FIRST Parody Fatigue and other Media Things [long]

[TheMilkman01]

This is in response to this thread on the FRC Reddit; I decided I had more to share and that Chief Delphi may have opinions on this as well. Here it is.

Intro

Hey guys, I'm the video expert on Team 2052 KnightKrawler and an ex-member of Team 93 NEW Apple Corps. I'm in my Junior year and, to be frank, I would not be in FIRST if it weren't for the video production potential. However, throughout my 3 years in FIRST, I have experienced a plethora of setbacks. Most obviously (and a more personal matter), moving states after freshman year, but more so than that I have found that FIRST just doesn't seem to care much about videos outside of some reveal videos. This, to me at least, is frustrating because in an organization where they want to be "More than robots" and desire to "Make it Loud," they almost de-emphasize the importance of Public Relations and the role media plays in spreading FIRST to new people. Sure, there's chairman's and a couple of other things, but the support there is pretty lacking. I won't get into why it would benefit FIRST to change from a STEM organization to the STEAM organization (the "A" stands for Arts) in this thread, though, I'm going to keep it mainly on my observations from a media standpoint throughout the years.

Backstory

My freshman year, my team submitted for Dean's Homework, which if any of you recall, was Dean Kamen asking teams to make 3-minute videos of how FIRST has impacted them individually, as a team, or as a community. Here's the video our team managed. Looking back on it and how far I've progressed as a video maker, it's cringeworthy, but for my first video on the team and for FIRST, I was incredibly proud of it and eagerly waited for FIRST to respond or even pick a winner from the submissions. That never happened. The turnout was extremely poor and I don't believe FIRST ever talked about it after they announced it at Worlds the year before. I was frustrated, but I was able to set my sights on something new, something different... parodies. In my freshmen year, I made two parodies (and boy were they cringeworthy). Here's the first parody I made and here's the second. Here's the thing, making parodies is really hard if you haven't made parodies before. Through the experience of these two parodies, I discovered multiple ins and outs of the creative process and actualizing a decent parody (the hardest part for us was finding someone willing to do the vocals, we couldn't be picky.)

So fast forward a year. I'm now on a new team, doing a weekly YouTube series which I won't get into (but have a ton of stories from it), and come Week 4 I notice a post in the FRC Reddit about this new parody. Given that I was experienced in that area I was pretty intrigued from the get go––and let me just say, The FIRST Rhapsody blew me away. The vocals were flawless, the videography was good, and it came together really nicely. They made it look easy. As did Jordan Grant of Team 610, who this year would have the winning FIRST Parody, but that's getting ahead.

The Parody Contest

Last summer happens and I see FIRST is having a parody contest. I'm psyched. I'm ready. But wait. The instructions aren't really that clear and are kinda vague. I think, It'll probably have the same turnout as Dean's List 2013, or the bigger question––how are teams with no experience going to be able to pull this off? I couldn't worry about that question until after our parody submission was finished, though. Even for me, an experienced videographer and parody maker, it was a long, stressful, and grueling process. So we submit via twitter, and I've been keeping up with the other team's submissions. Ours stands a good chance. And it turns out we get an Honorable Mention (I think we got second because of the way we were placed in the playlist? Like I said, it's confusing). I'm really happy for Jordan Grant and his great winning submission, though.

But part of me is sad because not many teams had the means to create quality parodies, and those that had potential are likely cringeworthy, but FIRST feels obligated to play them, which makes people sick of them. This arguably puts media and video making in a bad light for those involved in FIRST, which is somewhat heartbreaking for me, who has only been in FIRST for that reason. It's an area I had hoped FIRST would deliberately accentuate and try to make better, perhaps even encourage media mentors to join teams. Instead, they seem to have jumped on the success of one video that made it look easy, and most of FIRST teams discovered it was really hard. That's why I think most of the 100 submissions flopped.

