Forums > HoP Competitions & Announcements - COL videos etc > COL2007 - it's here!

Posted: 7th Nov 2007
So who are you in the video Sandy?

Like Pele, I am not necessarily automatically aware that Performance Name = HoP nick.

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Posted: 7th Nov 2007
M.3.2.

Do you get the name? Recon it might only be people from the UK that will get it.

"Don't do it naked!"

Posted: 7th Nov 2007
I'm from the UK and I don't get it.

Posted: 7th Nov 2007
filmed under the M32 by any chance?

BTW - I judged in this too - and I have specifically not given crits because of this - I don't want people to argue with my crits, cuz I'm not willing to waste my time on it - after all its so subjective, and if theres something I've learned in my 7 years on this board, is its not worth wasting time arguing over subjective experiences when people have vested interests in their own perceptions.

If anyone would like my opinion on their video, then I'm happy to share it privately.

Given the current discussion, I can say this however - I marked up story based videos - because afterall, ITS A VIDEO we are watching - just as if I were comparing performances of different kinds.

I marked on a criteria set I made up myself because I wasn't provided with a set;

Story-telling
Education Value
Elite or Unusual Skills
Production Values

I teach a creative digital video course (and multimedia design etc etc), so I appreciate it when people put a bit of effort into using angles to show what they are doing, and I really like to see some extra thought put into the video by telling a story, getting a feeling of the personality and fun etc etc.

If there were a given set of criteria I would have stuck to them, but there weren't so I used my own values as a guide.

I was very impressed by the DVD, I loved a lot of the videos, and like Flashy it inspired me.

Josh

--
Help! My personality got stuck in this signature machine and I cant get it out!

Posted: 7th Nov 2007

 Written by: -sandy-


M.3.2.

Do you get the name? Recon it might only be people from the UK that will get it.

Yours is the first contact staffing I've seen and enjoyed. See, I'm a dancey type but seriously, you have skill and flow. bravo.

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Is it the Truth?
Is it Fair to all concerned?
Will it build Goodwill and Better Friendships?
Will it be Beneficial to all concerned?
If you can answer YES to these 4 questions then you may post a reply.

Posted: 7th Nov 2007

 Written by: bender


wow i read that like twice before i posted it and so many spelling errors.
parts of this discussion make me feel stupid - i realise that all contributors in this thread are passionate about this, and that not agreeing with one another on some points will then turn the passion into sparks... however I am at a loss to understand why internetz land causes us to react to disagreement this way.

Honey love, it ended days ago so ummmmm....can you move on now too plz? Bringing it up a couple times now, like beating a dead horse hun and I don't want to go back....
Kthxsmooch

Pele
Higher, higher burning fire...making music like a choir
"Oooh look! A pub!" -exclaimed after recovering from a stupid fall
"And for the decadence of art, nothing beats a roaring fire." -TMK

Posted: 7th Nov 2007
okay...can you explain M.3.2 to us non-UK-ers please?...and PK

Since Josh put up his criteria, then I'll do the same.

I have a few more that I looked at than Josh, so in no particular order...

Video Quality: light, setting, clarity, cut length (I detracted for quick cuts, I actually want to *see* what you are doing)

Skill: Flow, movement, transition, use of tool (more than waving it around?), repetition, individual style, comfort

Presentation:
clothing/costume (did it represent the people, if more than one, was it cohesive?)
relevance (fire for the sake of more fire or actual prop focus)
cohesiveness (most especially for stories and groups)
"audience" awareness
sync- (for those with choreographies)
Amount of time prop was used (points off for disproportionate time)


I judged these with the same critical eye I would if I were casting for a show or holding auditions.

Pele
Higher, higher burning fire...making music like a choir
"Oooh look! A pub!" -exclaimed after recovering from a stupid fall
"And for the decadence of art, nothing beats a roaring fire." -TMK

Posted: 8th Nov 2007
Wooooo, I got it too last night. Couldn't watch it all, obviously, as it is COL. So these are just the thoughts about the ones I deliberately did watch.



Sandy: Nice job, you look like your having more fun than in the effortless vid. The grey/blue under the motorway long shot is beautiful. I love a good bit of urban beauty. There was a bit of repetition in yer contact thou. Made up for by the fisheye above (almost) shot. I could watch that all week.



