Marching/moving in time vs. "scampering"

[C.Holland]

Anything can look good if you’ve A. Planned it well B. Taught the technique well and 3. Asked the ever important “does this help the narrative, if so, how” and you can answer it. 

[scheherazadesghost]

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Edited September 1, 2022 by scheherazadesghost

[gak27]

Excellent discussion so far, and way too many points I agree with to effectively use multiquote 😎

I think this topic encapsulates a lot of the "disconnect / discordant / fuzziness / whatever" aspect of today's visuals that I sometimes have a difficult time with.  In no way am I commenting on the members; this is solely on programming / design / trends.  When done WELL (high unison, well-transitioned, low "blob") I think it's highly effective and allows for large amounts of ground to be transitioned where in the past we would have used 32 counts of drill to cover.  I also, however, think the staging / run to position / impact phrase / rinse-repeat mindset diminishes the group effect and focuses more on what each individual is conveying. It makes it (IMO) less precise and less pleasing to eyes used to precision/uniformity equaling excellence as being an ideal in the drum corps experience.  Again, no knock at all on the high talent level of today's members, it just seems the talent is directed towards things that don't enhance that large/group visual "wow" we associate with drum corps.

Again, great thread so far.

[Mello Dude]

A scatter drill happens....

 

People that don't know, "Wow look at that amazing design!!!"

People that know. "Meh, obviously the design team wanted then there in X counts and didn't want to write or couldn't write a transition to get them where they needed to be."

[scheherazadesghost]

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Edited September 1, 2022 by scheherazadesghost

[jwillis35]

19 hours ago, NakedEye said:

They still do it today, but use it with surgical precision. An example is the big rotating line of brass, which evolves into a cross as it turns, then a denser shape, and as the music accelerates, breaks apart into flat-out running, still in the spiral form. It works really, really well in this instance. The spiral is their symbol of the show and is used to illustrate the spiraling timeline of the color blue through history. I see this section as a visualization of how the new color of blue was originally tightly controlled for use in iconography and religious imagery, then adopted more broadly, and eventually rapidly spread into all areas of modern art and culture. (but that's just my take)

So BD (continues) to use it well, but as you go down the list you see it in there for no obvious reason. This does happen with everything, though (see example: PROPS).

I agree with this and you sum this up well. 

I look at BD this year and because I hear the opening narrator say "Tread softly, because you tread on my dreams," I initially think that the color blue in all its variations is used as a metaphor for human society pushing forward. At the onset we see this visual movement with the corps discarding these Black and White overlays as if to say no more conformity to bland colors and a lack of choices or creativeness. Black could be corporate rules and white could be religion.  Then we get the sparkle of the BD uniform. That big vertical company front that rotates half way is almost like a wall of control and conformity but then the members begin to break away and then they spin out of control (literally sprinting) like a hurricane of change until they hit a block where the music brings change in style and a more loosely based jazz / funk compared to the more structured Moon River or the rigid Carnival of Venice.

I don't know, but I love it because it does make me think of these types of elements, and yet at the same time I think BD gets you to enjoy the show even if you don't know anything about the theme or concept. 

 

[FTNK]

It’s never going to be 1972 or 1987 or 2000 again guys

[Mello Dude]

2 hours ago, FTNK said:

It’s never going to be 1972 or 1987 or 2000 again guys

And.......?  You do realize scatter drill is nothing new right?

[saxfreq1128]

On 7/24/2022 at 10:28 PM, Poppycock said:

Resolving from one set and transition to another has to become part of the initial design not an afterthought. 

Agree. I mean, my favorite thing by far is scatter that dissolves one form only to surprise us with new ones — I absolutely love that moment in BD’s opening hit/promenade where the performers leak out into a fluid scattered form, then reappear in a jazz running block. Would I wanna be on the field cleaning it? Absolutely not, I’d die. Is it impressive — yes! 

I think one major suspicion with scatters is the fear that members could just be improvising and doing whatever they want and no one would know. So I’m very in favor of scatter that actively disproves that. 

[scheherazadesghost]

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Edited September 1, 2022 by scheherazadesghost