So what's this all mean? Well, it's somewhat discouraging, but it's not the end. KnightKrawler is planning to release media tutorials for FIRST teams over this next summer, and we urge other teams that have been blessed with devoted media teams to do the same, or at least look into improving. I don't want to come off as patronizing––I genuinely want FIRST to do great things in this area and I know it can. It just needs to know how to improve it's approach into the future and hopefully recognize teams that are attempting YouTube videos more.

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.

On a side note, all of this has somewhat discouraged me from doing a parody that I've been working on for a while now--Rap God by Eminem. Yes, I know it's crazy, but I've already written it sooo, idk. Probably will just make extra sure the quality this time is great and not cringeworthy.

[PayneTrain]

It might be worth it to point out that FedEx wrapped up a contest in February and Dow is running a contest now alongside FIRST where video submissions can turn into prize money for your team.

This is going to sound pretty stupid, but just because there is no direct contest that applies to what you are in doesn't mean you have no reason to not make compelling media content for your team. I know what you're thinking; we don't build the robot to achieve a game challenge and never intend on competing with it; we never intend on completing a chairman's submission without actually completing all the parts of it after the paper's due date, etc.

I can feel my eyes roll back farther and farther into my head when a team or HQ tells me/us that it's not about the robot. Well, no duh! Our team has one goal: be ourselves. It's awesome! I've loved this season and this specific team so much because we have finally built for ourselves an identity that does not revolve around the robot, FRC, our school, our state, etc... Our team exists to tackle the challenges we see as those we can address best through our methods and behaviors.

Our video lead found the vanilla approach to the Chairman's Award video submission exhausting, so we worked together to create a video that, while unconventional, actually gained meaning in the personal fulfillment those who participated in the project received, as well as the benefit the team has using a video that can reach people from all sides. We're also looking at other projects we can execute in the short and long term to further enhance our team profile and create resources for the community and ourselves.

If you want to go do something, don't let FIRST be something that boxes you in... the idea of that sounds maddening to me and it is clear you are not a fan either.

[itsjustjon]

Video quality is a representation of a team's individual emphasis on team image, so you'll never get what you're expecting 100% of the time.

Our team tries to make all of our recent content more cinematic, whereas the teams that do the parodies are in it for the comedy and unconventional aspects.

That being said, I can't wait to see what your media tutorials will look like and I'm sure a lot of great content will be in those videos, too.

[TheMilkman01]

Originally Posted by itsjustjon

Our team tries to make all of our recent content more cinematic, whereas the teams that do the parodies are in it for the comedy and unconventional aspects.

That being said, I can't wait to see what your media tutorials will look like and I'm sure a lot of great content will be in those videos, too.

Gave it a view and absolutely loved it, this is the kind of content I think deserves to be viewed more in FIRST. Congrats on the Chairmans win! You undoubtedly put a lot of effort into it and earned it.

Part of the video making progress for us deals with comedy and unconventional aspects but we also try to have cinematic videos where need be. It's a work in progress, as is anything in FIRST, and part of finding what works is finding what doesn't work. In that light, video making in itself shares some similarities with building robots, but, of course, that analogy breaks down at a certain point.

[CalTran]

Originally Posted by PayneTrain

snip

"You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to PayneTrain again."

[itsjustjon]

Originally Posted by TheMilkman01

Gave it a view and absolutely loved it, this is the kind of content I think deserves to be viewed more in FIRST. Congrats on the Chairmans win! You undoubtedly put a lot of effort into it and earned it.

Part of the video making progress for us deals with comedy and unconventional aspects but we also try to have cinematic videos where need be. It's a work in progress, as is anything in FIRST, and part of finding what works is finding what doesn't work. In that light, video making in itself shares some similarities with building robots, but, of course, that analogy breaks down at a certain point.

Thank you, and congrats to your team for qualifying for World Champs! Hopefully we'll see each other there

+1 for the analogy too

[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.

First off, Wil makes a very important statement that should resound with anyone doing creative work.

