Orlando Magic Media Day 2008

By Marc D'Amico | September 30, 2008 Another October is nearly upon us, and with that, another Media Day has come and passed. It’s the day not many coaches, players or front office personnel look forward to, but it’s also the day that signifies the start of a new season.

Why don’t the players, coaches and front office like Media Day too much? It’s partially because the team would rather be getting ready for the season physically, but mostly because it’s a complete circus. But at least it’s an organized circus.

Local and national media outlets report to each NBA team prior to training camp each season for Media Day. It’s their time to get any photos, videos, sound bites or quotes needed for in-season production or pre-season stories. Between noon and 2 p.m. Monday in Orlando, 31 media outlets reported to the RDV Sportsplex, where the Magic held their Media Day.

At 2 p.m., the fireworks kicked off, and as longtime Orlando Magic announcer David Steele noted on the live Web broadcast of the event here at OrlandoMagic.com, much of the day is filled with funny action shots and informal interviews.

“You can see, off to my left, there is a photo station where the players will be taken and do some silly action shots, where they pose as if they’re in a game and everybody knows they’re not really in a game,” he said, as he watched Marcin Gortat play stationary defense in front of a green screen.

That, in a nutshell, is what this day is all about. It’s about dealing with the awkward moments and knowing that down the road, it will all come to life.

As you tune in to TNT and other Magic games that are nationally televised, or log on to OrlandoMagic.com to visit the player profiles, or watch the Magic Vision at home games, you will reap the benefits of what these players and coaches went through at Media Day.

The main course of Media Day is the video and photography, often done in front of green screens. The green screen is used to allow editors to take players and place them in front of any background they want in a photo or video.

For example, you might attend a game at Amway Arena this year and see Rashard Lewis pointing at a photo displayed next to him on the screen. Obviously, that photo wasn’t next to him at Media Day, but that’s the beauty of the green screen.

You also might watch Dwight Howard send it back to Ernie and Charles in the studios during the halftime show of a Magic game on TNT.

These types of video shoots took place all over the complex, with two gyms, one studio, a spare locker room, the media workroom and one other spare room all filled with separate media outlets. Most of the videos were shot in both gyms and also in the broadcasting studio. Photos were taken in both gyms as well, along with the media workroom, the locker room and the other spare room.

In addition to all of these shoots, various print and radio reporters floated throughout the complex. Each player stopped into the Orlando Magic radio booth to chat with Dante Marchitelli for a few minutes and also paused for interviews with other reporters during down time between stations.

It’s chaos, and the media relations department has to keep track of every player at all times. By the end of the day, each player must hit each station present in the building and give each media outlet everything that they need. It’s a tall order, but everything ran relatively smooth throughout the day.

In addition to all of these shoots and interviews, OrlandoMagic.com set up a station overlooking one of the busiest sections of the day. For the first time in franchise history, the team offered a live Web feed of the event for fans, allowing them to get an inside look at what really takes place at media day while also offering exclusive interviews by David Steele with players, coaches, staff and other Media Day attendees.

As the day wound down, less dribbles could be heard, less backdrops could be seen and more players disappeared from sight.

Hundreds of interviews had been conducted, thousands of photos had been taken and hours of video had been shot.

This is all a day’s work at Media Day. It’s the few hours out of one afternoon that begin the process of creating the best possible coverage of the Orlando Magic on a local and national level throughout this season.

And, as the basketball operations staff and players believe when the day is finally over, it signals the beginning of the process called winning an NBA championship.