Episode #2 - The Making of

Little do the viewers know but there are actually two complete versions of Episode #2. Both of them cover the same material. The first one we recorded on the Thursday before the release was meant to be 30 to 45 minutes long as we'd tried to learn from the massive over-run on Episode #1 and cut down our skeleton significantly.

Well...the bevy for the originally E2 was Capirinhas from Brazil! We chatting way too long about these, Tom went on and on about his snowboarding holiday and generally we just rambled about nonsense way too much. The reason being...our precious crew wasn't there for this one. It was a full DIY podcast for Tom and I and we screwed it all up.

To quote Tom after watching the editing version (already cut from 75 minutes to 50 minutes) " I just keep saying the same thing as you using different words! ".

Rather than release it we decided to bin it keeping only the advert for 'Ultimate BlockStack' we shot at the very end of that Thursday (lookout for more stuff like this in future episodes!). There was so many things wrong with it. Even the sound was crap again.

So...Sunday night we brought in the crew and trimmed down the schedule with actual times and hit it again. We also decided on filming photonews as a separate thing because of the laptop lag. That was a good idea. Having the crew to wave at us when we were faffing, going off topic or running out of time was so helpful. I think it really rocked. We switched drinks to a nice Banrock Station wine as well which we thought was a great environmental move until we filmed it and realised mid discussion it had a massive carbon footprint. Oops. Oh well. So we nailed a 30 min episode on the nose. Lets hope we can keep it up and speed up the editing as well!

BlockStack does GB Open

GB D again
Originally uploaded by BlockStackSteve

I went down to the GB Open practice that took place at Loughborough University with the plan to film some practice stuff, maybe get a bit of action on film to, with some clever editing , give those who watch the clip a bit of a scare and also get some interviews with the players we can use as profiles on the show.

Well the first thing that went wrong was I got there later than I wanted and nobody was there! Thankfully there were tons of bags and discs all over the artificial turf pitch indicating I at least had the right pitch. Oh yeah they were practising on this high-tech artificial turf. Take a close look at any of the pics and tell me it doesn't look like grass. It was pretty sweet stuff. The give away was it was probably the only grass in England at the moment that wasn't flooded.

So, eventually they returned to the pitch after a bit of a team talk inside the nearby warmth of a meeting room. I then managed to get a few early interviews with a couple of the guys based on a bit of a script we'd written for them to answer.

The Script:
This was the plan...we'll right some questions on a piece of paper, they could read them all in advance, and then deliver the answers to the camera without pressure, cool and calm. Right? Not so much, however, some of the reactions I got were great, some were almost professional and others were near on autistic but nevertheless entertaining.

Afterwards I was excited and ready to film some action and was promptly told they were going to play offence vs defence and that I couldn't film it. : (. Bollocks. I can only imagine this was because they were aware of the vast appeal of BlockStack and simple knew that teams like Sockeye, Furious and Skogs would be glued to the broadcast looking for the Achilles heal of the GB team. Well because I know that all good players do watch the podcast on a regular basis this was a well founded precaution. So I didn't film. I did take a few good profile shots and out of about 250 crap pics I managed to scrape a few good ones as well. Thank goodness I brought my camera otherwise I'd have just be there getting very cold and wet. Afterwards I got a few good snaps and a couple more interviews, enough to make it worthwhile.

Personally it was superb because although I couldn't film the tactics of the open team I did get to watch and learn. So, look for the new book from BlockStack soon to hit good Ultimate shops near you 'How to Play Ultimate like Great Britain Open' and of course watch BlockStack Episode three for the GB Open featurette.

Episode 1: The Making of....

titleimage
Originally uploaded by BlockStackSteve

Hosts: Steve Giguere and Tom Styles
Crew: Allison Baron and Cat Styles
Camera: JVC Everio MG505 3CCD Harddisk Video Camera.
Sound: Cheap wireless tie clip mics and a mixer.
Subjects: Photo News, Christmas gifts (The Powerball), Ultimatum, The Top 5 Ultimate Frisbee things of 2007 in the UK and the Great Barr Crawl Tournament.