Originally Posted by PayneTrain

If you want to go do something, don't let FIRST be something that boxes you in...

Do what you want to do, but better than everyone else is what I tell myself. Who cares what other people make as long as you set the bar? And if someone else sets the bar higher just work upwards. Being a standard for cinematic excellence should obviously be your goal and nothing is stopping your work from reaching that goal except for the gap between idea and reality. If you haven't seen the video that I linked please watch it. It is something I refer to every time I finish a video because of how powerful the message is.

Now back to this whole talk about parody videos, which I think are 90% garbage because it is just FIRST capitalizing on one team doing an amazing job last year. FIRST holding video contests isn't a bad thing, but it also isn't something that we need to force on everyone. Having all of those video get played at events was a bad choice, I honestly wish we had cut them from the scripts at my events. The winner should absolutely be played once at every regional and once at DCMPs to spread their work, but the rest should be mentioned else where. They might have put in a lot of work but, I'll be blunt/harsh, that doesn't make their content good and bearable for the audiences at events.

Originally Posted by TheMilkman01

But part of me is sad because not many teams had the means to create quality parodies, and those that had potential are likely cringeworthy, but FIRST feels obligated to play them, which makes people sick of them. This arguably puts media and video making in a bad light for those involved in FIRST, which is somewhat heartbreaking for me, who has only been in FIRST for that reason.

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." But obviously showing all the videos won't raise the bar by much. Showing the best video gives a gold standard, something to strive for, something to revere, and that is what I think makes better videos.

Originally Posted by TheMilkman01

On a side note, all of this has somewhat discouraged me from doing a parody that I've been working on for a while now--Rap God by Eminem. Yes, I know it's crazy, but I've already written it sooo, idk. Probably will just make extra sure the quality this time is great and not cringeworthy.

SCREW THAT. Make the video. Make it good...no make it AMAZING. Give it everything you got and show the FRC community that they can't make low tier videos. Did anyone tell Jordan and Jacob to make their amazing FRC music video, this one https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLQb4m2a5TQ. NO they did because they believed that it would be worth it for themselves (I am making an assumption, but it should be close to correct).

You saw FIRST as an opportunity to do creative work, but I think you should now see it as a way to inspire people to do better creative work. Inspiration is core ideal of FIRST so take it to heart and make awesome videos that inspire others to do the same.

As a bit of inspiration I want to leave off with a few videos that truly inspired me to create better content.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMA_r1oHOPQ - 1678's 2013 recap video of worlds. This video is what made me want to do highlight reels in the first place. 1678's videographer really impressed me and was the first person I looked for at Worlds in 2014 to thank for inspiring me to create better content.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jd32B0chAg&ebc - 610 does it again with a phenomenal video about what it is like behind the glass. It wasn't perfect, but it is the best attempt to this day to give a sense of what it is like to be on a drive team.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjqFuNfbhOM - Another great highlight reel/recap video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCz2yTVPxbM - 27's chairman's video instantly led me to believe that they were going to win chairman's at worlds. Everything about it is great and unique, something that hasn't been achieved since then.

[HolyLandBrand]

Originally Posted by Metonym

snip snip

I think 2052 has made wonderful videos just like that as well- such as their chairman's video this year. I'm a huge fan of all the videos and youtube channels for the teams you listed, but a largely underrated one in FRC is definitely 2052's YouTube channel.

[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.

[Sperkowsky]

Let me preface this statement by saying that I have done a lot of the media stuff for me team since I joined.

First may be more then robots but being real here its mostly about robots. First cares about videos a little. There is chairman's, a reveal, and the occasional contest. We are personally submitting for the DOW contest and I spent my entire Wednesday in a lab getting B-Roll.

Media is about creativity. We can not expect FIRST a robotics competition to do more video contests, awards, ect. There are already enough.

However, there is room for you to do your thing. Recap videos are cool. I have seen some teams do weekly shows. I run a weekly show called F4 and if you would like to be on and talk about media PM me and ill give you details. And then, there is event livestreams. That is another good place to have some fun with live video.

