In High-Tech Landscape, ECU Football Video Staff Thrives With Service
August 17, 2017 | Football
By Joe Corley
ECUPirates.com
In a windowless room on the third floor of the Ward Sports Medicine Building resides a small but essential part of the East Carolina football program.
The coaching staff doesn't meet there, nor do the players. The room features a computer server and plenty of high-tech equipment, all under the command of Addison Harvey. He leads a small army of student assistants charged with all aspects of video for the Pirates, from recording practices and games to providing video production for things such as recruiting and social media.
During the busy season, which runs from August to December, Harvey often puts in 12-hour days or longer. Harvey is in his 11th season with ECU, having started as a student assistant and risen through the ranks to his current position as coordinator of football video, which he began just this month.
Harvey, who earned both bachelor's (2011) and master's (2014) degrees from ECU, has seen the video field evolve during his time with the Pirates.
"Technology is always changing, so you always have to be willing to adapt and do things to be more efficient," he said. "When I started as a student we were still using cassette tapes, and now we're using SD cards. We've transitioned from standard definition video to high definition."
The primary goal during football season, whether it's a practice or a game, is to have all the video edited properly and loaded onto each coach's computer as quickly as possible so that the coaches have immediate access to it as soon as they walk off the field. Doing so requires a delicate choreography.
"We have 11 students right now and we shoot seven different camera angles at practice, pretty much on an everyday basis," Harvey said. "Every time the team is practicing, we're here, ready to shoot it so that the coaches can get all the angles they want and get a better look at what went on at practice every day so they can prepare for the games."
Video, of course, is a vital tool for the coaches. That ability to walk off the field and have ready access is appreciated.
"Addison probably gets pulled in so many directions from our coaches and me," head coach Scottie Montgomery said. "I get all that video put on my hard drive, and it goes home with me. And he gets it done in no time whatsoever. It's very critical because we have a practice script that he has to be on every single day.
"We never have a problem with our videotape, knock on wood. He just does a really, really good job with our film and communicating with our coaches."
Harvey has proven himself to be up for any challenge Montgomery may present.
"Some of the things I ask for are sometimes a little bit off the wall," Montgomery said. "For a quick example, I told him I wanted the 20 closest-played football games from last season. I told him about 8 o'clock in the morning. I was figuring I could get them by 6 o'clock that night, but by 11 a.m. he had loaded them all onto my hard drive, without sound, commercials cut out. I wanted to see it from the way the coaches called the game. He put it together exactly the way we wanted. It also gives me practice, and I have the ability to practice in games without actually being in games, and I couldn't do that without him."
On a typical day at this time of the year, Harvey is in the office by about 7:30 a.m. He gets a schedule from the offensive staff, the defensive staff and the special teams coordinator, and he meshes those into one schedule for the student assistants so that they know what they're filming, during what period and at what time.
The student assistants show up about an hour before practice is to begin. They pack their bags and get their SD cards, their camera and their tripod. Then they head out to man their position on the practice field.
"For the most part I try to keep them in their same spots so they can get used to it, but they do have the ability to rotate around and do different things," Harvey said.
The video staff utilizes four lifts and one stationary tower. Harvey will make sure everyone is where they need to be and knows what they're doing. At some point about one-third of the way through practice, he and two students will head inside to start uploading video, gathering SD cards along the way. Periodically, the camera operators will literally drop an SD card from their lift to another assistant, who runs them inside.
"What we shoot for is to have the video uploaded and pushed to the coaches by the time they come off the field," Harvey said. "Everything except that last period should be ready for them to watch immediately, and then we get that last period probably 10 or 15 minutes after that. They're ready to go as a staff and break it down."
"We have anywhere from seven to 10 people filming every location, and to be able to have all those cameras organized so that by the time we have showers, they're up and loaded, it takes an army to do that, but it also takes a great leader," Montgomery said. "He's always on time, and that's the biggest deal. On this field, you have to be punctual because the drills start when the clock starts and that camera had better be rolling."
For the editing process, ECU uses DVSport, which is a football-specific digital video editing and data analysis software. According to Harvey, most if not all schools in Division I FBS use either that or its competitor, XOS Digital.
In a rapidly evolving field, Harvey said some schools have even begun to use virtual reality. With the NCAA mandate that players can be with the coaches only 20 hours per week, virtual reality has the potential to enable the players to go into a meeting room, put on the virtual reality gear and actually see things such as coverage and alignments simply by turning their heads.
Aside from videotaping ECU's games and practices, Harvey also in in charge of securing opponent scouting video and providing video to those same opponents.
"Within a couple of minutes after our game is over, our coaches can watch our game," he said. "And then I immediately start downloading our next opponent's games because once our game is over, we roll right into the next opponent."
If the name Harvey sounds familiar to ECU fans, it should. Harvey's younger brother, Warren, is the Pirates' all-time leading scorer. Warren, a kicker, finished his career at East Carolina in 2014 with 300 points and has three of the program's top-10 seasons for scoring. Addison, who is three years older, was there to record all of them.
"It was honestly one of the coolest experiences that we'll both ever have," Addison said. "We're both from Greenville, born and raised. We grew up in the neighborhood right by the stadium. So really, it was a dream come true for both of us to have that time. It was a special experience, a good time for us to bond."
