1
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:10,760
Thanks for joining me on this episode of On The Jumbotron.

2
00:00:10,760 --> 00:00:16,000
Your VIP ticket that takes you behind the scenes into the world of game day entertainment.

3
00:00:16,000 --> 00:00:21,000
Get ready for interesting stories, creative tips, and laugh at the most unbelievable I

4
00:00:21,000 --> 00:00:25,080
kid you not moments from the experts who make it all happen.

5
00:00:25,080 --> 00:00:29,880
Today we're chatting with Jed Castro, Senior Associate Athletic Director at Virginia 
6
00:00:29,880 --> 00:00:34,480
Tech. He'll share some of HokieVision's funniest and most creative features,

7
00:00:34,480 --> 00:00:40,920
game day tips, and explain Virginia Tech's one-day vacation mantra. It's a great conversation,

8
00:00:40,920 --> 00:00:45,040
so sit back and enjoy this episode of On The Jumbotron.

9
00:00:45,040 --> 00:00:51,800
Hello and welcome. I am Chris Bullard and this is On The Jumbotron.

10
00:00:51,800 --> 00:00:59,680
Today's episode is like gonna be so so fun. One of my great great friends is with me. His name

11
00:00:59,680 --> 00:01:07,440
is Jed Castro, the man, the myth, the legend, Jed Castro. I'm gonna let him introduce himself

12
00:01:07,440 --> 00:01:13,560
a little bit. We used to work together at Virginia Tech and this guy has gone through

13
00:01:13,560 --> 00:01:19,480
so many changes at Virginia Tech, so many things that have happened for him, to him,

14
00:01:19,480 --> 00:01:24,320
and everything like that. It's just been awesome to see his progress and the things that he's

15
00:01:24,320 --> 00:01:30,080
done at Virginia Tech. So I'm gonna bring him in right now and here we go. Jed, are you there?

16
00:01:30,080 --> 00:01:36,320
I am here. What's going on my friend? You know, just trying to get to another day. You know how

17
00:01:36,320 --> 00:01:40,440
it is. I understand that. I understand that. It's good to see you. It's been a while. Yeah,

18
00:01:40,440 --> 00:01:46,560
it has been a while, but good to be here. I got excited about the name of the podcast. You know,

19
00:01:46,560 --> 00:01:50,240
it's a... I don't know a lot of things, but most of the stuff that I do know is,

20
00:01:50,240 --> 00:01:56,200
has to do with video boards and Jumbotron. So, you know, here I am. First things first,

21
00:01:56,200 --> 00:02:02,000
video board or Jumbotron? What do you call it? I say video board because here at Virginia Tech,

22
00:02:02,000 --> 00:02:09,120
Jumbotron is actually a proprietary name. It's Sony's. That's their product. So,

23
00:02:09,120 --> 00:02:14,840
yep, exactly. So we call it video board. Let's just leave it at that. Gotcha. Gotcha. Gotcha.

24
00:02:14,840 --> 00:02:20,320
So, how long you been at Virginia Tech? Let's go through that story right fast. So,

25
00:02:20,320 --> 00:02:27,320
I started working at Virginia Tech in 1999. So, that's, you know, well before many of your

26
00:02:27,320 --> 00:02:36,040
listeners and your viewers, but I took a little break in the early 2000s, moved to California

27
00:02:36,040 --> 00:02:43,400
for three years and came back. But so, I've been here for a while. And we, when I first started

28
00:02:43,400 --> 00:02:48,240
here, I was actually working in football coaches video and we didn't have a video board. We got

29
00:02:48,240 --> 00:02:56,960
one in 2000. And that first year, we didn't do our own production. And so, we've moved from that,

30
00:02:56,960 --> 00:03:01,560
you know, not having a video department, having that all come out of football coaches video to

31
00:03:01,560 --> 00:03:08,520
where we are now. Okay. Okay. And what do you do now? I mean, you, when I was there at Virginia Tech,

32
00:03:08,520 --> 00:03:17,560
I got there in 2013, left in I think around 2018. And when I was hired, you had one role. Yeah. Yeah.

33
00:03:17,560 --> 00:03:21,880
A year and a half later, you had another role. Yep. Yep. Two and a half years later, you had

34
00:03:21,880 --> 00:03:29,160
another role. And then by the time I left, you would interim director. Yeah. So, my official title

35
00:03:29,800 --> 00:03:36,520
right now is senior associate athletic director for product broadcast and productions.

36
00:03:36,520 --> 00:03:41,240
It's a mouthful. And that's why I stumbled over it. We need to put that on the jumble,

37
00:03:41,240 --> 00:03:45,480
Sean, so people can can actually read what that is, because that is a long title, my friend.

