Weekly Log 1 & 2 

April 25 – May 8

There were no games from April 25th through the 28th, but my typical work day on non-game days goes from around 10am until about 4pm.  April 29th-May 5th was a long 7-game homestand, which included working late on a Saturday and Sunday. During night games I work from 10am until around 10-11pm, depending on how long the games last. Day games I work 9am until around 6pm.

There is a lot of prep work that goes into the day, leading up to the game. A lot of attention to detail is a must. I prepare a variety of a graphics and videos that are used on the videoboard during the games. I mainly use Adobe Photoshop for the graphics and Adobe Premiere and After Effects for the videos I produce.

I also have to write up multiple scripts daily. We use TSE Game Time Pro for our in game script. I am in charge of updating scripts that relate to the video department. Script writing for me includes Fireman of the Game, Web Gems, Chucksters Upcoming Events, BCC Alumni Report, Lourdes Injury Report, and more.  I must make sure that the videos I make match the script, so that when the PA announcer reads them it matches up with the videos.

Each game we have three trivia questions that a fan in the stands tries to answer. I am in charge of making up the questions and preparing them as a graphic in Photoshop.

I had to climb a ladder and put up six projectors in the concourse that show our program feed in the concourse as well. After each long homestand, I have to take them down then put them back up before the team comes back into town. My supervisor has me clean them after I take them down. Also, it prevents them from being pressure washed since they aren’t covered.

I have had a chance to do three video shoots too. The first one was where my supervisor and I went to the bowling alley so he could film me throwing strikes. He needed video of the ball hitting the pins and knocking them all down so we could make our “K Count” videos. Every time a B-Met starting pitcher strikes out an opposing batter, we play the “K Count” video on the board.

The second video shoot was where me and three other employees filmed for our “Great Speidie Race”. We went to several locations and filmed each other running around in mascot uniforms, “racing” each other. There are three versions of the Spiedie Race that we came up with and one of the three are played during each game.

The third video shoot, I had to get into the “Ballwinkle” mascot while my supervisor filmed me holding an autographed ball, and then a Wegmans birthday cake. We needed footage for a birthday drops video that I was making.

Before each new visiting team comes into town I need to make sure all player headshots are cut out and ready to go. It’s a very time consuming and tedious task. I also need to make theme night headshots during promotional/tribute nights. For instance, so far I have made “Go Green”, “Cinco de Mayo”, “Weird Beard”, and “Three Musketeers” headshots.  Also, for theme nights, we capture clips from movies that we play during games in between innings on the videoboard, time permitting.

So far I have done a lot more than I anticipated before the internship began, but it’s a good thing though because I am gaining a lot of experience and knowledge.

As for during games, I have been able to man three different positions. The first one is the “Venus” computer. The Venus operator controls putting up player headshots and stats on the videoboard, as well as sponsor overlays and various other overlays.

Then, there is the “Elvis” computer. The Elvis operator mostly controls the videos that are played on the videoboard.

The third position I have done was Technical Director, the hardest of the three positions. So far I have technical directed three games. As Technical Director, I was in charge of telling the camera guys what to shoot and when to shoot. TD also switches between cameras and “Elvis” videos using a switcher. It was very difficult at first but I started getting the hang of it after an inning or two.

The beginning of the season is more hectic because of all the prepping that needs to be done. Things have slowed down a bit as the season moves on, but it’s still pretty fast paced.

I should get some good down time though fairly soon, as the Mets are out of town from May 12th-19^th.

Weekly Log 3 & 4 (May 9 – May 22)

We had a quick 3-game homestand from the 9^th until the 11^th, against the New Britain Rock Cats.

May 9^th was “Markdown Monday”, which is where fans can buy select items and tickets at 1992. This is all because the Binghamton Mets are celebrating the 20^th season in Binghamton, with 1992 being their inaugural year.

Everything during the games has been going more smoothly as the other intern and I are becoming more and more familiar with the computers, equipment, and programs we use.

Something I forgot to mention in my last log was post-game duties. After the game finishes, myself or the other intern has to open Adobe Premiere and start capturing highlights from the game. This is so we can build a highlight video that gets posted on YouTube for every game. The other intern and I take turns capturing highlights and building the video for each respective game. It takes about an hour to an hour and a half to complete the process, depending on how many good plays there were throughout the course of the game.

