BYU vs. Eastern Washington

BYU's football team played Eastern Washington last week. I'm originally from Southern California and I don't do well in the cold weather. The game this week was brutal. By the end of the game it had snowed so hard, my camera could barely see through the snow to film the game. As I looked up to the press box, I noticed that the snow was so thick, I almost couldn't see the press box through it all. Probably the heaviest snow I have ever been in. 

The highlight of the game though was when Harvey Unga ran the ball towards the goal-line and was hit out-of-bounds into one of our camera guys. The camera guy is actually my brother. We've been ragging him pretty good ever since. I included a copy of the clip, so check it out.

As a joke, we made a copy of the clip and put in Harvey's locker. We left a note on the DVD that said something to the effect of, "Watch this DVD. Don't expect to be in the highlight video this week. We camera guys stick together..." Something like that. Don't worry though... Harvey will definitely be in the highlight video this week.

BYU vs. UNLV

This past week BYU played UNLV. I was nervous going into this game because UNLV has played tough when they're at home. (Just ask Utah.) I didn't know what to expect from UNLV and if they "showed up" it could be a tough fight to the end.

We arrived in Las Vegas on Friday afternoon. I was stoked because I got an aisle seat with no one in the middle. Sometimes I get stuck in a middle seat. Not fun. We leave from the Provo airport to save the team from driving all the way to Salt Lake to fly out. I guess since they charter the plane it makes sense that we make them come to Provo. This year has been nice because we've been chartering JetBlue. I guess JetBlue removed a row of seats in order to expand their legroom, and that, along with the DirecTV, has been wonderful. When we got on the plane we had L&L Hawaiian food to tide us over 'til we got to Vegas. There was pulled pork, glazed chicken, and a type of steak. Way good. They feed us so much on these trips. It also seems that there is a never-ending supply of Gatorade on these trips. 

We landed in Las Vegas and then got on the bus which took us to our hotel. The traffic was pretty bad so I watched an episode of The Office on my way over. (Did anyone else think that the DVD box floating around the screen to start off last week's episode was ingenious? Loved it!) When we got to the hotel I helped set up the team meeting rooms with the video equipment and also tested the highlight video to make sure the sound levels were fine. For the New Mexico highlight we used a song from the movie "Step Up". I think the song is called "I'mma Shine". I actually really liked this song for the video. It went well. 

After all the setup was done, I went out to dinner with my pops (he comes to all the away games to help film). We went to the RIO buffet. Good stuff. When we got back to the hotel I had the option of getting a "snack" before I hit the sack, but opted out since I still hadn't recovered from the meal on the plane and the buffet. Now, when I say snack, I really a dinner after dinner. This is no snack. They typically have hamburgers, chicken fingers, french fries, fruit, ice cream, more gatorade. :) They're always feeding us. 

The next morning I had a sweet omelette and some other typical breakfast stuff. I watched some football in the hotel, had lunch, and went to the game. UNLV's setup is a little different than most. They say that the setup is what it is because of the XFL team that used to be there. They have the locker rooms right off of the field. I guess they used to have the XFL practices to the opposite side of the locker rooms as the stadium's field. They had a practice field in what is now the parking lot, so they wanted the locker rooms right in the middle of it all. It makes for some easy access to the locker rooms. We had some battery issues this week with our cameras s0 it was very convenient to have the locker rooms so close.

The game started out close, but our defense played great which made the mistakes on offense not so critical. This next week we play Eastern Washington (a I-AA school). It looks like we are taking the game seriously and I suspect an easy victory. 

I'm calling it 41-14. 

Highlight Videos and Football

One of the best things that one can do to become a better videographer is to consistently work on editing projects. I do my best to keep busy by editing weekly highlight videos for Brigham Young University's football team. I notice that there are those who edit "highlight videos" of BYU football using TV footage. This is mostly done by people as a hobby. While this may help to become a better editor, this does nothing to improve one's ability to shoot footage, work with cameras, manage live events, log & capture, etc. Using TV footage for highlight videos really hinders the "art" of creating a highlight video. I like being able to film the game myself so that as I edit, I am able to create my own works. I have noticed that my ability to edit has improved because of being on the field and filming the games myself. I feel that I receive ideas for how I will edit this week's video based on what I see through the lens as I film. While we still get the broadcast melt to have extra footage, I do what I can to use my footage and that of my fellow workers so that the video feels like it is ours.

The highlight videos that I create are internal only. In other words, no one is allowed to see them but the players and coaches. (This is because of some of the broadcast rights that go along with the footage that we shoot.) Last year we tried to work out how to distribute these videos, but we discovered that it would take a lot of work with some "high-ups" to make it happen. I think that there are some contractual obligations to CSTV and others that hinder the distribution of any of these types of videos. 

The videos are shown in a pre-game meeting prior to the team getting on the bus to head to the stadium. The team comes to the meeting very focused. The meeting starts by us showing a highlight video of the previous week's game. (I'm pretty sure this is typical of all division I schools.) After the video is finished, one of the captains will usually say something to the team and lead them in break before they get on the bus. The fun part is getting all of the equipment taken down before the buses leave us behind. (They left us once in South Bend... well, actually, it was a city outside of South Bend where the hotel was... we lost the police escort to the stadium, so it took us quite a while to get to the stadium... you can imagine the traffic on game day at Notre Dame...) We have a projector, speakers, DVD player, sound board, and lots of cables that we have to take down in a just a minute or two. We have it down pretty good (we're going on three years now). Once we get all of the equipment on the bus, we head to the stadium and shoot the next game to make the next highlight video. 

It makes for long nights and fun weekends. Producing highlight videos is a tedious process, but being able to edit consistently has allowed me to improve my efficiency. I've been able to cut out about 10 hours worth of work since the first year that I did the highlight videos for BYU. This week we go to Las Vegas to play UNLV. I plan on giving a report on how the game goes. I may turn this blog into a BYU blog since I have a game each week to talk about. We'll see how it goes...