Coming home from New York and the US Open has left me with a lot to think about. The experience was so different, so unique from any professional sporting event I’ve worked at before. From how we prepared footage to day-to-day living in the bubble, an amazing team came together to innovate in what may become a truly new way to capture professional sports. I’m so proud and thankful for everyone who stood with me during the US Open, along with everything we were able to accomplish.
We spent 35 days up in New York City to properly prepare and film at the US Open. This was a new experience with no fans, and limitations to how many crew members could come to the event. It took a talented team, that I’m so thankful to have worked with, to pull off everything we accomplished. Before even reflecting on what the US Open was like, they deserve special recognition.
We all came together to make this happen, participating in a ground-breaking moment for professional sports, which wouldn’t have happened at all without the USTA. Their safety protocols and logistics management put everything into place that allowed the US Open to work. They ran a safe, tight ship, which my team is forever grateful for.
As a team, it’s inspirational to look back at how much content we produced for and during the US Open. With so many changes, and new technology to use, there was a definite learning curve. Thankfully, the team adapted, the players were patient, and we all worked together to create content that helped connect the fans to this amazing event.
By the numbers, Greyline Media and team created:
In total the content we created runs for 8 hours and 42 minutes. Our team also conducted almost 100 interviews. This blows me away.
The 2020 US Open was the first international sporting event to successfully take place during the coronavirus pandemic, and we got to be there. People came in from around the world to participate, and it was because of the new things we tried and new strategies we implemented that the event worked.
In the virtual world we all now find ourselves, it may not seem too different to have people working offsite on a project. For us, it was a first this year at the US Open. Usually, we have our editors on site, and the workflow goes from shooting footage to physically handing it off to the editor, who creates the final piece. This year, editors stayed home, and we worked with talented media management and networking professionals across the country to get content ready. Files went back and forth without losing momentum or missing deadlines. Rough content went out, and finished pieces came back just as if we were all working side-by-side.
This wasn’t just how my team captured footage and produced content, but also how we moved through the day to stay safe. The protocols instituted by the USTA played a major role, so we started each day with a temp check and a health questionnaire. We also had a COVID test every four days. The things that worked at the US Open will help influence a model for the future of sports coverage, and it was great to be a part of it and see it really work.
To take an event that usually has people attending live, and put them all into a virtual space required the inclusion of some new technology. Players, family members, and fans communicated using a giant videoboard instead of interacting face-to-face. Not only that, but how we filmed players changed. Interviews included the use of robotic cameras, controlled remotely. Players sat against a green screen so we could virtually transport them anywhere. Methods like these could stick around as safer ways to capture the story no matter what’s going on in the world.
Successfully getting to the end of the US Open was only possible because of the team I had working alongside me. We created all our content on schedule without sacrificing quality. I’m so thankful for their ability to adapt and collaborate. Just as the USTA worked hard to ensure all the matches at the US Open happened, our production team put in over 350 hours to create content ready to go out to the world.
Nothing this year was the same, and I’m so thankful for the people and processes which helped me meet new challenges head-on.
To learn more about how Greyline Media can innovate at your next sporting event, contact us today.