ESPN Sportscenter Commercial

For this project, I decided to create an ESPN SportsCenter commercial because sports have always been something I connect with, and I wanted my spot to show the emotion and energy that makes people tune in. The topic felt natural for me because highlights are a huge part of why fans love ESPN, and I wanted to recreate that same excitement through my own editing. My commercial works as a call to action without using any dialogue—everything is communicated through the visuals. By showing different sports moments, from game-winners to sideline reactions, the clips basically tell the viewer, “If you love moments like this, then SportsCenter is where you need to be.” The music helps push that message too. Instead of using random audio, I used the actual SportsCenter intro theme, which instantly signals to the audience what they’re watching. The familiar sound builds anticipation and makes the highlights feel even more dramatic, creating that classic ESPN vibe.

This project also meets all the assignment requirements. I start with a clear setup that explains my topic and why I chose it. The call to action is shown visually instead of spoken, which makes the spot feel more cinematic. The SportsCenter intro music plays throughout the commercial, just like we were required to include some form of music. In my blog post, I also added two links—one to ESPN’s official site and one to an article about how highlight-driven sports media keeps fans engaged. I made sure to include label words so everything stays organized and easy to follow. Overall, what I learned from this project is how powerful visuals and sound can be when you’re trying to communicate a message. You don’t always need narration—sometimes the right footage mixed with the right audio can say everything on its own.

3 light set up

 This week in Professor Harwood’s class, we went over the basic 3-light setup that a lot of photographers use. He explained the three lights — the key light, the fill light, and the backlight — and what each one actually does. The key light is the main one that really lights up the subject, the fill light helps soften the shadows, and the backlight sits behind the person to help them stand out from the background.

After he broke it down for us, he showed how all three lights work together. Once you see it in action, you realize why people use this setup so much. When everything is placed right, the picture looks cleaner and has more depth. If you take one light away, you can tell right away because the shot either gets too dark on one side or the subject kind of blends into the background.

We got into groups and practiced setting up the lights ourselves, which honestly helped a lot. Doing it hands-on made it easier to understand how small changes in lighting can change the whole look of a photo.

Reflector Lesson

This week in Professor Harwood’s class, we learned about reflectors and how they’re used in photography. He broke down what they actually do — pretty much just bouncing light back onto the subject so the picture doesn’t look too dark or uneven. He also explained why photographers use them instead of always relying on extra lights. Sometimes you just need something simple to brighten up shadows or add a little more detail without changing the whole setup.

After he showed us the different types of reflectors, we split into groups and went outside to practice. That’s when you could really see the difference. When someone held the reflector the right way, the person in the photo looked way cleaner.
rer and brighter. Without it, the shadows were heavier and the lighting just wasn’t as sharp. With the reflector, you could tell the light was more controlled and the picture looked cleaner.

It was a pretty straightforward class, but actually seeing the reflector in action helped everything make more sense.