Madison in Macy's Parade

[soccerguy315]

oops

Edited November 28, 2014 by soccerguy315

[Brutus]

F A N T A S T I C J O B, S C O U T S! Wonderful, amazing, incredible, hard work, dedication, flair, pizazz, talent, pride! Now, about television performance.

First rule of television live performance, FILL EVERY COUNT WITH MOTION. Shots last less than two seconds, and every shot has to be filled with movement. For example, the sixteen count pause between the end of the song Happy and the start of the drum beat is interminable. Looks like a mistake. No standing still, before, during or after your song. Constant movement. No silent segues, no marking time, no bowing. Final tableaus can last no longer than two beats.

Second rule of television-- KNOW THE FRAME SIZE and stage accordingly. Fill the screen and know the shots and camera angles. Know the size of the staging area and fill it accordingly, without excess performers. Avoid too large a group with performers that spill outside the frame.

Third rule of television-- VOLUME AND SIZE DON'T TRANSLATE on TV because there's no perspective. Don't make audio volume the focus of your piece unless it can be translated through a TV screen (it can't). Same with size-- unless you're OK GO and have a Go Pro mounted to a drone, viewers will never appreciate the size or volume of your corps. Broadcast audio for one-time live non-electronic music always sucks, especially if your audio is different than everyone else's (massive scale brass explosion-- no one is ready for that, and no one has bothered to mic it properly either), so emphasize the visual instead. Sometimes your audio will be talked over, muffled, pre-empted, cut out or overlapped. Besides, viewers can only appreciate volume as translated by the television production companies' audio design.

Fourth rule of television - ADD A FOCAL POINT for a closeup-- either a featured performer, soloist or center stage small group. Television relies on multiple cuts wide, medium, closeup, overhead, wide, medium, closeup overhead. Give us a featured performer to look at close-up, otherwise we have nothing interesting to cut to we're stuck for days with a wide or overhead shot. Change the stage picture at least five times in a 45 second segment.

Fifth rule of television- STORY BOARD your 45 seconds! Even though you may not know the order of the shots, plan so that each angle pops with motion, regardless of last minute shot order. Rehearse with cameras you set up to mirror the Macy's production. Get a jib. Get an overhead camera. Whatever it takes to make sure each shot pops with visual appeal. No pauses, no standstill, no marking time. Color guard, no alternating group a and group B like they did in the guard work because that means you're guaranteed to have a shot of group B standing still on camera while Group A off camera is spinning their arms off, and group B will be standing there for an eternity perfectly still, and then when the producer finally switches the shot to the Group A, guess what? Also, overhead shots must be filled with drill movement, even if it's scatter drill or simple back and forth cross moves.

Edited December 13, 2014 by Brutus

[N.E. Brigand]

Here it is on Youtube.

Oh, my. Just stumbled across another video supposedly of the parade that's actually video of a guy watching and commenting on the parade for more than two hours. (It includes an extended rant, in which he is joined by a girlfriend, about how outraged they are that Annie has been cast with an African-American girl--because everybody knows Annie is Caucasian. I'm not signing up for a Youtube account just to add a comment that while everyone knows the characters in Macbeth are Scottish, that didn't stop Orson Welles from famously creating a very successful version with a African-American cast set in Haiti ... in 1937. Apparently these people have never heard the phrase colorblind casting before.) Apparently these kinds of videos are a thing, since I'm finding a few of them for various events. Who watches something like that? (Asks the fellow who loves to read film reviews.) In another, the woman watching the parade refers to the Scouts as a "corpse".

Pardon the digression. I was really posting for those who missed the parade but wanted to see the bands, to make them easier to find in the video linked above:

Western Carolina University Marching Band [NC] -- "Miami 2017 (Seen the Lights Go Out on Broadway)" (Billy Joel) -- 39:35-40:50

American Fork H.S. Marching Band [uT] -- "Can Can" (Jacques Offenbach) -- 49:15-50:30

Baldwinsville Central H.S. Marching Bees [NY] -- Medley: "Get Lucky" & "Harder Better Faster Stronger" (Daft Punk) -- 55:19-56:40

Bahamas All Stars Marching Band -- "Bangalee?" (?) -- 1:07:17-1:08:55

Center Grove H.S. Marching Band [iN] -- "Journey to the Center of the Earth" (Peter Graham) -- 1:14:59-1:16:20

Paul Lawrence Dunbar H.S. Marching Band [KY] "Unbridled" (?)** -- 1:22:05-1:23:27

