Difference between revisions of "Rock the Rock"

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Rock the Rock


Date: 1994-10-08^[1] – 1994-10-09^[1]
Location: Alcatraz Island, San Francisco, California 94133, United States
Organizer: Sega of America
Licensor: MTV, Blockbuster Video

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Rock the Rock, known in Japan as Sekai Taikai Rock the Rock, was an American video game tournament organized by Sega of America in promotion of upcoming release of Sonic & Knuckles.

Tournament

Concept art for Sonic the Hedgehog 3 shown during the Sega Technical Institute segment.

Rock the Rock began on Saturday, October 8th with a one-night international Sonic & Knuckles tournament, taking place at numerous Hard Rock Cafe restaurants and Sega arcade venues around the globe - over a week and a half before the game's American release. Dubbed the "Sonic & Knuckles International Preliminary Tournaments", up for grabs was $25,000 awarded directly from Sega of America, as well as every product the company produced for the next two years.^[2] Winners were handcuffed to mysterious briefcases and accompanied by "police" escort to their awaiting limousines (each followed by a Brinks armored car), where they were driven to the nearest airport and immediately flown to California's San Francisco Bay Area. The following morning, participants were shuttled from their hotel to San Francisco's Pier 41 by another security-escorted motorcade and ferried over to the city's famous Alcatraz Island.^[1]

The tournament proper began with 55 participants placed at their own Sonic & Knuckles-equipped Sega Genesis kiosk and housed within Alcatraz' New Industries building, each tasked with collecting as many rings in Mushroom Hill Zone Act 1 in x minutes. Of these, the top ten contestants with the highest ring counts were giving placing scores, and with the top two contestants - Mark Guinane and Chris Tang - proceeding to the final showdown. Taking place in a specially-constructed kiosk at the island's nearby Model Industries building, both finalists were given x minutes to again collect as many rings as possible. In the end, Tang won the tournament with a total of 153 rings to Guinane's 123, and was awarded a large novelty check for $25,000 directly from Tom Kalinske himself.^[3]

Sonic the Hedgehog series co-creator Yuji Naka was in attendance for both the Yokohama Joypolis invitational tournament and the Alcatraz Island finale, congratulating both winners on their respective victories.^[4]^[5]

Television special

On Monday, October 17th, over a week after the tournament's conclusion, and one day before the release of Sonic & Knuckles, MTV aired Rock the Rock as a 30-minute television special.^[1]^[6] Hosted by American celebrity personalities Bill Bellamy and Daisy Fuentes, the special featured an edited version of the tournament produced in Sega of America's trademark frantic, hyper-focused style, interspersed with information about the game and brief interviews with contestants. After introducing the premise of the tournament and some primers on Sonic & Knuckles, the special cuts to a segment in which Sega Technical Institute staff are interviewed about the upcoming title. Roger Hector, Adrian Stephens, Howard Drossin, Kunitake Aoki, Chris Senn, and Dean Lester are all given brief screen time, along with appearances from Sega Test's Aron Drayer, Janine Cook, Marcus Montgomery, and Tracy Johnson. During these interviews, a number of never-before-seen pieces of Sonic the Hedgehog 3 concept art are quickly displayed.

Production credits

Producer: Scott Weinstock
Director: Joe Perota
Coordinating Producer: Bob Maurer
Segment Producer: Edward M. Capuano
Line Producer: Frank Garritano
Writer: Tracy Grandstaff
Editors: Charlie Liotta, Paul "G" Goldberg, Evan Anthony
Unit Manager: Barry Fox
Production Associate: Michele Roberts
Technical Manager: Paul Cox
Production Coordinator: Joelle Charlot
Associate Director: Julie Altheimer
Stage Manager: Jamie Battista
Lighting Director: Jerry Watson
Art Director: Josh Koral
Technical Director: Scott McQuaid
Camera: Dave Benzer, Rob Darcy, Tom Adkins, Dave Eastwood
A1: Wes Weaver
A2's: Tom Celin, Rom Rosenblum
Gaffer: Adam Santelli
Electrics: Jason Santelli, Chris Milani, Thom Ward, Fernando Cordova
Grips: Jeff Bane, Hue Freeman, Paul Meise, Bob Sitzwohl
Utility: Dan Aguilar, Chris Callarman, Tom Higbee, Chris McHugh, Curtis Menzel
Video Operator: Mark Sanford
Tape Operator: Skip Van Fliet
Production Assistants: Skip Bensley, Rick de Oliveira, James Ellsworth, Kathryn Filley, Tony Gee, Rad Hall, Dave Higby, Andres Le Roux, Ed Lin, Mickey Ray, Alex Ross
Post-Production Facility: Moxie Video
Director Post-Production: Hank Keichlin
Director of Facilities Scheduling: Cynthia Fuchs
Council for Law and Business Affairs: Sabrina Silverberg
Opening Sequence and Packaging: Todd Meuller
Graphics Design: Romy Mann, William Heins, Paul Villacis
Production Clerks: Nat Havholm, Michele Bessey
Talent Coordinator: Rod Aissa
Wardrobe: Patricia Kazmierowski
Make Up: Eddie Valentine, Wallett
Production Accountant: Ingrid Hall
Rights and Clearances: Julie Insogna
MTV Marketing: John Shea
MTV Press Relations: Linda Alexander
Announcer: Rafael Ferrer