38
00:03:45,480 --> 00:03:50,040
Except we actually need a bigger board to fit that. You can't, you know, you got to

39
00:03:50,040 --> 00:03:58,920
abbreviate some of it. But so basically, I oversee our in venue productions and our ACC network

40
00:03:58,920 --> 00:04:03,720
productions. And when I say oversee it really when people ask me what I do, I tell them I go to

41
00:04:03,720 --> 00:04:12,760
meetings, I send emails. But because we have a pretty good big staff, and they do great work,

42
00:04:12,760 --> 00:04:19,560
and they do all of the actual work for our productions. And I'm just here to try to help

43
00:04:19,560 --> 00:04:24,760
them help their jobs be a little bit easier if I can video boards, jumble trunks have gone through

44
00:04:24,760 --> 00:04:33,560
so many changes over the years. I remember seeing one on a picture. And the video board was like so

45
00:04:33,560 --> 00:04:39,640
small at Virginia Tech. Yep. By the time I left, it was pretty much taken up the whole what South

46
00:04:39,640 --> 00:04:47,560
Enzo. Yeah. And it's ridiculous how video boards, jumble trunks, whatever you want to call them,

47
00:04:47,560 --> 00:04:55,720
have impacted game day. Let's let's talk about that. From where you started, well, just put enough

48
00:04:55,720 --> 00:05:03,960
the score to what it is now. I mean, when fans come to the game now, it's it's it's part of

49
00:05:04,520 --> 00:05:11,480
it's almost like it's part of the team. Absolutely. You know, a few years ago, our department here

50
00:05:11,480 --> 00:05:18,040
that was in charge of the jumbo tron, the video board was called big screens, because you know,

51
00:05:18,040 --> 00:05:24,040
was the big screen in every arena, not just football. And we changed our our department name

52
00:05:24,040 --> 00:05:30,760
a few years ago to in venue experience, because it is that the boards are so much part of the

53
00:05:31,240 --> 00:05:37,320
the game day experience for fans, whether it's, you know, I didn't I want to get another look at

54
00:05:37,320 --> 00:05:41,560
that play, I need instant replay, I'm in a bad seat, and I can only see what's happening if I

55
00:05:41,560 --> 00:05:46,840
watch it live. My kid wants to get on the video board or we're giving away free bacon if I dance,

56
00:05:46,840 --> 00:05:52,840
like our mission at Virginia Tech is to create memorable experiences. And when they come to a

57
00:05:52,840 --> 00:05:57,800
football game or a basketball game, we want to call we call it a one day vacation. From the moment

58
00:05:57,800 --> 00:06:03,560
they leave their house, the moment they get back, we want them to come back and say, man, what a

59
00:06:03,560 --> 00:06:09,160
great day. And then they go to school or to church, or to work in the next day. And they say, check

60
00:06:09,160 --> 00:06:16,280
out what I did. Or even what we talk about is, you know, hey, remember that game back in 18,

61
00:06:16,280 --> 00:06:21,480
where we went to Virginia Tech, and we did this and this and this and this. And so that's what,

62
00:06:21,480 --> 00:06:29,560
you know, to your point, the the video board is part of that experience. And you can look back,

63
00:06:29,560 --> 00:06:34,440
you know, like I said, when I started here, there wasn't a video board, it was just a score board.

64
00:06:35,320 --> 00:06:41,000
And then you put one up and really people look at that. Honestly, they're not used to it at first.

65
00:06:41,880 --> 00:06:46,040
They then they care about it for instant replay and not getting replays up there fast enough.

66
00:06:46,600 --> 00:06:55,560
And then it's, how come we don't have scores from other games. And, and now, I think, a few years

67
00:06:55,560 --> 00:07:00,200
ago, when I was traveling with football, we went to Notre Dame before they had built a video board.

68
00:07:00,200 --> 00:07:08,040
And every after every play, my head would go straight up to the corner of the end zone,

69
00:07:08,040 --> 00:07:13,240
where there was no video board. But I just instantly went back there going, that was definitely

70
00:07:13,240 --> 00:07:17,800
first down, or there's no way he caught that. Or how did that happen? What did the guy not

71
00:07:17,800 --> 00:07:22,760
miss a block? Or what was the deal there? So, and I think one of my favorite things about

72
00:07:22,760 --> 00:07:29,320
how video boards have changed the game is, I remember a few years ago, when there was a

73
00:07:30,280 --> 00:07:33,640
guy had a breakaway, we would kick off return, I think it was in the NFL.

74
00:07:34,440 --> 00:07:39,000
And you could tell he was looking at the video board as he was running down the field to see

75
00:07:39,000 --> 00:07:43,960
if someone was going to chase him down from behind. Yeah, yeah. And you can see guys do that now.

76
00:07:43,960 --> 00:07:48,520
I think it's either it's possible to see if there's somebody close to him or maybe just

77
00:07:48,520 --> 00:07:53,560
to see to see them see themselves maybe start celebration a little bit early if they can.