Fire Groove: Awesomeness! Good to see more of jade in there! I love it that you guys keep progressing your skills, even thou your rockstar LA fireperformers. Kamala rocking it with the double staffs and the btb poi! Loves the tiny bit of duo double staff in there and the totally lavish MTV look to the entire video. I liked Jade's smile after he caught the fire rope. Not enough of Lester with the monkspade thou.



Zaobab: Well, i think this is the winner. If anybody can beat the 'poi wins col' rule, it's this I think. Shouting made me laugh, but eventually worked. Not much interesting done with the S Staffs, but it was well presented. Fire doubles: Awesome location and well done editing. Really nicely done routine / editing to the drums. Frickin' awesome. Good doubles... a bit like you've spent too much time around Banyan but still, you couldn't get much better inspiration than that guy. The wirewool on the bridge was an inspired idea. The way it falls and has that beautiful oval shape, and the way it alternately goes behind the stone wall of the bridge is beautiful, and yeah, the shouting really works here. Good JOB!



Paulino / Fascsia (sp): You chose: Wisely. The beach, at magic hour, doing fire poi. You are correct, this is how you win col. Location = natural, check. poi, check. fire, check. Using your own music... I can't remember. Yeah I didn't really watch the spinning, but good job on getting the formula right.



Pineapple pete: yay for interlacing! I couldn't stop watching the fact that the video wasn't deinterlaced! I don't know, maybe that dvd player from lidl was a bad idea, maybe it's that new zealand is ntsc... beats me.



Meg: Long shots was too far away. Stupid head. Too many cuts at the beginning. Location was okay, but really all we wanna see is a humongous contact sequence. And them more contact with doubles. Nobody wants dance stupid, and your footwork was awful in the horizontal contact section. The music made me comatose and barely raised to a climax. Nice gloves in the all fire staff bit (wuss) do it with your hands next time fraidy cat.



Oh and meg, increaing the amounts of fire as time goes on is a theme. You might as well call yourself a juggler. Gaylord.



Noel-Ski: Do I detect all the famous fire spinning locations of SF on this video? Exploratorium, nimby, grove... why, only the temple of poi is missing! Triples stuff, wasn't convinced by, saw you do it better at jelly's... or at least, it was more fun there. Greg's poi was a super good choice of angle thou. You could see his face, and kinda see / work out what the poi were doing too. Good effort you guys!



Elias: Good, but dude, too much standing up. Plus I know you can juggle better than that. Sort it out. Filming in the vulcan per chance? And where was the slinky? Other wise, some really interesting transitions in there, a nice routine over all, but not enough variation of speed, height, and such like for my taste. You were just too stiff.



Khan: Same to you, too much standing up. Nice transitions on the hooping, nice ending. Missed the CJ thou, where was it!?!?



Infinitos: your bit looked MUCH better than last year, haven't had time to watch it all yet.



Poi Story: Good story... except for the plot hole, fire spinners never have lighters, not even non-functional ones. Then, just when it was getting like Booya! Shazaaam, check out our duo anti-spinnnnnies! It stopped. More please. Also, nick jumping off that stump, looked pretty scarey. Till he turned out to be a nice friendly poi spirit. And finally, when will the breaking of the text on videos rule end!?!?! will hop disband it? Or will it just get ignored again and again!!?!?! Anyway, good fun video!



Bender: Yay! Good video. But IMO, some of the dance was too fast... I think you should take your time over it more. I mean it all looked good and was controlled I think, but just too fast... Nice location thou. Shame about the lack of Xena the Fire Aerobic Warrior Princess. Sorry, couldn't resist.



Overall: needs more oli / durbs / simian / ucof / garthy in it on the poi front, less backyard spinners, better camera work, but not more light. Light I think was good. Anyone else, I haven't watched yet, so maybe expect a comment. Maybe.

"the now legendary" - Kaskade
"the still legendary" - Kaskade

I spunked in my friend's aquarium and the fish ate it. I love all fish. Especially the pink ones. They are my bitches. - Anon.

Posted: 8th Nov 2007
Pyrolific got it, it was filmed underneath the M32 (for non-UKers all motorways in the UK are called Msomething).

I forgot to mention Noel, Greg and Dave last night, really enjoyed that video, especially Dave's fire club spinning and contact staff stuff. It reminded me of spoi (staff and poi that me and Garthy have been playing with this summer). As Meg said the triples stuff was cool but id have liked to have seen more.

"Don't do it naked!"

Posted: 8th Nov 2007
Haven't watched it yet... will soon...