Whoever isn’t doing highlights that night is responsible to go down to the concourse and turn off all the projectors that show the live program feed during the game.

May 10^th was “Weird Beard” night (tribute to Zach Galifinakis), so the beard headshots that I spoke about making in the last log, I was able to use. We also captured some clips from “The Hangover” and we showed them on the video board. It was quite difficult because the movie has a lot of cursing but we managed to find some good/usable/funny clips.

May 11^th was “Three’s Company Night”, tribute to the old tv show. Every Wednesday is the triple play deal. Get a ticket, hot dog and soda for $6. So, whenever we have a game on a Wednesday there will be some sort of “three” theme. Our previous two Wednesday’s were Three Musketeers Night and Three Amigos Night.

May 12^th I worked from 11am-3pm. It was nice to get some down time because of all the hours I had been putting in. I worked on headshots for the next team that came in, the Harrisburg Senators. Also, I worked on some trivia questions for the coming homestand.

May 13^th  I worked from 10am-2pm. I worked on headshots for the Altoona Curve and a graphic in Photoshop for the Bridge Run (half marathon that ended at NYSEG Stadium) that was on Sunday the 15^th. I also took down all 6 projectors and cleaned them off.

May 15^th (Sunday) -  I had to be to the stadium at 7am to work the Bridge Run. It was a half marathon and a 5K that both ended at NYSEG Stadium. I had to film contestants crossing the finish line, and it was displayed on the videoboard. It was raining during the first hour so I had to take cover, but the weather cleared up about halfway through the race. After the races were done, I sat in the stands and filmed the award ceremony, which was also displayed on the videoboard. I finished the day around noon. The General Manager gave me $25 in Tully’s gift certificates for coming in so early on a Sunday, which was nice of him.

May 17^th (Tuesday 11am-3:30pm) – It was the first day for our new intern so I was helping train her. I showed her how to make NBT Player Profiles on Adobe Premiere.

May 18^th (Wednesday 11am-3:30pm) – helped train the new intern some more, making headshots and other graphics on Adobe Photoshop. Searched through different video storage databases to find fan clips and compiled some of those clips into a 2-minute fan video in Adobe Premiere for the GM for a presentation he has to make.

May 19^th (Thursday 11am-3:45pm) – did cut outs for pitcher action shots, and then made the action shots for the videoboard.

May 20th (Friday 10am-8pm) We prepped all day from 10am on for the game, which was supposed to start at 7:05 but it was cancelled at 8:05 due to rain/bad field conditions.

May 21^st (Saturday) There was a game at 12:35 but I had the day off due to graduation ceremony.

May 22^nd (Sunday 9am-5:30pm) Prepped for the game until around noon. Then we had our normal pre-game production meeting. During the game I had a new position. I was on the replay decks position. It’s fairly easy and simple. I just had to mark each pitch on the replay decks by hitting 2 buttons. Whenever a good play happened I had to write it down and describe what happened and at what number mark on the decks it was.

After the game there was a drumline competition that 6 different high schools competed in. We played it on the videoboard. When they finished I went through and captured highlights from the game and then worked on the highlight video.

I will have a little downtime until Friday because that’s when our next game is. It will be very hectic once Friday comes though because it’s a long homestand that goes from May 27^th until June 2^nd.

Weekly Log 5 & 6

May 23 – June 5

I forgot to mention in my last logs that we had a Binghamton Mets Charity Bowling tournament on Sunday, May 22^nd. The fans had a chance to meet players and bowl with them. My supervisor had me filming some of the players bowling and I did a couple player interviews, asking them about the tournament.

May 23^rd (Monday 11am-4pm):

I worked on updating new headshots for the Altoona Curve, which is the next team that the Mets played. They changed their logos so the headshots I created for them previously had to be re-done. I also worked on updating some graphics for the left field message center.

May 24th (Tuesday 11am-4pm):

I worked on headshots for “Boy Scout” night which was on Friday, May 27^th. I just changed the players’ hats to a Boy Scout hat and switched up the background.

I loaded all the new Altoona headshots and B-Mets Boy Scout headshots into our “Venus” computer so they were ready to go for the first game of the homestand, that way we didn’t need to do it last minute. There always seems to be things popping up on game days, so the more we get done during the “off” days the better.

