The horrors of editing...

So, filming is all fun and games.. but the meat of this project is EDITING. That's when you realize filming should have been less fun and you should have been more meticulous, and thoughtful about what you were filming...




-L4D

Tenderized Meat

Going through footage for my BFA project, I become more and more impressed with the group of girls I skate with. Our numbers are growing so large we will have to break into multiple teams under the league name of OCCRG, according to WFTDA standards, our ultimate goal. (There can only be 20 players to a team.)

I'm impressed with the teams in the area in general, and the progression of roller derby as a sport. My quick assessment of it in Iowa, is that there are eight teams beginning in the past four years: MIR April 2006, QCR 2006, MRN multiple incarnations since.. ?, SCRD Feb 2008, CRRG Feb 2008, OCCRG Oct 2008, D3 June 2009, and the Eastern Iowa Outlaws are just forming their team this year.


I feel like within the context of these teams, the timeline of events and each enjoying their own variations of success, we have progressed so rapidly and reached this level of athleticism and organization within a year and half... it's impressive. I attend practices with faces I don't know now, when I used to know the faces..and sweat of each of my teammates intimately. We've gone from filling a rec center gym, to scrambling for seats in the Marriott Convention Center. It's exciting, scary and amazing all at the same time. I'll be graduating soon with no real direction professionally, but it feels good to have this thing in my life that I am so proud of, so sure of, so happy to be a part of.

With that said, we played the Des Moines Derby Dames last weekend in their debut on the flat track. I was a bit wary of them bouting so soon, but I have to say, I'm quite impressed. I can tell they're a determined, eager team that will be a strong and intimidating competition in no time.

Also debuting last weekend were Old Yeller and Chemical Spill from our team, playing their first bout. Our fresh meat have been working hard on the track and off the track. I feel confident walking into the convention center on bout day because we have a strong organizational support staff of non-bouters holding down the fort.

Like I've said before, there's much more to roller derby than just the action, it takes way more people to put on a successful bout. Announcers, sound mixers, multiple people for stats inside the track and outside the track, scorers, multiple refs, merch ladies, people controlling the door, bout mistresses, security, EMTs, the staff at the Marriott, extra hands to set up, bout coverage, half time entertainment, .... all volunteer.

Not to mention, none of this would be possible without our fans. Our success can only progress with an audience who is as eager about the sport as we are. So please encourage anyone and everyone who has never seen a bout before to come check it out.. or even join. We love your support already this season.


-Deadykins

pssst. next bout, May 8th vs Cedar Rapids Roller Girls..

Seeing Red.

Bat'r had a dream. In that dream she saw a wall of red in the front, red on the line and red all over their jammer. On Friday that dream came true. We played the Quad City Rollers in Davenport, IA and it was the best game of derby we have played to date. We worked together, we built walls, and kept the penalties to a minimum. We even had two fresh meat play their first bout and they played beautifully. (Unfortunately they played at the expense of injuries.)

 Wall of red in the front.. (note freshie Fanny holding the line like a champ)

 Red on the line. (freshie psycHO in the plaid skirt)

Red all over their jammer.

  
I could not be more proud of my ladies. Last year in June we played Quad Cities in our first ever bout. That time we lost, but it was a close game. (we actually thought we won at  first... but all the points hadn't been put up yet.) Last October they came to our turf to play our first home bout ever, and we were victorious. It's exciting to see such wonderful progress in your own team, in less than a year.

Dog piles then and now..

The Quad City girls have been amazing as well. This was our third bout against them in what was called a "Grudge Match" all night, but was really far from. We may have hated each other on the track, but skating off between jams I felt a love tap or two from Sugar &Slice. We only got angry because we were both playing so well, but at the end of the night it's all love. I'm not sure if it's a phenomenon that only happens in female sports, but it's an fanstastic thing to be apart of.

This Saturday is our Malice In Derbyland bout against the Des Moines Derby Dames in their very first bout ever. It's kind of like the cycle of derby life, I'll go into it with fond memories of our first bout, but ready to crush some Dames..

-L4D

We lost the bout.. but won the after party...

Bout weekend is officially over. I feel like I got hit by a truck, have tons of footage to go through, and am ready for the next one. As Fonda Cuffs said, I still kinda have a post-bout glow, and am very happy with how we did. We lost to the Flying Squirrels (from Appleton, WI) ..by like 70 points? I guess I don't even remember what the score was, but it doesn't really matter because we all learned a lot and it was fun.

They liked to hit, and hit a lot. They put up awesome walls and had fast jammers. We didn't give up, hit back, worked on breaking their walls and our jammers had some big scoring jams. (I personally had a 13 point jam.) I was happy to see that when we were getting a beating, we didn't just get frustrated and mad, we fought to improve and work around our shortcomings. (like continuously having 1 or 2 people in the box. oops)

I don't think my nerves really started to tremble until it was time for intros. I was too busy running around setting up video equipment, forgetting my skirt at home, helping John Pemble put together a 12second video in 5 minutes, and picking out people I knew as the doors opened. I was glad I donned a pair of shades for my intro because I could have just crumpled to the ground by the time I exited the curtain. Because we drew a HUGE crowd! I think Iowa City has finally understood that derby is here and it's amazing. The crowd was definitely more than in October, which is saying a lot since the team we were playing came from 5 hours away, I doubt much of it was their fans!

The after party was an even more success. Boozin', scmoozin', and girls dancing on the bar. Let's just say it was a good end to the night...

