Should FIRST stop playing parody songs at competitions?

FIRST General Forum
#21

I’ll take this up as a challenge.

I’m not inspired by robots. If I want to make robots, I can do it in my basement. If I want to see robots that are far more impressive than anything on a FIRST field, I can google Boston Dynamics or, in my case at some portions of my life, I can go to work. The FIRST robots, when it comes right down to it, are not all that impressive.

What is impressive and inspiring about FIRST is the people. We, and especially the students, work their butts off to do the best they possibly can with the limited resources available.

The robot reveal videos don’t show any of that. They’re about robots, not people. I would probably enjoy a “making of” video, but a “look at my cool robot” video doesn’t do much for me. If they want to show the kids building it, learning engineering skills, putting in long hours and explaining, directly or indirectly, why their physics class matters, I think that would impress and possibly entertain me, but another video showing a really well built game-playing robot would just be some filler on the screen.

On the other hand, the best of the music videos tell the story of FIRST better than anything else we talk about or display. Sure some of those videos are just kids doing a parody of a song, and those have a certain charm as well, but those aren’t the ones I really enjoy seeing. The best of those videos show the intensity, the passion, the emotions that make FIRST Robotics more than just an afterschool club. Some chairman’s videos also show that, but some don’t. Some of the FIRST promotional materials emphasize that. However, there’s nothing quite like a student-produced video that tells the story of long hours, hopes, dreams, disappointments and accomplishments. It’s quite inspiring, at least to me.

#22

I love this idea!!

Most of these are about a minute, so it’s not a big ask as far as time goes.

I’d like to watch the Chairman’s awards during the longer breaks assuming that the sound system works.

#23

I’m not knocking anyone for making parodies, but it further puts the uncool or nerdy label on FIRST if you have a bunch of uncoordinated​ students acting like idiots on camera. It takes a lot of courage to put yourself out there like that. And some, of the parodies are good. I loved FRC Rhapsody, and the 610 one was cool too. But to have to pass the already long match breaks by watching poorly edited, poorly performed, and poor audio quality videos that sound like they were recorded from a half mile away, people are losing interest and making FIRST look bad in the process.

#24

Although you say otherwise, it sounds like Chairman’s Award Videos actually would inspire you the most. They fit all your criteria, much better than parody videos showcase.

You claim “some don’t” regarding CA videos. I have not once seen a Chairman’s Award video that wasn’t more inspiring than every single parody video that I have seen, even the video that was created last second in the hotel room the night before…

#25

(emphasis added)

Who puts on the label? It? Or you?

And just because a lot of other people put on those same labels doesn’t make it right.

#26

“It” in this case refers to the making of parody videos.

#27

Just because it isn’t right doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen.

#28

Exactly. One of the stated goals of FIRST is to make science and technology popular and cool. I am 100% willing to be that 95% of high school students would watch these videos and be instantly turned off. The mentality is “I don’t want to be a part of that”

#29

High school students put that label on it. I’m not saying it’s right for them to put that label on it, but high school students do that.

Something like a robotics competition to a high school student already sounds like something that will be typically nerdy or awkward to a high school student. So when you finally convince one who is unfamiliar with FIRST to watch a stream, and the first thing they see is a parody video. The parody video stands a good chance of solidifying the thinking that FIRST isn’t cool to that high school student.

That’s not a hypothetical, I’ve actually had that happen.

Teenagers largely want to change the world around them for better or worse. So if they see a robotics team’s chairman’s video about how they changed their community then that has a better chance of encouraging a high school student to join an FRC/FTC team, and stands to benefit the growth of FIRST.

#30

As a high school teacher, I believe I can support this statement.

A vast majority of the kids at our school are impressed with our team, including those “jocks” who would not ever consider being part of our team. At pep rallies, we get huge cheers.The kids all think that the robot itself is what is cool. If our team did a really good parody, and showed it on our announcements, it would probably go over well, but if the majority of parody videos is any evidence, it must be really hard to make a good video (and that’s my most-GP way of saying it).

Similarly, we once broadcast on announcements a “sub-par” chairman’s video to entice students to join. At best, it might not have caused some students to stay away.

Again, there is a quality level that is not quite quantifiable, but is recognizable to most. Any good video is a good video. Not everyone will like every video, obviously, but I think we’ve been forced to watch plenty of videos that even cause their producers to cringe; meanwhile, I can do a youtube search and watch a lot of interesting FIRST videos for, I dunno, hours perhaps.

#31

As someone who actually makes FIRST Parodies, I appreciate the exposure that FIRST gives content creators, and I’m happy some people enjoy my parody videos, like the ones I did in 2014, 2015, and 2016.

