Design Costs; To Much $$

[IllianaLancerContra]

4 hours ago, mjoakes said:

How about just letting the corps decide what’s too expensive for them.

 

1 hour ago, Triple Forte said:

 Well to be honest I don’t trust them because costs keep going up  and the number one reason for a drum corps becoming nonexistent  Is money. Do you want  a situation where members have to pay between 8 - 10k + to march for one summer ?

This last season Madison did a no props show, which was well executed and enthusiastically received by the audience.  And they were rewarded with final score of 82.137, good enough for 17th place.  And they were 20th in visual analysis.  IDK whether the no props design decision was based on expense, but the data suggests that props are necessary to score well in the current scoring system.

[FlamMan]

I am all for a salary cap on props...let's set it at $0.

[N.E. Brigand]

12 minutes ago, IllianaLancerContra said:

This last season Madison did a no props show, which was well executed and enthusiastically received by the audience.  And they were rewarded with final score of 82.137, good enough for 17th place.  And they were 20th in visual analysis.  IDK whether the no props design decision was based on expense, but the data suggests that props are necessary to score well in the current scoring system.

Can't gauge based on just one example, but you're probably right that the judges have become addle-brained in this regard.

[IllianaLancerContra]

1 minute ago, N.E. Brigand said:

Can't gauge based on just one example, but you're probably right that the judges have become addle-brained in this regard.

I certainly agree that a sample size >1 is needed.  But getting real data isn't easy - if Corps honestly reported their props budget we could run a correlation with score.  But getting the data out of the Corps would be real difficult - no one wants to be the one that spent the most on props (or sound systems for that patter)

[ShortAndFast]

I think that all of the top visual designers in the activity believe that use of props is obligatory. My evidence is that 100% of finalists have used them for at least the last 5 years. If it were just designer preference, surely one guy one year would have said "meh, doesn't work". 

Serious question, what was the last finalist show to not incorporate props?

[DFA1970]

8 hours ago, Triple Forte said:

 

Do corps restrict $ design and designers? If yes maybe they need to pull the reins in?   

 

Who's "they"? it's up to the corp what they want to spend on whatever. I remember talk about a salary cap (yeah stupid idea) to make corps on a more even level ground. That's fine for pro-sports teams but DCI is a non-profit organization. BD is like the Alabama of DCI. They will always be on top because of their organization and talent level they attract. 

[Jeff Ream]

8 hours ago, mjoakes said:

How about just letting the corps decide what’s too expensive for them.

how dare you use common sense on DCp 2 weeks after finals! For shame!

[Jeff Ream]

4 hours ago, IllianaLancerContra said:

 

This last season Madison did a no props show, which was well executed and enthusiastically received by the audience.  And they were rewarded with final score of 82.137, good enough for 17th place.  And they were 20th in visual analysis.  IDK whether the no props design decision was based on expense, but the data suggests that props are necessary to score well in the current scoring system.

well executed um.....ok.

 

and early on the show was not getting babies thrown at it. after the announcement to go coed, the love came flying out

[horndevil]

I'd rather see a tuition cap across the board, with set expectations on what every member is to get from that money (number and quality of meals, type of housing, etc.) and let the higher up schmucks figure out the rest of the cost without driving member fees up 

[Weaklefthand4ever]

14 hours ago, IllianaLancerContra said:

This last season Madison did a no props show, which was well executed and enthusiastically received by the audience.  And they were rewarded with final score of 82.137, good enough for 17th place.  And they were 20th in visual analysis.  IDK whether the no props design decision was based on expense, but the data suggests that props are necessary to score well in the current scoring system.

Which has been my thought as well. However, I have been shot down multiple times on this forum for:

1. Suggesting that the aforementioned is true and 

2. Even asking the question of "Is it possible." 

Granted I have thicker skin than most, but there are some on these forums that seem to believe that only their opinions are valid. Personally I think the props vs no props and how it impacts scoring is worth a proper discussion. But I'm just a drummer so maybe people don't read the words typed and just assume they say "dut dut dut huzgidda da-gock." /shrug