July 12, 2018. That’s when Dr. Jenn Palilonis and I (Dr. Adam Kuban) first spoke about the possibility of a volleyball documentary.
Jenn, co-executive producer, and I, co-executive producer and co-producer, had scheduled a lunch meeting that day. Five days earlier, I’d returned to the States after an unrelated, month-long documentary-production project in rural Guatemala, and I remember that I left that international experience with the desire to produce more documentaries … about something. I just wanted to replicate that process: Telling nonfiction stories to inform viewers about compelling issues of our time. I recall that, on my return flight to the USA, I realized that Jenn and I could revive our partnership with First Point Volleyball Foundation (FPVF) with another “iteration” of students devoted to multimedia deliverables. But perhaps we could this time focus on a documentary? That’s why we scheduled this meeting.
However, our partnership with FPVF actually began before July 2018.
June 2, 2017. That’s when Jenn approached me with the first opportunity to collaborate with FPVF (formerly known as MOTOR MVB).
According to my Microsoft Outlook calendar, we met again for lunch to discuss it — apparently Jenn and I conduct our brainstorming sessions with food nearby! — and that’s when I initially learned about Coach John Speraw’s national nonprofit organization devoted to the growth of boys’ and men’s volleyball. At that point, we weren’t sure exactly how our students could contribute to this mission, but we eventually decided that Jenn’s graduate students and my undergraduates would combine efforts to generate various multimedia deliverables (such as video/audio packages, picture slideshows and original news stories) for the graduate-student team, who coordinated and led a campaign to bolster the nonprofit’s online existence and exposure via its website and social-media channels.
This first “iteration” of our partnership occurred from January – May 2018, and throughout that semester, students traveled to Nashville, Tennessee; Chicago, Illinois; St. Louis, Missouri; and Tampa, Florida, to find important people and stories connected to volleyball. In the end, 13 undergraduate students generated 25 multimedia stories from across the country that led to notable social-media exposure for FPVF, including a 78% increase per month in impressions on Twitter and an 80% growth per month in Facebook followers. Moreover, several students used this unique experience as a talking point in subsequent internship and job interviews.
And then — two months later in July 2018 — Jenn and I were talking over lunch about what we might want to do next. The documentary idea had potential; Jenn liked it, and so did I. But we needed money to cover travel expenses, and we needed the best production team available for this project.
Jenn and I successfully pursued an internal grant that allowed our production team to travel to Anaheim, California; Chicago, Illinois (twice); Dallas, Texas; and to McKendree University (in Illinois) in order to conduct interviews and capture content necessary to chronicle the story about the growth of boys’ and men’s volleyball across the country.
October 13, 2018. That’s when Jenn and I first contacted Parker Swartz, co-executive producer, co-director and co-writer of the eventual documentary.
Detailed conversations began with Parker on October 26, when Jenn and I met with him to share what we had already developed between the two of us: We knew we wanted a documentary, but the specific storyline remained TBD at that point. We also knew that we needed a model, or story structure, to imitate, and for that, I drew upon my previous documentary productions, but we also tasked Parker to identify the “formula” typically used in ESPN productions. Finally, we needed to narrow our target audience — whom were we trying to reach with this eventual documentary?
Parker completed a semester-long course in Spring 2019 that allowed him to work directly with Jenn and me to address these needs for the documentary. Throughout this term, we also began to identify the initial stages of the related campaign, i.e., the social-media and website content (such as this blog!) that would build toward the documentary’s debut and subsequent release. Parker also helped me with recruitment of undergraduates who would comprise the production team.
March 19, 2019. That’s when Colton Howard, director of photography, sent me an email recommendation to bring his friend/colleague into the documentary: Jacob Clouse, co-director, co-writer and editor.
For any project of this scope and consequence, you want the best possible people involved in it. This is a unique, atypical experience for undergraduates: The chance to work (remotely) alongside a national nonprofit organization whose executive director also happens to be the head coach of the U.S. Men’s Olympic Volleyball Team. To effect change. To challenge stereotypes. To produce content that could reach a national audience.
We needed to be strategic in our recruitment efforts.
I started with students from my past courses who had an interest in sports, particularly volleyball, but who also demonstrated a sound work ethic. That’s where Colton becomes an important figure in this blog post. In March 2019, he had my News Editing course, and I remember approaching him as well as Joel Johnson, another student enrolled in that course and an eventual cinematographer for the documentary, and telling them about this project. Once both agreed to participate, I asked them for their recommendations for additional production crew.
I never knew Jacob Clouse, co-director, co-writer and editor, before this project. That’s a rare statement to make when referring to a documentary’s director.
Think about how often you see Hollywood names tied together: Steven Spielberg & Tom Hanks, Martin Scorsese & Leo DiCaprio, Tim Burton & Helena Bonham-Carter, Quentin Tarantino & Samuel L. Jackson. The point isn’t to compare our documentary to the work that stems from these high-profile collaborations; instead, it’s to emphasize the importance of TRUST when you embark on a project like this that demands so much time, energy and attention to detail. Once you establish trust with another person in a production setting, you tend to go back to them again and again.
May 13, 2019. That’s when we had our first on-site day for field production. That’s when trust was established, leading to the documentary that you’ve already watched or will soon!
We actually arrived in Anaheim, California, the day before: May 12. That gave us the night to settle into the hotel, charge batteries and develop a tentative plan for Monday’s production with Team USA players. This trip included Palilonis, Swartz, Howard, Clouse and me. We carried much of the production responsibility throughout Summer 2019, conducting interviews and capturing content in California but also in Chicago, Illinois, and in Dallas, Texas.
Once late August arrived, we were joined by nine additional undergraduates and four more graduate students to complete the entire team. What you see on this website and via social media is the culmination of significant time, dedication, and commitment from ALL involved to bring awareness to the growth of boys’ and men’s volleyball in the United States of America.
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