Jump to content

Edting DCI recordings


Recommended Posts

To those engaging in this thread please answer this: To you, is DCI a Competition which happens to also be a series of artistic performances, or is DCI mainly Artistic Performances which happen to also be a competition? The way you answer will be important because if you value the Competition above the art you would likely want to hear the clams and all other warts from the various Finals night performances; but if you value the Artistic side more than the competition you would likely want the best amalgamation of the various shows as possible.

It's weird but it depends on how well designed the shows are. Last year, with Blue Devils and Crown, I saw them more as artistic performances that were in competition, where as shows I thought had weaker designs were competitive products that also had some artistic merit.

Also, during the summer when there are competitions every night, I think of stuff as competitive. When I watch a live stream, it's pretty half/half because I'm watching an artistic performance and evaluating it all. When the season is over, I almost immediately go into artistic appreciation of the shows: once the season is over, a Champ is crowned, finalists are hyped, etc. I stop caring so much about winner/loser and just enjoy the performances.

In that case, I'd much rather have the best representation of the corps' artistic vision + performance vs raw footage of execution errors and all. When you accept that the videos are edited for multi-cam, you've accepted that the performances are edited specifically to draw our focus to certain areas of the performance at the expense of not seeing the majority of the field (showing a close-up of the rifle toss during a snare lick while the brass is doing crazy choreography, for example). If the performances are already edited to best represent artistic expression, why not go the next step and edit to show the best performance of that artistic expression?

What's worse, IMO, is seeing video of, say, a corps that got a perfect score on the field in Vis. that shows one shot of someone out-of-step and another shot of someone bumping into someone else! Or in that same video, where the brass gets a 19.9 they show a close-up of a mellophone player during a bark-and-blow and that mello is CLEARLY not playing anything and is likely just a plug to fill a hole. It's like in the movies, where I don't want to see the boom mic in a shot, or the reflection of the cameraman in a glass window: it's quaint and funny in a goofy way, but it's not what the artist who created that film wanted us to see - it takes us out of the moment. I personally don't want to drop $100+ to see mistakes: if it happens, it happens, but if there are better shot choices why not use em?!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

(showing a close-up of the rifle toss during a snare lick while the brass is doing crazy choreography, for example).

What I find hilarious is that this type of video editing actually accomplishes nothing more than firing up a heated debate amongst the guard enthusiasts enjoying that close-up aspect pitted up against the percussionists who desired to see the snare lick performed who are also pitted up against the brass performers who wanted to see that very complex choreography movement. :doh:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Can't you guys just sit back and -- I don't know -- just enjoy the recording?? Yeesh.

Well, there's a sense of trickery when you watch a performance for a couple months after the championships on the Fan Network and get used to it, and suddenly it's different when the commercial version is released. I would enjoy the recording either way. A batting average of .985 is pretty darn good in any activity.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well, there's a sense of trickery when you watch a performance for a couple months after the championships on the Fan Network and get used to it, and suddenly it's different when the commercial version is released. I would enjoy the recording either way. A batting average of .985 is pretty darn good in any activity.

You do realize, I hope, that the same type of reaction happens when a roadie for a rock band tours extensively and then at the end of the tour watches a commercial Live DVD of that same band.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You do realize, I hope, that the same type of reaction happens when a roadie for a rock band tours extensively and then at the end of the tour watches a commercial Live DVD of that same band.

Competition vs. concert. Besides, there's not a forum for the 30,000 roadies who toured with the band to discuss what they liked about it, only to have their memories become moot overnight.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Competition vs. concert. Besides, there's not a forum for the 30,000 roadies who toured with the band to discuss what they liked about it, only to have their memories become moot overnight.

I suspect if the technology was available in the 60's/70's the Dead Heads would have been all over it,

Their memories, however, became moot for pharmacological reasons in many cases....

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

.., Competition vs. concert...

You just proved my point; thanks!!! For DCI you apparently value the competition over the art, thus you want to hear and see the Finals performance of a corps as it was competitively judged on Finals night, warts, clams, and all as opposed to the best and cleanest recorded version possible.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well, there's a sense of trickery when you watch a performance for a couple months after the championships on the Fan Network and get used to it, and suddenly it's different when the commercial version is released. I would enjoy the recording either way. A batting average of .985 is pretty darn good in any activity.

But it's only trickery if DCI explicitly states, "these are unedited final performances from each group." DCI doesn't even IMPLY that, meaning if you believe these are the unedited final performances you are naive and inferring false statements.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What I find hilarious is that this type of video editing actually accomplishes nothing more than firing up a heated debate amongst the guard enthusiasts enjoying that close-up aspect pitted up against the percussionists who desired to see the snare lick performed who are also pitted up against the brass performers who wanted to see that very complex choreography movement. :doh:

when I was younger/of marching age or recently aged-out it used to REALLY upset me when this would happen. Now, however, I appreciate the 'big picture' side of things, as well as seeing a shot of a moment that I might've missed all year because I was watching the snare lick

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well, there's a sense of trickery when you watch a performance for a couple months after the championships on the Fan Network and get used to it, and suddenly it's different when the commercial version is released. I would enjoy the recording either way. A batting average of .985 is pretty darn good in any activity. Competition vs. concert. Besides, there's not a forum for the 30,000 roadies who toured with the band to discuss what they liked about it, only to have their memories become moot overnight.

So your memories of performances are ticks? That's not exactly the best way to approach the activity, don't you think?

On the flip side, what's trippy for me is if I saw a show several times early season and then didn't see it again until after Finals: the show has changed its ending, dropped a section, added a section, watered music books and beefed up visual stuff. Sometimes it's like a whole other show than what I remembered (without pulling this thread into another direction, I LOVED Cadets 1994 ending when they did the 'company back' playing similar arrange of "Tonight Quartet" as the end of the 84 show - when I saw them at Finals I was so bummed they dropped that and added the inferior, IMO, Krumpky).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...