Tonight was a perfect opportunity to have a memorable telecast.
The game ended with the score 1 – 0 with the home team losing. The game came down to the bottom of the ninth with the best player in the game at the plate representing the winning run. Tight shots of this players face along with the pitcher with brisk cuts along with an energized crowd portrayed what could have been. The game could have ended with, arguably, the most exciting play in baseball – the walk-off home run. The batter hit into a force play and the game was over.
This final out typified our telecast.
There were many moments throughout the telecast where the home team had chances to score. The production team in the truck and the announcers in the booth were prepared to cover these chances, hoping to provide the viewer with a memorable telecast.
However, there was one moment in the telecast where I, the director, became too aggressive. I tried to capture the excitement of this particular moment and, in the process, I over cut and missed a pitch. When I took camera 4, (centerfield) the pitch had already been made and the ball had been hit. I went to camera 2 (high home) as the ball reached the shortstop.
A “rookie” mistake and it ticked me off.
There is no greater sin for a baseball director than to miss a pitch. It would be similar for a football director to miss the snap of the ball, a basketball director to miss an in-bounds pass, or a hockey director to miss a face-off.
Early in my career, I had the good fortune of working with one of the best Producers ever in our business. He taught me to forget about mistakes and keep going, because if a director dwells on that mistake, more mistakes will happen and they will, in turn, snow ball. Also, I was lucky to learn from one of the best Directors in sports television. He taught me how to be aggressive and when to be aggressive.
In this business, it is very important for all members of the crew to never make the same mistake twice. Be it a camera person, a tape person, audio, video, graphics, and even announcers, the ones that learn from their mistakes are the ones who are the most successful.
During a telecast, split second decisions are being made by every member of the production team. Mistakes do happen. There is no such thing as a “perfect” telecast.
That is the reason why, when we nail a moment, it is such a great feeling.
The Producer and the Director can not run camera better than the camera professionals, we can not mix audio better than the lead audio tech, we can not shade cameras better than video, we can not run replays better than the tape ops, and we can not run the Duet (graphics) better than that operator, but, good Producers and Directors are able to take the camera work, the audio, the video, the tape work, and graphics and mix it together to present the final pictures and sound to the viewer in the best way possible.
That is a Producer and Director’s responsibility.
A television sports production crew works as a team and there is not one member of that team that wants to let the team down. We work for and with each other.
I cannot wait to sit in the chair tomorrow.
Hopefully, I will not let the crew down and I will deliver.