2005 Men's Basketball DVD
May 27, 2005 11:05 AM | General
May 27, 2005
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| Fragale |
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – At last, the long-awaited 2005 Mountaineer men’s basketball highlight video is ready for your DVD player. Michael Fragale, WVU director of communications, says the finished product has been shipped to the duplicator and will be available in time for Father’s Day.
“I think videos reflect the type of season you have and I think our fans will really, really enjoy this one,” Fragale said.
The 50-minute highlight includes more than an hour’s worth of bonus material to give fans nearly two hours of footage to relive West Virginia's run to the "Elite Eight" in 2005.
“For $19.95 we wanted to give fans their money’s worth and DVDs typically have bonus material,” Fragale explained. “In both the football and basketball DVDs the bonus material is just as long as the video itself. We just tried to come up with things that people would like to watch.
“They like the music video and they like sit-down interviews so we added those. The Big East and NCAA tournament games were so exciting we thought we’d develop brief highlight packages for each game as well,” Fragale noted.
The production process typically runs about six to eight weeks but because there was such a demand for this video, it was paired down to just four weeks to have it done in time for June 1. This process is dramatically different than in the past when highlights were produced on just VHS tape. Once a video was finished at the production house it was sent directly to the duplicator.
“This is really a team effort,” said Fragale. “We started it on April 15 and it was finished at the production shop on May 15. BlaineTurner Advertising, Inc., here in Morgantown had a week to author the DVD and they made their deadline so consequently, we’re right on schedule.”
The only obstacle in the production of the video was securing the rights from CBS for NCAA tournament footage.
“There is a fee based on how many minutes of NCAA footage you use,” Fragale said.
He says several schools farm out their highlight videos while many others don’t produce a video at all.
“Schools like Syracuse send their video out to production companies that produce it for them. But we have the resources and the talent on campus to do it here,” Fragale said.
According to Fragale, the video itself is more play by play and interview driven with Jim Fagan doing the narration. Fagan of course has one of the most recognized voices in the country doing voice-over work for NBC and the NBA.
“We didn’t want to use Tony’s play by play and also have him do the voice-over for the video,” said Fragale. “We just thought another voice would help set the narration apart and Jim did a tremendous job for us. He did it for his alma mater and we’re very grateful to him.”
Included in the video are sit-down interviews with seven different players as well as Coach John Beilein.
“This is done very much like the (ESPN Classic) Sports Century series,” said Fragale.
The video producers were Chris Ostien and Greg Shock, with editorial assistance from Bryan Messerly, associate sports information director, and Mike Parsons, MSN executive producer and WVU Deputy Director of Athletics.
The DVD can be purchased at ShopWVU.com or by clicking HERE. It retails for $19.95 and is expected to ship in time for Father's Day.
“I think everyone is going to be pleased with the product,” said Fragale.
