:: Earl Green - Freelance Television Writer / Producer ::

Earlier in 2006, Springdale, Arkansas voters checked “yes” next to a handful of bond issues to create a new baseball stadium and minor league team for the city; eventually, the Wichita Wranglers were lured from Kansas to Arkansas to be Springdale’s new team. Needless to say, baseball was a big story for much of 2006, and this was just one of those stories, sitting down with the owner of the Kansas City Royals to discuss Springdale’s possible future as a “farm team” for the big leagues.

Produced in a very tight time frame, this was a special 10pm news open for the fifth anniversary of the September 11th attacks. The script was written by producer Robin Edie (and voiced by Craig Cannon), and I had about an hour to get everything together. (It was literally handed in at about 9:58.) I think it came out a little bit longer than anyone originally planned, but hopefully the effect was worth it.

After having used the previous open for something like three years, a new open for our Friday night football coverage was probably overdue. This is a major part of the station’s sports coverage, and a major sponsorship to boot, so it’s worth a little bit of extra effort. In what may be the ultimate expression of testosterone, there are few normal transitions in this open - but there are plenty of explosions! Click to see the video, along with a brief tutorial for fellow Avid editors out there, on how to blow stuff up real good in a digital kind of way. From a more straightforward video perspective, the football’s white stripes came out transparent; I think that was a goof in the graphics department, but I liked the stylized football. Besides, there’s an awesome montage running in the background, cut to the music bed, and the “open stripes” let you see more of it.