Live From Final Four: Blue Devil Network Goes All-Access for GoDuke.com

With an elite program like Duke Men’s Basketball, it’s not uncommon for the team to make a deep championship run into April. Here the Blue Devils are again, in another Final Four and prepping for another National Championship Game on Monday night, and the video team at Blue Devil Network is on hand here in Indianapolis to cover it all.

Duke Final Four

From left: Blue Devil Network’s Nolan Elingburg, Mike Cappetto, and Chad Lampman

With the best access to the program and the team, Blue Devil Network is creating exclusive behind-the-scenes content abut the team and offering fans an inside look at the personalities that make this year’s squad particularly special. The stories told include a piece on elaborate handshakes among the players and a full chronicling of the team’s activities leading up to its arrival in Indy early this week.

“We’re trying to show the personal side of all of these guys because this is a really fun team to be around,” says Chad Lampman, executive director, Blue Devil Network.

He is working with Assistant Director Nolan Elingburg and Associate Director Mike Cappetto to continue to turn around compelling content throughout the weekend. They even plan to leverage the TeamStream telecast and an in-depth breakdown of the games with Chris Spatola, a reporter for CBS and Turner’s Duke TeamStream production. Spatola is a former director of basketball operations for Duke and a current CBS Sports Network commentator.

VIDEO: Behind the Scenes: Buildup to the Final Four

VIDEO: Behind the Scenes: Buildup to the Final Four

Blue Devil Network is a Panasonic P2 house, and, at the Final Four, the tandem is using a Panasonic AG-HPX170 and AG-HPX600 to shoot behind-the-scenes content from practices, fan events, and more. The production team is also deploying a pair of Canon EOS 6D DSLRs to shoot its feature interviews.

Lampman and his team have also had the opportunity to test-run the newest Panasonic Varicam HS, which the company sent to Blue Devil Network as a loaner for Final Four weekend.

“We’re really excited to try that camera out and experiment with it,” says Lampman. “We think it’s going to give us some great highlight footage.”

Lampman, Elingburg, and Cappetto are editing their pieces on Adobe Premier, working on a setup inside the Lucas Oil Stadium press area that includes three Mac laptops networked to share content. Blue Devil Network is also posting official press conferences shot and produced by the NCAA, acquiring those feeds via a Telestream Wirecast, which acquires the content in the .mp4 files needed to post on GoDuke.com’s native Neulion video player.

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