The "IT" Factor

[Jeff Ream]

7 hours ago, Sideways said:

Finals week is here again and this summer has been as exciting as any in recent memory.  Lets get a discussion kicked off on the "IT" factor...meaning that little extra bit of polish it takes to push a corps into finals or even to a championship.  Is it simply GE?  Those of us that have been around the activity long enough "know it when you see it," but how best do we explain it to newbs?

In 2016 Bluecoats certainly had the IT factor going into finals and walked away with the title with only taking GE.  SCV took percussion and Crown pretty much everything else.  Currently SCV has IT in truckloads loads and any other summer Session 44 would have IT.  Phantom suddenly got IT in 1996 & 2008...SCV smoked IT at finals in 1999.   1993...all of the top six had IT to varying degrees but the top three were loaded with IT.

Performance captions are much easier to explain and for the un-initiated to comprehend...but how do we explain IT?

 

it's not just GE. It's a summation of all parts firing on every cylinder possible at the same time. Phantom 96, or 08....Cadets 11...Blue 16 just in recent memory. It's one of those things the corps just KNOWS going on the field. I felt that once, in 1996 when we won DCA...we sucked at prelims and were down .9 after winning almost every show that summer. We knew we left our best on the practice field before prelims. yet we didn't panic. We had a loose rehearsal on Saturday night and Sunday morning/afternoon.....and just went out that night and did the job. Everything clicked. That is what the shows I mentioned did, and they were far better than we could ever have hoped to be.

Edited August 7, 2018 by Jeff Ream

[nsxanax]

How about SCV and PR, both circa 1989? 

Granted the former was a re-worked, retread from the prior season, but the performance at finals that night is the stuff of legend. Likewise, PR had the highest score in DCI history—up to that time—which held up for exactly the amount of time it took Brandt Crocker to announce SCV champions.

There was more than a little It going on that night.

[ouooga]

I'm not sure if it's an 'It' factor I'm referring to, but there's something to be said of 'Magic'. I use 'Magic' because I don't know what else to call it. A lot of corps have it consistently, but not all, and not always.

Two good examples:

1) If you can track down a copy of Phantom's 2003 quarterfinals performance, this show has no magic. I've seen it over and over, and it's just not there. But two nights later, on finals nights, it's there. Literally at the first moment, you can feel the difference, that presence of Magic.

2) Crown in 2015 didn't bring the magic to finals. They'd had it all season, and I felt it every time I saw them. The moment they started playing after the drum break in the opener, I just felt it missing, and said out loud '####, they're not going to win tonight.'

Again, I don't mean magic like Merlin or Harry Dresden, I just don't know the right word for it. Every member is in sync, the audience is bought in, and there's an almost tangible energy around a show and a corps.

To answer OP's question, SCV, Bluecoats and Boston definitely posses the potential for that magic, and have demonstrated it many times this season.

Edited August 7, 2018 by ouooga

[tim_brandt]

5 hours ago, ouooga said:

1) If you can track down a copy of Phantom's 2003 quarterfinals performance, this show has no magic. I've seen it over and over, and it's just not there. But two nights later, on finals nights, it's there. Literally at the first moment, you can feel the difference, that presence of Magic.

 

I hear a lot from the members that semis was the best run in '03. Would be interesting to hear the difference from quarters to semis.

Many alums from '96 claimed the same of that show.

[Den8uml]

13 hours ago, ouooga said:

I'm not sure if it's an 'It' factor I'm referring to, but there's something to be said of 'Magic'. I use 'Magic' because I don't know what else to call it. A lot of corps have it consistently, but not all, and not always.

Two good examples:

1) If you can track down a copy of Phantom's 2003 quarterfinals performance, this show has no magic. I've seen it over and over, and it's just not there. But two nights later, on finals nights, it's there. Literally at the first moment, you can feel the difference, that presence of Magic.

2) Crown in 2015 didn't bring the magic to finals. They'd had it all season, and I felt it every time I saw them. The moment they started playing after the drum break in the opener, I just felt it missing, and said out loud '####, they're not going to win tonight.'

Again, I don't mean magic like Merlin or Harry Dresden, I just don't know the right word for it. Every member is in sync, the audience is bought in, and there's an almost tangible energy around a show and a corps.

To answer OP's question, SCV, Bluecoats and Boston definitely posses the potential for that magic, and have demonstrated it many times this season.

I really like your use of magic in this context.  I will also say that the Cadets were good but not great this season until Allentown and they brought it that night.  It was electric and magical.  I think everyone can remeber a time they saw and felt it happen and the fans, staff and corps all knew it too. 

[Sideways]

20 hours ago, Box5Opinion said:

Caption: General Effect (GE)

Number of judges: Two for most of the season, plus a doubled panel of four during Premier Events (e.g. San Antonio, Atlanta, Allentown) and the World Championships.

Points allotted: 40, 20 from each of the two judges. The scores of the two Effect captions are counted for full value. When the panel is doubled, the score of all four judges is divided in half.

Responsibilities: One of the GE judges has a music background and the other has a visual background, but each utilizes the same judging sheet because they are effectively judging the entire show, not just the effect of the music offering or the effect of the visual production. GE judges must be the most experienced, most knowledgeable, and most flexible members of the audience. Plus, they know how to manage numbers in order to give a proper score. The GE judges are doing the romantic job, they’re feeling what the show is offering and responding to what the show is. There are three parts to GE, the intellectual, the aesthetic, and the emotional.

 

The corp that is able to package their show (may not have the best brass/guard/percussion but has the GE/music/visual aspects) and is able to connect with the intellectual, aesthetic and emotional has the "IT" factor any given season! 

This is great for those in the activity but put in simple layman's terms for the person you are dragging to their first show.