78
00:07:53,560 --> 00:07:58,600
And that's wild. I mean, I remember going to Notre Dame and looking up and that it not being a video

79
00:07:58,600 --> 00:08:05,800
board. Yeah. I'm like, how do they function? How, how does the team, how does the coach,

80
00:08:05,800 --> 00:08:13,320
you know, function without a video board? How do you entertain a crowd that size without a video

81
00:08:13,320 --> 00:08:18,360
board? I think they have one now, right? Yeah, definitely. Yeah. They put in, they put a really

82
00:08:18,360 --> 00:08:22,840
nice one in. It's funny that, you know, there was part of me that was thinking like, how do they,

83
00:08:22,840 --> 00:08:28,440
how do they have a game atmosphere without it? My one of my thoughts was also, man, how easy must

84
00:08:28,440 --> 00:08:35,960
their job be? Because they don't have one. Exactly. Now, Virginia Tech. I know there's one at

85
00:08:35,960 --> 00:08:45,960
football, basketball. Is there one at soccer now? Yeah. Yeah. There's one at soccer, baseball, softball.

86
00:08:47,080 --> 00:08:52,840
So our soccer stadium is also home to lacrosse. Our basketball arena is also home to volleyball

87
00:08:52,840 --> 00:09:00,280
and wrestling. And there is a board at swimming as well. But that is not, we don't put live video

88
00:09:00,280 --> 00:09:05,800
up at the swim, the aquatic center. It's mostly for stats and an intro video, which, you know,

89
00:09:05,800 --> 00:09:10,200
I know is something you want to get into. Yeah. But so with all those boards and, you know, we were,

90
00:09:10,200 --> 00:09:15,640
before we started recording, we just, we're just chatting saying, fans just come to the game.

91
00:09:16,600 --> 00:09:23,480
And, you know, just watch. Right. But they have no idea the amount of planning that they're

92
00:09:23,480 --> 00:09:30,920
doing. And, you know, just watch. Right. But they have no idea the amount of planning go go into

93
00:09:30,920 --> 00:09:37,000
that right fast. Yeah. Well, and, you know, the thing is, like I was saying, our job is to entertain

94
00:09:37,000 --> 00:09:41,320
them. So certainly they don't know what goes into it. And they shouldn't because they should come

95
00:09:41,320 --> 00:09:47,480
to a game and just enjoy themselves. But like, you know, for every sport, you have multiple

96
00:09:47,480 --> 00:09:53,080
boards or single boards, you have different sizes for each, each venue. And what you can do with

97
00:09:53,080 --> 00:10:01,960
each venue as well, like, you know, baseball's board is more tall and skinny, because, you know,

98
00:10:01,960 --> 00:10:07,240
you've got lineups that are coming up that you want to list them out there. But softball just

99
00:10:07,240 --> 00:10:15,320
got a new board that's, you know, and you've got things like aspect ratio and, you know, is it,

100
00:10:15,320 --> 00:10:20,840
you know, tall and thin? Is it, is it wide? What else can you put up there? But, you know, a lot of

101
00:10:20,840 --> 00:10:27,960
things we have to think about as graphics, starting lineups, instant replays, hype videos, intro videos,

102
00:10:29,960 --> 00:10:36,600
stats, out of town scores, what are you going to do when, if there's an injury on the field?

103
00:10:36,600 --> 00:10:44,200
What happens if we, you know, part of what you're, we deal with is what's the image on the, on the

104
00:10:44,200 --> 00:10:49,640
screen. But also we're working with our marketing teams to figure out what's the mood of the stadium,

105
00:10:49,640 --> 00:10:54,520
what is the energy in the stadium? Did we just give up a punt return or a block kick? How are

106
00:10:54,520 --> 00:10:59,480
we going to get the crowd back into it? So, yeah, there's all kinds of things. And you've got,

107
00:11:00,520 --> 00:11:06,760
you've got content day shoots that are planned months in advance. A lot of times you get one day

108
00:11:06,760 --> 00:11:13,640
with the team. And it's a long season. I know in the pros, they get multiple content days. They do

109
00:11:13,640 --> 00:11:19,640
one, because the basketball NBA season is very long. So if you're shooting a video and you ask a guy

110
00:11:19,640 --> 00:11:26,280
about some TikTok trend on, you know, July 31st, well, by December 1st, that's not a TikTok trend

111
00:11:26,280 --> 00:11:31,560
anymore. And you don't want to play that video. So that, that I think is an advantage that you have

112
00:11:31,560 --> 00:11:37,640
in the pros and that you have more access to the team. So in college, you got to be good about

113
00:11:37,640 --> 00:11:43,800
planning ahead and thinking about how many games you have and what you want to play. And, you know,

114
00:11:43,800 --> 00:11:48,440
in what scenario you're going to use what certain video and, you know, it's hard when you have people

115
00:11:48,440 --> 00:11:55,320
that put a lot of time into doing a certain video. And then, you know, it's a defensive video.

116
00:11:56,040 --> 00:12:01,640
We end up scoring three touchdowns on offense and two on special teams. And now you don't want to

117
00:12:01,640 --> 00:12:04,920
play that video because it looks like you're rubbing it in the face of the other team because

118
00:12:04,920 --> 00:12:13,560
you're up for a touchdown. So, you know, it's, it's, it's a lot and it's, it's very intricate and it

119
00:12:13,560 --> 00:12:18,520
takes a lot of work by a lot of different teams. I remember making a video, spending all week

120
00:12:18,520 --> 00:12:23,640
making it and it didn't even air. I don't think I've ever felt anything like it, feeling everyone

121
00:12:23,640 --> 00:12:30,840
in the stadium just jumping in unison and having that atmosphere and that unity between everyone.

