Career Paths: RamVision Allowed Phillips to Direct Her Future
Mike Brohard
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She was searching, which isn’t unusual for a college student about to become a sophomore.
Amelia Phillips was dead sure about what she wanted when she left California to attend Colorado State. She loved science and biology, and as a research university, CSU filled all of her criteria. At least until she no longer was all that enamored with zoology.
“After two semesters, I just wasn’t feeling it; I wasn’t having fun with it, I wasn’t looking forward to the next semester,” said Phillips, who graduates Saturday. “It was more of a dread, like, I don’t know if I can do this, that type of feeling. I started looking at other majors, and journalism came up repeatedly.”
This is the point where Phillips would direct the camera to take a dramatic angle, widen to the epiphany which was soon to hit.
When, by chance, a guest speaker came to her first-year journalism class. Her curiosity was piqued.
Make no mind that when given a five-question quiz about Colorado State athletics she could answer only one. Hey, at least she knew the Rams competed in the Mountain West.
Ben Brune was the guest speaker, and he was busy getting RamVision branded on campus. It provided state-of-the-art equipment to learn on, with Emmy Award winners in himself and Reno Boyd on hand to teach.
Student involvement is not only welcomed at RamVision, but key, and all Brune requires from his students at the start is a desire.
Phillips had an unlimited supply.
“She kept showing up, and she kept taking on responsibilities,” Brune said. “After helping us out as a production assistant, setting things up and shooting and being an extra hand, within a month, she was editing videos. She did football updates and was taking on more and more. She didn’t come in and, ‘hey, this is what I’m doing, goodbye.’ It was, ‘what else can I do, can I do more.’ Essentially, it was how can I get my hands dirty? That’s the best way to learn all this.”
Her beginnings were a flash of what’s next. The blend was intimidating and invigorating, leading her to learn every aspect.
Not only did she learn quickly, she continually sought out more tasks. The buttons in the control room weren’t scary, she just viewed each one as a question to be asked.
“I think it helped I did start so early with RamVision, Ben just had to throw me in, such as positions we don’t give our beginning students anymore,” Phillips said. “I think that really hands-on approach of something I really knew I wanted to do, and here I am already doing it within months of changing my major. Working with the sports teams and getting behind the scenes, it was really awe inspiring. The first time of being down on the football field in front of thousands of people, that kept happening. Because I started early, I moved up through the ranks pretty fast.”
For the past two years, she’s traveled with the football team capturing video. She has also directed board shows at Moby Arena, as well as other products.
People may not know her face, but they have seen her work. It’s been on the video board at Moby Arena and crossed your Twitter or Instagram feed. She has informed you, hyped you up and possibly brought you to tears.
Brune showed her the technical ropes, and when Boyd joined the staff, he provided the world of creativity. While she leans more towards direction and production, having a working knowledge of both leads to a better product.
“Ben taught me a lot of basic, fundamental things with editing. He taught me how to run a camera, how to be in the control room. He gave me the fundamentals for everything I know today, which is awesome. He’s always there when I have a question. With Reno, he’s taught me so much about just shooting video and how can I create something that is visually dynamic. When I shoot a Wake up State video, what are you shooting, how are you shooting it, how are you putting it together? Reno is the person I really look for when it comes to that creative/editing/storytelling aspect.
“It’s made me a lot more aware of how the two come together. I have that awareness in my mind of how do I make this interesting. It’s always in the back of my mind. That’s a huge benefit for me as a director or technical director.”
Phillips is excited and sad these days, set to graduate Saturday, Dec. 21 at 9 a.m. at Moby Arena, knowing the occasion brings to an end her time at RamVision. Before she left, she lived out one of her greatest experiences, serving as both the director and technical director for a Colorado State women’s basketball game.
She is the only student who has ever performed both tasks simultaneously for RamVision.
“I found out I was going to be my own technical director, and I was, ‘Oh, OK.’ I calmed down immediately, knew I had done it before in some sense, so let’s push them together,” Phillips said. “I was able to really calm down and really focus in, and the show went great. Ben felt comfortable enough to leave me alone and run the show by myself, and he went and watched the last part of the game.”
"To see the state-of-the-art control-room facility we get to teach students with, that’s the same equipment the Broncos and the Rockies are using. You’re not going to get that experience at many other places.”Amelia Phillips, CSU student
Brune, well, he was like a proud parent, sitting out in the stands knowing it was all in Phillips’ capable hands. As excited as she is to join the work force, so too is Brune, as she is the latest prize student who can help grow the reputation.
Olivia Landis is now working with the New York Jets. Alex Clough went directly to an internship with the New Orleans Saints and New Orleans Pelicans. Jack Murphy went to work at Ole Miss, and Duncan Richards is a broadcast engineer at Game Creek Video who has worked with Fox Broadcasting and the NFL. Through the years, they’ve built friendships and helped each other grow, which is the part of RamVision which Phillips found so inviting.
Early on, Clough knew Phillips was going to develop into a special talent.
“She is probably the hardest working person I know,” Clough said. “She’s very creative, also just very artsy. She gets it 100 percent what she’s looking at. I love her video. You can watch her video and somebody else’s, and know which one is hers.”
Phillips is excited. It’s about what is next, and the answer to the question is she’s not sure. What she doesn’t question is whether or not she’s prepared.
She is. She knows, Brune knows, Boyd knows. Her time at RamVision gives her confidence.
The equipment at RamVision matches what the Colorado Rockies and Denver Broncos use. Clough said, in some ways, it’s more advanced. So every young student interested in video production Phillips encounters, she tells them to go see Brune.
Immediately.
“I honestly feel it has given me an edge over a lot of the people in the journalism department, just because I have had so much hands-on experience,” Phillips said. “I probably have learned more at RamVision than I ever did in class, in a way. With shooting, tracking a football in midair with ENG (electronic news gathering) is probably one of the hardest things I’ve ever done at RamVision. Being able to put stuff like that in my demo reel and say, I’ve traveled with a DI team to multiple cities and made content for this, directed board shows for ticketed sports, you don’t get that just by being a student. It really gives you that leg up. I can do this more than just creating student projects in class.”
Which is why she is sad. RamVision is, too. Her talent will be missed, just nowhere near as close as the person.
The smile she brings, the personality she provides will not soon be forgotten. She can be sarcastic, even while not diverting her attention from cutting up video on the team bus in a rush to get to the airport.
“I mean, this job has been more than a job to me. I’ve invested so much of my emotional stake into this,” Phillips said. “Seeing what RamVision was when I first started and what it is now is amazing. Our old room was gross. To see the state-of-the-art control-room facility we get to teach students with, that’s the same equipment the Broncos and the Rockies are using. You’re not going to get that experience at many other places.”
She may stick with athletics, but she is equally intrigued with the notion of branching out to the music and entertainment industry.
In three years, her college experience became ideal. Her curiosity grew into her passion, and a willingness to branch out of the lecture halls into the unknown has given her purpose.
Saturday’s cap and gown are ceremonial. When she flips the tassel from one side to the other, she’ll do so in confidence. Because across the hall from the Moby Arena floor, behind the two closed metal doors sits a control room, one which taught her all she needs to know to direct her next production.
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