I’m a writer for Keyframe. I sit in the basement and don’t always get the opportunity to make my way up the steps to the outside world during the work day. That’s why I jumped at the opportunity to help out our game-day staff at Augustana College in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, for the Vikings practice and scrimmage.

After showing up at their brand spankin’ new facility, I immediately wished my alma mater would own such an amazing field on which to play football. Pushing past my awe for the field, I headed up to the control room to see what the morning would bring. After a briefing of the control room itself and the equipment it harbors, I was the lucky one assigned to man the replay station. I felt like I drew the long straw.

I acclimated myself to creating marks – or playback time codes – in the live recording of video to return to for the replays. I learned how to switch between the camera’s that I could record from and quickly learned how to keep an eye on the developing play as seen from two different cameras – not an easy task. Seeing both camera angles, I knew which view of the replay would be better to put up on the display so that when the director called on me, I was ready. After a few plays and some practice, I got more and more comfortable with my responsibilities. Hearing the director say, “Stand by One. Camera One live. Stand by Three. Camera Three live,” soon became very familiar and almost second nature. Especially hearing, “Stand by Replay. Roll Replay.” Those were my cues. I took them in stride, loving every minute of it.

Before I knew it, I’d shown a replay of an interception, a field goal and a punt that bounced off the return man’s facemask. Then, practice was over. Time flew by and it hardly felt like work. I never really knew how fun it could be to see a football game from a control room perspective, and I agree with a fellow employee’s comment: “It was like seeing a football game for the first time.”

Take it from this humble control room servant when I say that event support is an amazing thing. If you ever get the chance to help out during a game-day production on any level, don’t pass it up. I was only recording replays during a college practice, but the experience felt like so much more.

(Post by Justin Ochsner)