DCP Official ESPN2 DCI Broadcast Reaction Thread

[rynn]

<**> Fell asleep before the end.

The TV Guide had it listed as 10pm...ESPN2..."Band Competition"

As soon as they announced they were showing "highlights" I had a bad feeling. The same feeling I get when they cut away to commercials at half-time during college football.

What they did show was informative at least.

[bradrick]

The main point that seems to be coming home over and over again is "The DCI broadcast is not designed for us. It's designed as a recruitment video for the uninitiated". Take a look at what one band director has to say about last night's "recruitment video". :

First of all, I want to say that it's GREAT to see DCI on ESPN2, but the message

I'm afraid people are getting is that the drum corps aren't ENTERTAINING enough

so we're going to show twice as much of these background stories as we are of

"The Game".

I'm a band director that urged my kids to stay up and watch the show tonight.

I already know what I'm going to hear tomorrow..."Why didn't they show more

of the shows?"  I'll tell them "good question."

It's too bad DCI didn't have enough faith in the corps shows to give them

an adequate amount of time.

THIS IS DISAPPOINTING, but it's better than nothing.  I just hoped for more.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

DING DING DING!!!

What HE said!

B)

I got hooked on Drum Corps because in the fall of 1986 my HS band director put in the DCI broadcast of the 1986 Cavaliers and said, "Check out this cool drill". And then I stood in the band hall in awe and watched the 86 Cavaliers' entire show from start to finish. I had barely even heard of Drum Corps - but without any background or sappy heartstring stories or being told one single thing about the show, I WAS HOOKED. The field show spoke for itself.

When that one show was over, he hit stop on the VCR. I looked at him and said, "I wanna do that!". I don't think I really even knew where the nearest drum corps was. I didn't even see my first show live till I had already performed in my first drum corps. And the first show I saw live was ... The 1987 Cavaliers. And I raced up into the stands to see them with the memory of the amazing drill from the 11 and a half minute video in my head. And the memory of what a cool piece of art the entire package had been.

Anybody think much of that is going to happen after the "uninitiated" see this year's broadcast? Anybody think the "uninitiated" will know or understand the difference it makes that such huge chunks of these shows are missing from the broadcast?

(P.S. I speak only from my own experience. I doubt I would have been interested in becoming a member of a corps if the shows had been presented the way they were last night. And if today's potential members and fans are more in need of making the activity appear like a multimedia TV event... I dunno...because it isn't designed for that. It's almost false advertising to present drum corps in a way that doesn't represent what it really is... IMO. )

Edited September 7, 2005 by bradrick

[Tony L.]

My only problem was that they showed a grand total of 2 clips from Boston and Crown during the first 40 minutes! It was over 12 minutes before they even showed the Boston highlight. It just seemed odd to spend sooo much time talking about something before actually showing it. I think they should have had the brief intro with Rondo and then gone straight to the Boston clip. At least then, the viewer could have had some reference point for the subsequent 12 minutes or so.

I just feel like the activity's product speaks more strongly than people talking about the activity. Don't get me wrong, I really thought the introduction of each part of the corps was really well done (especially the section where the drill on the computer was imposed on the overhead of the Cavaliers' performance from San Antonio). However, I just thought that at least initially, the audience should have been shown an example of what the activity is about.

[bobchilds]

OK, for a show that is supposed to hook all these new viewers, in 68 minutes I have seen 16 minutes of competition.

That's the way to get 'em, don't show them "the game."

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I think you make a good point. There was a lot more human interest and behind the scenes coverage than there was of the actual shows.

I think baseball is very exciting when I watch highlights videos, but to actually sit through an entire game can be excruciating to a non-fan.

An old English teacher of mine used to say, "a good paper should be like a swimsuit -- long enough to cover the topic, but brief enough to keep it interesting." Applying the same principle, I think the broadcast was great for mainstream exposure.

But since they were showing such brief clips, I would have liked to seen a little more from the 9-12 corps.

~Bob

[PhantomR]

Honestly, I didn't think it was that bad. I do wish they would have shown more than one segment of each corps, but some of the stuff they did was interesting. It was a good broadcast for people who don't know as much about drum corps. It might not have been as good to the people who already did.

~>conner

[rut-roh]

I doubt I would have been interested in becoming a member of a corps if the shows had been presented the way they were last night.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I just got off the phone with the band director of the band I work with and asked him what the kids were saying about the show. They were told about it all week. He said every kid he talked to said they loved it. They were especially impressed with how GOOD everyone was. (And this coming from a pretty decent HS marching band who is used to winning) He also had at least five kids so far come up to him asking if he could help get them audition information for some of the corps.

Interesting.

[bobchilds]

AMEN!! If you were trying to get me to play football I don't need to know the importance of each minor blocking assignment detail or how much the hot dogs are selling for at the concession stand. Show me the GAME!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Actually concessions were really expensive in Foxboro! It was pretty cool having the opportunity to buy beer at a DCI show though, albeit $6.50!!!

[Jeff]

Three things every drum corps fan knows; :P

1- Who should have really won the contest

2- How to better run DCI

3- What should have been shown on the DCI/ESPN2 broadcast

[bspeakman]

I thought that overall, it merited a B+.  The between-corps segments were great - much better than they've been in the past few years, and did a *very* good job of explaining what corps is and how it works.  They covered show design, brass details, percussion details, guard details and only one tug-at-your-heart human interest story.  About the only thing they didn't get into was the tour / travelling / buses / gym floors part of it.

What keeps it from being an A in my book is that they seemed to have gone out of their way to pick some strange and flat parts from each show - not how I would have edited it at all.  Quite honestly, the shows as they were edited on there lost a lot of the oomph that they could have had with other parts shown.

That said, the camera work on the multi-cam versions this year are very much improved from the last few, but the audio is still *waaaaay* too pit-heavy.  And the Cadets amps sounded completely muffled - like folks were talking through a piece of felt.

My favorite commercial of the night, though, had to be the Drum Corps World one.  :)  That was soooooo cool to see it on national TV!

Overall, I think they did a good, solid broadcast, and should be proud of it.  Could have been better, but wasn't bad by any means.

Mike

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I must disagree. Although I am a believer in the concept that this program should be designed to appeal to a "new" audience, and I have no real problem with the emphasis on "features" rather that performances...this was NOT one of the better efforts.

I usually have high praise for the Blair productions but this year I have real difficulty finding anything good to say. From a production values standpoint, the program was mediocre, the story lines were not as well developed as usual, the talent was below average, the direction (usually first rate) was erratic and the field audio was just plain awful...I have heard better from cheap band show videos.

I can't understand it! I have worked with them in the past when I was at a PBS station and have always said that Tom Blair does a good job..ESPECIALLY technically. But this one was not up to an acceptable standard..too bad, as this was the long awaitied first commercial production that non-corps people might actually see.

We had a houseful of HS band kids, and they were understandably bored and disappointed..and I thought that was the market DCI was shooting for?

C- at best.

[rut-roh]

Three things every drum corps fan knows;  :P

1- Who should have really won the contest

2- How to better run DCI

3- What should have been shown on the DCI/ESPN2 broadcast

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Thank you, Mr. Fielder. Everyone's an expert.