OAKLAND, Calif. – As confetti rained down on the new NBA Champion Golden State Warriors inside Oracle Arena, four former Academy of Art University student-athletes were assisting to ensure the moment would not be forgotten.

Alumni Shampayne Clay (softball), Tyler Strawn (baseball), Brett Adami (baseball), and Molly O'Brien (women's basketball) found themselves with the unique opportunity to work as production assistants, some for NBA TV and the others for the team itself through their work in ART U's Communications & Media Technologies Department.

 

A Class of 2011 graduate from Academy of Art, Clay serves as the veteran of the group, having worked as the COM Department as studio & editing manager since the start of that year. Also an original member of the ART U softball team who still remains top five among the program's career leaders in batting average, slugging percentage, and home runs, Clay remembers her days pioneering the only art school in the NCAA as particularly green despite her achievements on the diamond.

"Coming to Academy of Art, I knew slim to nothing about cameras or other gear," said Clay. "As a student and now employee I think I have learned quite a bit in the Communications & Media Technologies Department about all kinds of cameras and other equipment. As a production assistant, you don't have to have very much knowledge about camera gear, but I think me knowing more, I was able to take on bigger responsibilities. My camera operator was able to leave me with a camera and get certain shots that he needed while he was on the other side of the arena shooting arrivals of the Cavaliers."

Fast-forward to today and Clay is in her second year working for NBA TV not just in The Finals, but during the regular season as well. A typical Warriors home gameday sees her meet with NBA staff including her camera operator (who happens to be Klay Thompson's uncle), they go over what shots to get during the players' arrival and warm-ups, and various cameras and lenses are prepared for the operator. At halftime, Clay ensures camera memory cards are delivered to editors outside Oracle Arena and that new cards are loaded and formatted by the start of the second half. The same process unfolds following the game.

As Clay has become more trusted in her capacities, she has been assigned to work practices, media days, and even the Warriors victory parade on June 15. Based on her collegiate experience, subsequent development working for Academy of Art, and opportunity to assist a professional sports organization, Clay explains that having an open mind is key.

"My advice is to take in everything possible in your major," said Clay. "Don't come in looking to focus on one single thing because there's so much that you can learn and do. I originally wanted to just be an on-camera sports broadcaster, but good thing I was a bad at it because it opened my eyes to study production as a whole and not just as an on-camera talent."

Last summer, Strawn had been working as a Major League Baseball gameday audio & minor league video logger for the MLB Advanced Media when he heard about the opportunity with the Warriors through a coworker.

"Without hesitation I applied online that night," Strawn said. "The best decision I ever made. I felt extremely under-qualified for the position, but I fit right in thanks to what I learned at Academy of Art."

The Urban Knights' everyday third baseman for two seasons as an upperclassman, Strawn was brought on this past fall to assist the Warriors' live production team and Creative Services Department. Throughout most of the regular season in The Finals, he spent gamedays at Oracle Arena, setting up tripods, cables, and cameras for the live production displayed on the jumbotron. Though some tasks may seem small, Strawn describes them as "extremely amplified" due to the atmosphere with players and coaches swarmed by media in search of sound bites, but he is no stranger to that type of environment.

"Being a student athlete at ART U helped me prepare for the world of live production," said Strawn. "On the baseball field, everyone had one common goal and that was to do anything for the team and try to execute your role to the best of your ability every night. The production world, especially in sports, literally follows the routine of the team. But, it can be an intense atmosphere because the crew is dealing with corporate sponsors and is responsible for advertisements that cost money. I'm used to pressure from playing sports and working as a team to accomplish a collective goal. By working hard on the field and in the classroom, it makes you someone people will want to work with."

Beyond his gameday work, Strawn could be found at the Warriors' Oakland headquarters on a weekly basis. There he would log game and documentary footage for the Warriors studio who distribute content across multiple platforms. For Strawn, who helped create GIFs that were featured on the team's Twitter account and edited commercials that appeared on television, graduating Academy of Art was a critical step in preparation for the professional sports media industry.

"The Communications & Media Technologies Department taught me so much about producing video and audio content," said Strawn. "My experience with the Warriors was enhanced because I was taking classes on live productions."

Adami, a former teammate of Strawn with ART U Baseball and fellow Class of 2017 graduate, began with the NBA itself in April and his responsibilities have primarily involved handling camera operators. His first step toward the opportunity was developing his skillset and network within the School of Communications & Media Technologies out of which local CBS sports anchor/reporter and Academy of Art professor Kim Coyle put him in touch with a cinematographer, Daniel Murphy, whom he worked alongside through the end of the regular season and playoffs. Adami's athletic background and full-time position as a studio technician for the COM Department where he was once a student made him a particularly attractive addition.

"Academy of Art University helped me prepare for working in this fast-paced intense environment by giving me hands-on experience with professional equipment," said Adami. "The things I learned here helped me be comfortable when working in such a professional setting as NBA games. Being a student-athlete I see how this role has similarities as playing sports. You have to always be on your toes because you might miss an opportunity. You have to be ready for everything. The camera operators are counting on you to change a battery or lens fast so they don't miss a great play. Things come up unexpectedly and you just have to react and be as calm as you can to get it done."

While assisting with everything from changing batteries to swapping lenses to picking out shots to get for an operator in charge of slow-motion action, Adami has covered players arriving, the locker room, warm-ups, and was assigned to handle lighting interviews with NBA Commissioner Adam Silver. Prior to the start of The Finals, Adami worked with television child star Miles Brown on media day interviews and, throughout the series, he was constantly on the move getting shots of virtually everything throughout Oracle Arena.

O'Brien, like Adami, operated under the NBA's production umbrella. The Class of 2016 graduate notched her second year with the crew which included close friend and fellow Communications & Media Technologies major Zayanya De Alwis. This year, working in a similar capacity to her production assistant role in the Warriors' 2015 championship run, O'Brien was charged with running errands for the company and assisting with a variety of shoots.

"Every year the experience gets a little bit sweeter," said O'Brien. "Especially with the Warriors winning it at home this year, it was incredible. I'm so happy they got to experience this on their home court with all of their family and friends around. And seeing so many Academy of Art students working was really neat. I love the atmosphere that The Finals brings and, on the production side, it gets pretty crazy, but it's an incredible thing to be a part of."

As the Warriors remain poised for more championship runs and a move to San Francisco in the near future, Academy of Art University Communications & Media Technologies students figure to remain very close to all the action.