This, show quality videos and people will be inspired. Show sub-par videos and people will tune out.
As somebody who has recently “stepped in the tent” (this is my team’s rookie year) I can honestly say that FIRST parodies almost scared me away from FIRST.
When I went to a local team’s meeting to see what FIRST was like, they showed me the FRC Rhapsody. While it was very well produced, it still instantly reminded me of the “nerd” name calling robotics had always recieved at my school, almost scaring me out of joining and not wanting to be associated.
Thankfully, the team showed me their robot and completely reinspired me to want to be a part of first, as long as I just avoided “the other” part of the program.
Even the parody praised as “the best quality parody of FIRST” still had this predominantly negative effect on my outlook on the program.
I believe these parodies bring the “uncanny valley” effect but for audio. This occurs when something is similar to something familiar (eg pop song) is changed just enough for you to notice and give you the feeling something is “off” (aka cringe)
For further example on a true outsider view or what a parody sounds like to somebody who doesn’t understand the inside jokes or the basis for the thing being shown, here is an example of a parody done to promote another organization:
Notice: it’s well produced, lyrics are synced, yet still has that cringe effect because the organization is trying to cram their message and inside jokes into a song many already enjoy. I don’t think this is a problem with FIRST parodies, but just parodies as a medium trying to push a certian agenda or organization.
I am not saying this to bash anybody’s hard work. I truly admire the hard work and quality some of these teams put into these parodies, however the mission of First is to “make it loud” in a way that would reach STEAM (or STEM, I don’t get the point of that debate tbh) to as many people as possible in a way that makes it fun, engaging and most importantly inspiring. Unfortunately, the sad reality of Robotics already being viewed as a nerd sport makes parodies possibly the very thing that may scare potential students and engineers to choose football or soccer instead.
I believe the solution may be to not have an official FIRST parody contest or promotion of the parodies to be played at competition. Either replacing it with Chairman’s Videos or even just robot stats (similar to how BATTLEBOTS does before each match). The last one will be potentially costly but could be a long term future goal that would really bring the audience closer to the Robots and most importantly the teams behind them, far better than a parody can. Heck, people (especially teams who would be in finals) already have CAD files of their robots that producers can use for the stat thing. https://youtu.be/ODo_2UjqZ2g
Even a good robot reveal video would do the trick
I agree with this. I personally love the analysis that’s done throughout the event at Chezy Champs by the Game sense crew. It might be difficult to implement, but it would be awesome to even have basic stats and analysis before each match, like win-loss record, average score, etc. If you wanted to go all the way and actually have dedicated commentators who analyze each match while teams load in, you’d have to have IT and volunteer support. That being said, if that would become a position (Pre-match analysis commentator or something similar) I would probably sign up myself. But having a quick recap or preview would be more engaging to the audience, as well as helping outsiders understand the intracacies of the game.
I remember inviting some non-robotics friends who may join to the San Diego Regional and just hoping that no robotics parodies were playing when they showed up.
It’s not that they’re not good - 4201’s from this year is my personal favorite. It’s just that it confirms a lot of the misconceptions that people have about robotics.
There are other ways to make it loud that DO work. I loved the robotics Snapchat story that was going on during Houston.
High schoolers and younger students are much more likely to at least show an interest in robotics when they see a robot and are explained the mechanical workings and even the explanation of how a code works on a dumbed down level over a poorly produced parody video. Older audiences might see constant parody videos as an option to diminish the value of time and effort that is put into robotics because the media being presented at those events isn’t focused on the robots itself if they aren’t really into the scene. I understand that FIRST is trying to let people know that it’s more than just the robot aspect of it, but showing Chairman’s videos can definitely provide that in a typically better produced and more respectable fashion than parody videos.
While parodies are fun, I would personally be okay with just the better produced and better quality parodies than a bunch of lesser. I think one of the few (if not only) shown a few years ago was FRC Rhapsody and every time it was on the whole regional would sing along to it.
I’m definitely not trying to bash anyone for the work that goes into a parody, but I do think FIRST needs to rethink what kind of media they’re playing on the large screens (which also goes onto the livestreams) for events. People are there to primarily watch robots and be interested in that part, so I think it should stay focused on that. Especially on a livestream, there’s a definite waiting gap between matches and it’s definitely more exciting when robot-based things are kept in it.
I don’t hate parody videos/songs but they are an in joke and should be treated as such. They shouldn’t be played during any playoff imo. Practice day? Field delays during quals? Sure go for it, just not during playoffs/opening ceremonies.