Georgia State University Marching Band [GA] -- "Bohemian Rhapsody" (Queen) -- 1:34:18-1:35:35

NYPD Marching Band [NY] -- "National Emblem" (Edwin Eugene Bagley) -- 1:40:35-1:41:25

Winston Churchill H.S. Charger Band [TX] -- "Troika" (Sergei Prokofiev) -- 1:45:43-1:47:10

Macy's Great American Marching Band -- "Shake It Off" (Taylor Swift) -- 1:52:22-1:54:05

Foothill H.S. Marching Band [NV] -- "Trepak" & "Miniature Overture" (Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky) & "Viva Las Vegas" (Elvis Presley [Doc Pormus & Mort Shuman])*** -- 1:59:56-2:01:25

Madison Scouts - Corps of Brothers [WI] -- "Happy" (Pharrell Williams) -- 2:04:20-2:05:55

Remember, if you add ";t=_h_m_s" to the end of a Youtube url (without quotes, but with the underscores replaced with numbers--and remember the semicolon), you can create a link to a specific moment in any video.

*Western Carolina marched about 50 cymbals.

**"Unbridled" was the title of Dunbar's 2014 competition show; I'm not sure which musical selection from that show they played.

***Foothill's presentation was titled "Nutcracker a la Vegas".

[SFZFAN]

F A N T A S T I C J O B, S C O U T S! Wonderful, amazing, incredible, hard work, dedication, flair, pizazz, talent, pride! Now, about television performance.

First rule of television live performance, FILL EVERY COUNT WITH MOTION. Shots last less than two seconds, and every shot has to be filled with movement. For example, the sixteen count pause between the end of the song Happy and the start of the drum beat is interminable. Looks like a mistake. No standing still, before, during or after your song. Constant movement. No silent segues, no marking time, no bowing. Final tableaus can last no longer than two beats.

Second rule of television-- KNOW THE FRAME SIZE and stage accordingly. Fill the screen and know the shots and camera angles. Know the size of the staging area and fill it accordingly, without excess performers. Avoid too large a group with performers that spill outside the frame.

Third rule of television-- VOLUME AND SIZE DON'T TRANSLATE on TV because there's no perspective. Don't make audio volume the focus of your piece unless it can be translated through a TV screen (it can't). Same with size-- unless you're OK GO and have a Go Pro mounted to a drone, viewers will never appreciate the size or volume of your corps. Broadcast audio for one-time live non-electronic music always sucks, especially if your audio is different than everyone else's (massive scale brass explosion-- no one is ready for that, and no one has bothered to mic it properly either), so emphasize the visual instead. Sometimes your audio will be talked over, muffled, pre-empted, cut out or overlapped. Besides, viewers can only appreciate volume as translated by the television production companies' audio design.

Fourth rule of television - ADD A FOCAL POINT for a closeup-- either a featured performer, soloist or center stage small group. Television relies on multiple cuts wide, medium, closeup, overhead, wide, medium, closeup overhead. Give us a featured performer to look at close-up, otherwise we have nothing interesting to cut to we're stuck for days with a wide or overhead shot. Change the stage picture at least five times in a 45 minute segment.

Fifth rule of television- STORY BOARD your 45 seconds! Even though you may not know the order of the shots, plan so that each angle pops with motion, regardless of last minute shot order. Rehearse with cameras you set up to mirror the Macy's production. Get a jib. Get an overhead camera. Whatever it takes to make sure each shot pops with visual appeal. No pauses, no standstill, no marking time. Color guard, no alternating group a and group B like they did in the guard work because that means you're guaranteed to have a shot of group B standing still on camera while Group A off camera is spinning their arms off, and group B will be standing there for an eternity perfectly still, and then when the producer finally switches the shot to the Group A, guess what? Also, overhead shots must be filled with drill movement, even if it's scatter drill or simple back and forth cross moves.

6th rule: SHHHHHH - They did fine.

[N.E. Brigand]

I wish some of these high school bands would at least play something familiar for this occasion rather than an excerpt from their competitive show.

Hurry up, Madison Scouts. I can only take so much of listening to no-talent, model Swifty Taylor failed attempt to sing some songs in tune despite a bevy of back up singers given to her in the broadcast.

There's a bit of irony in seeing these two posts, in light of the Macy's All Star Band actually playing a Taylor Swift song, which of course is familiar to many people. We had the afternoon broadcast of the parade playing after our Thanksgiving meal, and my sister and my cousin's fiancee (both in their 40s) recognized that particular tune right away.