But meg in advance... cos I know yours rocked and you should really stop being so down on yourself.

It's so last year

Getting to the other side

Posted: 8th Nov 2007
No no, hers really is crap

Burner of Toast
Spinner of poi
Slacker of enormous magnitude

Posted: 8th Nov 2007
well we might yet go back to last year when I watch the ones I couldn't stomach on the first time through. Just making all my other comments more positive by being really harsh in a way that hurts no one.

Maybe I'll be more harsh on myself later... just for a laugh...

Oh and by the way durbs... you're entry is crap... oh no wait, your entry is non-existent!

"the now legendary" - Kaskade
"the still legendary" - Kaskade

I spunked in my friend's aquarium and the fish ate it. I love all fish. Especially the pink ones. They are my bitches. - Anon.

Posted: 8th Nov 2007
Fair point.
Next year...

Burner of Toast
Spinner of poi
Slacker of enormous magnitude

Posted: 8th Nov 2007
durbs already has the dubious title of:

'Best spinner of 2007', so i didn't think he needed to enter?

Holistic Spinner (I hope)

Posted: 8th Nov 2007
Meg, thanks for your comments. I agree I need to move around more. Didn't include the CJ as I wasn't sure if it really belonged on COL, since the focus is on spinniness as opposed to general manipulation. Plus I haven't focused on CJ as much in my practice the past few months and wasn't feeling as confident with it.

taken out of context i must seem so strange
~ ani di franco

Posted: 8th Nov 2007
I watched it again, the dappled light in that location is good. Thou it looks a bit washed out / over exposed.

"the now legendary" - Kaskade
"the still legendary" - Kaskade

I spunked in my friend's aquarium and the fish ate it. I love all fish. Especially the pink ones. They are my bitches. - Anon.

Posted: 8th Nov 2007
[post awaiting editing by MCP - edited by George]
EDITED_BY: georgemc (1194575996)

"the now legendary" - Kaskade
"the still legendary" - Kaskade

I spunked in my friend's aquarium and the fish ate it. I love all fish. Especially the pink ones. They are my bitches. - Anon.

Posted: 8th Nov 2007
hmm.. i think thats my thinking face

movementy stuff will get there eventually

"you know there are no trophys for doing silly things in real life yeah pete?" said ant "you wont get a 'listened to ride of the valkyries all the way to vietnam' trophy"

*proud owner of the very cute fire_spinning_angel, birgit and neon shaolin*

Posted: 13th Nov 2007
i just gt my copy and one thing i noticed was that 3 minutes for a video is not long enough!all 3 minutes squeezes in is 'here,this is what i can do',its not enough time for a proper performance really.

jst my opinion

-Niall-

Posted: 14th Nov 2007
George, okays, so I'm gonna repost it. I was a bit tired at the time, so I put in a few clarifications for 'getting near the end of COL' effect. And so people would understand what i meant with hopefully their ego's getting hurt a little less.

Also, i don't understand why there are interlacing problems in some of the videos? I've tried it on my DVD player and my computer and they both have it. Sometimes it goes away within one persons video and then comes back for the next. Faisca, Rossi and Pineapple Pete are the ones affected. Is it just a PAL region thing? Is NZ NTSC?

anyway: back to the old.

Fire Dance with the Light. Good props, energetic dancing, but not super technical. Good and crowd pleasing thou, and since it was a performance, I guess that's what counts. Props for the uber staff. I want one.

Fire sisters: Much better than last year. Some nice ideas (the use of the wick in the middle of a chain has interesting ideas in it) and bits of routine, let down by some shonky camera work, and not exactly beautiful backdrops. (Er white corrugated metal wall?) Also, if it's supposed to be synchronised, don't put the bits that aren't in fact synchronized in. There was a beautiful shot of you starting out your poi routine indoors, and then later a shot of the routine again and you weren't synchronised, why put it in??!!? Some of the staff stuff lacked confidence also. You seemed much happier with the poi. Again, much more enjoyable than last year, even thou it wasn't specifically filmed for COL. Even thou it was performances, it seemed less contrived and there was even a smile in there.

infinitos: Nice duetting, including girl in guy poi sandwich moment. Wasn't convinced by the group fire shots. They were okay when everybody was in sync but after a while it seemed like you were trying to make fire grooves video from last year, but with less money spent on production. Plus if you don't change move during a shot, it kinda just looks like you're just doing that move over and over, and it's not part of any greater routine. Yes good promo, and yes, better than most COL videos of ages past, but doesn't seem like the type of thing to win. But if you just wanted to get a video on COL, good job, you did it.