122
00:12:30,840 --> 00:12:37,000
You can hear it from our house. We have not at the game, the house will shake and you can hear it

123
00:12:37,000 --> 00:12:41,880
pretty much anywhere in Blacksburg. So, I mean, it's awesome. It's definitely my favorite part.

124
00:12:41,880 --> 00:12:47,320
Everyone's involved and everyone loves it and is screaming out the lyrics. It's, it's the best

125
00:12:47,320 --> 00:12:55,000
feeling. It's, it's so much fun to have that experience and have that atmosphere at a football

126
00:12:55,000 --> 00:13:02,280
game. There's nothing like it.

127
00:13:03,640 --> 00:13:09,720
You know, it's, it's, it's a lot. It's very intricate and it takes a lot of work by a lot of

128
00:13:09,720 --> 00:13:16,600
different people. That's why I wanted to do this podcast to educate fans, inspire those in the business

129
00:13:16,600 --> 00:13:23,640
that do this time in and day in and day out month after month. I remember making a video

130
00:13:23,640 --> 00:13:31,480
and spending all week making it and it didn't even air. Yeah. I mean, that happens a lot. Yeah.

131
00:13:32,600 --> 00:13:40,600
I was upset, but I mean, the mood in the stadium at the time did not call for that. Yep. So, I mean,

132
00:13:40,600 --> 00:13:45,480
how do, how do you handle your crowd and your, your people when something like that happens?

133
00:13:45,480 --> 00:13:51,800
Well, I, you know, that we have, what we try to do is plan for things to be able to be used more

134
00:13:51,800 --> 00:13:58,360
than once or maybe in different scenarios. So like we had an editor who made a great video this

135
00:13:58,360 --> 00:14:06,120
past week for our quarter quarterback and it was, you know, quarterback hype video. It was,

136
00:14:06,120 --> 00:14:13,000
you know, it was a phenomenal video, but we started out the first half and, you know, we

137
00:14:13,000 --> 00:14:18,680
throw a few incompletions. The offense is kind of stagnant early on. You can't really put that

138
00:14:18,680 --> 00:14:23,400
video out there because the fans, that's not really what they want to see. He picks it up in the

139
00:14:23,400 --> 00:14:27,000
second half, but now we also have something else to go to. The good thing is, you know,

140
00:14:27,720 --> 00:14:31,800
it's a long season when, you know, we expect a lot of great things out of our players and so we'll

141
00:14:31,800 --> 00:14:37,240
have ample opportunity to play that in the future. But the big thing is understanding that like

142
00:14:38,840 --> 00:14:44,920
ultimately what's the goal? The goal is to entertain the fans, to get the atmosphere

143
00:14:44,920 --> 00:14:52,280
as good as it can be and to give people a memorable experience. And so sometimes as much as you can

144
00:14:52,280 --> 00:14:59,320
try to plan to make your videos versatile, you don't always get the chance to do that. We had a

145
00:15:01,320 --> 00:15:08,920
situation a few years ago where we actually contracted a shoot with a former player that

146
00:15:08,920 --> 00:15:14,920
lived outside of the area. We spent a decent amount of money to have a freelancer shoot a video

147
00:15:14,920 --> 00:15:19,640
with them. We put it together, but it was so specific to the team we were playing, the night

148
00:15:19,640 --> 00:15:26,840
we were playing them and the situation. And after probably the first quarter, we knew we weren't

149
00:15:26,840 --> 00:15:34,840
going to be able to get to it. And it was kind of like, I mean, it's tough for the person, you

150
00:15:34,840 --> 00:15:39,800
know, right in the check, it's tough for the editor that spent hours working on it. And then you've

151
00:15:39,800 --> 00:15:44,040
got to go back to that former player and say, hey, your video didn't get played.

152
00:15:44,040 --> 00:15:51,080
And they were at the stadium? Yeah, they came out of town. It wasn't great.

153
00:15:51,080 --> 00:15:59,080
Wow. Wow. Yeah, I mean, but that happens. Yeah, that happens. And you know, it's almost like

154
00:15:59,080 --> 00:16:04,760
you can't you don't know what's going to happen on the field. The players don't the coaches don't

155
00:16:04,760 --> 00:16:10,520
they don't know what's going to happen. Everybody plans. Everybody has an expectation, but you don't

156
00:16:10,520 --> 00:16:15,640
know what the game is going to be. So you have to have all these other things in the bucket for

157
00:16:15,640 --> 00:16:22,920
just in case. Yep. So I know that you all are really, really good with fan engagement. What has

158
00:16:22,920 --> 00:16:30,920
been the best fan engagement video that you guys have done ever during the tech? Well, I will say

159
00:16:30,920 --> 00:16:37,800
that it probably the thing that is the most impactful that comes to mind right off the bat.

