totaleefree Posted July 30, 2014 Share Posted July 30, 2014 As someone who had done no DCI research prior to seeing the show on Saturday, but who had recently read the book (in the last 10 years) It was easy to see where it was following certain points in the book. I was thinking it had to be deeper than wanting to spread Orwellian Ideas and the first read of this thread put the DCI idea in my head. Now I need to see it again to get more of the humor of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catan Posted July 30, 2014 Share Posted July 30, 2014 I've read the book. I've seen the show. I've heard all about this G7 drama. All that said the show design is a visual mess - and they've been trying to fix that all season They'll get it cleaner by finals now that changes have been made, but a MUCH better design out of the gate would have taken this corps much, much further. Agreed. The show concept and music arrangements are excellent, but the visual design has been a mess from the beginning. Some good ideas there, but overall a poorly designed product, imo. As much as it's been great to see them clean so well and move from the 10th-11th range earlier in the season to the 8th-9th range now, this is what Boston has done for several of their most recent years. Start weaker placement-wise, and end up 7th or 8th by season's end (2009, 2011, & 2013 come to mind, 2010 peaked early, while 2012 they had a stronger start and stayed that way). What Boston really needs to do is come out of the gate on fire with a great overall package that includes an excellent visual design (something they haven't truly had since 2011). Instead of starting near the back of the finals pack and working their way up, BAC needs to come out right in the 6-8 range to truly achieve their goal of once again returning to the top 5. Not only that, but one of the current top 5/6 will need to have a bad year and drop. This year, I think Boston will pass Phantom from the looks of it, but I doubt they can go any higher than 8th. I'd like to be proven wrong though! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mingusmonk Posted July 30, 2014 Share Posted July 30, 2014 (edited) Looking forward to Boston's show next year: "Lord of the Flies" I can see the climax now. Kill the pig! Drink his blood! Then stabs of Conquest are announced. Edited July 30, 2014 by mingusmonk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
N.E. Brigand Posted July 30, 2014 Share Posted July 30, 2014 Another poster I must ask why you didn't mention your obvious read shortly after the theme was announced? I'm sensing too much hindsight. This is what I wrote a few hours after the Akron cinema screening: Boston's "BAC" drill comes at about the 2:00 mark, and the "G7" drill comes at about the 10:00 mark. Someone else already identified Boston's theme, correctly I think, as "all corps are equal, but some corps are more equal than others." In Orwell's book, the animals rebel against a tyrannical farmer, but some of the animals themselves become tyrants. If the show theme is meant to be DCI's history in 12 minutes, then perhaps the "BAC" should read "DCI", but either way, it works. (If they can clean this show, wow. It seems much more fully conceived than last year's.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghost Posted July 30, 2014 Author Share Posted July 30, 2014 This is what I wrote a few hours after the Akron cinema screening:I also recall reading a post with those thoughts. That's two for the equal and more equal quotes, but the person I'm quoting had several more connections to what they think the design team is trying to convey. Getting one connection is really good, because I would never had tied in DCI and some of the mover and shakers from the past several decades. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liahona Posted July 30, 2014 Share Posted July 30, 2014 I also recall reading a post with those thoughts. That's two for the equal and more equal quotes, but the person I'm quoting had several more connections to what they think the design team is trying to convey. Getting one connection is really good, because I would never had tied in DCI and some of the mover and shakers from the past several decades. Posted 17 April 2014 - 08:51 PM "All (corps) are equal, but some are more equal than others." It was a guess for me in April...shortly after the show teaser...never read animal farm either...but did research all about it... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
va9590jm Posted July 30, 2014 Share Posted July 30, 2014 This is what I wrote a few hours after the Akron cinema screening: Quote Boston's "BAC" drill comes at about the 2:00 mark, and the "G7" drill comes at about the 10:00 mark. Someone else already identified Boston's theme, correctly I think, as "all corps are equal, but some corps are more equal than others." In Orwell's book, the animals rebel against a tyrannical farmer, but some of the animals themselves become tyrants. If the show theme is meant to be DCI's history in 12 minutes, then perhaps the "BAC" should read "DCI", but either way, it works. (If they can clean this show, wow. It seems much more fully conceived than last year's.) But that would probably help make it too obvious Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KVG_DC Posted July 30, 2014 Share Posted July 30, 2014 (edited) Which leads to the question of how many people do investigate the source material for shows. It's something I've always done since being a band kid. Heck I even hunted down the source music for rival bands' shows in high school just...because. I'm a bit of a geek that way. My take on concept design (which I would distinguish from visual design, which communicates the concept or performance, which conveys the communication) is that good art will tell you a story...but great art will also let you tell yourself a story. So I've always been interested in source material research. I guess I'm a bit of a dramaturg. And while I probably do read more into a show than those conceiving it might intend, as mentioned above, that's what great art does. I tend not to pontificate on what I observe in a show if only because 1) I might be over reading a show, and 2) it's something that seems so natural to my approach to reading a show that...it somewhat surprises me that others don't catch things. I've become aware of this in this season having joined DCP and read a few comments of people who "don't get" what the Blue Devils are doing with Felliniesque. Having seen some Fellini films and then scouting around the internet after seeing their show in Ft. Wayne, I was able to identify their elements and influences and gain a whole new read on the show as a tribute to Fellini's vision of what filmmaking is and can be. The Blue Devils and Boston's Animal Farm seem to me to be rather apparent ties to concept design based on what I either already know or was able to suss out with some internet searching on source material and influences. Oregon Crusaders' Nevermore and all the Poe/Raven references is another one. Also the Colts using the now fairly well known (at least in my generation) Dark Side of the Moon and an alternate soundtrack to Wizard of Oz to build their show. The Bluecoats show sent me looking for the source music, which is great stuff by the way, and I have a hunch of what unifies their show beyond a simple meme theme of "tilting things." But I suspect my hunch is more in the realm of "a story I'm telling myself" than something intentional and obviously built into the design. My first thought at the name TILT and the triangles was that of pinball flippers. But the triangles aren't used that way visually and other than perhaps the jumpers (now singular jumper) there's no hint of a pinball. Discovering the lyrics to Hymn of Acxiom was a lightbulb in my head as Vienna Teng both understands the human desire to "be known" and the rather unsettling effect of "big data" collecting every little bit of information we leave when using technology. So there's a balance of both the positive and negative effects of the use of technology in her Hymn. Uffe's woodshop opens that show with a driving "knock knock knock" invoking things being made by hand. The original by Braxton really sounds like an continuous woodblock hit. The show closes with that huge pitch bend which blends the technology of a synth with traditional brass sound in a way that has many people saying, "That's how synth and electronics can be used right." My brain builds a link between these elements that reads Bluecoats' concept design as a commentary and example that DCI's permission of technology (mics, amps, props, etc.) are tilting drum corps in new directions. This can be both exciting and unsettling...but, if done right, it has an amazing effect. Which is what they show in the end. Again, I'm probably over-reading the Bluecoats' concept design, but it's a nice story (to me) that I've been able to tell myself based on reflecting on the source material. Edited July 30, 2014 by KVG_DC 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Dixon Posted July 31, 2014 Share Posted July 31, 2014 I love farm animals. They are delicious. Mmmm chargrilled with salt and pepper - doesn't get any better than that! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HockeyDad Posted July 31, 2014 Share Posted July 31, 2014 Pretentious (adj): someone who uses "I", "I'm", or "I've" 19 times in a single post. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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