ENG Crew - San Francisco

Camera: Jarred Johnson, David Collier, John Chater, Norman Bonnie
Audio: George Rosenfield, Louis Block, David Boyle
Utility: Chris McCracken

ENG Crew - New York

Segment Producer: Mike Bloom
Production Clerk: Gisellah Harvey
Production Assistants: Tim Healy, Jeff Sutch
Camera: Christian Hoagland
Audio: Paul Turlick

ENG Crew - Tokyo, Japan

Camera: Yuichi Ueki
Crew: Inn Productions

Sega

Event Executive Producer: Tom Abramson
Creative Supervisor: Sara Holihan
Creative Coordinator: Trisha Dunne
Event Producers: Joe Owens, Darcy Brown
Event Production Coordinator: Caroline Czirr
Event Production Assistant: Corey Walter
Preliminary Tournament Locations Provided By: Hard Rock Cafe International, Inc. (for the East Coast Group), Hard Rock America (for the West Coast Group)
Bill Bellamy's Wardrobe Provided By: Eddie Bauer
Aerial Photography Provided By: A La Carte Communications & The Golden Gate National Park Association
Special Thanks: Nat Katzman, ACME Scenery, Moxie Video staff, Rangers of the National Park Service, Red & White Fleet, City of San Francisco Film Commission, The Barge Boys, Staff of Sega of America, Kristin Widmer, Susan Locke, Krissy Reinhardt, Mike Neuwirth, Holly Weinstock

VP MTV Production: Joel Stillerman
Executive Producer: Salli Frattini

Sega, Genesis, Sonic, Knuckles, and all related characters are trademarks of Sega.
©1994 Sega P.O. Box 8097, Redwood City, CA 94063.

Source:

In-broadcast credits^[6]

Magazine articles

Main article: Rock the Rock/Magazine articles.

Photographs

Main article: Photos of Rock the Rock

Videos

Broadcast recording

External links

SEGA Memories: SEGA debuts Sonic & Knuckles with a MTV special ‘Rock the Rock’ article by George at SEGAbits

References

Officially licensed Sega tours
UK	Sega in 2 Action! Tour (1995)
US	Cherry Coke/Sega Sonic Shuttle 1993 (1993) \| Cherry Coke/Sega Sonic Shuttle 1994 (1994) \| Cherry Coke/Sega Saturn Shuttle Sampling Program (1995) \| Cherry Coke/Sega Saturn Shuttle Tour '96 (1996) \| Sega Dreamcast Mobile Assault Tour (1999)

[:File:SegaVisions_US_22.pdf_p6-1] 1.0 ^1.1 ^1.2 ^1.3 Sega Visions, "December/January 1994/1995" (US; 1994-xx-xx), page 6

[https:.2F.2Fwww.youtube.com.2Fwatch.3Fv.3DumO2dFzDTLc-2] ttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umO2dFzDTLc

[:File:ChrisTang_check.png_p-3] File:ChrisTang check.png

[:File:RocktheRock_YokohamaJoypolis_YujiNaka.png_p-4] File:RocktheRock YokohamaJoypolis YujiNaka.png

[:File:RocktheRock_YujiNaka_ChrisTang.png_p-5] File:RocktheRock YujiNaka ChrisTang.png

[:File:MTV.27SRocktheRockSonic.26Knuckles1994_US_Video.mp4_p-6] 6.0 ^6.1 File:MTV'SRocktheRockSonic&Knuckles1994 US Video.mp4