ECUPirates.com
In a windowless room on the third floor of the Ward Sports Medicine Building resides a small but essential part of the East Carolina football program.
The coaching staff doesn't meet there, nor do the players. The room features a computer server and plenty of high-tech equipment, all under the command of Addison Harvey. He leads a small army of student assistants charged with all aspects of video for the Pirates, from recording practices and games to providing video production for things such as recruiting and social media.
During the busy season, which runs from August to December, Harvey often puts in 12-hour days or longer. Harvey is in his 11th season with ECU, having started as a student assistant and risen through the ranks to his current position as coordinator of football video, which he began just this month.
Harvey, who earned both bachelor's (2011) and master's (2014) degrees from ECU, has seen the video field evolve during his time with the Pirates.
"Technology is always changing, so you always have to be willing to adapt and do things to be more efficient," he said. "When I started as a student we were still using cassette tapes, and now we're using SD cards. We've transitioned from standard definition video to high definition."
The primary goal during football season, whether it's a practice or a game, is to have all the video edited properly and loaded onto each coach's computer as quickly as possible so that the coaches have immediate access to it as soon as they walk off the field. Doing so requires a delicate choreography.
"We have 11 students right now and we shoot seven different camera angles at practice, pretty much on an everyday basis," Harvey said. "Every time the team is practicing, we're here, ready to shoot it so that the coaches can get all the angles they want and get a better look at what went on at practice every day so they can prepare for the games."
Video, of course, is a vital tool for the coaches. That ability to walk off the field and have ready access is appreciated.
"Addison probably gets pulled in so many directions from our coaches and me," head coach Scottie Montgomery said. "I get all that video put on my hard drive, and it goes home with me. And he gets it done in no time whatsoever. It's very critical because we have a practice script that he has to be on every single day.
"We never have a problem with our videotape, knock on wood. He just does a really, really good job with our film and communicating with our coaches."
Harvey has proven himself to be up for any challenge Montgomery may present.
"Some of the things I ask for are sometimes a little bit off the wall," Montgomery said. "For a quick example, I told him I wanted the 20 closest-played football games from last season. I told him about 8 o'clock in the morning. I was figuring I could get them by 6 o'clock that night, but by 11 a.m. he had loaded them all onto my hard drive, without sound, commercials cut out. I wanted to see it from the way the coaches called the game. He put it together exactly the way we wanted. It also gives me practice, and I have the ability to practice in games without actually being in games, and I couldn't do that without him."
On a typical day at this time of the year, Harvey is in the office by about 7:30 a.m. He gets a schedule from the offensive staff, the defensive staff and the special teams coordinator, and he meshes those into one schedule for the student assistants so that they know what they're filming, during what period and at what time.
The student assistants show up about an hour before practice is to begin. They pack their bags and get their SD cards, their camera and their tripod. Then they head out to man their position on the practice field.
"For the most part I try to keep them in their same spots so they can get used to it, but they do have the ability to rotate around and do different things," Harvey said.
The video staff utilizes four lifts and one stationary tower. Harvey will make sure everyone is where they need to be and knows what they're doing. At some point about one-third of the way through practice, he and two students will head inside to start uploading video, gathering SD cards along the way. Periodically, the camera operators will literally drop an SD card from their lift to another assistant, who runs them inside.
"What we shoot for is to have the video uploaded and pushed to the coaches by the time they come off the field," Harvey said. "Everything except that last period should be ready for them to watch immediately, and then we get that last period probably 10 or 15 minutes after that. They're ready to go as a staff and break it down."
"We have anywhere from seven to 10 people filming every location, and to be able to have all those cameras organized so that by the time we have showers, they're up and loaded, it takes an army to do that, but it also takes a great leader," Montgomery said. "He's always on time, and that's the biggest deal. On this field, you have to be punctual because the drills start when the clock starts and that camera had better be rolling."
For the editing process, ECU uses DVSport, which is a football-specific digital video editing and data analysis software. According to Harvey, most if not all schools in Division I FBS use either that or its competitor, XOS Digital.
In a rapidly evolving field, Harvey said some schools have even begun to use virtual reality. With the NCAA mandate that players can be with the coaches only 20 hours per week, virtual reality has the potential to enable the players to go into a meeting room, put on the virtual reality gear and actually see things such as coverage and alignments simply by turning their heads.
Aside from videotaping ECU's games and practices, Harvey also in in charge of securing opponent scouting video and providing video to those same opponents.
"Within a couple of minutes after our game is over, our coaches can watch our game," he said. "And then I immediately start downloading our next opponent's games because once our game is over, we roll right into the next opponent."
If the name Harvey sounds familiar to ECU fans, it should. Harvey's younger brother, Warren, is the Pirates' all-time leading scorer. Warren, a kicker, finished his career at East Carolina in 2014 with 300 points and has three of the program's top-10 seasons for scoring. Addison, who is three years older, was there to record all of them.
"It was honestly one of the coolest experiences that we'll both ever have," Addison said. "We're both from Greenville, born and raised. We grew up in the neighborhood right by the stadium. So really, it was a dream come true for both of us to have that time. It was a special experience, a good time for us to bond."
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