In 2019 Under Armour would be releasing new throwback uniforms for the University of South Carolina's football team. This rendition of the Black Magic 1980's teams was a pleasure to work with. I brainstormed a crossover in decades with this first-person perspective, until the viewer is completely taken over by the forever-living spirit of the Black Magic. The first public viewing was with Under Armour's Daniel J. Lawyer, Senior Manager, Sports Marketing and he was beyond pleased with the product and stated that it was the best production at a college level he has ever seen.

This is the second year that I have organized and produced a video involving the South Carolina State Fair. The fair wherever you go is always an inviting place to visit and to be with friends and family; but for our Battle Armor I wanted to create a fear for the consumer. Whether people like to be scared or not people have a desire to be scared or to experience fear as long as they know that they will not be harmed themselves. With that in mind, the video displayed a well-known nostalgic red balloon that symbolized our fear of our opponent. These balloons begin to pop as the video progresses, and by the end of the video all balloons are gone except for one final balloon that is let go to symbolize our fear being overcome and concurred.

Fun fact: Prior to the shoot I went to Publix to get all of the balloons that we used in the shoot. The balloons began to pop one by one as I walked out of the store because they were filled with helium to the maximum they possible could be. With the change of pressure from inside to outside dawned this misfortune. I then had to walk back into the store defeated, but given a refund. And I took that refund to another Publix that filled the balloons properly.

Week Seven vs Georgia created an interesting challenge. Our team has a strong histroy and rivalry with the University of Georgia. Each year the teams go toe-to-toe and fight until the last quarter. I was struggling to think of the right theme for the week until the night before the shoot and it hit me as I was throwing out ideas with our team- boxing. Just moments later we called up a local boxing studio in town, Battle Boxing Gym, and agreed to shoot the following morning. Their gym offered this authentic and rustic feel we all imagine a training gym to look like. The shoot started at 6 am and concluded a few hours later, with the final product being released at 6PM that day.

Fun fact: the shot in the middle of the video that shows the model out of frame and then appear as a bag swings through the frame is not a cut in shots. It was actually put into reverse during the post-production process and the original shot had him in the frame and as the bag swung in front of the camera I would yell for him to ‘duck’ out of frame. It took a few attempts to get him completely out of frame at the right moment and to have to correct of bag swinging.

Week 2 vs Charleston Southern brought our team its first major challenge of the season. We had just lost the week prior to a North Carolina team that many thought we should’ve won and now we have to produce a piece that could corral the fans and get them excited once again. We took advantage of Hurricane Dorian and drove straight into the narrative that we were in the middle of our own storm that we have created. The shoot location of inside the stadium was also symbolic since South Carolina Football is known for its tradition of “Sandstorm” and the saying “A sandstorm builds within me.” There couldn’t have been a better place for our team to create the visual we needed. The script was narrated by our actor, Ellington Williams, who has a background in music production as well as his acting.

Fun fact: A few days prior to shooting the hurricane was forecasted to hit right over the city of columbia and was a Category-5 hurricane at the time. The hurricane downgraded on the day of the shoot and just missed the city by only a few miles. What we experienced that day was merely the outer tails of the storm.

*Each Battle Armor is filmed the Thursday before its respected game. Our team would find out the uniform combination on Tuesday’s, contact locations, brainstorm and solidify location by Wednesday and the video would go out Thursday evenings.

Week Four versus Missouri was unique because both Universities, South Carolina and Missouri, reside in their own respected cities of Columbia- Columbia, SC and Columbia, MO. Our goal for this week’s video was to showcase our Columbia and highlight what makes it a special place to live in and to go to school. We can create the greatest video but at the end of the day all videos are geared towards recruiting and there needs to be a messaged furnished into every video for our potential football recruits to understand and enjoy.

Fun fact: The city of Columbia, SC is known for having the world’s largest fire hydrant. So of course we had to add that to showcase the eclectic culture of the city!

The opening week of the season was one of my favorites to Produce. Our team’s vision was to create a calling for every South Carolina football fan. The first game of every season creates an excitement that only happens one day every year and the goal was to replicate this feeling and the habits of a gameday. On Wednesday when we were filming in Charlotte, NC I was with our model and other videographer Michaiah Smith and we recorded a video asking for fans to submit their rendition of the school’s alma mater that I planned to use in the video. This voiceover carried the story and was a stitching that brought all the fans together.

The final week of the season always means that we get to play with fire during our Battle Armor shoots. For the previous 2 seasons of Battle Armor we had used steel wool and the yearly Tiger Burn tradition to incorporate real fire into the video. This year I became beyond excited when I figured out a way to control fire to a point that it does not burn anyone or anything- thank you science. Our fire concoction included dish soap, water, and a can of aerosol. Once lit, the bubbles flamed and then were doused in seconds once all the bubbles had evaporated. The symbolism of the fire included us catching fire to show that we are deep with rage and energy, our team controlling the fire and our equipment catching fire to show our speed and agility like any fire would move.

Fun fact: the narration of this video comes from William Blake, The Tyger. The opponent we faced in Week 14 was Clemson and their mascot is a tiger. What many think was a mistake by using a poem with tyger in its title was actually quite intentional. In the poem William Blake is talking about any creature created by God that is so immaculate and fierce that no other would dare to challenge its authority.

The second to last week of the season was surrounded by the message of Never Give Up. Going into the week our team was 4-6 and needed two more wins to become bowl eligible. This was n achievable goal but would need everything the team had and every person in our community of Columbia, SC. The saying of Never Give Up included everyone directly and indirectly involved in South Carolina Football- which gave the idea of passing the hat around to those who were stitched into this community and made an impact daily in people’s lives. The idea of having the saying stitched into the hat came from the entire community being stitched together holding this program up. In many of my Battle Armor’s from this season the viewer can find that I wanted to include the community as often as I could because without the community of Columbia then there is no heart and energy.

Fun fact: we didn’t use a tinted visor in this Battle Armor to symbolize to transparency that we had with our community and to show that we aren’t afraid to face our enemy.