Producing Theme-Driven Online College Sports Shows

Finding the Stories

This approach means capturing not just, say, cheerleaders or the band, but also what the timeout looks like from the player's point of view. This means shooting Glidecam footage of University of Richmond football players coming out of the tunnel, or getting right into position for a shot that the other 15 cameras aren't going to get, and not worrying about 15 other camerapeople asking "What's that clown with the Glidecam doing?"

In some instances, it means being ready to ask for forgiveness rather than permission, as Strimple says-or making friends with the right people and ensuring the type of access you'll need in advance.

It's about finding the smaller stories, or the telling segments that contibute to a larger story. At the CAA tournament, Gaff says, Montgomery unearthed a key storytelling thread when he discovered that there was a dry-erase whiteboard near the entrance to the team locker rooms, listing the participating teams and designating which teams go where. Moreover, there was a CAA staffer designated to take the long walk to the whiteboard after each game and erase the name of the team that lost.

"Martin said, ‘We gotta get that every time it happens.' No one from ESPN thought to shoot that."

Spring 2011 EventDVLive: The Game from EventDV on Vimeo.

As for the importance of having a background in sports to shooting sports events and related stories in this way, they argue that it's less important than you might think. While Strimple and Montgomery are lifelong sports fans-local and regional college sports in particular-Gaff says his interest in sports has come about relatively recently. "I don't think you need to know the game all that much," Gaff says. "Sometimes it can hinder you from getting what you're looking for. Not knowing the subject matter beforehand can be helpful in making you more inquisitive. If I ask a player about the zone they're running, they'll answer me in basketball-speak. If I ask them how the game affected them emotionally, I'll get very different kind of answers."

Selling the Stories

In terms of what their clients need to deliver, this approach is crucial, as Strimple explains. Schools "are hungry for more than just highlights." They want to recruit top student-athletes and game highlights are not going to convey the message. (Likewise, interviews and such aren't going to carry that message without game footage either.) For the fundraising and recruiting pieces, Strimple says, the audience isn't strictly sports films. "We have to do more than show them the game. We need to promote the parts of the experience that mothers of student-athletes want to see, and that will make these feel like events they want to go to."

The Hampden-Sydney project was essentially about capturing the essence of a century-old rivalry, and what it means to the schools, through the lens of the 2010 Hampden-Sydney/Randolph-Macon football game. Their first task was to evoke the tradition and the timelessness of it all: "No matter what year you're here, the experience of the game is the same."

In terms of serving the aims of the client (Hampden-Sydney), this also meant fashioning a storyline that portrays this college football game as not just an exciting game, but part of a broader experience. "It's about building young men," and using something that starts as sports event video to "portray Hampden-Sydney as more than a place to get a degree. It shows that football isn't just about the guys on the field, it's about the whole student body. It's an identity piece for the school."