Live From CFP National Championship Game: Another Title-Winning Season Sees Crimson Tide Productions Shift Its Video, Social Voice Focusing not on tradition but on the future gives Alabama's media effort improved success across digital platforms By Brandon Costa, Director of Digital
Tuesday, January 9, 2018 - 3:19 pm
Print This Story
Story Highlights
For many years, the words Alabama Football evoked memories of black-and-white gridiron classics and Bear' Bryant's hound's-tooth hat. For Crimson Tide Productions, the creative-media arm of the Alabama Athletics Department, that has changed.
With five championships in the past nine years (including last night's dramatic win over Georgia in the 2018 CFP National Championship Game), the visual history of Alabama Football is no longer sepia-toned; it's bright, colorful, and in high definition.
The 2017-18 football campaign marked a dramatic change in the image that Crimson Tide Productions presents across social-media platforms like Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and Snapchat. A concerted effort was made to shift the story away from the program's tradition and toward the future to appeal to potential recruits. The shift has led to a much more youthful, all-access approach to bringing fans inside the life of an Alabama student-athlete.
The University of Alabama video and social team on the field at Mercedes-Benz Stadium following the Crimson Tide's dramatic victory over Georgia. From left: Chris Liskiewicz, Michaiah Smith, Jonathan King, Adam White, Justin Brant, and Alex Seiver (not pictured is Christopher England)
In the past, our content was very tradition-driven, notes Jonathan King, creative director, Crimson Tide Productions. It spoke to a different generation. Recruiting has changed so much, and the things that we need to do to help the school target these kids are different. That being said, the audience on social media tends to like the same type of content. So, while we've shifted our social-media approach to a recruiting focus, our fans, at the same time, have loved it because what we are showing is the exciting side of being a player.
According to Justin Brant, director, Crimson Tide Productions, the crew shot content in Atlanta and at Mercedes-Benz Stadium using a new high-powered RED camera and a Sony FS7 to capture slow-motion footage and a collection of smaller units: some Sony a7S II units, a Sony FS700, and a 360-degree camera (which the team was ultimately limited in its ability to use, given the various rights and security issues surrounding the presence of President Donald Trump last night).
Besides Brant and King, the video team working onsite in Atlanta comprised Chris Liskiewicz on graphics and social-media posting, Adam White designing motion graphics, Michaiah Smith and Alex Seiver shooting video, and Christopher England lending a hand on video while focusing on working Snapchat.
Crimson Tide Productions has had the opportunity to cover six college-football championship games (in both the BCS and the CFP eras) so they have learned a lot from planning and executing content for big-ticket events. If there's one thing the team has learned throughout that experience, it's to never lose focus on why they were there.
This is about the players, Brant explains. You can get caught up in all of this for yourself. Try not to do that. Focus on the story of the players and what they are working through. It's a great experience for everybody. You never get tired of it. But focus on telling the stories of the player.
King concurs, though acknowledging that covering an event like this for an athletic department can be overwhelming. He advised his colleagues to remain focused and do what they do best.
People have a tendency to want to cover everything, notes King, who worked at Alabama from 2005 to '12 before becoming creative director at the University of Tennessee. He returned to the Crimson Tide last spring. Make great, quality content that focuses on a few great moments, and people are going to eat it up and love it. If you try to do everything and try to get every single moment, some of it is going to fall short. You're going to feel rushed and panicked. Make a plan for the specific moments you want to capture and blow those up; make them humongous.
Most recent headlines
11/12/2025
Dalet, a leading provider of cloud-native, end-to-end media workflow solutions, ...
06/12/2025
In a live broadcast from the Reagan National Defense Forum, L3Harris Chair and CEO Christopher Kubasik joined Morgan Brennan on CNBCs Closing Bell: Overtime. Ku...
06/12/2025
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. A new survey from Pixitmedia by Datacore revealed a major shift in the Media & Entertainment industry in media archiving, with 85% of resp...
06/12/2025
HACKENSACK, N.J. LiveU has announced that the national public broadcaster Czech Television has completed one of the largest LiveU live production deployments fo...
06/12/2025
NEW YORK The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) presented the Excellence in Production Technology Emmy Award to NASA+ and Dr. Tom Leight...
05/12/2025
2025 Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame: Curt Gowdy Jr. - Master Storyteller, Nati...
05/12/2025
SVG Sit-Down: Veritone's Sean King on the Power of Mining Video, Audio DataThe company's Data Refinery offers users total control and governance over da...
05/12/2025
Platinum White Paper: Inside the Nashville Predators' Unified, Flexible, Sca...
05/12/2025
Netflix Reaches Agreement To Acquire Warner Bros. Following Planned WBD SplitThe deal does not include WBDs sports assets like TNT Sports (US, UK, LatAm), Euros...
05/12/2025
FOX Sports Returns to Indianapolis for Primetime Broadcast of Big Ten Championsh...
05/12/2025
SVG Summit 2025 Preview: Digital Engagement & Monetization Workshop Tackles the ...
05/12/2025
Atlanta United Lights Up New Emory Healthcare Studio With First Live Broadcast f...
05/12/2025
As Messi Takes the Pitch, MLS, Apple, NEP Roll Out Largest MLS Cup Production Ev...
05/12/2025
ESPN Enters College Football's Most Intense Month With Elevated Workflows fo...
05/12/2025
It's about that time! Awards season is in full swing, and the Film Independe...
