FIRST Parody Fatigue and other Media Things [long]

[GreyingJay]

Originally Posted by Metonym

What I am afraid of is that these contests provide students with a few one off opportunities to make a video and then forget about making more videos because their team might not think it is important enough or because they lack the drive to continue. FIRST will always be robots first, but if they get past that phase and make videos on a regular basis I will be ecstatic because it means people are working to achieve something that I didn't when I was a student.

Well, I can tell you that when we started our new team in September, I asked for a show of hands who would be interested in doing some video or photography work on the team. There was not a single hand raised. I think because nobody really knew why they would want to make a video.

Now looking back, students have seen that there are many opportunities to make videos, not even counting the song parody contest:
- safety animation
- chairman's video
- video to loop on a display in our pit or at a community event
- robot reveal video
- recordings of workshops or other "seminars" we have
- video tutorials, for example to set up our image processing software on a Raspberry Pi

We have purchased some team licenses of Premiere Elements and have at least one student and two mentors interested in video production work. Next year we should be able to push this even more.

[Sperkowsky]

Originally Posted by TheMilkman01

Actually, could you link to that? I'd gladly give it consideration.

Here is the link to apply - http://goo.gl/forms/ERSqG2YYLa
Link to channel -

It is just starting out but, it is a really fun community. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVd...irbn0f71skmVIA

[Jessica Boucher]

In my 17th season, I've seen a lot of things that wax and wane in the areas outside of the robot. The best example is the evolution of the animation awards, which used to be a huge deal - you were judged not by the judge crew but an assemblage of your peers who also submitted at that regional. Winning it at a regional was an honor, I've seen teams literally carry their animators onto the field. There was special time devoted at Nationals on Einstein to hear Autodesk brass talk about animation best practices, as well as a separate awards ceremony, and hundreds of students would show up.

Due to sponsor changes, it's now married to the safety efforts and played at every event. Although I miss the old days, I do appreciate how they've tried to give some honor to the way it once was. And honestly, I haven't found a safety video winner that I didn't like. (1)

It's tough to see HQ's marketing efforts shift, as well. In my day I've seen 8 different heads of that department, and I've seen the recycling of old ideas that are perceived as fresh because, well, no one at HQ was around when it was the old way and why we changed in the first place. (2) An example of this includes the switch from FIRST Robotics to FRC to FIRST Robotics Competition.

Back when I was graduating high school ('01), my choice to go to business school instead of engineering was considered sacrilege in the community. There were zero scholarships, and I was asked multiple times why I bothered to stay at all. There are multiple reasons I stayed, but the best answer I have is the skills you learn here will help shape your career. Even though it gets harder every year, one of the reasons I stick around is to tell that story - I know kids who focused in animation, writing, and other stem-adjacent skills that used those talents in other ways and have parlayed it into their careers. There are so many success stories that expand beyond STEM and if one more person stays a fan of FIRST because of it, you're helping other FIRST fans be born. In my eyes, that's great work.

Yes, building a parody video for the sake of an award that is not really well-defined smacks of bandwagoning, and the videos that aren't that stellar are hard to watch over and over. But, just as one robot can change the world, encouraging a student to think about a problem in new ways and take a chance on something new may inspire a whole new career. The OP speaks about how their video skills have improved significantly, and who knows what they or these kids who created a video will do with their lives. The method may not always be ideal, but the act of inspiring in new ways is always good.

And hey, I'll take this over a new rev of "the FIRST song" any day.


(1) Additionally, Automation Direct is also doing a fantastic job of carrying the torch into the Modern FRC era. They get it.
(2) It should also be noted that aside from the head of the department, there are some people who have been in HQ Marketing for a good amount of time who I am incredibly grateful for that handle the initial gatekeeping of ideas.

[TheMilkman01]

Originally Posted by Jessica Boucher

It's tough to see HQ's marketing efforts shift, as well. In my day I've seen 8 different heads of that department, and I've seen the recycling of old ideas that are perceived as fresh because, well, no one at HQ was around when it was the old way and why we changed in the first place.

I can imagine. In order to be original, you have to understand what's been done before and it's not always that easy. How would you say that these ideas have impacted FIRST in general, and, if any, are there any consistently repeating trends?

[TheMilkman01]

Originally Posted by Road Rash

Another great thread. One of the areas I want to eventually help our second-year team with is with content creation and getting the word out. Having watched a few of the video's linked in this thread, I added a subscription or two and now know who to bug here for advice on video creation. I recently purchased some editing software for my kids and I was thinking about getting into it as well as I need to work on my content creation as well. Most of my personal uploads are just straight uploads with no editing.

Best luck to you and your team! If you have questions about anything, I'm always open to helping out to the best of my ability. Just be prepared for some passionate media ramblings... As you can see from the thread, there's a plethora of other people who would do the same.

[TheMilkman01]

Originally Posted by Metonym

Woo I finally get to make my yearly convoluted post about how much I hate/love (49:51) the combination of creative media and FIRST. Trust me this is going to be a ramble, but I will totally get to a solid point about something...maybe not media related.

That post was an excellent read... really came together (and the point actually was media related!). That was the first time seeing "the gap" video, and it couldn't be truer. Really refreshing for someone like me, thanks. Hopefully others can read it and be inspired as well.

Originally Posted by Metonym

People that want to make videos won't get annoyed or put off, they will see them and think "Wow, I could do 10 times better than those people."

This is true, I just wish there was a way to find and recruit more people that had that fire in them to want to make videos. This probably lies under team recruitment and resources more than anything, but it would be nice for FIRST to give teams a nudge in this direction. I'll be doing what I can to contribute in this area my senior year, making sure there is someone to pick up the mantle, so to speak, after I have graduated.

[Carolyn_Grace]

Originally Posted by TheMilkman01

TL;DR

Joined FIRST for the media, after two years FIRST finally had a contest for what I do, and most of the results were cringeworthy. Trying to impact FIRST community in a positive way so that the video quality improves.[/i]

Concentrating on this last comment about wanting to impact the community in a positive way:

I see you're from the Minneapolis area. I bet there are a lot of FIRST events that happen there. One way that you can positively impact your area, and improve video quality overall is to start helping create videos for FIRST in Minnesota.

In Indiana we now have a P.R. and Marketing committee that collects video and pictures at all of our events. It's a new committee, so it's still being developed, but so far it's been an awesome way to create more videos for IndianaFIRST. The committee developed after we had students working on video production for us last year. Here's the videos the STUDENTS created at our 2015 FRC events: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...DK8rSt1ijMeujg Pretty great in my opinion, for a few high school students working on it.

This year, with the expansion of our committee, we have been able to up the professionalism of our videos. The students now have professional and college A/V people mentoring them. Here's our videos from this year so far: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...PrEcVFsO4KZ7qJ

TL;DR:
Find a way to be part of events in your community. Make videos at events about the events. Include students from teams attending the event. Teach them how to make great videos.