160
00:16:37,800 --> 00:16:45,640
And it's kind of cool because it it crosses over multiple departments is the the dance for bacon.

161
00:16:45,640 --> 00:16:51,400
We have a sponsor that sponsors that the prize is free bacon for a year. And

162
00:16:51,400 --> 00:16:58,040
we there's there's a spot in every game where it's a dance off. And our the fans are into it

163
00:16:58,040 --> 00:17:04,840
because they want to get bacon. The fans don't you know, aren't necessarily bold enough to dance,

164
00:17:04,840 --> 00:17:11,720
can still watch somebody dance. The sponsors are happy because they're getting their their name out

165
00:17:11,720 --> 00:17:17,560
there. And then, you know, our crew is happy because it's just it's that's part of the fun of

166
00:17:17,560 --> 00:17:23,880
working the live environment. Just trying to find the people are dancing, but also seeing the people

167
00:17:23,880 --> 00:17:31,800
get excited. And a few years ago, we ran it. It was a football only promotion for a few years.

168
00:17:31,800 --> 00:17:37,560
They moved it over basketball. We're playing North Carolina a few years ago, we were it was a tight

169
00:17:37,560 --> 00:17:44,360
game. We weren't playing well down the stretch. We were probably down by four or five points, I

170
00:17:44,360 --> 00:17:53,880
believe. And the the deal there is that if you miss two shots in a row, everybody gets bacon.

171
00:17:54,520 --> 00:18:00,520
And I remember that promotion. Yeah. So after the Carolina guy missed the first one, the whole

172
00:18:00,520 --> 00:18:05,800
crowd was I mean, it was so loud in there. He missed the second one, the place goes crazy.

173
00:18:05,800 --> 00:18:10,840
There's so much energy now in the in the arena. Our team goes on a run, we end up winning the

174
00:18:10,840 --> 00:18:17,480
thing in overtime. You know, and that's like that was not necessarily video board specific,

175
00:18:17,480 --> 00:18:22,280
but we do have graphics to go along with it. You know, the guy missed the first one, we put bacon

176
00:18:22,280 --> 00:18:29,080
all around the player, we try to zoom in on him, you know, and that that's it's one of those things

177
00:18:29,080 --> 00:18:34,680
that's cool, because the fans are into it, the sponsor into it marketing is is is happy when

178
00:18:34,680 --> 00:18:40,360
it's executed well. It's fun for our crew. And, you know, everybody goes home with a free pound

179
00:18:40,360 --> 00:18:47,640
of bacon, you know, which may be only America only in America, where you're excited about bacon.

180
00:18:49,400 --> 00:18:57,640
How are you all using the video board jumbotron with AI? Are y'all doing anything with AI now?

181
00:18:57,640 --> 00:19:05,640
So we haven't done a ton of AI, although there is, you know, I think the thing about AI that you see

182
00:19:05,640 --> 00:19:13,640
is how it can be used to take care of smaller things to free you up to work on more complicated

183
00:19:13,640 --> 00:19:20,360
things. But like, there are a lot of companies that that are offering augmented reality, which

184
00:19:20,360 --> 00:19:25,640
you've seen on the Super Bowl and things like that. And we do have a lot of that there's a company

185
00:19:25,640 --> 00:19:32,520
we use now that will do 3D animation so we can put a hokey bird head over somebody's face or

186
00:19:32,520 --> 00:19:39,640
you know, there's you can get a Star Wars package or even like it's it's a lot of fun for Halloween

187
00:19:39,640 --> 00:19:46,920
and things like that. And so you've got 3D filters, and then you can also put your own 2D filters in

188
00:19:46,920 --> 00:19:52,920
there as well. We do a variation of the kiss cam, whichever been seen the kiss cam where, you know,

189
00:19:52,920 --> 00:19:59,400
you want to get people to kiss each other, but you know, kiss the rock and roll band when they

190
00:19:59,400 --> 00:20:05,000
play you shook me all night long we put the that kiss cam over and we put nice the gene

191
00:20:05,000 --> 00:20:11,880
Simmons faces on people like that. So that type of stuff is pretty fun. You know, and I think in

192
00:20:11,880 --> 00:20:19,400
our space what's cool about it is we have we have 12 undergrads that work with us and up to 405060

193
00:20:19,400 --> 00:20:25,320
production assistants. And when we get them, they get to, you know, they get to, you know,

194
00:20:25,320 --> 00:20:32,040
production assistants and we get them, they get to innovate and they get the brainstorm and they

195
00:20:32,040 --> 00:20:38,120
get to say what will be fun and when they can create a fan cam and then see it executed.

196
00:20:39,400 --> 00:20:42,600
You know, one of the things we started a couple years ago is called the reverse eating cam.

