Preparing for the big game: Notes on Game 7

Last night was Game 7 for the Ottawa 67's and Brampton Battalion. The 67's played hard, but ended up losing 3-1. Preparation was key to pull off a successful audio/visual presentation for the biggest game of the season:

• Pre-game: We dropped our usual pre-game playoff video, and prepared a special video, using Aerosmith's "Amazing", along with some great highlights for the series so far. The lyrics to the song were perfect for telling the story:
  
  
  
  
  • I kept the right ones out / And let the wrong ones in was perfect for some highlights of big saves from Lukas Mensator.
    
    
  • There were times in my life / When I was goin' insane was matched with some nice close-ups of coach Brian Kilrea giving instructions on the bench.
    
    
  • And when I lost my grip / And I hit the floor was paired with some great footage of our defenceman Pierre Mitsou getting upset, and then being knocked down onto the ice.
    
  
  
  
• The game was close throughout: We had a small but vocal crowd, which we played to with lots of crowd prompts and call-response. There were a few times were we just stayed silent, and let the crowd chant, cheer, and make their own entertainment.
  
  
• Post-game: We prepared two scenarios, with different music, scripts (always script everything!), and video elements for each.
  
  
  
  • For a win: We'd play an up-beat celebration song, then segue to "Amazing" by Aerosmith again for the hand shakes. Once the energy level dropped a bit, we had scripts to plug our next game, and congratulate our opponents.
    
  
  
  • For a loss: We'd play "Next Year" by the Foo Fighters (from their "There Is Nothing Left To Lose" cd). Then we segue to "Amazing" again by Aerosmith -- it was a very emotional moment, and this song seemed to work despite the loss. We then had scripts to congratulate the Battalion and wish them good luck. We also had a video still and script to say thanks to the fans for all of their support.
    
  
  
  
• Money shots: I instructed my fan cam operator to "roll tape" on all of the post-game proceedings. He got some great shots, which will be great for future highlight clips, vids, etc.
  
  
• Walk-out: Finally, with the loss, our walk-out music was suitably low-key. Melancholy, but not depressing. My audio guy chose "Thanks That Was Fun" by the Barenaked Ladies as our first walk-out tune. (I was proud that we found some alternatives to Green Day's "Good Riddance", which has become a cliche "end-of-season" tune.)
  

Unfortunately, the 67's didn't win. For me, the new season starts today. I'll spend the next week or two on "post-mortem" feedback sessions with my crew. Then I'll be spending the rest of the summer making sure our production is even better for the new season.