Team Organization
I was hired in the beginning of 2017 by the Illinois football team. I currently work for the video department of the football team. I film the football team's training camp, practices, and games. Illinois football video is a small team, but still has an invaluable job. When this job is performed well the coaches are happy and it helps our football team succeed.
The structure of the video department is like that of the dual authority team discussed in B&D. I report to two bosses who are the director of football video and director of coaches video. Both my bosses have authority over me and supervise me throughout practice or a game. Usually at the start of practice, one of my bosses is on the field and the other is in the office working on film. Halfway through they switch and than my other boss is supervising and performing certain tasks on the field. The rest of the video team reports to the two bosses. However, there is an informal structure based on how "new" the worker is. For example, this past training camp was my first time ever filming practice so I was paired with a "veteran" who had previously filmed practices. The veteran coworker would train me on the camera till I was comfortable. After the first couple of weeks of training camp most new workers new how to operate the camera and no longer needed to be paired with a veteran worker. However, for filming actual football games this informal structure is followed again. A newbie is paired with a veteran who has filmed an actual game before just to make sure the film is perfect.
The main goal that the video team strives for at the end of the day is to have filmed everything perfectly. To accomplish this task, workers need to be focused and committed. Each play filmed needs to be good and on game day needs to be perfect. This requires the person on camera to be focused and communicating with the entire team. It can be hard to not lose focus for the three to four hour long games and practices. Losing concentration or not being motivated to film well can impact the film which then hurts the team and coaches ability to teach through film.
There are around 12 or so workers who report to the two bosses for the video team. There are usually 7 cameras who film practice and three cameras that film game day. There are more workers than there are cameras because not everyone can film every practice. Also some students need to help edit and format the film. These extra workers serve as buffers for the directors of video to assign them tasks when they appear during practice. However, the video team is still small enough that everyone has an important role they perform throughout practice. Almost everyone gets a chance to film at some point and each worker works around the same amount of football games. This small group size allows everyone to accomplish their specific tasks and the team function well.
Communicating between workers is vital to understand everyone's role in the team. Most workers have walkies talkies. If there is any question about what you are supposed to be filming or if there is a sudden change in what you are supposed to be filming one of the bosses can radio you and let you know immediately. Also, if you have any questions you can ask the boss who is on the field that question. This immediate communication is especially helpful since some workers are filming in the top of lifts high off the ground. If an editor sees something wrong with your film they can radio you and immediately let you know. This communication between bosses and workers lets the team function efficiently and cooperatively. Also, coaches at times will go off of the schedule and ask a camera person to film a certain drill when that camera person is filming something else. Unless the coach is Lovie Smith the worker usually doesn't know which drill should be taking priority. Effective communication between the worker and boss can immediately resolve this problem and practice runs smoothly. When workers and bosses communicate and are focused the team accomplishes all of its goals.
The structure of the video department is like that of the dual authority team discussed in B&D. I report to two bosses who are the director of football video and director of coaches video. Both my bosses have authority over me and supervise me throughout practice or a game. Usually at the start of practice, one of my bosses is on the field and the other is in the office working on film. Halfway through they switch and than my other boss is supervising and performing certain tasks on the field. The rest of the video team reports to the two bosses. However, there is an informal structure based on how "new" the worker is. For example, this past training camp was my first time ever filming practice so I was paired with a "veteran" who had previously filmed practices. The veteran coworker would train me on the camera till I was comfortable. After the first couple of weeks of training camp most new workers new how to operate the camera and no longer needed to be paired with a veteran worker. However, for filming actual football games this informal structure is followed again. A newbie is paired with a veteran who has filmed an actual game before just to make sure the film is perfect.
The main goal that the video team strives for at the end of the day is to have filmed everything perfectly. To accomplish this task, workers need to be focused and committed. Each play filmed needs to be good and on game day needs to be perfect. This requires the person on camera to be focused and communicating with the entire team. It can be hard to not lose focus for the three to four hour long games and practices. Losing concentration or not being motivated to film well can impact the film which then hurts the team and coaches ability to teach through film.
There are around 12 or so workers who report to the two bosses for the video team. There are usually 7 cameras who film practice and three cameras that film game day. There are more workers than there are cameras because not everyone can film every practice. Also some students need to help edit and format the film. These extra workers serve as buffers for the directors of video to assign them tasks when they appear during practice. However, the video team is still small enough that everyone has an important role they perform throughout practice. Almost everyone gets a chance to film at some point and each worker works around the same amount of football games. This small group size allows everyone to accomplish their specific tasks and the team function well.
Communicating between workers is vital to understand everyone's role in the team. Most workers have walkies talkies. If there is any question about what you are supposed to be filming or if there is a sudden change in what you are supposed to be filming one of the bosses can radio you and let you know immediately. Also, if you have any questions you can ask the boss who is on the field that question. This immediate communication is especially helpful since some workers are filming in the top of lifts high off the ground. If an editor sees something wrong with your film they can radio you and immediately let you know. This communication between bosses and workers lets the team function efficiently and cooperatively. Also, coaches at times will go off of the schedule and ask a camera person to film a certain drill when that camera person is filming something else. Unless the coach is Lovie Smith the worker usually doesn't know which drill should be taking priority. Effective communication between the worker and boss can immediately resolve this problem and practice runs smoothly. When workers and bosses communicate and are focused the team accomplishes all of its goals.
In the future, please get your posts in earlier. This one is being marked late.
ReplyDeleteI found your story surprising as I would have guessed that the filming was done by full time professionals, not by students. So that was news to me. I also wondered a bit about who the two bosses were in the dual report structure, the director of coaches video and the director of football video. Are those full time employees? Do you know who their bosses are? I would have liked to understand that.
The rest of your story was good and interesting - a kind of apprentice system was put in place and that makes sense. You talked about feedback happening during the filming. I wondered if there was any feedback after that - from the viewing of the video and if the group had sessions that reviewed what as done.
The last question I have for you, production-wise, is how the video is indexed/archived so spots in it can be found readily. Was that work done by your team or by somebody else?
It sounds like a cool job for a student to get. How did you find it?
That sounds like a really cool job/club. The apprenticeship system seems like a really good idea, because it makes sure that you have training that is specific to the system that U of I has. The dual authority seems like it could get confusing though. Are your bosses in the same position and doing the exact same things? Because that sounds like it could become difficult to do if they don't communicate really well or want to do different things with the program.
ReplyDeleteBoth my bosses are full time employees for the football team. I am unsure if my bosses report to a middle manager, but I assume Lovie Smith is the head boss for every one. Also, there is a kind of feedback where you can watch your own film and get it critiqued by the boss. This way you can see how your film looks and can know how to improve it. Indexing the video is done by my boss. The video is split up into sessions of certain types of training. For example, there is a team 1 session, special teams, etc. From there it is divided up so they can access by day. I found the job through one of my friends who works for the video team. He was kind enough to hook me up with a job.
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