Behind the Scenes:
We filmed this over the holidays. We had planned on filming it on New Years Eve and then ended up doing it just prior with the idea that we'd pretend it was New Years Eve but that didn't really work out. This was the first episode and we really wanted it to go off in a single take. That is the plan for most of the episodes so this isn't any clever editing and you can a real feel for the 'anything goes' aspect of it. The problem was our skeleton of a plan for it didn't take into account the ramblings that inevitably followed which made our plan of 30 to 45 mins extend into over an hour. Oops. As a result we release it in two parts.

We had all sorts of technical problems with the sound. First we had bought two wireless mics. We then found out the frequency of the wireless could not be adjusted so we could only use one at a time. We had an idea to get a two to one input jack and put both mics into one unit. Great right! Wrong. The mics had a special screw it connection so the whole time we're talking we're one wrong move from the whole sound contraption falling apart. That's mainly why we're trying not to move very suddenly the whole time.

The last issue really was the lighting. What you can't see is ever light in my house piled around us and aimed straight at the couch. The camera is placed just right so it seems to clip out all of them. The camera was actually the only thing that worked really well. I highly recommend it.

What else....the freakin dog kept trying to jump on us...the crew forgot to turn off their mobile phones so I had to filter out that...'dit...ditadit...ditadit....' sound thoughout the first half of the video. LOTS of white balance work and hiss and humm removal required on the sound but I think it turned out ok.

Oh one last issue was my mic was facing the wrong direction almost the whole time. You could hear me ok but not good enough.

Lessons learned: Sound is critical. We're getting another mic at a different frequency (this is getting expensive now) and we'll do more sound checks next time. Also...going on for over an hour combined with mulled wine = more rambling. We've got a better idea of how long things take now so we'll be doing shorted episodes more often.

We've got over 200 views on each part so far...hooray!
Steve

WCBU The final wrap-up

Snorkling at the reef in Maceio
Originally uploaded by BlockStackSteve

Hello,

So on a personal note...we lost. The GB Masters fought hard to come back from 5-8 down to make it 9-8. We felt good for the win and inspired even more so by the women's team giving us a quality breast wave complete with Union Jack nipplies after each point. All that said, GB and the USA were very evenly matched and as the game swung back and forth, the timing favoured them as it ended in the cap with them taking it 11-9. Tragic in one sense but triumphant in another as we know we did very well against them and they were a great bunch of guys to lose to. USA did sympathise as they lost in the final in 2004 to Austria after a tough one. Perhaps that means it's ours in 2011.

The GB Women...what can I say about them. They were top class performers on pitch and off. I made a lot of new friends on this trip, many of which were on this team and I was extremely proud to be playing GB as they took took revenge for our loss by winning by 3 over the US team. Going into the final each team had a win against each other but I believe this time the better team won. GB had it all together and had the spirit going for them as well.

The medal award itself was really well done. I'll get a picture of it online in my flickr area in a moment. The women's gold version was a gold medal on a green string (very Brasil). Something cool enough that you could wear out and not just put on a trophy shelf.

I'm sorry that this entry took so long. To summarise quickly what happened that day,
1. lost the final to USA by 10:30.
2. Partied with the USA for a bit and then with the GB Mixed team cheering on the Women
3. Drank too much Cachaca from a can and memory loss begins here abouts...
4. Had to rush to Bus Station to get tickets back to Pipa that night because there was only 4 left. It's a miracle this happened at all but thanks goes to Anna Shipman for alerting me to the urgency of the situation.
5. Return to event with women winning gold and to watch the Aussies beat the fan favouriate Phillipines to take gold in the open division
6. More beer...swimming in the sea...a nap and almost missed my bus to Pipa. No internet in Pipa, sorry.

I did try to write an entry back at the hotel but you really should see it. Perhaps I should post it because it really is a pile of drunken jibberish.

