Miami Hurricane Videos Nominated for Emmy Awards
Nov. 28, 2008
CORAL GABLES, Fla. – University of Miami Coordinator of Video Stewart Cramer and University of Miami MBA candidate Michael O’Leary have been nominated for two Suncoast Regional Emmy Awards.
Miami produced videos “Mosaic” and “University of Miami Diving” are nominated in the Advanced Media Program. Cramer, who is in his 12th year at Miami, said the idea for the videos was to enhance and promote the Olympic sports at Miami.
Nominated for the 2008 Advanced Media Emmy’s “Outstanding Sports Program”, “Miami Diving” was a piece produced to highlight the accomplishments of the Miami diving program and help raise support via the Hurricane Club. The two-minute and 48 second piece is narrated by Ashton Smith.
“It was a very strong script,” O’Leary said. “Ashton Smith is the No. 1 movie trailer voiceover guy in Hollywood. So when you pair this top quality voice, very strong script and a unique image and approach, it comes together as a very good end product.”
Nominated for the 2008 Advanced Media Emmy’s “Outstanding Commercial”, “Mosaic” was created to highlight the Hurricanes’ Olympic sports in a 30-second commercial. UM tennis, swimming & diving, track & field, rowing, soccer, volleyball and golf are featured in the spot.
The two nominations are the first for the Miami athletics department.
“It’s a testament to change in the production landscape,” O’Leary said. “The other products that are up for the Emmys are ones coming from big production studios and big television stations that used millions of dollars of equipment and big crews shooting this stuff. We did this with one camera on my PC computer and donated voices.”
“Mike’s way with words is what makes the piece,” Cramer said. “His way of expressing things with writing makes it very easy to assemble things to it, and that’s what sets these projects apart. For a sport like diving, you never see something done with the type of writing and storytelling involved with this project.”
The donated voices used in the two pieces were thanks in part to UM alum Dean Panaro, who was a three-time All-American in diving in 1991, 1992 and 1993. Panaro is a partner in a voiceover agency in Hollywood, Calif.
The Suncoast Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences will host the 2008 Suncoast Emmy Awards, Saturday, Dec. 6, 2008 at the Rosen Shingle Creek in Orlando, Fla. The awards presentation is slated to begin at 8 p.m.
“I think the reason that this project has been so successful is because we have taken a style and approach that’s used primarily for football, basketball and high-end TV productions and brought it to sports like diving, swimming and tennis. We were able to display those sports in a way that hasn’t really been done before and in a quality that isn’t normal at this level,” O’Leary said.
“The thing I am most happy about is the way we did it and the content we did it with,” Cramer said. “It was simple production that was done with great enthusiasm and emotion. It was done for these sports.”
