Bills on Hard Knocks

[MikePJ76]

58 minutes ago, Rocky Landing said:

I would think a lot less. The timeline for getting this show to air is pretty phenomenal. Hundreds of hours of footage, and sound to be sifted through, cataloged, organized, and edited. Then the narration has to be written, and recorded. Then the final mix. All in a very short timespan. There may very well be a representative of the Bills present during editing, but the editing process is enormous, involves dozens of people, and has to happen very quickly. Those editors are probably logging 16-hour days to get that show out. Not a lot of time for revisions, or squabbling over content, when the concerned parties have all signed contracts, and are aware the cameras are rolling...

One of the online editors was active on twitter a few years ago.  They are getting hard drives up until about 4 hours before air time and like 3 hours before they lock picture.  

 

The Bills and any other team have never been involved in anything with the editing.  I believe there are agreed upon terms before this starts and through the years has been mastered essentially.  There is never any game plan discussion or reveals visually of plays etc.  I believe all scouting and trade discussions, things of the sort are not used unless cleared ahead of time also.

 

as an editor myself, sitting here at the moment in front of Avid Media Composer it would be 110% impossible to work with such tight deadlines and have input from various people who work for a team.  Its just not possible.   

 

I am sure The various directors/EP's and Online Editors get plenty of feedback from the team and the league.  

 

Last year's hard knocks was boring.  There was literally nothing interesting.  

 

These must be a lot fun to be on the editing crew, the montages look like fun.  The amount of B Roll and clips in the bins by the time they get to the 3rd or 4th episode must be overwhelming.  

 

and just to nitpick something you said in an earlier post, They absolutely have pre production meetings on storylines.  While the episodes will be cut organically allowing the narrative to fall into place if you will, the key points / main story has been mapped as an outline in some regard.  

 

They always follow the same formula.  

 

Attach a narrative to an undrafted free agent.

Attach a narrative to the team as a whole and their place in the league, this is where all the stadium, chicken wings, niagara falls, Pegula family story will be.

Attach a narrative to Josh Allen....all encompassing.

 

Dive into Key free agent signings and players who were drafted.

 

Then they always have the kooky guy, Dion dawkins is perfect for this....the all business guy, Milano is perfect for this.

 

Traditionally they will go the route of having a Veteran who is trying to hang on juxtaposed to a younger player taking his job or pushing him....perfect spot for a tre,Benford, Hairston story or Cam lewis fighting off hancock. etc.

 

And of course they always have the my mom pushed me in a wheelbarrow up hill 10 miles every morning to every practice story for the sentimental stuff and the bills have the most intriguing sentimental story on the roster maybe ever in Damar Hamlin.   

 

So all that to say, the camera crews will be directed to go get lots of stuff.  Then the editors and producers will work it into an organic story in the edit as they all are.

 

There is a ton of story in the buffalo bills.  They have 100 year old marv levy, Cancer survivor Jim Kelly, A celebrity newlywed, an incredible fan base, a nice setting in rochester (pittsford) etc.  Then of course guys get hurt, guys get cut etc.  If they have to do this hopefully it is better than the bears last year, that was terrible.  

Edited 4 hours ago by MikePJ76

[Alphadawg7]

47 minutes ago, MikePJ76 said:

One of the online editors was active on twitter a few years ago.  They are getting hard drives up until about 4 hours before air time and like 3 hours before they lock picture.  

 

The Bills and any other team have never been involved in anything with the editing.  I believe there are agreed upon terms before this starts and through the years has been mastered essentially.  There is never any game plan discussion or reveals visually of plays etc.  I believe all scouting and trade discussions, things of the sort are not used unless cleared ahead of time also.

 

as an editor myself, sitting here at the moment in front of Avid Media Composer it would be 110% impossible to work with such tight deadlines and have input from various people who work for a team.  Its just not possible.   

 

I am sure The various directors/EP's and Online Editors get plenty of feedback from the team and the league.  

 

Last year's hard knocks was boring.  There was literally nothing interesting.  

 

These must be a lot fun to be on the editing crew, the montages look like fun.  The amount of B Roll and clips in the bins by the time they get to the 3rd or 4th episode must be overwhelming.  

 

I have a couple friends who have worked on this show a while, and you are pretty spot on with what you said here.  And there is definitely no one from the team involved in editing or post.   

 

47 minutes ago, MikePJ76 said:

 

and just to nitpick something you said in an earlier post, They absolutely have pre production meetings on storylines.  While the episodes will be cut organically allowing the narrative to fall into place if you will, the key points / main story has been mapped as an outline in some regard.  

 

They always follow the same formula.  

 

Attach a narrative to an undrafted free agent.

Attach a narrative to the team as a whole and their place in the league, this is where all the stadium, chicken wings, niagara falls, Pegula family story will be.

Attach a narrative to Josh Allen....all encompassing.