197
00:20:42,600 --> 00:20:46,840
They love looking for people eating so that they can put them on the board and have them

198
00:20:46,840 --> 00:20:53,320
run it backwards through. That's so cool. It's super gross. And a lot of times you can hear the

199
00:20:53,320 --> 00:21:00,200
the groans in the stadium when people are watching it. But but at that moment, man, you have

200
00:21:00,840 --> 00:21:09,080
lane is what 66,000. I mean, you have those many eyes on your product. And that is what is,

201
00:21:09,080 --> 00:21:18,040
I don't know, that's what drove me to make content. And I enjoy that. You do the roaming camera,

202
00:21:18,040 --> 00:21:25,240
like I used to do. And going around the stadium, shooting the fans. I mean, I hear all the time,

203
00:21:25,240 --> 00:21:33,160
hey, cameraman, put me up there. Hey, cameraman. I mean, the fans live for that. Yeah. And you know,

204
00:21:33,160 --> 00:21:37,800
I was that's what I was going to say is, if you ask me, the best job that we have here is wireless

205
00:21:37,800 --> 00:21:43,000
camera. I know you've done it. There's so much energy. You're in this, the stands with the fans.

206
00:21:43,000 --> 00:21:48,360
But the greatest thing in my opinion, specifically when you're talking about in venue experience

207
00:21:48,360 --> 00:21:56,680
and the video boards in the arenas is it's an instant gratification. Like, you can see the result

208
00:21:56,680 --> 00:22:03,000
of your work instantly. It's not like you have to, you know, write a book and wait for it to be

209
00:22:03,000 --> 00:22:08,280
published and wait for people to read it and then someone to, you know, or even like a video that

210
00:22:08,280 --> 00:22:13,480
you're putting out on social media. Is it going to get likes or is it going to get retweets? In that

211
00:22:13,480 --> 00:22:19,960
moment, you know, people will respond to seeing themselves on the board and you can feel that

212
00:22:19,960 --> 00:22:27,320
instant gratification of like what the work that I did today at this moment made that person's day.

213
00:22:27,320 --> 00:22:30,680
Yeah. And they're probably going to go talk about it tomorrow and to their friends.

214
00:22:30,680 --> 00:22:36,280
And that's the thing. And I mean, there's hashtags, video board hashtags, jumbotron.

215
00:22:36,280 --> 00:22:42,760
And the thing I love about looking at those videos, everybody's smiling.

216
00:22:43,480 --> 00:22:50,760
Yeah. Everybody is happy. And there's not too many jobs where you can put a video camera in

217
00:22:50,760 --> 00:22:58,440
somebody's face and they would instantly light up. And that's what I enjoy most about game day

218
00:22:58,440 --> 00:23:03,640
production and, and, you know, being a camera operator and different things like that is just

219
00:23:03,640 --> 00:23:10,680
that like you just said, the instant gratification, you see the phones go up, they're trying to record

220
00:23:10,680 --> 00:23:15,080
themselves. They're going to send it out to all their friends. They're getting that five, 10,

221
00:23:15,080 --> 00:23:22,120
15 seconds of fame. I mean, it's, it's unbelievable. And I will say like, you know, I've gone to other

222
00:23:22,120 --> 00:23:29,320
games, baseball, basketball, football, like as a fan. And even though I, you know, I do this for a

223
00:23:29,320 --> 00:23:36,120
living, if I see that camera guy, I'm kind of like, you know, we were, went to a conference,

224
00:23:36,120 --> 00:23:42,840
actually a conference of people that do video board work and got to go to a baseball game this

225
00:23:42,840 --> 00:23:49,240
year. And one of our staff members got on the board and it was like, you know, we're all just like,

226
00:23:49,240 --> 00:23:55,560
we're fans as well. You know, so you get to experience what those fans get to experience.

227
00:23:55,560 --> 00:24:02,440
That's awesome. So where do you see video board production, you know, five, 10 years from now,

228
00:24:02,440 --> 00:24:06,440
you'll probably be retired by then, but where do you see, where do you see it going?

229
00:24:07,000 --> 00:24:13,160
Well, I mean, that's kind of a hard question in that, like when I started here, there's no way

230
00:24:13,160 --> 00:24:18,440
that I expected to see what it is now. But I mean, technology so much now, you know, with augmented

231
00:24:18,440 --> 00:24:26,200
reality, you know, artificial intelligence, all that stuff, like animations, that, you know,

232
00:24:27,720 --> 00:24:32,840
even the, the, the productions that go on, the videos that are created for the video board,

233
00:24:32,840 --> 00:24:39,320
they're so, they're so much more cinematic now, you know, it's, it's like filmmaking

234
00:24:40,040 --> 00:24:46,760
and storytelling. And I think what's great is if you think of those boards as

235
00:24:46,760 --> 00:24:55,880
a huge canvas that you know that at one time, depending on your stadium, 100,000 people can see

236
00:24:55,880 --> 00:25:00,200
your work, you know, not like in a gallery where it's like three people at a time, you know,

237
00:25:00,200 --> 00:25:05,800
it's 100,000 people looking at your work. So to answer your question, who knows? I mean,

238
00:25:05,800 --> 00:25:12,200
it's like the, the, the artists and the creatives that are doing the work will determine,

239
00:25:12,200 --> 00:25:16,760
you know, where we can go with it. And I think that's really exciting.

