University of North Carolina Athletics
Mick: Making the (Entrance) Video
August 20, 2003 | Football
Aug. 20, 2003
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The following is a story from the September issue of the magazine.
By Mick Mixon
It is just after 8 pm on Saturday, August 30th and the sellout, opening night crowd at Kenan Stadium is alive with anticipation. To the beat of their well-known war chant up towards the old field house end of the stadium, the gifted and flashy Florida State Seminoles stream out of the locker room. Still the bullies of the ACC schoolyard despite a 9-5 record last year, an aging head coach, and a series of nasty off-season controversies, the Noles don't run onto the field as much as they swagger onto it, and many of their players parade about holding their gold Seminole helmets aloft in football's sign of absolute confidence.
The visitors are in the arena. Now it is the Tar Heels' turn.
Suddenly, on Carolina's massive new video board at the south end of the stadium, a giant, full color, interlocking NC logo appears, floating among white, billowy clouds. Then, in between chimes from a powerful bell, Charles Kuralt's famous ode to the University begins.
"What is it that binds us to this place as to no other? It is not the well or the bell or the stone walls or the crisp October nights or the coming of dogwoods blooming," he commands, as images of those campus landmarks are layered in over the logo.
"No, our love for this place is based on the fact that it is as it was meant to be...the University of the people." On the third ring of the bell, fast paced music begins. Carolina's entrance production is underway.
VIDEO: The UNC logo in the clouds morphs into a 3-D football, which begins traveling towards earth and a blue outline of the state of North Carolina. The football lands in the Blue Ridge mountains. Footage of Charlie Justice is layered over the mountains as the ball flies through.
AUDIO: Andy Griffith, "They would run at one another and kick one another and throw one another down..."
VIDEO: The football flies to the North Carolina coast where we see Don McCauley footage superimposed over a lighthouse. The ball takes us by the Morehead Planetarium, the Smith Center, the Old Well, the Bell Tower, Franklin Street and then into Kenan Stadium as we see highlights of great plays in Carolina football history.
AUDIO: Woody Durham's radio calls of the great plays, football natural sounds, and some inspirational words from John Bunting.
VIDEO: The 3-D football flies at field level into the new locker room doors, then the ball explodes in a bright blue flame, and BOOM! Out come the Tar Heels!
Do you have chill bumps yet? You will when you see the finished product. Carolina's new entrance video blends traditional UNC images and sound with Tar Heel football past and present into about 90 elegant seconds of state of the art sparkle.
"A lot of schools over use their video boards," said Norwood Teague, Associate Athletics Director for Marketing and Promotions. "We don't want to be like that. We don't want it to be cheesy. Our entrance video, where fans will travel through time, through the state and through the University into Kenan Stadium, will have something for everybody. I think our fans will really like it."
Mike Gelfond at Creative Digital Group out of Atlanta, Georgia is producing the video.
"It has really been a collaborative effort," Gelfond said. "The athletic department, Chris Allen and the others over at the football office, and Norwood's people all have had tremendous input and great ideas. They said, 'No cartoon animation like a lot of stadiums use. Give us something that will get the players excited. Give us something that will get recruits and fans excited.' So that's what we have tried to do. This isn't a clone of what some other school is already doing. As far as we know, this will be the first entrance video of its kind in the country."
"Going with Mike's group for this project was a natural," Teague said. "They had done a lot of work for football and for The Heavner Theatre in the Kenan Field House and what they do is some of the best work we've ever seen. Plus, they know us. We know them. And we didn't have to educate them as to what we're all about at Carolina."
Teague wants the video board to enhance the stadium experience, not detract from it.
"We'll be careful not to make it loud and blaring," he said. "Our board will reflect the university's mission and the way Carolina people think and want things presented. During the game we'll drop a few neat things in. I saw one the other day that is a 'Stop 'Em, Heels' graphic. We've got a 'Touchdown, Carolina' one that is about ten seconds for when we score. I can't wait for our fans to see what we've done."
Last year, when the video board's installation was delayed, running backs coach Andre Powell tried to put a positive spin on playing home games in 2002 without it.
"I've never seen a video board yet ever tackle anybody," he said.
He was correct of course, but Mike Gelfond has high hopes that his entrance piece will be a difference maker.
"We're so excited to be part of establishing a new tradition at Carolina," Gelfond said. "But the real measure of success from our standpoint is if we at Creative Digital Group can produce a video that gives those players and those fans that extra charge they need to maybe make a big play early in the game! If we can do that, we've done our jobs."