Side note, I would love if robot reveal videos got more love, i.e. had contests/awards for them and were shown during playoff breaks.
I’ll be honest here, we go out of our way to avoid showing parody videos to newer members who don’t “get” the ideas of FIRST yet. Once, we showed a bunch of students, parents, and potential mentors a video with a song parody in it. It did not go well. Everybody was making fun of the poor kids in the video and laughing at them and nobody was interested in robotics after that.
I don’t think parody videos are a bad thing - they give an opportunity for more people to be involved with the team and seem to be a lot of fun, but FIRST really should stop pushing them. It’s made bringing sponsors to an event harder.
As someone who’s sole purpose in joining FIRST was video-making, the videos that get the most love in FIRST are the reveal videos. I’ve made a number of parodies and although I’ve gotten better, there seems to always be minor to major issues regarding production or ability.
The main problem with FIRST’s treatment of media is that it is so inconsistent. It feels like they don’t know what do with this subgroup of people within their organization that take pictures or make videos.
It’s taught me to find intrinsic value in doing what I do, but it doesn’t attach me to the organization in any meaningful way. Of course, this isn’t FIRST’s mission, but if they want to showcase media more then they should make it clear that they appreciate it and what they expect from it.
In terms of parodies, I think FIRST shouldn’t be obliged to play any team’s video, but that they should be open to playing any team’s video based on popularity or merit regardless of style. This would help with showcasing videos at events while not becoming as repetitive.
I’m fine with the parodies being played, but at the two regionals I went to they played the same two three times each. At both competitions. That is a little excessive, I would rather see more different parodies than the same one over and over, I think everyone can enjoy the creative lyrics, but playing one any more than once is a bit much.
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FIRST specifically solicits song parodies and safety animations by way of contests.
Chairman’s videos are expected of every applying team but are not generally managed in any way (I expect they’re not even viewed in most cases).
And there’s no way to officially submit a reveal video or a team intro video (which I’ve seen played at some events, but have no idea who or how or when they got made).
Maybe this could start by having a way to officially submit robot reveal or “team reveal” videos, including Chairmans, to FIRST events for consideration.
I love the idea of playing the robot reveal videos for robots about to play in finals, or of playing the DCA winners’ chairman’s videos at a district championship.
That’s a pretty good point.
The best of them don’t suffer very much from this problem, but some of them are very much insider references, and so we should be careful about where and how they are played. Inside jokes are not recruitment tools.
But, for those involved in their production, I still love your work.
Not sure if this is different in other areas, but at all tournaments in Michigan, the winner’s of all Chairman’s awards get their video played after they are announced.
Yes, at the Ontario District Champs the winning 3 teams got their videos played as they went up for high fives.
But there were 6 other teams who won Chairman’s awards at their district event. Each of those events would have played their videos when they won, but at District Champs there could have been an opportunity to acknowledge those other teams by playing their videos, if there was a need for “filler” content.
They played them at the Michigan District Champs. Ours had the audio turn into Darth Vader on a bad cellphone connection. Bit embarrassing.
I agree! There have been a lot of amazing robot reveal videos this year. Teams 16, 118, 148 3309, and presumably many more had great videos this year. It’s a shame they don’t get as much publicity as they deserve.
This, along with playing chairman’s videos, are FANTASTIC ideas.
I don’t mind one parody every once in awhile, i cringe when they come on but I understand some people have fun with it. I think there’s just too many of them being played at events.
Well, when FIRST opens up feedback for events, let’s all be sure to make our opinions known. It won’t do any good to just sit here and complain amongst each other 
I completely agree with this take.
This is a huge misnomer. I’d bet that every single FRC team, regardless of size, has at least 5 HD cameras kicking around (phones, I’m talking about your phones). Get a $100 “Smart Lav” mic. And use iMovie (now free on iOs). Buy some Royalty Free music for $50 from AudioJungle or make your own on Garageband (again: free on iOs). A one-time investment of $150 (Canadian) enables your team to make high-quality and professional videos.
Money isn’t the problem. The problem is not knowing what you’re doing.
(Don’t know what you’re doing? Check out my “How to Film your Robot” presentation in my signature).
Well, remember not everyone has a Mac with iMovie and GarageBand 
That being said, I completely agree - I do happen to have a Mac and an iPhone, and we have been able to make some (IMHO :o ) pretty nice videos this year. We even bought the same mic that you suggested.
Money isn’t the problem. Time is the problem. It takes time to sit down and edit, and we struggle already to get everything else done in time for our competitions. However, learning to do good video is a very worthy investment.