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July 18, 2008

Beijing bound: Carthage native to serve as cameraman during Summer Olympics

By Colby Williams

news@joplinglobe.com

Some people train their entire lives for one chance to represent their country in the biggest sporting event in the world.

Others train their whole lives so everyone else can watch.

Lee Peters will participate in the Olympics this year, but he will not be competing for a medal. The Carthage native is on his way to Beijing, China, to work for the Beijing Olympic Broadcasting Company, which is the primary media source for the entire 2008 Summer Olympics.

China is pouring record amounts of money into its first Olympic Games, making it the first Olympics to broadcast in 5.1 surround sound and complete HD. There will be scores of cameras covering every event and streaming it online over 17 servers for the world to see.

Peters will be involved in many of the shots shown all over the world. He is to be stationed in the “Bird’s Nest,” the main stadium for the opening and closing ceremonies, all the track and field events, as well as the final men’s soccer match. He will be running a handheld camera in the “mixdown zone,” which is where the athletes go after events for interviews.

“At least, that’s what I’m assigned to do,” Peters said, noting that the events can be hectic and cameramen have to be flexible. “Anything goes in sports. You just have to be ready for it.”

Even before the torch is lit, Peters will be working for the Canadian Broadcasting Company as a production assistant and setting up its equipment. Even the preparation for this trip has taught him a lot.

“I know a whole lot more about the technical side of the Olympics now,” he said.

Learning is definitely one of the goals of the trip, since he is going through an internship program. After graduating from College Heights Christian School in Joplin, Peters went to Asbury College in Wilmore, Ky., where he majored in media management and production. This will be the college’s ninth Olympics as the only school in the United States that sends students to work the games.

Peters took the internship in order to get some experience and knowledge by working with major crews from all over the world.

“I’ll get to work with other teams, watch them, pick up ideas — that’s the really exciting part,” Peters said.

However, since he just graduated and does not technically need the credits from this trip, he also hopes to network with others in the industry so he can break into freelancing, one of his immediate career goals.

“You just have to get your name in there,” he said. “People find out about you if you perform well and call you. If you don’t perform well, you get blacklisted, just like any other industry.”

He is confident, though, that his experience freelancing in the past for events like the Kentucky/Tennessee college football game taught him to do what he loves.

“I love being in a field of play and watching games from where the athletes are. It’s intense,” Peters said.

He also worked as the director and producer for a minor league baseball team in Lexington, Ky., for a season. While on that job, Peters had to lead the whole production crew and fill in anywhere he was needed, sometimes to his dismay. This taught him that running a camera is what he really enjoys most.

“I’m a production guy,” Peters said. “Pre-production is not my thing at all. I just like actually working with a camera and with audio — getting shots and moving on to the next thing.”

Working 18-hour days with only a break in the afternoon will give him plenty of opportunities to get substantial camera time. And as one of 55 American students going to Beijing, he is one of a just a few currently assigned to run a camera — a privilege about which he is especially excited.

Peters said that his excitement is tinged a little with nervousness, but for good reason. This is his first international trip. The long flights, different culture and 13-hour time difference also have his family slightly anxious. This is especially true for his wife, Jackie, who also just graduated from Asbury with a degree in voice and a minor in ceramic art.

Jackie said that even though she does not usually watch a lot of track and field, she will be focused on the events in which her husband is involved.

“I’ve watched lots of his work,” Jackie said. “So I’ll be watching for the shots I know are his.”

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