FILMING THE BIRTH OF A TEAM
KENDALLPROJECTS' JOURNEY THROUGH THE FIRST TROJAN FOOTBALL PRACTICE SEASON
When we at KendallProjects Media & Design signed on to produce Leading the Charge: The Making of Anderson Football, we didn’t just see a gig—we saw a story begging to be told. Anderson University’s football program was a blank slate, a dream decades in the making, and we were handed the chance to capture its first breaths. From the crisp fall of 2023 to the triumph of a spring game in 2024, we hauled our cameras, drones, and sleepless ambition across practice fields and edit bays to stitch together a tale of sweat, faith, and black-and-gold grit. This wasn’t just about football—it was personal, visceral, and ours to shape.
THE FIRST FRAMES FALL 2023
It all kicked off in the fall of 2023, late August, in the midst of the dog days of summer. Head Coach Bobby Lamb had been on the job since July 2021, and by now he’d gathered over 90 players, a ragtag mix of wide-eyed freshmen. We showed up with the goal was to film their first real taste of being Trojans, and it felt like walking into history.
The first shoots was chaotic. The camera focused on the unpolished energy—positioned around the coaches, in the field house, along the sidelines, drones sweeping overhead to frame the team’s early routines at dawn and in the late afternoons.
Coach Lamb’s system, shaped by years at Mercer, was in its infancy here, a mix of balance and discipline starting to emerge. His voice cut through the noise, calm but firm, calling out drills like a preacher pacing a pulpit. The lenses zoomed in on linemen slamming pads, while drones traced the offense’s stutter-step routes. The footage was rough but had soul.
The standout moment came on October 28, 2023, with the Black and Gold scrimmage during Homecoming. It was a full game simulation, complete with referees, and the stands buzzed with alumni and fans clutching banners. The team wasn’t polished—how could they be? As the camera rolled through a crowd of players multiple angles caught the action: the Trojans warming up as players worked through the system of their flex routine, Coach Lamb’s sideline presence, the drone tracing the field under late-afternoon light. The footage from that day became the backbone of the early stories and the sounds of that first snap and the crowd’s roar marked the heartbeat of episode of both Episode 3 and 4.
Filming the practice season traced a clear arc: Fall 2023 laid the foundation, untested and eager. Spring 2024 built the structure, refining and toughening. The spring game capped it, a milestone of readiness. The Trojans weren’t just practicing—they were becoming, and the cameras caught every stage. Kendallprojects’s vision, Coach Lamb’s steady servant’s heart, and the players’ grit fueled a story that resonated with the everyone who watched. When that episodes dropped, each stood as a testament to a program’s birth—raw, cinematic, and rooted in the field where it all began
SPRING 2024: DIGGING DEEPER
Fast forward to February 2024, and the cameras were back for spring practice. The NCAA Division II window gave 15 sessions over a month, and the team had legs—over 100 players, transfers settling in, freshmen less deer-in-headlights. The practice field smelled of ambition and the Trojan Field House’s weight room a cathedral of clanging iron. By March 2024, spring practice brought a new chapter, and the cameras returned to document the Trojans’ evolution. The focus shifted to installation: Lamb’s offensive and defensive schemes taking root, guided by coordinators Seth Strickland and Brett Hickman. The lens tracked quarterbacks refining timing, defenders adjusting to aggressive calls, the playbook sinking in through repetition, learning Coach Lamb’s system of balanced offense, aggressive defense with the footage tracking quarterbacks syncing with receivers, defenders adjusting to calls, the playbook sinking in.
Practices got loud—full-contact 11-on-11s left the air thick with the smack of pads. Players were mic’d up, their grunts about “earning it” or grins after deep catches adding raw texture. The Trojan Triangle—“Love, Serve, & Compete”—showed in huddles, the extra coaching, the push through heat. Drones swept over two-a-days, framing the black-and-gold lines, while close shots caught sweat-soaked jerseys. The challenge was capturing that spirit unscripted, letting the moments breathe.
THE SPRING GAME: THE FINALE
By late March 2024, spring practice built to the spring game—a freshly painted field, stands full of diehards, the Trojans split into black and gold squads. Cameras rolled, including a drone overhead as Coach Lamb watched from the hash marks, arms crossed, a flicker of pride breaking through. The game wasn’t flawless—dropped passes, busted plays—but it was alive: a lineman pancaking a defender, a receiver hauling in a touchdown. The Trojan Walk opened it, the stands roared small but mighty.
The edit bay glowed that night, screens alive with the day’s haul. The spring game capped the series, leaving the September 7 opener for fans to see live. The cut wove in fall’s first snaps, spring’s grind, and weight-room clatter—a young, hopeful note. Rendered by exams, the final episode hit YouTube after May 2024, the Trojans’ birth story sealed.
Over a year and a half ago, I was given an opportunity that would change the trajectory of my filmmaking career. I stepped into the world of high-intensity football storytelling, capturing the heart and soul of a program that demanded nothing but the best. The grind was unreal—nonstop filming, endless editing sessions, and the pressure to deliver at the highest level. But I embraced it. I lived it. I poured everything into every frame, every cut, and every second of footage.
It wasn’t just about making highlight reels; it was about telling stories that resonated, that made people feel something. And through the sweat, long nights, and insane deadlines, I gained a level of experience that no classroom, tutorial, or book could ever teach. It was filmmaking at full speed, and it sharpened my skills in a way that will last a lifetime.
Looking back, it was the most demanding, exhausting, and rewarding experience I’ve ever had. And although that chapter has closed, the lessons remain. Now, with a wealth of knowledge and more content than we know what to do with, it’s time to take everything we’ve built and push forward to even bigger, better projects. THE JOURNEY CONTINUES!