Carolina Crown 2022

[ZTWright]

5 minutes ago, 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 early design meetings 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
• sashes
• a prop
• streamers
• 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 on the field.

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 "right here, right now", and into the past:

• the four tarps from Mvmt 2 in an infinity symbol
• the streamer "lime" pinwheels
• the ballad tarp "~"

Ultimately, as @MikeRapp eloquently 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.

Oh I'm not placing blame on anyone except for Rick Subel as he is the head of the design team. My main issue with Jeff Sacktig was the editing. He should have seen the forms collapsing in transitions, and the possibility of performers bumping elbows in some cases, and thought "Oh, that needs to be edited!" A clip from the 2007 ESPN2 airing of finals comes to mind. They spoke about how a form small errors in drill design could ultimately end up costing you big on the sheets. That stuck with me, having been young and impressionable at that time.

[arabica]

1 hour ago, ZTWright said:

Oh I'm not placing blame on anyone except for Rick Subel as he is the head of the design team. My main issue with Jeff Sacktig was the editing. He should have seen the forms collapsing in transitions, and the possibility of performers bumping elbows in some cases, and thought "Oh, that needs to be edited!" A clip from the 2007 ESPN2 airing of finals comes to mind. They spoke about how a form small errors in drill design could ultimately end up costing you big on the sheets. That stuck with me, having been young and impressionable at that time.

Was it the segment critiquing BK's diagonal coverdowns? If so, I remember [and took to heart] the exact same part! 😄

[NewArpege]

Overall, I loved Crowns design. There are things I’d change:  getting all the fabrics off the field in the end, and I’d redo the ballad drill.  I would keep the fabric but have the other corps not in the fabric swirling around them so it emphasized the visuals. 
 

But really, I loved this show. 

[MikeRapp]

2 minutes ago, NewArpege said:

Overall, I loved Crowns design. There are things I’d change:  getting all the fabrics off the field in the end, and I’d redo the ballad drill.  I would keep the fabric but have the other corps not in the fabric swirling around them so it emphasized the visuals. 
 

But really, I loved this show. 

I don’t know that half of the fabric did anything for GE. Esp the sloppy red ribbon that tied members together. Just another thing for the kids to worry about.

[Quad Aces]

At the risk of sounding completely naïve , what exactly was the app used for/what was going on in it during Crown’s show?  And no, this is absolutely not an attempt at trolling - I genuinely am interested in knowing, since I didn’t use it during a show this season (please read on).

I loved Crown’s show this year - such an incredible amount of energy!  One of my favorite shows of the season.  I wanted to watch the show itself last night at LOS, instead of checking out the app during their performance.

I thought the ballad alone was one of the most memorable parts of the entire DCI season!

Congratulations on a great season, and looking forward to seeing what’s in store for 2023!

 

[arabica]

2 minutes ago, Quad Aces said:

At the risk of sounding completely naïve , what exactly was the app used for/what was going on in it during Crown’s show?  And no, this is absolutely not an attempt at trolling - I genuinely am interested in knowing, since I didn’t use it during a show this season (please read on).

I loved Crown’s show this year - such an incredible amount of energy!  One of my favorite shows of the season.  I wanted to watch the show itself last night at LOS, instead of checking out the app during their performance.

I thought the ballad alone was one of the most memorable parts of the entire DCI season!

Congratulations on a great season, and looking forward to seeing what’s in store for 2023!

 

Here are some videos Crown put out with a lot more detail:

 

 

Edited August 14, 2022 by arabica

[ZTWright]

1 hour ago, arabica said:

Was it the segment critiquing BK's diagonal coverdowns? If so, I remember [and took to heart] the exact same part! 😄

I think it was about Glassmen and the forms collapsing in on themselves in certain curvilinear forms. I honestly and truly can't remember who it was. I just remember the discussion they had of it. I'll see if I can find it on YouTube.

[NewArpege]

2 hours ago, MikeRapp said:

I don’t know that half of the fabric did anything for GE. Esp the sloppy red ribbon that tied members together. Just another thing for the kids to worry about.

Yea. They could have lost the red ribbons.  I don’t think they added anything. But honestly, I could say the same thing for other shows. I still don’t know what BDs show was about or why stairs were part of it.  Nor do I know what cones had to do with Boston’s show. IMO, Bluecoats we’re the only ones with props that tied to their theme, which they usually do a good job with.

[MikeRapp]

6 minutes ago, NewArpege said:

Yea. They could have lost the red ribbons.  I don’t think they added anything. But honestly, I could say the same thing for other shows. I still don’t know what BDs show was about or why stairs were part of it.  Nor do I know what cones had to do with Boston’s show. IMO, Bluecoats we’re the only ones with props that tied to their theme, which they usually do a good job with.

Boston’s cones represented trees in the Garden of Eden. Maybe they should have been green.

Edited August 14, 2022 by MikeRapp

[NewArpege]

3 minutes ago, MikeRapp said:

Boston’s cones represented trees in the Garden of Eden. Maybe they should have been green.

Oh.  The story I invented was a plane crashed on an island and people took over and destroyed the untouched land. Guess I was wayyyy off. Ha. 
 

For SCV, I figured their show was about city folk during the pandemic who turned to yoga. So their skyscraper props turned into healing crystals as they did their final meditation.  If that’s what it was, it was pretty brilliant idea.