May 25^th (Wednesday 11am-3:30pm):

I worked on updating some sponsor and trivia graphics. Then, I helped one of the other interns with the “generic” moving headshots using Adobe After Effects. I’ve been responsible for training her on most of the things that we do. After that I had to load some instrumental music tracks our music computer and pick out the best ones. They will be used as fillers after player introductions are made, when we are waiting for the pitcher.

May 26^th (Thursday 11am-3:30pm)

I worked on updating the new Hampshire Fisher Cats headshots because they changed their logos. We had the wrong ones the last time we played them but no one made us aware that they had new graphics. I also updated a couple pregame matchup graphics for the left field message center. I started getting everything loaded into our “Elvis” and “Venus” computers to get a head start before the homestand started, because I knew things would be hectic having seven games in a row.

May 27^th (Friday 11am-10:30pm)

We kicked off our long 7-game homestand on this day. I was supposed to be in at 10am but the power was out from the Thunderstorms we had here the previous night. They had it up and running within an hour.

Most of our prep work for the game was done during the previous 4 days. All we had to do was work on updating our daily sponsor graphics and videos. As for the game, everything went ok. The videoboard was having some problems late in the game but after the game we powered everything down and back on and that fixed the problem luckily. During the game we had a rain delay and they decided to suspend the game in the 7^th inning, playing the final three innings the next day.

May 28^th (Saturday 11:30am-10:30pm)

May 29^th (Sunday 10am-10pm)

Prep work was the same as usual. During the game I was back on replay. It’s the easiest of the 4 positions I’ve worked so far but I find it to be fun and interesting. Also, it makes it easier when I am capturing the highlights because I know what happened and what to capture since I was the replay person.

May 30^th (Monday 9am-4pm)

It was a day game so I had to be in at 9am. Normally Sundays are day games and Mondays are night games but since it was Memorial Day they just flip flopped the two. Day games are a little more hectic because the amount of prep time for daily sponsor stuff is drastically reduced. We managed to get everything done on time despite that though. The game went pretty well and I was able to get out by 4pm which was nice, especially since it was a holiday.

May 31^st (Tuesday 10am-10pm)

We had a new team come into town for this game, and the next two. So we had to make sure we changed the headshots from the previous team (Altoona Curve), to the new team’s (Erie SeaWolves). It was also “Wing Fest/Tavern Night” so we had to do up a few graphics for that. We had a doubleheader that day, due to a rainout from earlier in the season. During the first game, I was on the “Venus” computer. Our newest intern was shadowing me so she could learn the position since she had never done it before. I continued on it in the second game for one inning and then let her take over. She did pretty well for it being her first time on Venus.

June 1^st (Wednesday 10am-11:30pm)

It was our Three Stooges Night so I captured some clips from the TV series Three Stooges so we could use them during the game. Also, I had a chance to do another media day like we did before the season started. We just filmed some of the newer players doing some action shots and answering some questions so that we can make some new player videos/profiles.

Everything went good in the game. I did highlights that night, and we also had to prep for the next day’s game since it was a 10:35am start time. We got as much done as we could besides the daily graphic sponsor changes.

June 2^nd (Thursday 8am-1:45pm)

It was Baseball in Education day so there were a lot of young children at the game. It was a good day for video and graphics as the kids loved the fan prompts we were using on the videoboard.

June 3^rd (Friday 11am-3:30pm)

I updated our newer players’ headshots that we shot during the Media day on Wednesday the 1^st. That pretty much took up my whole day. I worked 18 out the past 19 days… Having fun though!

June 4^th (Saturday - Day Off)

I worked 18 out of the previous 19 days, so it was nice to get some R&R.

Weekly Log 7 & 8

June 6 – 19

June 6th (Monday 11am-3:15pm):

I did an NBT player profile (Brandon Sage), since we had the new footage from the second media day shoot I was a part of last week. That took me about 2 hours to complete. Then, Jon wanted us to do a video shoot for our “Where’s Waldo?” night. We basically just shot footage of Waldo in the ticket line while our mascots ran by. The fans who guessed where Waldo was the most correct amount of times won some prizes. I finished loading the Harrisburg Senators headshots into the “Venus” computer as well.