Overall, I am not too sure what your getting at.

Is your goal to get FIRST to accept STEAM and add more media awards?

[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 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.

[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 Sperkowsky

Media is about creativity. We can not expect FIRST a robotics competition to do more video contests, awards, ect. There are already enough.

Originally Posted by Sperkowsky

Overall, I am not too sure what your getting at.

Is your goal to get FIRST to accept STEAM and add more media awards?

We can't expect FIRST to add more video competitions, as you said, but mostly because that alone won't help foster new media people. I have been involved in numerous recaps and weekly shows, which overall has been a great learning experience. In the post above, I was offering my reflections on the media experience within FIRST and the Parody Contest. Here's what I'm trying to get at, though, if it's any one thing.

FIRST, from the beginning, has been about STEM. That's nothing to be ashamed of and is quite impressive. However, sooner or later it is my opinion that they will need to add the Arts to STEM so they can continue to grow and flourish as an organization. STEM is critical and prudent––there's no denying that––but if it is to be recognized and appealing to the broader, general public, adding Arts is how you do that. I'm not trying to belittle STEM in anyway, that's one of the core things FIRST teaches, but through the Arts, particularly media production, teams will be able to make themselves more accessible, relatable, and appealing to FIRST outsiders who have never given serious thought to STEM or FIRST before. Essentially, it would help boost Public Relations in FIRST and open the doors for people who wouldn't have joined FIRST otherwise, all while putting them in a setting surrounded by engineers. There's already the potential to have media in FIRST and we need our business teams for finances, but adding the Arts just seems like a way to make that information more readily apparent to the public, especially in the digital age where the things most eyecatching gain the most attention. It also seems like there would be very few drawbacks. If it would increase members, add diversity, and attract more of the public, why wouldn't you want to go that route? Seems like "Making It Loud" to me and being "More than Robots" to me.

Anyway, that's just how I feel. Of course, you're free to develop your own opinion on the subject and, at the end of the day, FIRST remains a great organization all the same.

Originally Posted by Sperkowsky

I run a weekly show called F4 and if you would like to be on and talk about media PM me and ill give you details.

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

[GreyingJay]

Steve Jobs used to famously say that Apple wanted to be at the intersection of Technology and Liberal Arts. The context of his quote was more about using social sciences and other disciplines to guide their products, so it's not just technology for technology's sake, but the point still applies that in today's world, you need STEAM, not just STEM.

Apple doesn't really invent things - they repackage technology in new ways, and market the heck out of it. For example, Apple didn't invent the smartphone, but they made one that was intuitive, fun to use, and appealed to the masses instead of just to business executives. They made a bold (at the time) decision that a touchscreen would work better than a physical keyboard, which was a risky move. Then their marketing arm took over. But that's the point - marketing to them is just as important as the technology and product engineering.

FRC simulates the experience of working in an engineering company. You're given a proposal and system requirements (the game manual), and it's up to your "company" to make strategic decisions, design your "product", build it, hopefully test it, and ship it. Then you wait to see how well your product stands up against the competition (very literally), and refine as needed. The business subteams have a very realistic experience when it comes to things like raising capital, deciding on company branding, advertising, websites, social media engagement, competitive market analysis, etc.

I think even without FIRST's prodding, teams are learning that they need to step up their game with respect to video, websites, social media, and other "marketing" aspects. Teams have set high standards for video production by way of reveal videos and chairman's, among others. The rest of us learn by example.

I would treat video production capability like any other skill or equipment available to your team. If you have a CNC machine or mill, use it. If you don't, you have to make do without. If you have students with video production acumen, by all means, use it. The nice thing is that it's cheaper and easier for a team to learn some skills in video editing, or social media, or branding, than it is to buy and set up a new piece of machinery. The trick is in recognizing that the two are equally capable of changing the way your team operates.