Freelance Alum Turns Lens on North Texas Football

[Harry]

Sometimes the best stories are the most obvious ones.

2013 was a memorable year for the University of North Texas football team. A 9-4 campaign took the program to its first bowl game in nine years and first bowl win in 11 years. There, with the golden opportunity to chronicle it all, was freelance videographer and producer Ashton Campbell.

Hired by his alma mater to shoot and produce an intimate, behind-the-scenes television series titled Beyond the Green, Campbell was tasked with telling the stories of the captivating players and coaches who made up the 2013 Mean Green.

One of the team’s leaders was Brandon McCoy. A unique personality in college sports, McCoy was a 28-year-old Army veteran, whom his teammates affectionately nicknamed “Sarge.”

“You really can’t write that kind of stuff,” says Campbell. “It’s right in front of your face. To not do a story on McCoy would have been stupid. It would have been criminal.”

Campbell did that story, and the final product, “From War Vet to Defensive End,” turned into an inspiring look at a likable man who helped lead the Mean Green to one of its best seasons ever. It also claimed the College Sports Media Award for Outstanding Special Feature in Collegiate Athletics.

Luck of the Freelancer

“I love that show!”

Campbell had unexpectedly struck gold while sitting down for a lunch with a member of the North Texas athletic department. Meeting purely as a season-ticket holder and a regular donor to the department, he happened to mention that he worked in video production and, earlier in his career, had helped produce the Big Ten Network series Big Ten Icons.

Two weeks later, Campbell received a call from the university asking him to come down for a meeting to discuss a potential documentary series on North Texas football. He was thrilled to jump on board.

“I got very lucky on this one,” laughs Campbell, who worked at post houses for about five years after graduating from UNT before going out on his own as a freelance videographer. “Normally, you’re not going to get recruited. You have to go out and get it.”

Over the previous half decade, Campbell had produced behind-the-scenes features for college football programs across the country, including Southern Methodist, Tulsa, Texas Tech, Southern Miss, North Carolina, Vanderbilt, Coastal Carolina, Mississippi State, and Baylor.

Now he would be bringing his talents home to North Texas. He worked collaboratively with members of the athletic department to outline a production schedule and a list of individual stories both sides knew they wanted to tell. Naturally, McCoy was high on the list.

“The school did give me a lot of freedom to do what I wanted, when I wanted,” says Campbell. “They didn’t force any issues on me. I developed an early trust and relationship with them, and, if they trust in what you’re doing, then they are going to tell you what to do and what stories are unique. Nobody knows these players like the coaches and the department. You could be the biggest fan in the world, and you don’t really know who these guys are. You need to have a back and forth with the department to get information like that.”

- See more at: http://sportsvideo.org/main/blog/2014/08/csma-master-class-freelance-alum-turns-lens-on-north-texas-football/#sthash.46u75HWR.dpuf

[H-towngreen]

Love it! Keep up the amazing work

[Christopher Walker]

"The gear list was a modest one. Campbell used different cameras throughout the season but worked primarily with a Canon 5D Mark II for interviews and casual behind-the scenes shots, switching to the Panasonic HPX170 P2 handheld (which has actually been discontinued, according to Panasonics Website) for sideline shots of game action. Rarely would Campbell place microphones on his subjects. He relied heavily on a boom mic and an Audio-Technica AT8035 shotgun on all run-and-gun game-action shots. We were really simple, says Campbell, who edited the series on Apple Final Cut Pro 7. My whole theory is, the simpler the better. Keep gear down and just have less crap with you on the sidelines. You really dont want to have much more than a backpack. We were really toned down on our gear. - See more at: http://sportsvideo.org/main/blog/2014/08/csma-master-class-freelance-alum-turns-lens-on-north-texas-football/#sthash.46u75HWR.WEn0FARt.dpuf

Wow. Anyone in this business knows that that really, reaaaaally is paired down gear.

The fact that it was on FCP7 also explains the gratuitous amount of the "bloom" effect.

Edited August 5, 2014 by Christopher Walker

[H-towngreen]

"The gear list was a modest one. Campbell used different cameras throughout the season but worked primarily with a Canon 5D Mark II for interviews and casual behind-the scenes shots, switching to the Panasonic HPX170 P2 handheld (which has actually been discontinued, according to Panasonics Website) for sideline shots of game action. Rarely would Campbell place microphones on his subjects. He relied heavily on a boom mic and an Audio-Technica AT8035 shotgun on all run-and-gun game-action shots. We were really simple, says Campbell, who edited the series on Apple Final Cut Pro 7. My whole theory is, the simpler the better. Keep gear down and just have less crap with you on the sidelines. You really dont want to have much more than a backpack. We were really toned down on our gear. - See more at: http://sportsvideo.org/main/blog/2014/08/csma-master-class-freelance-alum-turns-lens-on-north-texas-football/#sthash.46u75HWR.WEn0FARt.dpuf

Wow. Anyone in this business knows that that really, reaaaaally is paired down gear.

The fact that it was on FCP7 also explains the gratuitous amount of the "bloom" effect.

Totally noticed the bloom effect. Not quite as much as the butterfly effect but still noticeable.

[UNTLifer]

Well played H-town, well played.