But, just because I had a fun time making them, and worked really hard on them doesn’t mean everyone should be forced to watch them. I think one thing everyone respects is quality. Whether it’s a team’s robot, media, or branding if it’s of high quality, it’s generally respected. I’d get behind FIRST showcasing the best of ALL media: Parodies, Release Videos, Chairman’s Videos - and beyond: inside teams’ workshops, build season recaps, funny videos, interviews, etc.

If you swap all the parodies for Chairman’s, it’ll also get repetitive. Any well-done video will engage people both in FIRST and outside our community.

#32

I think that it’s a mixed bag.

Parodies are OK–IF they’re actually done well. There aren’t a lot that meet that, in my mind. This might be something for an “annual parody video contest”–basically, the top 4 videos (on combination of technical and inspirational grounds) are eligible for showing at events; all others may be resubmitted the following year (or improved and resubmitted). Only the top 2 from any year can be shown the following year, and none after 2 years.

CA videos aren’t a bad idea. However… I would say that you’d want to stick to HoF videos, OR videos from teams at the event (previous or not). Try not to reveal the winner by showing only their video (or not showing it at all).

Robot reveal videos, again a mixed bag. It could be highly embarrassing if a robot was shown on their reveal draining 60 fuel in 2 seconds and they never get a shot off, ya know.

My take (given that I tend to ignore the videos and dancing anyways) would be that you want a mixture of video types, and you want good videos on the event video playlist.

#33

+1
Safety vids. Robot vids. Content where trams are volunteering. Ri3d. Team bio vids. As well as the commentary that was done during champs pre Einstein. All would be better than what we had this weekend.
Just my opinion.

#34

To each his own, I suppose. To me, music is a very powerful medium. It has power to soothe the savage beast, or to raise an army. Chairman’s videos are great at showcasing the hard work of a team, but only a few of them really capture the emotion that a good song can create.

I’m also especially annoyed when people say that people should not sing because they don’t have a voice like Taylor Swift, or should not play the guitar unless they can make it sound like Jimi Hendrix, or dance unless they look like the people in the music videos.

But, perhaps it’s just me. I go out of my way to find pubs that feature acoustic guitars and sing-a-longs. Everyone has his thing.

That’s not to say that every team that has a camera and a microphone ought to get on the world stage, but Jordan Grant’s stuff is very, very, good, and ought to be there. (My favorite was the 2015 one.) As for the others that are of not quite the same quality…they have their place, too. Some of them I wouldn’t put on an Einstein broadcast.

#35

This would be really cool! Maybe creating a guide and rules like Premiere Night do.

#36

I guess in the minority nowadays. Because I really don’t care who thinks I’m cool. I don’t do things to impress other people. And I’ll never support taking away a kids chance to see his fun work up on the big screen because it might not look professional enough.

#37

I applaud your attitude, I really do. I have lived several decades not caring what others think about me.

In retrospect, I think there were occasions where I should have cared just a little, because sometimes that attitude affected other people, not just myself. And now, as a parent and teacher and FRC coach, I find myself caring passionately about quality of my work when it represents, or extends to other people.

Quality is a long continuum, and there is a good distance between “not professional enough” and simply “not enough effort.” Who’s to judge? Well, that’s what judges are for. Sometimes it is very important for people to be told “Eh, keep working on this and bring it back when it is finished.”

#38

Not everything needs to be judged. I know you didn’t say that, but it seems to be somewhat of a theme here. Not everything needs a committee. Some things can just be fun. Many organizations take themselves far too seriously, and I’ve walked away from several when parents got too involved. It reminds me of little league where parents are yelling to get a kid off the field because he made a mistake.

#39

It isn’t about who thinks I’m cool, I know robots are cool and I don’t really care if people don’t see that for me. I do care however when FIRST makes several huge changes in support of bringing more people in the tent (2champs, game themes, etc) that in the opinion of some partially ruin the integrity of the program, then turn around and potentially undo all of that by showing parody videos. If you’re going to make an effort to bring more people under the tent by making changes that are hard for us to swallow like 2champs, at least do it in all aspects so that all of that effort doesn’t go to waste. This also applies to other issues such as Einstein event quality and more.

#40

I continue to agree with your attitude and your sentiments. I however see a different analogy. I do not see this as yelling for a kid to get off the field for making an error (that’s baseball folks); I’m seeing a coach stopping a kid from getting onto the ice because she still has her running shoes on.

I will also stand behind my belief that there already is plenty of work to choose from to display an hour or two of interesting, informative, and/or inspiring content.