 

Dive into Key free agent signings and players who were drafted.

 

Then they always have the kooky guy, Dion dawkins is perfect for this....the all business guy, Milano is perfect for this.

 

Traditionally they will go the route of having a Veteran who is trying to hang on juxtaposed to a younger player taking his job or pushing him....perfect spot for a tre,Benford, Hairston story or Cam lewis fighting off hancock. etc.

 

And of course they always have the my mom pushed me in a wheelbarrow up hill 10 miles every morning to every practice story for the sentimental stuff and the bills have the most intriguing sentimental story on the roster maybe ever in Damar Hamlin.   

 

So all that to say, the camera crews will be directed to go get lots of stuff.  Then the editors and producers will work it into an organic story in the edit as they all are.

 

You nailed the formula of the show 100%, and its wild to me what some of these people in here think the show is going to go hard after their perceived issues at WR like it was a TSW thread lol.  Hard Knocks is a narrative and story based show, its not an analytical show there to do in depth analysis on the team or its roster.  Its there to let the fans at home inside what its like to be inside a real NFL camp, and its been that way since day 1.  

 

47 minutes ago, MikePJ76 said:

 

There is a ton of story in the buffalo bills.  They have 100 year old marv levy, Cancer survivor Jim Kelly, A celebrity newlywed, an incredible fan base, a nice setting in rochester (pittsford) etc.  Then of course guys get hurt, guys get cut etc.  If they have to do this hopefully it is better than the bears last year, that was terrible.  

In my personal opinion, I think this season will end up being one of the best ones from an entertainment value overall.  Lots of great stories, characters, and a unique vibe in the locker room.  Great mix of charismatic vets (Josh, Tre, Dion, etc) and youngsters (Keon, Hairston, etc) with a lot of just good likable people too like Shakir, Josh again, Beane, Davis, etc.  Lot of good heart string stories here, the fans, the new stadium, the MVP, and on and on.  

 

 

[Sierra Foothills]

4 hours ago, Rocky Landing said:

I've been working in the motion picture industry in Los Angeles for over 30 years. In that time, have worked on numerous documentaries, and reality TV shows, including a season on Big Brother, and three seasons of Hell's Kitchen, which employed around 65 cameras. And I can tell you that I have zero concern that Hard Knocks will have some negative impact on the Bills' training camp, practices, or development as a team. 

 

Here are some elements of production that I would fully expect:

• Every area of the Bills facility that HK will want to film will be pre-rigged to be as concealed as possible. There will be some lighting, and microphones rigged into the ceilings, but they will be low-profile. They will want 360˚ of access, without any production equipment in any of the shots.
• I would assume there will also be quite a few robotic cameras rigged around the facilities. These are similar to security cameras, but a little larger.
• There will likely be a few pre-lit interview areas. They will be out of the way, and private. 
• Mobile camera crews will be very small-- probably three people, camera, sound, and production assistant. They will go out of their way to be as inconspicuous as possible. They will have low-profile headsets, and receive direction via radio.
• The director, producers, and robotic camera operators, sound engineers, etc., will be in a couple high-tech mobile production trailers, and few people in the Bills organization will ever see them.
• The director, and producers will not engineer, or gin up any drama, or conflict. Even on a conflict-driven show like Hell's Kitchen, the dramas occur organically. Such dramas are nurtured, of course. But that won't happen on Hard Knocks.
• Plot lines on the show will not be scripted. Even on a show like Big Brother, the closest they will come to scripting the show is to ask leading questions, and then ask the contestants to include the question subject in their answers. (example: Q: "How do you feel about Shiela?" A: "I'm angry with Shiela.")

Personally, I can't wait for this show. And if anyone is upset with Hard Knocks being around the Bills, they should probably also be upset over the Embedded series, which, as a much lower-budget production, was probably more visible to the players than Hard Knocks will be.

 

 

 

To the bolded, I couldn't agree more.

 

Bottom line, in this day and age I think organizations that are afraid of and try to control distractions will (all things being equal) be less successful than organizations which accept and embrace those distractions. The same "noise" can be framed as a negative or a positive.

 

If the Bills organization messages to the players that Hard Knocks is an unwelcome intrusion and a distraction, there very well could be an adverse effect. If on the other hand they approach it with a positive attitude ("the world loves us and is interested in us... when you look good you feel good... let's show them what we're all about") then it can be used as a positive motivator.

 

The Bills are high-visibility professionals. They should be excited and invigorated for this opportunity.

 

The equivalent of shutting the door, drawing the blinds, and taking the phone off the hook has never been a successful strategy.

 

 

[Just in Atlanta]

On 5/21/2025 at 1:19 PM, WMDman said:

Hope McD saves his plane jokes for when the cameras are away

He has some zingers, like this one:

 

“My dad died on 911. He was the best pilot in Saudi Arabia”

 

Hey o