Well done to all teams at WCBU and all players who stepped up to represent their country. There's part of me that want's WCBU to take on the same level as WUGC but at the same time, I hope that each countries top grass players still concentrate on there not so sandy area of expertise so that that Beach World Championship stays the big competitive chill-out party that it is.

Thanks Brasil and thanks to Patrick for another success.

Brazil Results

Well it sounds like it's been an awesome tournament at the World Beach Ultimate Championships in Brazil. I've just got off the phone with Steve, who's chillaxing after a hard week in the soft Brazilian sand. Unfortunately he's in a place with no internet connection. So here's the results as far as we know them.

GB Women Gold - Yep that's right GOLD as in "always believe in your soul, you've got the power to ... etc.". They defeated the USA in the final. Come on ladies - Awesome work.

GB Masters Silver - as in Hi HO Lining. They lost in the cap to the USA, in a very hard fought game.

GB Open 4th - as in May the 4th be with you.

GB Mixed 7th - yep,

Scotland Mixed 11th

Ireland Mixed ??

Post any other information in the comments, also if you have an congratulations for the teams, then comment me up.

Today's Results

It was a massive day for GB all around.

GB Women clinched an appearance in the final finishing at the top of their group and avoiding a 2-3 semi final late today. The semi was between the Aussies and USA. I didn't see much of it however I do know that the US team was too much for Aussies and will be facing GB Women tomorrow. They have already played twice with each taking a victory. As you can imagine it's early to bed tonight for the ladies.

GB Masters pulled some energy out of their arses to defeat Portugal today to put them 3rd in the group and subsequently defeat...I say defeat...whup is when I mean, the Canadian Masters 7-2 in the 2v3 semi final to put them into the Masters final tomorrow against USA in the second USA - GB final. The play in the Canada - GB semi was incredible. One point lasted 25 minutes with as many turnovers from each side and some massive play from both teams. I was on for that point. We all chalked up some killer D stats and showed that we had the legs to last and gave the US team watching a real scare. Last time when GB faced the US team it was a sudden death defeat for GB. It'll be different tomorrow (I hope).

GB Mixed have done very well at the event. Had they been able to gel and work on their consistency a bit more I think they could have contended quite a bit more. That said they finished today in 7th position in the Mixed division narrowly loosing a series of matches, each by only a few points. The position does not reflect the level of play from this team and respect must be given for their hard work. They were at a point only a few points away from the final in the game against Austria.

GB Open. This is a rather tragic tale. These guys have worked their asses off to be here and have shown by defeating the Aussies early in the tournament that they have got the balls and the heart to take it all the way. The tragic bit was loosing captain Dave Pichler today to illness leaving them without him for their semi rematch against the Australians and possibly contributing to their loss to them this time around. They played a hard fought match against the USA Open team but in the end the leaderless squad with stunning performances from Sicko and Caesar were still not enough. GB Open, 4th.

The Phillipines

I first caught the Philippines playing against...I can't even remember who now. It was insane. Basically a bunch of hyper buff 5'5 average height guys and one girl (lets be clear about that because she's as part of the team as anyone) are storming through the top teams at this event! They play a fast paced, unhindered by conventional tactics style of play that is tearing the place apart and building a huge fan following at the same time. Their latest results being a win over the GB Open team who, while looking quite good, could not handle the speed of the Phillipines squad on turn-overs, and a win over the USA team in the semis putting them into what is sure to be a killer final against the Aussies tomorrow.

They seem to have a 'plinko' style of play, for those who have watched the A&B videos 127 times like I have that involve passing and running like a bullet into position.

I did think of stories I'd heard about the Buzz Bullets in Perth and they're unconventional style. Perhaps the far east have developed the game to a new level having reverse engineered the western tactics. Typical but consistent and effective here. Everyone is really excited to see more from them. I think it's a good time to mention that the GB Masters played them this morning and put up a 11-7 scoreline against them. Ok maybe they weren't pulling out all of the stops but it made us feel good.

The team made a request to mention their tournament next March. Look it up online and go, they'll be happy to help you with accommodations and flights as well.