How To Do Sports With an iPhone

Posted October 23, 2020

Share To

 

  TweetEmail

We have been working with TV news organizations for more than 30 years now, taking them into the world of MMJ (or VJ as we used to call it).

The biggest advance for us was the arrival of the smart phone or iPhone (my own personal preference).

Suddenly, everyone had a 4K camera in their pocket 24/7. along with an edit suite, music, graphics package and the ability to send the stuff home at any time.

But even with this, as is usual, there were a lot of questions.

One of the recurring questions revolved around sports reporting.

"How can I do sports coverage without a long lens?"

It is true that to cover the game, you need a great long lens.  You are not going to be able to shoow an NFL game or even a high school game with your iPhone - at least not yet.

But, as it turns out, there re enormous opporunities to create stories that incorporate both sports and intimate character stories, and to do them on an iPhone.

Nikki Kay has really pioneered this at Spectrum News 1 in LA, but last month, Adam Rossow particiapted in one of our 5-Day Intensive video bootcamps with Spectrum News 1. 

While local sports will always require game highlights and scores, those are fungible.  Every other station has exacly the same content.  What makes sports really interesting is the personal stories. 

As Roone Arledge used to say on ABC Wild World of Sports (for those older folks reading this):  Spanning the globe to bring you the constant variety of sports... the thrill of victory... and the agony of defeat... the human drama of athletic competition... This is "ABC's Wide World of Sports!"

The magazine Sports Illustrated long ago tapped into the intoxicating mix of personal stories and sports.

Now, with an iPhone, properly trained MMJs can do the same.

Here's Adam Rossow's story from bootcamp, all about high school sports,