240
00:25:17,800 --> 00:25:21,160
What is the best video board show you've ever seen?

241
00:25:24,680 --> 00:25:27,080
Maddie, on your cue to count a step. Got ya.

242
00:25:29,560 --> 00:25:34,360
Ready locker room, take locker room. We're standing about for channel law.

243
00:25:34,360 --> 00:25:42,280
You can run on for a long time. 10-6. Dissolve six clear LEDs. Clear G.R.P.

244
00:25:49,960 --> 00:25:54,120
Ready six, take six. Good shot, John. Ready five, take five.

245
00:25:54,120 --> 00:26:01,640
Stand by stadium, y'all. Ready five, take five. Stadium, y'all.

246
00:26:01,640 --> 00:26:21,320
And let's go. Stand by Sandman. Enter Sandman in five, four, three, two, one. Go Sandman.

247
00:26:21,320 --> 00:26:30,440
Bring that band now. We need everybody. We are one tonight. You hear me?

248
00:26:30,440 --> 00:26:48,360
Hey. It's great to be here with you.

249
00:26:48,360 --> 00:26:58,280
I see you have it.

250
00:27:06,680 --> 00:27:10,280
Let's have a good show, y'all.

251
00:27:10,280 --> 00:27:20,280
Ready five, take five. Ready 11. Ready seven, take seven.

252
00:27:23,240 --> 00:27:24,760
Ready 10, take 10.

253
00:27:29,080 --> 00:27:30,680
Ready five, take five.

254
00:27:30,680 --> 00:27:40,680
Ready seven, take seven. Ready 11, take 11. Well done, everybody. Let's have a good one.

255
00:27:47,960 --> 00:27:54,280
In case you missed it, it's an OTJ replay. Rock you by fun 360 cam.

256
00:27:54,280 --> 00:28:02,280
Ultimately, what's the goal? The goal is to entertain the fans, get the atmosphere as good as it can be, get people in a memorable experience.

257
00:28:02,280 --> 00:28:10,280
If you ask me, the best job is wireless camera. I know you've done it. There's so much energy. You're in the stands with the fans.

258
00:28:10,280 --> 00:28:16,280
The greatest thing, in my opinion, when you're talking about in-benu experience and the video boards, it's an instant gratification.

259
00:28:16,280 --> 00:28:26,280
You can see the result of your work instantly. In that moment, people will respond to seeing themselves on the board and you can feel that instant gratification.

260
00:28:26,280 --> 00:28:34,280
The work that I did today at this moment made that person's day. They're probably going to go talk about it tomorrow to their friends.

261
00:28:34,280 --> 00:28:43,280
Our mission at Virginia Tech is to create memorable experiences. When they come to a football game or a basketball game, we call it a one-day vacation.

262
00:28:43,280 --> 00:28:50,280
The moment they leave their house, the moment they get back, we want them to come back and say, man, what a great day.

263
00:28:50,280 --> 00:28:56,280
Then they go to school or to church or to work the next day and they say, check out what I did.

264
00:28:56,280 --> 00:29:03,280
In case you missed it, rock you by fun 360 cam. Smile, spin, share.

265
00:29:06,280 --> 00:29:10,280
What is the best video board show you've ever seen?

266
00:29:10,280 --> 00:29:25,280
I went to Dallas this year for this past year. My wife and I like to take a trip once a year, a football trip, where we go to see a high school game on Friday, a college game on Saturday, and a pro game on Sunday.

267
00:29:25,280 --> 00:29:45,280
That show at Dallas was mind blowing just because of the sheer space of that board. The fact that it's a center hung at a football stadium, they have two separate feeds.

268
00:29:45,280 --> 00:29:56,280
If you're watching it from one side and the players are moving left to right, the board you look at, they're moving left to right, but on the flip side, it goes the other direction.

269
00:29:56,280 --> 00:30:06,280
I know a regular fan doesn't know what the heck I'm talking about. If you went there, you'd be like, what they have to do to do that.

270
00:30:06,280 --> 00:30:17,280
The show itself, I'm not necessarily sure that the show itself was that mind blowing, but the experience though was the one that sticks out my mind.

271
00:30:17,280 --> 00:30:29,280
Also, I know in Atlanta, the Halo board that they have at Mercedes-Benz is really spectacular.

272
00:30:29,280 --> 00:30:36,280
The college space, obviously, without talking about Virginia Tech, which of course is the greatest experience of all time.

273
00:30:36,280 --> 00:30:37,280
It is. Go Hokies.

274
00:30:37,280 --> 00:30:47,280
Auburn, they do a really great show. They've got a lot of talented people there that work there.

275
00:30:47,280 --> 00:30:58,280
All the ones that are really good though, they focus on the little details, and I think that's what makes it.

276
00:30:58,280 --> 00:31:03,280
What is your favorite in-game feature?