Not to mention that most of the bands did play recognizable music.

[luv4corps]

I thought Madison represented drum corps very well. It sounded like Matt Lauer called them the Madison Scwouts. Anyone hear that?

[Ghost]

I thought Madison represented drum corps very well. It sounded like Matt Lauer called them the Madison Scwouts. Anyone hear that?

Yes. It's been mentioned by others already. Plus, his partner started off with an error. With the millions they earn each year, going over the script for the next group, singer, etc. while the current group, singer, etc. is on camera shouldn't be too hard to ask.

[bill]

F A N T A S T I C J O B, S C O U T S! Wonderful, amazing, incredible, hard work, dedication, flair, pizazz, talent, pride! Now, about television performance.

First rule of television live performance, FILL EVERY COUNT WITH MOTION. Shots last less than two seconds, and every shot has to be filled with movement. For example, the sixteen count pause between the end of the song Happy and the start of the drum beat is interminable. Looks like a mistake. No standing still, before, during or after your song. Constant movement. No silent segues, no marking time, no bowing. Final tableaus can last no longer than two beats.

Second rule of television-- KNOW THE FRAME SIZE and stage accordingly. Fill the screen and know the shots and camera angles. Know the size of the staging area and fill it accordingly, without excess performers. Avoid too large a group with performers that spill outside the frame.

Third rule of television-- VOLUME AND SIZE DON'T TRANSLATE on TV because there's no perspective. Don't make audio volume the focus of your piece unless it can be translated through a TV screen (it can't). Same with size-- unless you're OK GO and have a Go Pro mounted to a drone, viewers will never appreciate the size or volume of your corps. Broadcast audio for one-time live non-electronic music always sucks, especially if your audio is different than everyone else's (massive scale brass explosion-- no one is ready for that, and no one has bothered to mic it properly either), so emphasize the visual instead. Sometimes your audio will be talked over, muffled, pre-empted, cut out or overlapped. Besides, viewers can only appreciate volume as translated by the television production companies' audio design.

Fourth rule of television - ADD A FOCAL POINT for a closeup-- either a featured performer, soloist or center stage small group. Television relies on multiple cuts wide, medium, closeup, overhead, wide, medium, closeup overhead. Give us a featured performer to look at close-up, otherwise we have nothing interesting to cut to we're stuck for days with a wide or overhead shot. Change the stage picture at least five times in a 45 minute segment.

Fifth rule of television- STORY BOARD your 45 seconds! Even though you may not know the order of the shots, plan so that each angle pops with motion, regardless of last minute shot order. Rehearse with cameras you set up to mirror the Macy's production. Get a jib. Get an overhead camera. Whatever it takes to make sure each shot pops with visual appeal. No pauses, no standstill, no marking time. Color guard, no alternating group a and group B like they did in the guard work because that means you're guaranteed to have a shot of group B standing still on camera while Group A off camera is spinning their arms off, and group B will be standing there for an eternity perfectly still, and then when the producer finally switches the shot to the Group A, guess what? Also, overhead shots must be filled with drill movement, even if it's scatter drill or simple back and forth cross moves.

Presenting tonight's award is: http://media1.gameinformer.com/imagefeed/featured/uncategorized/worstcallofdutyplayers/ArmchairGeneral2.jpg

................and your award is: http://dynastyfootballwarehouse.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/FF-Trophy-Armchair-QB.3a.png

[BRASSO]

There's a bit of irony in seeing these two posts, in light of the Macy's All Star Band actually playing a Taylor Swift song, which of course is familiar to many people. We had the afternoon broadcast of the parade playing after our Thanksgiving meal, and my sister and my cousin's fiancee (both in their 40s) recognized that particular tune right away.

Not to mention that most of the bands did play recognizable music.

Then there is the irony that some no talents play a recognizeable tune in a manner that becomes almost unrecognizable from its iconic beginnings to the macabre point that the tune becomes an unintended self parody for the unit and / or the singer..'Not saying that this took place on The Pilgrim's Remembrance Day Parade... Just as an occasional observation in general.

Edited November 29, 2014 by BRASSO

[xandandl]

Overheard while waiting for the TV techs to finesse their trade at the 3 am pre-parade session with Madison in front of Macy's:

White uniformed ('14) young Madison Scout asking some green shirted ('75, '88) alums: "Is this what it feels like going on last at DCI Finals???"

The answer was: "Yup, but we hope you soon find out for yourself."