Michael Kevin Farrell, good locationising, the graffiti particularly nice, not so convinced by the other fire spinning area, is that an old school hoover in the background? Sometimes you're spinning works to the music, sometimes not. Hoop and close up face a climax does not make. I'm guilty of it too, using more fire and less skill to make a finale, but I'd rather see you do inversions on fire with the poi as an ending, than some basic hoop. Props for getting inversions in a COL video.

Bender! Props for dancing on uneven ground! Yeah! Plus was that a behind the head catch with a fan? Tech!

Spiral hoop dance: semi clothed chick with a hoop enjoying herself at various performances. Excellent Hooping. Would be very good, except the music wasn't very fitting and the quality of the footage not taken in a studio was uniformly atrocious. It should have been all the studio footage I think, cos that rocked. Smiling, looking at the camera, good presence... but then it had to cut back to some super high grain noisy footage with you really far away and the hoop the only thing really visible... Noooooo!

Poi story: Correct use of ellipsis at the end of a sentence! yeah!

Nosh: almost a story... I didn't really get it. Nice use of night to day, day to night. And the random people you interacted with those bits were really funny. I had no idea why you were doing it, but it reminded me of crazy film hijinks, like in Priscilla queen of the desert. I almost would have preferred it if you'd done the interesting stuff without the story... various ways across that bridge and more things like that. Some nice bits well filmed, but also some not great bits: poi duet, where you lost most of your physical character. With a bit more work on the filming to show what both of you were doing I think it would be great. (You're barely able to see she's got into bridge or that you are straddling the bridge and she walks between your legs.) Swamp to cave thou... errrr, I don't get the story again. Somebody! Explain it to me.

Burning match: Get a better camera. Sooooo grainy! Noises are funny, but framing of shots is bad. If that guy can do a standing back tuck, why can't he do a clean carthweel using the staff? Straighten your legs! It's a good fight, but it suffers the same fault that most fake fights have, it doesn't look real, cos of hesitation and the slowness of the attacks. And if you had a big flaming stick, mostly you'd just hit people with it, instead of doing fancy twirling.

Pineapple pete: are you chewing gum? You have some movement, but it's very stiff, doesn't seem ever to involve your head or gaze... Only occasionally your torso. You need more dance and character. Or more tech and less silly flowers. And by silly I mean ridiculously techy.

asaf and Elhanan: some nice transitions in your routine, but lots of doing one move for extended period of time. And it needs to be much much more synchronised, and more movement and character between you two. Plus obviously, better backdrop and costumes. Also, it's a very front audience routine, so side angles were unnecessary and kinda useless. One of you is the guy who was at play right? You can spin better than this I think. Get on it.

Short Fusion: Graceful, some good clean acrobatics. Clean b-kick I like. Powerful looking, fast and confident, good stopping points and good short routine. Good use of the stage, but clearly a routine for impressing a lay audience, and not for impressing spinners. Graceful pirouettes thou, nice. Good to see some muscley guy who's not afraid to point his toes.

Nox Incendio... isn't this machina candeo... I don't understand. Good production values. It reminded me of gladiators, the tv show. The up down poi in the traveling shot is the best bit, otherwise the skills are mostly beginner and that makes it kinda boring. And the costumes don't seem to make sense: gypsy pirates? Clearly made the best out of what you had thou. Fire easting shots were good the first time, third time it was boring. Yeah sorry if it seems harsh, it's a good promo video for non-fire-jaded-spinners, and it's definately a strong promo, second only to the Fire Groove one. It has more focus on the individuals and highlights different 'segments' of your act, but to a spinner, it's just a promo, and doesn't bring much new technique to the table, other than the film making techniques.

Poism: Cut down, and with really unfitting music at finale... I prefer the full length music copyright infringing version I think. Mostly cos I love the Zaitoichi soundtrack. Yeah the finale is super fast high energy, and the music is totally out by that point, being much more in tune with the beginning. Don't know if it was your choice....

Elias WTF is that music? And is the costume a homage to RHD?

Ninaruna: What is the medieval knight thing about? Why? And no need for the here are all our skills bit... Is it a promo or not? I am indeed, by this point sick of promo style videos. The curse of being near the end of COL. Now it has affected YOU! Can't win eh, at the start or the end...

