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Carolina Crown 2022


karuna

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8 hours ago, CrownBariDad said:

Has anyone been able to find any backfield videos of Crown's show at FINALS showing the app lights and colors?

There are a couple snippets where you can see the flashing lights  in the Flomarching video that some have uploaded to YouTube but nothing I’ve seen exclusive or even substantially from the backfield.

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2 minutes ago, DrummerParent said:

There are a couple snippets where you can see the flashing lights  in the Flomarching video that some have uploaded to YouTube but nothing I’ve seen exclusive or even substantially from the backfield.

Yep -- I've seen that one from earlier in the season. I was hoping for one taken on Finals night where hopefully more folks would know about and use the app.

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On 8/14/2022 at 1:04 PM, arabica said:

Thanks for your thoughtful post! Here is a slightly different perspective [also from a visual designer]:

Although I, too, think visual design was the primary issue, I don't place blame on Jeff Sacktig as much as I do program coordinator Rick Subel. At this level, drill is designed in close coordination with program coordinator as well as the designers/caption heads of guard, brass and percussion to ensure every section and element is staged right where it is needed and when it is needed. As much as I hope Jeff's opinion matters, his job is ultimately to be a conduit for executing on the needs and wishes of the rest of the staff. That said, I don't think Jeff has transitioned as gracefully into the modern era as other designers have through integrating staged moments/movement with pure drill. This is an opportunity.

I envision an early design meeting going something like this: "Our concept is 'Right Here, Right Now' and it's about being present in the moment. So we're going to present things that will WOW our audience, draw them in and invite participation no matter where they're looking! We're gonna do this by:

  • audience app
  • breaking the fourth wall
  • a big prop
  • sashes
  • streamers
  • and lots of fabric"

And this is where it derails for me, because at some point, someone made a decision to have multiple, equally competing points of focus and visual symbolism on the field. Adding and layering elements should work to clarify intent, not muddy it.

This is most obvious to me in the ballad, with the high brass under the tarp, the low brass connected with sashes, and the prop rotating through the low brass breaking apart the form member-by-member. While each element was individually interesting, the competing focus was distracting and the intent/symbolism behind each element - tarp, prop, sashes - was blurred. Aesthetically, the high-brass tarp not only made the right side of the field visually heavy, but felt mismatched to the musical effect: I would have put low brass - the musical foundation and therefore "heavy" - under the tarp and have high brass - musically lighter/brighter - connected with sashes/moving through prop.

Finally, the decision to keep the various visual elements on the field after used was a poor choice that not only created increasing clutter as the show progressed, but actually pulled me out of the "right here, right now" and back into the past movements and even past shows [2013]:

  • the four tarps from 2nd movement laid out in an infinity symbol
  • the red sashes laid out perpendicular to the infinity symbol
  • the ballad tarp laid out as "~"
  • the streamer "lime slice" pinwheels laid out backfield

Ultimately, as @MikeRapp accurately said: "this is a show about everything, which means it's a show about nothing". That doesn't mean it did not succeed overall in it's aim...it was performed incredibly well and with a ton of pride, was a clear crowd favorite, produced the reaction/interaction it sought, and was musically and visually very interesting. But I echo many others who wish for a more thematically and visually focused Crown in 2023.

THIS. While I applaud Crown for taking a risk and trying something pretty innovative, I realized by San Antonio that the show’s design was plagued by issues similar to recent years.
 

Rick Subel took over the reigns in 2017 and to be honest, I have not been thrilled by the production quality of his designs at Crown. He has done great things for Paramount (WGI IW group from ATL), but watching the 2022 productions for both of these groups led me to realize they share the same shortcoming in terms of design. Both were uber fan friendly, but they did not have the fine polish that judges reward come finals. Till the World Ends and RHRN (like other recent Crown shows) had the everything but the kitchen sink mentality- which detracted from the quality of what the performers could achieve. Both of these ensembles under Rick’s helm had the talent to medal, but were hindered by lapses in design choices.

For example, the props used in Crown shows from 2017-2022 have detracted from the visual program more so than enhanced. “It Is” with the torn apart field and ballad singer’s turf skirt, the seesaw half pipe in Beast, the chunky triangles and stage in Beneath the Surface, and RHRN’s excessive fabric and abstract sculpture are not comparable Blue’s set pieces and BAC’s cones this year, Babylon’s nesting towers, etc. Crown’s music book has saved all of the 17-22 programs from the deficits and clutter in the visual programming. Jeff and the drill are great, really want him to continue writing for CC. Other than 2019, have not been a huge fan of Crown’s uniforms either. 

Not saying that Rick needs the boot right yet, but simplifying and refining visual elements and the overall show concept should be the number one goal of next season. 
 

Don’t get me wrong, I’m a huge fan of this organization. They have been my favorite corps since 2006 and I’m very appreciative for what they’ve done for the marching arts in the Carolinas. 