June 7-9 (Tuesday-Thursday 10am-11pm)

We had a quick 3-game homestand against the Harrisburg Senators. Everything went good during the games. Things have been running smoother since we have a full video staff, and the newest intern is fully trained on each position.

Thursday’s game was another Baseball in Education day, which meant the game started at 10:35am again. We basically prepped everything for that game the night before, so we didn’t have much to do once we got in at 8am. I captured highlights that day but couldn’t finish the highlight reel because of bad lightning, so we had to power down all the equipment early.

June 13^th (Monday 11am-2pm)

I was the only person at work that day. My supervisor took the day off and the other two interns weren’t there either. So, it was a light day and I was able to get a few things done for the next homestand we had.

June 14^th (Tuesday 11am-3pm)

I worked on changing our sponsor graphics. Subway sponsored our series with the Trenton Thunder because it was the “Subway Series North” (Double-A Mets vs. Double-A Yankees). So, I had to make a new graphic for that. I also made some “Irish” headshots for “Irish Night” which is coming up soon..

June 16^th (Thursday 11am-3pm)

I checked our roster to make sure we were good to go for headshots. There was a new player on the roster, so I made a regular stats headshot for him. I also made him an “Irish” one too. After that I loaded the Irish headshots and the Trenton Thunder’s stats (batters) and closer look (pitching) headshots into our Venus computer. Then, I went over some resumes because my boss is looking for new camera operators. I also made another new sponsor graphic for the coming weekend’s homestand.

June 17th (Friday 11am-10:30pm)

I helped prep everything for the game as usual. It was the first game of the Subway Series North verse the Trenton Thunder. It was also our “Irish Night”. We used the “Irish” headshots for the game that I had previously made. I’ve been making more sponsor graphics for our at bat ad spots. I’ve also been helping my supervisor by browsing over resumes. He is looking to hire another camera operator or two.

During the game I was on the “Venus” computer, everything went smoothly. We had fireworks after the game as well.

June 18th (Saturday 11:30-10:30pm)

I worked on the usual pre-game prep until 4pm. I went through and made sure the original headshots were put into place. I responded to more questions from camera operator applicants and set up times for them to come in to interview.

Weekly Log 9 & 10

June 20 – July 3

June 20^th (Monday 11am-3pm)

There wasn’t a game that day but we had to go in for a few hours to get things ready for the upcoming series which started the next day. It was a nice to have a short day because of how there were games 6 out of the 7 days from the 17^th to the 23^rd. The other two video interns and myself have also been going in at 11:30am now on game days, compared to 10am which is what it used to be. So as the season moves on, the work load has decreased some for us.

June 21st-23^rd (Tuesday-Thursday)

It’s becoming increasingly difficult to write logs since most of what I do is nearly the same thing during every game. I’ve been trying to come up with something different to write about whenever possible though.

We’ve had plenty of time to prep most of our game day stuff on our downtime during the week when the team is on the road.

The 21st-23^rd was a quick 3-game homestand versus the Akron Aeros. Everything has been going pretty smooth during the games, and Jon has had all three of us interns rotating stations between Elvis, Venus and Replay. It’s nice not to do the same thing over and over each game. I hope to be able to film games in the near future, as I told him that is something I would like to do.

June 24^th-26^th

My supervisor gave all three of us video interns a 3-day weekend since he went out of town. It was nice to have a weekend off to just relax.

June 27^th-29th

I spent the whole three days making a new intro video. We had been showing the same one that my supervisor made before the season began, up to that point. So, he wanted one of us to make a new one. I was more than willing to do so. He wanted me to finish it before the long homestand started on June 30^th so I couldn’t make it with too many special effects but I did my best to make it as good as I could with the little amount of time that I spent on it. I worked on it at home as well.

June 30^th-July 3^rd

June 30^th was the start of 9-games in 8-days homestand which carried over until July 7^th.  As for the first four games, it was very tiring. We had Murder Mystery/Clue Night the first game, which all of us video interns filmed some segments (clues) for the game. We showed them at random point’s in-game for fans so they could try to solve the “murder case”.

There were also fireworks two out of the four games, which meant we had to stay even later. I’ll finish discussing the rest of the long 9-game homestand in my next log which goes from July 4^th until July 17^th.

