Masters of Media

Media

The University of Tennessee’s sports media department is one of the best at producing jaw-dropping content, for every sport, that fans will eat up.

From the big money sports of basketball and football, to the niche sports of track and tennis, a Vol fan will never run out of quality content.

Most of the sports interconnect with one another in the way they use their media content.

Take for example this nationally praised hype video for the upcoming UT basketball season, that made its debut on a jumbotron in front of 100,000 football fans.

This video was the talk of all the towns when it was released, and left most of those who watched it with goosebumps… even if they were not UT fans.

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The Camerawoman Extraordinaire

Camerawork

The field of camera operators is typically dominated by men– hence the title “cameraman,” yet Zari Malbacias stands above as not only the sole female cam op for VFL FILMS, but perhaps the best to run the position.

Zari Malbacias runs her pitcher/batter iso camera for a softball matchup. Although this is not her normal assignment, she still enjoys broadcasting the game.
A viewer at home will only see a creative masterpiece of clean moves, but in reality most of a camera operator’s time is spent on the move.

Running a camera for any sport is highly intense and demanding. A typical operator, such as Malbacias, will spend five hours before the game even starts setting up and studying the key topics and players. Once in-game, an operator must fight through the noise of the game and director to stick to the assignments, but also add a personal creative touch to each shot. Malbacias excels at this and is highly doted upon by every director who enters the VFL FILMS control room.

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The Director’s Chair

In the Studio

The director’s video board may seem like a chaotic jumble of screens, but in reality it is a meticulously organized overview of an entire broadcast.

To understand all of the facets of a typical sports production, one should first see the viewpoint from the director’s chair. Here, in the chair, the director can see every inch of the game and decides what the audience is able to view.


Every row of crew-members is organized by division: Executive, Graphics, and Replay.

Countless voices from every crew-member are ringing in his head and to an untrained ear, it resembles the sound of a beehive in a hailstorm.

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