277
00:31:03,280 --> 00:31:10,280
I'm assuming that you're excluding Enter Sandman.

278
00:31:10,280 --> 00:31:13,280
Yes, that's a given.

279
00:31:13,280 --> 00:31:24,280
The one I like a lot is, I'll give you two, one of our I mentioned, we do a pressure lock, which I think is cool because it's all random.

280
00:31:24,280 --> 00:31:35,280
You have no idea if the contestant is going to win or lose, and they can get to the end and have a lot of great prizes then lose it all at the end.

281
00:31:35,280 --> 00:31:45,280
So I think that that is one of my favorites that we do. Plus, it was something that was unique to us for a little while.

282
00:31:45,280 --> 00:32:00,280
I think it's a great diversity in the university camp because I think it's really gross. I think I like it because everybody, especially working in college, everybody in the control room gets really excited about doing it and finding people.

283
00:32:00,280 --> 00:32:11,280
And when you go back, after that feature is done, you go back and you find the people that just saw themselves doing that. Usually they're good sports about it. It's fun to do.

284
00:32:11,280 --> 00:32:13,280
That's awesome.

285
00:32:13,280 --> 00:32:26,280
So, I was winding down here, man. I really appreciate your insight, the creativity that you guys have at Virginia Tech. It's unmatched.

286
00:32:26,280 --> 00:32:35,280
The dedication that you have for your job. One last question. If you were not doing video production, what do you think you would be doing?

287
00:32:35,280 --> 00:32:44,280
Great question. What I always thought that I wanted to do at the very beginning was do play by play.

288
00:32:44,280 --> 00:32:46,280
I can hear that.

289
00:32:46,280 --> 00:32:55,280
But then I realized that's a lot of work. So then I came to this job, which was also a lot of work.

290
00:32:55,280 --> 00:33:08,280
Maybe no one should ever take career advice from me. I don't know what I would be doing, but I would hope it would be a friend of mine who lives in Las Vegas and she's like, I just want to work with good people.

291
00:33:08,280 --> 00:33:20,280
And I think that's probably been the thing that I have enjoyed the most in this job is being able to meet and work with good people, be inspired by them,

292
00:33:20,280 --> 00:33:26,280
and be, you know, have fun, have fun working with people yourself included.

293
00:33:26,280 --> 00:33:46,280
You know, I think that we're very proud of the atmosphere and the track record that we have here and how much we've grown, but we owe that to people like you who have, you know, come here and worked hard and invested in our program and in our students,

294
00:33:46,280 --> 00:33:50,280
and, you know, taking pride in the work that we do. And I think that that's probably what I'd be doing.

295
00:33:50,280 --> 00:33:54,280
And you guys, you guys have students all over.

296
00:33:54,280 --> 00:34:07,280
We have in our last show this past weekend, which was only a single broadcast, we weren't doing the network show. I think we had 30 to 30 people crude of that.

297
00:34:07,280 --> 00:34:09,280
Eight of them were staff.

298
00:34:09,280 --> 00:34:11,280
And two of them were.

299
00:34:11,280 --> 00:34:13,280
That's amazing.

300
00:34:13,280 --> 00:34:16,280
Freelancers, so students in every other spot.

301
00:34:16,280 --> 00:34:17,280
That's amazing.

302
00:34:17,280 --> 00:34:22,280
Jed, again, I want to thank you for being on the on the podcast.

303
00:34:22,280 --> 00:34:28,280
Like I was saying before, your insight is incredible. How can people get in contact with you?

304
00:34:28,280 --> 00:34:33,280
Well, you can follow us on Twitter and Instagram. It's just at Hokey Vision.

305
00:34:33,280 --> 00:34:41,280
You know, we always take more followers and more likes and, you know, we're in Blacksburg come down and see us.

306
00:34:41,280 --> 00:34:46,280
Season tickets or tickets for basketball are still open.

307
00:34:46,280 --> 00:34:51,280
So and we've already talked about how many different places you can see our work on the video board.

308
00:34:51,280 --> 00:34:57,280
So come to Blacksburg and, you know, get yourself a turkey leg and enjoy yourself. Have a good time.

309
00:34:57,280 --> 00:35:00,280
And you would definitely be on the reverse camera beating that.

310
00:35:00,280 --> 00:35:04,280
Yes, absolutely. Yeah. When when you're eating that turkey leg, make sure you're looking out.

311
00:35:04,280 --> 00:35:06,280
Awesome. Awesome.

312
00:35:06,280 --> 00:35:10,280
Well, guys, this was an awesome episode of on the jumbo tron.

313
00:35:10,280 --> 00:35:17,280
We thank you for being here. Hit the like button, subscribe, tell a friend and let them know about what we're doing here.

314
00:35:17,280 --> 00:35:21,280
About the creativity that we're doing, about the insights that we're giving.

315
00:35:21,280 --> 00:35:40,280
And we'll see you next time. Have a great one. Thank you again, Jeff. Go Hokeys. Go Hokeys.