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1 hour ago, palmettomello said:

THIS. While I applaud Crown for taking a risk and trying something pretty innovative, I realized by San Antonio that the show’s design was plagued by issues similar to recent years.
 

Rick Subel took over the reigns in 2017 and to be honest, I have not been thrilled by the production quality of his designs at Crown. He has done great things for Paramount (WGI IW group from ATL), but watching the 2022 productions for both of these groups led me to realize they share the same shortcoming in terms of design. Both were uber fan friendly, but they did not have the fine polish that judges reward come finals. Till the World Ends and RHRN (like other recent Crown shows) had the everything but the kitchen sink mentality- which detracted from the quality of what the performers could achieve. Both of these ensembles under Rick’s helm had the talent to medal, but were hindered by lapses in design choices.

For example, the props used in Crown shows from 2017-2022 have detracted from the visual program more so than enhanced. “It Is” with the torn apart field and ballad singer’s turf skirt, the seesaw half pipe in Beast, the chunky triangles and stage in Beneath the Surface, and RHRN’s excessive fabric and abstract sculpture are not comparable Blue’s set pieces and BAC’s cones this year, Babylon’s nesting towers, etc. Crown’s music book has saved all of the 17-22 programs from the deficits and clutter in the visual programming. Jeff and the drill are great, really want him to continue writing for CC. Other than 2019, have not been a huge fan of Crown’s uniforms either. 

Not saying that Rick needs the boot right yet, but simplifying and refining visual elements and the overall show concept should be the number one goal of next season. 
 

Don’t get me wrong, I’m a huge fan of this organization. They have been my favorite corps since 2006 and I’m very appreciative for what they’ve done for the marching arts in the Carolinas. 

You mentioned fan friendly.  I certainly don’t hate the recent shows, but my absolute favorites fall in the 2007-2016 period.  I suspect I’m not the only one.  

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8 minutes ago, skevinp said:

You mentioned fan friendly.  I certainly don’t hate the recent shows, but my absolute favorites fall in the 2007-2016 period.  I suspect I’m not the only one.  

Spot on! I’d throw in 05 and 06, too, but 06 feels more like an acquired taste compared to the rest.

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2 minutes ago, arabica said:

Spot on! I’d throw in 05 and 06, too, but 06 feels more like an acquired taste compared to the rest.

I loved 2006. The reprise of the opening hit in the closer gets me every time! 2003 to 2006 all seemed to be in a different era for Crown than 2007 to 2012, and then 2013 to 2016 were a completely different one as well. I refer to them as the 3 Cs era's...

The Climb

The Campy

The Colorful

I'd love to revisit the campy years with a fresh take. 

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9 minutes ago, ZTWright said:

I loved 2006. The reprise of the opening hit in the closer gets me every time! 2003 to 2006 all seemed to be in a different era for Crown than 2007 to 2012, and then 2013 to 2016 were a completely different one as well. I refer to them as the 3 Cs era's...

The Climb

The Campy

The Colorful

I'd love to revisit the campy years with a fresh take. 

In.trance.it is one of my favorite overall shows from any corps! I feel 2004 and especially 2005 is what established in my mind they were achieving a new level, but 07 is for sure where it felt they’d started to arrive and would soon be contenders. 2006 was the perfect link. Such great shows!

Edited by arabica
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11 hours ago, CrownBariDad said:

Yep -- I've seen that one from earlier in the season. I was hoping for one taken on Finals night where hopefully more folks would know about and use the app.

There’s one from finals.  It might get taken down but right now when I go to YouTube and search “Carolina Crown 2022”, it’s the first result.  Posted by Emma-Louise Carpenter.  There isn’t a lot of view of the stands but there is some.  Watching this, if it were darker in the spectator section, that would’ve helped but if you look closely, it seems there was pretty decent participation.

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1 hour ago, DrummerParent said:

There’s one from finals.  It might get taken down but right now when I go to YouTube and search “Carolina Crown 2022”, it’s the first result.  Posted by Emma-Louise Carpenter.  There isn’t a lot of view of the stands but there is some.  Watching this, if it were darker in the spectator section, that would’ve helped but if you look closely, it seems there was pretty decent participation.

Thanks! Looks like she was able to copy a certain feed, so I don't expect it will stay up long. As you say, the coverage was decent, but I'm glad to see even more were participating the old fashioned way -- clapping, cheering, waving, getting on their feet, etc.

Thanks again!

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3 hours ago, CrownBariDad said:

Thanks! Looks like she was able to copy a certain feed, so I don't expect it will stay up long. As you say, the coverage was decent, but I'm glad to see even more were participating the old fashioned way -- clapping, cheering, waving, getting on their feet, etc.

Thanks again!

FYI- if you download the app “record it”, you can record everything that plays on your screen.  Easy to edit trim the beginning and end that captures your moves to play the video.  Not that I’ve ever done such a thing though.

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