Blazing phoenix: You need more synchronisation, especially at the start, first impressions count. You had some synchronisation later on, but you started with some not very synchronised stuff. Didn't seem like a great editing choice. More camera angles would be good too, help keep interest. You need to give more thought to the transitions and to the routine itself. There were some nice ones, but the reasonably frequent cuts and lack of tightness in the choreography made it seem more like a practise run, rather than a performance.

Tulic: Not a great backdrop. You have massssive dinosaur hand when doing one staff, and your doubles are severely deplaned. Clearly you're more comfortable with poi. Good effort thou. Good lighting, but I think you could be closer to magic hour to film, and either with a nicer backdrop, or the sea. See the fascia entry. Also, you could stand to make eye contact with the camera more.

Fiesty: Well it was a video from a performance. The background wasn't great, but it was well lit thou and you could see everything. Didn't see much point to the cat makeup, you didn't really do much character stuff with it. It was entirely uncut as far as I remember, which is pretty brave. I felt it could have done with more partner choreography. It seemed very much like one person, bit of interaction, then the other girl doing her thing.

"the now legendary" - Kaskade
"the still legendary" - Kaskade

I spunked in my friend's aquarium and the fish ate it. I love all fish. Especially the pink ones. They are my bitches. - Anon.

Posted: 15th Nov 2007
Mcp: "after a while it seemed like you were trying to make fire grooves video from last year"
Maybe it could look like it, but fire groove wasn`t inspiration for us. We only use our material from events plus some new videos a made an edited cut.
When we will want to make video like fire groove, we will pay for 3 profi TV cameras and profi editor :oD

I believe to see DVD soon and liste music which was selected for us. Then i could write the feedback.

Posted: 15th Nov 2007

 Written by: mcp



Fire sisters: Much better than last year. Some nice ideas (the use of the wick in the middle of a chain has interesting ideas in it)

Fire Orb

Posted: 15th Nov 2007
Hmmm, no-one seems to have noticed yet...

Written by: Doc Lightning talking about Marmite in Kichi's Intro thread

I have several large jars of the stuff. I actually like it... a little. And don't tell anyone I admitted to it.

Posted: 15th Nov 2007
congrats Dai! Nice work. (And it was nice meeting you at the Vulcan!)

Congrats to Sandy & Machina Candeo also, you guys rocked it.

taken out of context i must seem so strange
~ ani di franco

Posted: 15th Nov 2007
Congrats to Dai indeed, a worthy first place

"Don't do it naked!"

Posted: 15th Nov 2007
Ha ha! Well spotted there khan!
Hey, even though you didn't place in the top 3 at the end of judging, for me personally, I felt your act was/is a very fitting start to this years CoL...

Big congrats to the winners. And for EVERYONE on the DVD and also to the submissions that didn't make the DVD - you ALL rock.

Considering the step up this year, I really look forward to next years CoL. And of course at HoP HQ we are listening to all the feedback and considering what changes/additions to make for the next CoL - it's still early days yet, but for example we are thinking of a "Col for Kids" section (remember that CoL doesn't have to mean fire - see a number of this years entries)...
so - get the plans off the drawing boards and into the camera! This year's CoL is great and all the acts rightly deserve big ups - but I have a feeling that next year's CoL is going to be even better so you should all get working on it now!

Written by: Doc Lightning talking about Marmite in Kichi's Intro thread

I have several large jars of the stuff. I actually like it... a little. And don't tell anyone I admitted to it.

Posted: 15th Nov 2007
congrats dai!!

Laugh Often, Smile Much, Post lolcats Always

Posted: 16th Nov 2007
Zaobab 1 place fine , other places I couldn;t understand , there are better videos /flow garden is very very flow/ on col / contact staff - I saw a lot of better videos /

But its only my opinion .. Congrats to all

Posted: 16th Nov 2007

 Written by: Glumon


But its only my opinion

Everyone's entitled to one.. but criticism that's a bit more detailed and constructive than 'I've seen better' would probably go down well.

But there's no sense crying over every mistake. You just keep on trying till you run out of cake.

Posted: 16th Nov 2007
i concur with bovy

"you know there are no trophys for doing silly things in real life yeah pete?" said ant "you wont get a 'listened to ride of the valkyries all the way to vietnam' trophy"

*proud owner of the very cute fire_spinning_angel, birgit and neon shaolin*