Cut to next morning.. ughhhhhhhhh. Didn't want to move. (and actually my booze hangover wasn't so bad, my body had its own derby hangover). But I had to drag my ass out of bed because Furyis and I had planned on a photo shoot for our next bout poster that needs to get to the printers this week since our bout, "Malice In Derbyland" against the Des Moines Derby Dames is in 3 short weeks!

So already I can tell this season is going to be nonostop work, skating, hitting, fundraising, videoing, and editing. I'm logging footage from the bout as we speak. I'm excited to go through it. I've already checked out some of the helmet camera footage, a little shakey, and was angled too high, but there's some good stuff there.

This time it's Spring Work for me, no breaks!

-L4D

We're kind of a big deal...

Our first home bout of the season is Saturday and I'm pretty excited... At least I think so. I've been so busy and stressed out I've barely had time to even think about Saturday. (besides planning camera angles..) We've been working hard leading up to this bout, last week we had two fundraisers, and we've been PR-ing like crazy. I just unloaded all ten pre-sale tix I've had on me, so I know I've at least drawn more of a crowd this time, so I think overall this bout with be a huge success.

Oh, and in three weeks we do it all over again. Our next home bout is April 3rd! (Malice in Derbyland vs the Des Moines Derby Dames, their FIRST bout!!) It's exciting to have a real season this year. We've progressed so far as a team, I was shocked to see how many people attended the last practice, we've got a lot of fresh meat! And they're all wonderful, hardworking ladies.

All of these things are why I'm making my derby documentary, people still don't know roller derby is out there. I want to get the word out, and I want people to realize we are strong, hardworking ladies who don't take ourselves too seriously, but take derby as a SPORT, seriously.

So, I hope you're coming out this Saturday to see us kick some Flying Squirrel tail, and if not, we have plenty more scheduled! (check out our calendar at oldcapitolcityrollergirls.com)

If you see me, remind me to eat something.. I seem to always forget that bout day. I'll be scrambling around all day trying to do two things at once, and then it'll finally hit me. I'll wanna puke a little, tremble my first time on the jam line, but then it'll be CLOBBERIN' TIME!

-L4D

Time to hit it or quit it.

Life is keeping me busy. Between work, school and derby I barely have time to nap anymore(hah). School and derby are causing interesting conflicts between each other.. I'm doing my BFA project on derby, but one of my intermedia classes is during a practice... I want to skate my ass off at the one practice I do attend.. but I want to capture everything in film... I've enlisted someone to help me film, but if I don't start actively molding the direction of this project, it's going to fall apart.
I have a meeting with my advisor this week which has got me frazzled, and realizing that I don't have much so far. It seems my helper, Mr. Blood, if anything is going to keep me sane and focused. I need to create a plan, get interviews and start setting up the structure of how this video is going to play out. I have large hopes and goals for this project, but I need to think in small, short term goals if I'm going to get anything done.

Relating more to the derby world, our bout is less than three weeks away! We just set up a FUNdraiser with Coldstone Creamery, derby chicks selling ice cream and obtaining some of the profits. Quinn had me whip up a quick flyer for it..

 

So, I'm finally figuring some things out on photoshop.. hah. I think we'll being having our famous Jello Shot Night FUNdraiser as well. It was a HUGE success last time, and tons of fun. Our uniform tops are ordered, half time entertainment scheduled (hapkido performance!),  all seems to be well on it's way to the bout! The nerve-racking thing is that we play away two weeks later, and then another home bout April 3rd! I guess this is what a real season is like..  Last year we only had like four major bouts.

Well, I've got a lot to do the next few weeks! I'm excited and scared..

-L4D

Shut Up and Skate.

March 13th is our first home bout of the season, which leaves less than four weeks to get ready for it. Practice is merely one aspect of preparation for a home bout, the production of the whole event falls on us. This is no club at school where there is extra staff that puts these events on, we are the staff and the talent. From promoting to setting up hundreds of chairs, everything gets done by us.

Behind the scenes, skaters are split up into various committees to make this process easier. I belong to the PR committee, which is responsible for spreading the word of derby via flyers, the media, and putting together the programs for the bout. I try to fanagle any scrap of artistic skills or access to equipment that I currently have to benefit this area. Having such a diverse team, we can all bring something to the table through all our various connections and backgrounds. I recently finished the picture for our "Four Leaf Clobber" bout poster:

 

I realized two things in the making of this picture; I have little knowledge of photoshop, and it's fun to beat people up digitally. It's practical skills like this, which could be applied to more everyday life, that makes me almost want to reconsider my choice of focusing on intermedia instead of something like graphic design. Although, cutting bits of footage from my flip reconfirms that intermedia is more challenging and open to more possibilities of working creatively.

Intermedia also keeps me from derby though, I have a class Wednesday nights that cuts into most of practice, which means I only scratch my skating itch once a week now. Yesterday I scratched it right through my tights and walked away with some rink rash.

As for my ongoing BFA project, I'm not as far as I would like to be. I've been gathering a lot of footage at random during practice, giving my flip to people who aren't skating to get various points of view. I need to just sit down and lay out a plan and set some goals so I don't get too far behind. Tynamite, who has been helping me out quite a bit at practice with filming, also gave me the idea of getting some footage of the daily lives of derby girls. It's a shock to most people that a majority of our team does not consist of college students. Tomorrow I plan on spending the afternoon at work with Fonda Cuffs, a very fine police officer. 

-Left 4 Deadwards