Earlier this week I joined the Gamecock Productions crew in Atlanta for the College Sports Video Summit held by the Sports Video Group. Professionals from video production, media relations/sports information, marketing and more attended the two-day conference to discuss current trends, share success stories, and interact with colleagues.
The first day included a great keynote address from Chris Plonsky, Senior Associate AD at Texas, who discussed the upcoming Longhorn Network, followed by several general discussion sessions and the College Sports Media Awards.
You may have seen my post a few weeks ago about Gamecock Productions' nomination for a CSMA award for Gamecock Confidential, the six-episode behind-the-scenes series featuring the softball team leading up to the 2011 season. The "Special Feature" award ended up going to Oregon for one of their football videos, but the old saying rings true - it really is an honor just to be nominated (you can watch the nominated episode at the bottom of this post). I'm proud to note that South Carolina's entry was the only one of the six videos in their category that centered on a sport other than football. We all love football of course, but it is great to see such fantastic work and effort for other sports as well.
Gamecock Productions' work was also on display at one of the sponsor booths. The staff recently had a 3-D camera to use on loan from Panasonic and they shot a lot of 3-D footage at basketball, baseball, and spring football that was showcased in HD at Panasonic's booth at the conference.
On Day 2 we presented a case study on the Gamecock Confidential series as part of the conference's breakout sessions. Gamecock Productions staff members Paul Danna, Kyle Lewis, and Justin Stoll were joined by student assistants Courtney Krebs, Steven Heyward, Angela Padgett, and Chelsea Parler for the presentation. The students were an integral part of the project and did much of the editing and logging of video footage, among other work.
While Danna, Lewis, and Stoll discussed the logistics and goals of the project, the students discussed what they learned the most from it and shared what a great experience it was for them. Throughout the project, the students' individual skills and areas of interest emerged. For example, while Chelsea found that she had a flair for editing, Angela discovered a love for story-telling and writing the voice-overs.
For my part of the presentation, I shared how we spread the series via GamecocksOnline.com, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and email. On the marketing side of things, we felt like the series really helped our fans get to know the new coaching staff led by Beverly Smith and feel engaged with the team. Showing them on and off the field helped showcase their dedication to their sport but also their personalities and character. Of note, season ticket sales for Gamecock softball increased by 311% and overall attendance increased by 204% this year compared to last year.
The presentation and the Gamecock Confidential project as a whole got a lot of praise from conference attendees (and I promise I'm being objective!) A panelist from CBSsports.com who listened to our presentation even mentioned the outstanding production quality and great in-house work in a separate session later that afternoon.
While many schools hire outside production companies to produce their videos, we've been able to produce some top notch video right here in-house, which really speaks to the talent of the staff. For example, a lot of fans have been buzzing about the "It's Great to be a Gamecock" series of videos we've been releasing over the past four weeks, with a few people even asking what company we hired to do them. Those are just another example of the work Gamecock Productions is doing.
It was great to see firsthand my co-workers and the students get some well-deserved praise and recognition from their colleagues in the video world.
Congratulations to them on job well done! Go Gamecocks!
-Brittany
The first day included a great keynote address from Chris Plonsky, Senior Associate AD at Texas, who discussed the upcoming Longhorn Network, followed by several general discussion sessions and the College Sports Media Awards.
You may have seen my post a few weeks ago about Gamecock Productions' nomination for a CSMA award for Gamecock Confidential, the six-episode behind-the-scenes series featuring the softball team leading up to the 2011 season. The "Special Feature" award ended up going to Oregon for one of their football videos, but the old saying rings true - it really is an honor just to be nominated (you can watch the nominated episode at the bottom of this post). I'm proud to note that South Carolina's entry was the only one of the six videos in their category that centered on a sport other than football. We all love football of course, but it is great to see such fantastic work and effort for other sports as well.
Gamecock Productions' work was also on display at one of the sponsor booths. The staff recently had a 3-D camera to use on loan from Panasonic and they shot a lot of 3-D footage at basketball, baseball, and spring football that was showcased in HD at Panasonic's booth at the conference.
On Day 2 we presented a case study on the Gamecock Confidential series as part of the conference's breakout sessions. Gamecock Productions staff members Paul Danna, Kyle Lewis, and Justin Stoll were joined by student assistants Courtney Krebs, Steven Heyward, Angela Padgett, and Chelsea Parler for the presentation. The students were an integral part of the project and did much of the editing and logging of video footage, among other work.
While Danna, Lewis, and Stoll discussed the logistics and goals of the project, the students discussed what they learned the most from it and shared what a great experience it was for them. Throughout the project, the students' individual skills and areas of interest emerged. For example, while Chelsea found that she had a flair for editing, Angela discovered a love for story-telling and writing the voice-overs.
For my part of the presentation, I shared how we spread the series via GamecocksOnline.com, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and email. On the marketing side of things, we felt like the series really helped our fans get to know the new coaching staff led by Beverly Smith and feel engaged with the team. Showing them on and off the field helped showcase their dedication to their sport but also their personalities and character. Of note, season ticket sales for Gamecock softball increased by 311% and overall attendance increased by 204% this year compared to last year.
The presentation and the Gamecock Confidential project as a whole got a lot of praise from conference attendees (and I promise I'm being objective!) A panelist from CBSsports.com who listened to our presentation even mentioned the outstanding production quality and great in-house work in a separate session later that afternoon.
While many schools hire outside production companies to produce their videos, we've been able to produce some top notch video right here in-house, which really speaks to the talent of the staff. For example, a lot of fans have been buzzing about the "It's Great to be a Gamecock" series of videos we've been releasing over the past four weeks, with a few people even asking what company we hired to do them. Those are just another example of the work Gamecock Productions is doing.
It was great to see firsthand my co-workers and the students get some well-deserved praise and recognition from their colleagues in the video world.
Congratulations to them on job well done! Go Gamecocks!
-Brittany
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