Action in the NFL
TCOM student moonlights as football cameraman 
By Erin Roberts
Fifth-year telecommuni-
cations student Evan Shaw had a busy fall quarter.
In addition to his 17-credit-hour course load, the 40 to 50 hours a week he worked as the director for WOUB's award-winning "Gridiron Glory" and filming Ohio University home football games, he traveled every weekend to film an NFL game on behalf of the Mount Laurel, New Jersey-based NFL Films.
"My schedule was absolutely insane," Shaw acknowledges. "I also balanced spending time with my friends and my girlfriend of three years. It was interesting, but I didn't mind it. It kept me out of trouble."
From the look of things, Shaw is anything but trouble.
He first interned at NFL Films last summer as one of approximately 30 interns selected from 400 applicants nationwide. He visited NFL training camps, practices and preseason matchups, meeting well-known NFL players and household names such as Phil Collins.
"I'd always wanted to do something like that, and when I got the opportunity, I was beside myself," Shaw recalls.
Knowing he had a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, he put together a reel of the work he'd done at Ohio University and made sure it got into the hands of the head of NFL Films' camera department.
That extra effort led to an invitation to try out for a cameraman position. Two tryouts later -- one each at the Aug. 20 Steelers-Vikings and the Aug. 31 Browns-Bears preseason games -- he was selected for the job and became one of the youngest cinematographers the company has ever employed.
Over the course of the season, Shaw filmed 16 games in 10 cities. His job took him as far away as San Francisco.
"Whenever Cleveland played at home, they sent me there," he says. "Otherwise, I'd wait on the call every Sunday or Monday night saying where I was headed next."
It was a dream job, one millions of football fans throughout the country would envy.
"I had one of the coolest jobs a senior in college can have right now," he says. "I tried to shut it out of my mind when I was working, because I didn't want to freak out. Sometimes I'd wake up and see my camera in my room and think, 'Wow, this is pretty cool.'"
With the regular season over, Shaw is back to his life as an Ohio University student -- sort of.
Shaw recently returned from Mobile, Ala., where he covered the Bobcats' appearance in the GMAC Bowl. He and his team gathered footage and interviews for WOUB's "Bobcat Blitz" and "Newswatch." Shaw also worked with ESPN's live satellite truck on national coverage of the game.
WOUB Student Professional Development Manager Michael Rodriguez has utmost confidence in Shaw, whom he calls "easily motivated."
"I would say he is a connoisseur of football," Rodriguez says. "His internship showed him what this world is about."
NFL Films started out as private company and now is owned by the NFL. Its main job is to preserve the history of the NFL by sending two cameras to every game -- one manned from the top of the stadium and one on the ground. The footage is then archived and also sold to major television networks for use in news segments and special features.
"They have the largest football video and film library in the world," Shaw says. "Some date back to the '20s and '30s. If I had a dull moment during my internship, I'd sit down and watch an old game now and then."
Shaw's start in video production dates back to the late '80s when he traveled the country with his parents' PBS show "The Great American Music Company," which was produced by the University of North Carolina and ran for two seasons. His mother, Liz, says Shaw, then 5 and 6 years old, was right in the mix of production, carrying equipment and assisting the soundman.
"It was boring because you had to be quiet," Shaw remembers. "I never pictured myself being quiet for that long. It opened the door for me, though, to do it later. I knew what it was like to produce a show, and I knew how to act on set."
The 22-year-old North Carolina native didn't revisit video production until he attended Meigs High School and helped build a program from the ground up with classmates and his mentor and teacher Suzanne Bentz, BSED '75 and MED '90.
"That was a great experience," he says. "Ms. Bentz learned along with us. I would say my career really started in high school, as I learned how much I really enjoyed video production. I owe a lot to Ms. Bentz."
Shaw then decided to study video production at Ohio University and involved himself in WOUB programs.
"If you get involved with WOUB, you get the hands-on stuff every day," he says. "The best experiences I've had at Ohio University have been with WOUB."
Liz Shaw said her son has really blossomed since finding his passion in video production.
"Oh, we're really proud of him," she says. "We would go to the studio in Athens to watch him direct 'Gridiron Glory.' We also went to see him shoot the Steelers-Vikings game. I just sat there and cried -- my son is shooting for NFL Films!"
Shaw expects to be called on by NFL Films again next season and truly believes he's found his calling.
"After working on 'Gridiron Glory' for three years, I just wished it would go on forever, so I've found a way that it can. NFL Films is basically 'Gridiron Glory' on a higher level," Shaw says. "I've finally found my niche."
Erin Roberts, BSJ '00 and BA '00, is the external relations coordinator in the Scripps College of Communication.
Posted 01-11-07 |
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