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

@@ Line 14: / Line 14: @@
 ==Tournament==
 [[File:RocktheRock Sonic3conceptart.png|thumb|280px|Concept art for ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog 3]]'' shown during the [[Sega Technical Institute]] segment.]]
-Rock the Rock began on Saturday, October 8th with a one-night international ''[[Sonic & Knuckles]]'' tournament, taking place at numerous [[wikipedia:Hard Rock Cafe|Hard Rock Cafe]] restaurants and [[Sega]] arcade venues around the globe - over a week and a half before the game's American release. Up for grabs was $25,000 awarded directly from [[Sega of America]], as well as every product the company produced for the next two years.{{ref|1=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umO2dFzDTLc}} Winners were handcuffed to mysterious briefcases and accompanied by "police" escort to their awaiting limousines (each followed by a Brinks armored car), where they were driven to the nearest airport and immediately flown to California's [[wikipedia:San Francisco Bay Area|San Francisco Bay Area]]. The following morning, participants were shuttled from their hotel to [[wikipedia:San Francisco|San Francisco]]'s Pier 41 by another security-escorted motorcade and ferried over to the city's famous [[wikipedia:Alcatraz Island|Alcatraz Island]].{{magref|sv|22|6}}
+Rock the Rock began on Saturday, October 8th with a one-night international ''[[Sonic & Knuckles]]'' tournament, taking place at numerous [[wikipedia:Hard Rock Cafe|Hard Rock Cafe]] restaurants and [[Sega]] arcade venues around the globe - over a week and a half before the game's American release. Dubbed the "Sonic & Knuckles International Preliminary Tournaments", up for grabs was $25,000 awarded directly from [[Sega of America]], as well as every product the company produced for the next two years.{{ref|1=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umO2dFzDTLc}} Winners were handcuffed to mysterious briefcases and accompanied by "police" escort to their awaiting limousines (each followed by a Brinks armored car), where they were driven to the nearest airport and immediately flown to California's [[wikipedia:San Francisco Bay Area|San Francisco Bay Area]]. The following morning, participants were shuttled from their hotel to [[wikipedia:San Francisco|San Francisco]]'s Pier 41 by another security-escorted motorcade and ferried over to the city's famous [[wikipedia:Alcatraz Island|Alcatraz Island]].{{magref|sv|22|6}}
 The tournament proper began with 55 participants placed at their own ''[[Sonic & Knuckles]]''-equipped [[Sega Genesis]] kiosk and housed within Alcatraz' New Industries building, each tasked with collecting as many rings in [[sonic:Mushroom Hill Zone|Mushroom Hill Zone]] Act 1 in x minutes. Of these, the top ten contestants with the highest ring counts were giving placing scores, and with the top two contestants - Mark Guinane and [[Chris Tang]] - proceeding to the final showdown. Taking place in a specially-constructed kiosk at the island's nearby Model Industries building, both finalists were given x minutes to again collect as many rings as possible. In the end, Tang won the tournament with a total of 153 rings to Guinane's 123, and was awarded a large novelty check for $25,000 directly from [[Tom Kalinske]] himself.{{fileref|ChrisTang check.png}}
@@ Line 21: / Line 21: @@
 ==Television special==
-On Monday, October 17th, over a week after the tournament's conclusion, and one day before the release of ''[[Sonic & Knuckles]]'', [[MTV]] aired Rock the Rock as a 30-minute television special.{{magref|sv|22|6}}{{fileref|MTV'SRocktheRockSonic&Knuckles1994 US Video.mp4}} The special featured an edited version of the tournament produced in [[Sega of America]]'s trademark frantic, hyper-focused style, interspersed with information about the game and brief interviews with contestants. After introducing the premise of the tournament and some primers on ''Sonic & Knuckles'', the special cuts to a segment in which [[Sega Technical Institute]] staff are interviewed about the upcoming title. [[Roger Hector]], [[Adrian Stephens]], [[Howard Drossin]], [[Kunitake Aoki]], [[Chris Senn]], and [[Dean Lester]] are all given brief screen time, along with appearances from [[Sega Test (division)|Sega Test]]'s [[Aron Drayer]], [[Janine Cook]], [[Marcus Montgomery]], and [[Tracy Johnson]]. During these interviews, a number of never-before-seen pieces of ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog 3]]'' concept art are quickly displayed.
+On Monday, October 17th, over a week after the tournament's conclusion, and one day before the release of ''[[Sonic & Knuckles]]'', [[MTV]] aired Rock the Rock as a 30-minute television special.{{magref|sv|22|6}}{{fileref|MTV'SRocktheRockSonic&Knuckles1994 US Video.mp4}} Hosted by American celebrity personalities [[wikipedia:Bill Bellamy|Bill Bellamy]] and [[wikipedia:Daisy Fuentes|Daisy Fuentes]], the special featured an edited version of the tournament produced in [[Sega of America]]'s trademark frantic, hyper-focused style, interspersed with information about the game and brief interviews with contestants. After introducing the premise of the tournament and some primers on ''Sonic & Knuckles'', the special cuts to a segment in which [[Sega Technical Institute]] staff are interviewed about the upcoming title. [[Roger Hector]], [[Adrian Stephens]], [[Howard Drossin]], [[Kunitake Aoki]], [[Chris Senn]], and [[Dean Lester]] are all given brief screen time, along with appearances from [[Sega Test (division)|Sega Test]]'s [[Aron Drayer]], [[Janine Cook]], [[Marcus Montgomery]], and [[Tracy Johnson]]. During these interviews, a number of never-before-seen pieces of ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog 3]]'' concept art are quickly displayed.
 ==Production credits==