A student production
FISD students help run the video production at Memorial Stadium
Getting ready to do a sideline report, junior Eilidh McGarva fixes her hair and junior Maddie Owens listens on a headset waiting to go live.
The video production crew at Memorial Stadium features students such as junior Eilidh McGarva that work as sideline reporters for both the scoreboard video screen and an online stream.
Holding a camera twice as big as those used in the school’s broadcast journalism program, junior Maddie Owens shoulders the field camera at Memorial Stadium.
Stationed high above Memorial Stadium at the 50-yard line, sophomore Sid Iyer follows a play on the field.
Listening to the video production director on his head set, sophomore Kirk Niekamp gets his next shot ready.
With the exception of the field camera, the rest of the video production crew is positioned more than a hundred feet above the field which offers a unique bird’s eye perspective to the game.
Members of the video production crew sometimes switch roles during a game. Usually a sideline reporter, senior Halle Barham shoots the sideline shot for junior Eilidh McGarva.
On Thursday and Fridays, students all across Frisco gather at Memorial Stadium to watch their high school’s football team play. But for a select few students, the weekly football game is a job as students help with the production of everything on the scoreboard’s big screen, from interviews, to the camera work.
Recently the crew was all Redhawks, one of the few times in the last few years that all students came from the same school.
“It’s not too often that just one single school accounts for all bodies working a game,” Memorial Stadium crew coordinator Rowdy Granado said. “In the beginning when we first started we may have had a majority of students from one single school, but not so much any more.
It was a little bit different and a lot more intense because when he said something, we had to do it right then and there.
— sophomore Kirk Niekamp
If one single school covered a game it would be significant because we know we’d have coverage for that game, no problem. Plus, if they are covering their school they are more likely to take a bit more pride and have excitement for the game they are covering.”
Students worked the cameras in the press box, giving them a new perspective on the games.
“It was a different experience,” sophomore Matthew Bertie said. “Usually you’re in the student section and you’re with everyone else but this time, you have a bird’s eye view on what’s happening and it was a different experience from anything you’ve done at a football game.
“It was a good experience,” sophomore Sid Iyer said. “It helped me film shots for broadcast and it was very cool to see the game from the press box. It gave me a new perspective on those people who do the camera and how they work. It showed me a lot and it was a cool experience to watch the game from up there.”
For many of the students, the experience was their first major production.
“It was really my first big production on a bigger scale,” sophomore Kirk Niekamp said. “It was a little bit different and a lot more intense because when he said something, we had to do it right then and there. It was extremely fast paced. It was awesome though. It was a breakthrough into it and it was an amazing experience.”
While three students worked the cameras at the top of Memorial Stadium, other students worked the sidelines, living their childhood dreams and hopefully starting their careers as sideline reporters.
“I thought it was really fun and insightful,” junior Elidh McGarva said. “It’s a career I’ve always wanted to do since I was little so I actually got real world experience of coming up with lines and being able to focus on how I was speaking and my presence on camera. I thought it was really cool.”
“I love it because it’s nerve wracking and exciting,” senior Halle Barham said. “It’s something I’m going to pursue after high school.”
I actually got real world experience of coming up with lines and being able to focus on how I was speaking and my presence on camera.
— junior Eilidh McGarva
Granado started the program years ago to help students get a head start in a possible future in media broadcasting, giving them an advantage over others who are not involved in production like activities.
“This is the whole reason I wanted to start this program, to get the students experience they they would not normally get until they got to college,” Granado said. “When seeking to industry professionals about what we are doing now, they are excited for the students who have this opportunity because it just gives them a huge leg up in the industry, and a very competitive industry at that. If you can get this experience and have more knowledge going into college, you are already leaps and bounds ahead of the competition for positions that are very hard to come by.”
Arman Kafai was born in Plano, Texas, and has lived in the North Texas area for the last 18 years. When he’s not digging through his list of stories...