05/12/2025
Every year, Spotify Wrapped offers a personalized look back at the audio that defined your year. It's a snapshot of your listening habits, designed to tell ...
05/12/2025
In 2025, Spotify's EQUAL, GLOW, and RADAR programs celebrated women, LGBTQIA , and emerging artists who turned moments into milestones. From breaking record...
05/12/2025
In our latest blog, we explain how Wi-Fi 7 rollouts can drive consumer loyalty with value-add services such as consumer cybersecurity. We also explore how this ...
05/12/2025
LOS ANGELES Netflix announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire the assets of Warner Bros. for $82.7 billion....
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Nielsens Gracenote has launched Gracenote Content Connect, a new ad platform that provides agencies, brands, supply-side platforms (SSPs) and demand-si...
05/12/2025
NEW YORK In an most important update to the workings of deal-based programmatic advertising, IAB Tech Lab has released version 1.0 of its Deals API for public c...
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Pass the turkey. Pass the stuffing. Pass the cranberry sauce. All are common requests of Americans celebrating Thanksgiving Day with family and f...
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Iris, the new cloud-connected camera control platform, has officially launched with features that turn virtually any PTZ camera into a software-connect...
05/12/2025
HOLLYWOOD, Calif. Netflix announced today that it has entered into an agreement to acquire the assets of Warner Bros. for $82.7 billion....
05/12/2025
NEW YORK Iris, the new cloud-connected camera control platform, has officially launched with features that turn virtually any PTZ camera into a software-connect...
05/12/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has approved AT&T's $1.02 billion acquisition of spectrum from UScellular in a decision that was issued sho...
05/12/2025
The Best Coldplay Songs: 21 Tracks That Shoot for the Stars From Yellow to Viva La Vida, Fix You to Paradise, this playlist goes back to the start.
December ...
05/12/2025
Zafris Lecture Series Brings Nabil Ayers to Berklee The 32nd annual James G. Zafris Distinguished Lecture series was held on Thursday, November 13, with guest...
05/12/2025
Back to All News
Netflix Unveils the First Look for Land of Sin' - Premier...
05/12/2025
Introducing New Perks to Help You Get Even More from LinkedIn Premium Published on Dec 5, 2025 Categories: Company News, Product News
LinkedIn Corporate Co...
05/12/2025
Friday 5 December 2025
A new Game of Thrones Tale: Official trailer for Sky Exc...
05/12/2025
Back to All News
Don Lee, Lee Jin-uk, and Lalisa Manobal to Star in Netflix Act...
05/12/2025
Tis the season of giving once again and this year we've taken our Give Back Fridays' concept and turned it on its head.
In the autumn we were approach...
05/12/2025
Brayden Gogis doesn't remember a time when he wasn't completely fixated on games in all forms. In preschool, when they asked us to dress up as what we ...
05/12/2025
The Grinch steals the spotlight as the theme for The Late Late Toy Show 2025
Tune in tonight at 9:35pm on RT One and worldwide on RT Player
#LateLateToyShow...
05/12/2025
RT Announces New Presenters of Flagship News Programmes
New RT Six One News co-presenter Tommy Meskill
Sarah McInerney & Justin McCarthy join Morning Ir...
04/12/2025
ToolsOnAir Blackmagic Design HyperDeck Event Presets for just:in mac pro 2025 & ...
04/12/2025
ToolsOnAir AJA Ki Pro Event Presets for just:in mac pro 2025 & just:in linux
More Details:Starting with version 5.5, both just:in mac pro and just:in linux sol...
04/12/2025
Wangu Kanuri from Kenya and Godwin Asediba from Ghana are two of this years finalists for Thomsons Young Journalist of the Year Award. The pair are runners-up i...
04/12/2025
SVG Sit-Down: ProximaVision's Claudio Lisman on Why Tethered Drones Could Be...
04/12/2025
SVG Campus Shot Callers: Imry Halevi, Senior Associate Director of Athletics, Co...
04/12/2025
Platinum White Paper: LiveU Lightweight Sports Production: A Step Change in Spor...
04/12/2025
London to Riyadh: DAZN brings the boxing glamour to new production levels for Be...
04/12/2025
Analysis: Paramount bets on the battering ram' with Champions League play By Callum McCarthy, Editor-at-Large
Tuesday, December 2, 2025 - 10:12
Print ...
04/12/2025
Space City Home Network Launches SCHN DTC App for Astros and RocketsThe Rockets and Astros were previously the lone NBA and MLB teams without a DTC appBy Jason...
04/12/2025
SVG Summit 2025 Preview: Content Workflows Workshop Spotlights Evolution of Spor...
04/12/2025
New Sponsor Spotlight: Geotech's Patrick Wambold On the Unreal Engine Revolu...
04/12/2025
Curt Gowdy Jr. - Master Storyteller, Nationally and RegionallyBy Jason Dachman, Editorial Director, U.S.
Thursday, December 4, 2025 - 1:52 pm
Print This Sto...
04/12/2025
(L-R) Rebecca Lichtenfeld, Mohammadreza Eyni, Sara Khaki, and Judith Helfand att...
Live From CFP National Championship Game: Another Title-Winning Season Sees Crimson Tide Productions Shift Its Video, Social Voice Focusing not on tradition but on the future gives Alabama's media effort improved success across digital platforms By Brandon Costa, Director of Digital 
