film students get production experience on new bally sports production which premieres friday, dec. 2
documentary features lipscomb academy football team under former nfl quarterback’s leadership
kim chaudoin |
students in 世界杯2022预选赛录像回放 's cinematic arts program have had a unique real-world production experience right in their own backyard, and the fruits of their hard work and creativity are set to premiere on the national stage beginning this week.
in partnership with sinclair broadcast group, lipscomb’s production team produced set apart: the music city mustangs, a two-part documentary. part 1 will debut friday, dec. 2, and part 2 on friday, dec. 9, across the bally sports regional networks. stadium network, their streaming service will premiere the shows on tuesday, dec. 6 and tuesday, dec. 13. they will run all through the month of december.
from august of 2019 through december of 2022, the program’s students and faculty captured the story of lipscomb academy’s football program under the leadership of head coach trent dilfer, former nfl quarterback who led the baltimore ravens to a super bowl victory in 2000. when dilfer took over the high school football program in january 2019, it had just completed its second season in a new tennessee secondary state athletic association (tssaa) classification for middle tennessee area private schools and had only won two games in two seasons.
set apart chronicles a behind-the-scenes and on-the-field look at the mustangs’ growth into a tssaa div ii-aa powerhouse since fall 2019, which includes two state championship titles, the latest one won thursday, dec. 1, and in 2021; one state runner-up title (2020) and 21 consecutive undefeated games at home since 2020. under dilfer’s tutelage, the mustangs outscored their opponents 1,069-140 with 15 notable touchdowns scored by the defensive line and special teams.
it really was a quintessential example of the vision for the college and that is to tell a powerful story in a compelling way, to learn through the practical experience of working in the industry while they are a student and to think entreprenuerially by creating what’s next. that's the best way to learn. — mike fernandez, dean, george shinn college of entertainment & the arts
the project was created by mike fernandez, dean of the george shinn college of entertainment & the arts (cea), which houses lipscomb’s department of cinematic arts. fernandez had two sons who were part of the academy football program when dilfer took the helm of the program, so he had a particular interest in the program. meanwhile, dilfer, who wanted to build a greater sense of community surrounding the program, reached out to fernandez for assistance in launching a series of pregame concerts.
“i realized that there was a powerful story that needed to be told,” explains fernandez, “so i shared with trent and his daughter, delaney, a vision for how and why the cea could tell his story. so, working with trent, who came on as an executive producer, we developed an idea for a documentary that could follow dilfer and this new coaching staff and tell the story of a program that is making a difference in the lives of its student-athletes.”
fernandez says that as the idea began to formulate, the magnitude of the undertaking also started becoming a reality with the number of staff, equipment and time that would be required to bring this to life.
“then began the hard work,” recalls fernandez with a smile. “i needed to convince steve taylor (director of lipscomb’s school of theatre and cinematic arts) that this was a good idea. then, we had to determine if this was something that realistically we could do. we got a few of our film faculty together to discuss it and i think we all kind of realized that we may not know exactly what we were getting into but that we should give it a try. let's just get after it.”
so fernandez and taylor, now on-board as an executive producer, assembled a team of lipscomb undergraduate and graduate film students and faculty and in fall of 2019 they began production. they filmed numerous practices, planning meetings and games and conducted interviews with student-athletes and coaches. over the course of three years, fernandez estimates that about 60 students were involved in the production process along with about 10 faculty members. in addition to taylor, faculty included melissa forte, matt huesmann and spencer glover among others, students were paid or earned internship or class credit for their work, but even more importantly they gained valuable hands-on experience producing a documentary that was produced at a level that caught the attention of national media company sinclair broadcast group.
“by the end of the first year, we knew we had something and so we started trying to shop around a little bit to some distributors. sinclair broadcast group came on very early and said that they were super interested in the story,” he continues. the students put together a five minute “sizzle” reel which caught the attention of steve rosenberg, president of bally sports.
“he saw that sizzle reel and he said, ‘let's do this.’ so sinclair media came around this and what we have been doing with them over the past two and a half years now is working with them to get a show that is watchable for network,” fernendez explains.
“as someone who has experienced tremendous success, trent dilfer too has gone through some difficult periods which have fueled his unique ability to shape the lives of young people," says rosenberg. “trent is teaching these student-athletes how to truly set themselves apart from the rest, pushing them beyond their own comfort level to reach new potentials, and we are excited to highlight the impact he’s had on the lipscomb academy football program.”
for the first three years of the process, during football season the cea production crew had a weekly routine in place that included pre-production meetings with dilfer and his team. multiple camera crews worked on independent stories following the team's practices. a 10-person camera crew covered games. they learned to work with tight deadlines and a demanding production schedule, answering to various stakeholders and working with a national production company.
“it was three years of a really hard slog of fielding a team. in terms of the story, it really played itself out, cinematically, quite well. that first year was a complete turnaround, but they didn't go to the state championship,” says fernandez. “the second year, they went to the championship, and after beating cpa earlier in the year they lost in the championship game. then the third year, they won a championship over cpa. so, in terms of the story, it told itself really well.”
“that's been a fun process and one in which our students have learned so much. they’ve had to answer to key stakeholders on our end about the content and then we also have to answer to the executives of sinclair, a multibillion dollar media company, on the quality of the content, the quality of the storytelling. they’ve learned about running a gauntlet as they're trying to tell a really good story but also being answerable to a lot of people while telling it. we're very excited about the work we've done with sinclair and are very proud of this project.”
covering an athletic program also gave students the opportunity to gain experience filming the quick action of football.
“what was really fun is watching them learn how to dig in and do interviews, how to follow a game and get dynamic video coverage of athletic events is a different kind of medium,” says fernandez. “by the third season we really found our groove in in knowing what the team should be, how many should be on the team per day, what the camera angles are, what the shots are, how to follow someone who's got the ball — all those fundamental things that you see professionals doing on big networks every day. they're learning how to do that, and at the same time, creating something that's gonna go on cable tv. it really was a quintessential example of the vision for the college and that is to tell a powerful story in a compelling way, to learn through the practical experience of working in the industry while they are a student and to think entreprenuerially by creating what’s next. that's the best way to learn.”
check local listings to see where set apart may be viewed in your area.
世界杯2022预选赛录像回放 ’s department of cinematic arts offers undergraduate degrees in animation and film production and master of fine arts degrees in animation and film and creative media. for more information, visit www.fellaworld.com/cinematicarts.
(note: dilfer stepped down as head coach of the mustangs on dec. 1 to take the head coaching job at the university of alabama-birmingham.)