Weekly Log 11 & 12

July 4^th – July 17^th

July 4^th (11:30am-10:30pm)

We had All-American Night that night, so we made some “All-American” headshots for the players. There was also a double grand finale showing of fireworks after the game.

It would be nice to have holidays off, but working in sports it doesn’t happen often. I am used to it though as I worked on holidays while I served in the Army.

July 5^th – July 6^th (11:30am-10:15pm)

Both games went well. Nothing unusual or different happened.

July 7^th (Thursday 9am-4:30pm & 6:30pm-8:30pm)

We had a day game at 1:05pm so we had to come in earlier to make sure everything was done on time. The game finished around 4:30.

Another intern and I had to be at a local restaurant (Little Venice) at 6:30 to film players serving dinner to fans who bid on them, starting at $25. The money went towards kids with heart conditions, “Mended Little Hearts”. Rather than having to sit at the ballpark all day, we got to do something different for a change.

July 11^th (Monday 11:30am-3pm)

It was a light day of work since the next game wasn’t until Thursday the 14^th. I worked on writing a new ground rules script for a video we are going to shoot. It is usually something he has his interns do each year before the season but this year we just didn’t have enough time. So now that we have a little down time he wants us to work on that when possible. I also made some new trivia questions for our Bobby K baseball trivia segment during the games.

July 12^th (Tuesday 11:30am-3:30pm)

We shot all of the video necessary for the ground rules that I wrote the script for the previous day. It was fun to get out of the office and do some camera work. We had scenes where we had to get into the mascot uniforms and it was over 90 degrees that day, so that was interesting. We all took turns though so it wasn’t too bad.

July 13^th (Wednesday 11:30am-3:30pm)

We started editing the video and putting everything together. It was a very long process but it was good experience for us to write a script, shoot the video and edit it. One of the other interns did the voiceover for it as well.

July 14^th (Thursday 11:30am-11:45pm)

This was a very long day for me. We had just started a 4-day, 5-game homestand against the New Hampshire Fisher Cats. There was a doubleheader this day and I also had to capture and make highlights that night, which is why I was there so late. It was Elvis night that night where they brought in an Elvis impersonator. We made “Elvis” headshots for the players that night too.

July 15^th – July 16^th (11:30am-10:30pm)

July 15^th was Reach for the Stars and Space night so we made up some “Space” headshots for that game. July 16^th was pretty much a normal game. Both games did have a firework showing.

July 17^th (9am-5pm)

It was a day game so I had to be in earlier than normal to get everything prepped by 11:30am, which is when our video meeting took place. I was supposed to be on “replay” that day but I swapped out with one of our camera men because he injured himself and needed to sit for the game. It was my first game of doing camera during a game. I liked it a lot despite the fact that it was 90+ degrees outside and I didn’t have sun screen.

We employ four cameras per game. Camera 1… which follows the ball, Camera 2… which follows the runners on base, Camera 3... Which is called “wireless cam”… is the roaming camera which follows around the buzz brigade and films all the on field promotions and any other promotions in the stands. Then, Camera 4 is our center field camera which is stationary. I was assigned to Camera 3 (Wireless) that day, so I got some good exercise in.

I had to do highlights after the game but I was out by a reasonable time because of it being a day game.

Weekly Log 13 & 14

July 18^th - 31^st

We only had 3 games during this time span, which was July 25-27 against the Portland Sea Dogs.  So there was a lot of down time during this two week span. We were able to prep most of the stuff that is needed for August, because there are 16 home games in August.

My typical day went from 11:30am-3pm each non-gameday.

There wasn’t much to do since we have been ahead on most of our graphic and video stuff already.

July 25^th (11:30am-10:30pm)

We had “Moustache Monday” that game, so we made some moustache headshots and loaded a couple movie clips that had moustache references. Also, the first 1000 fans received fake moustaches.

July 26^th (11:30am-10:30pm)

It was Motorsports night, so we came up with some Motorsports facts and made them into graphics to display on the videoboard pre-game and during the game.

July 27^th (11:30am-11:30pm)

It was 3-D night, so we made some “3-D” headshots for the players. The first 1000 fans received 3-D glasses to watch the fireworks with. I also had to do highlights that night.

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