the drill and to me the sound at times. Of course down low in the stadium isn't the best spot to watch drill but it was blocked.

[drilltech1]

If you happened to be sitting down low the towers really obscured the drill and to me the sound at times. Of course down low in the stadium isn't the best spot to watch drill but it was blocked.

Those sitting low actually get the field judge's view. If you say the drill was blocked at that angle, might that have been deliberate masking? Just a thought...