Wisconsin Mens Rowing 2023 Video Production

The goal of this project is to create three 2-3 minute videos.

The first video will highlight the team as a whole, with interviews of the four captains guiding the video's narrative. Themes will center around their experiences on the team, the culture that they uphold, and their thoughts as the 2023 IRA championship approaches.

The second video will be a recruitment video, with interviews of the four captains guiding the video's narrative. The piece will explain the benefits of being on the team and the type of athlete the team is looking for. This video is completely separate from the previous video and will be made with the intent of lasting years to come.

The third video will highlight the role of a coxswain, with interviews of the top four coxswains guiding the video's narrative. The piece is completely separate from either of the previous videos and will stand as the only video that analyzes the uniqueness of the role in a concise and professional way.

Wisconsin takes pride in recruiting athletes that have no prior rowing experience, however, an issue that arises is that athletes nowadays are used to a certain level of professionalism with regards to media in their prospective sports. With football/basketball teams of similar athletic caliber to Wisconsin Rowing spending hundreds of thousands of dollars per year towards content creation, having a well produced video showing the sport in a professional way could be the difference between a top prospective athlete choosing to come to Wisconsin. Videos of this caliber could change the narrative of rowing from a sport that is strange to one that is respectable. In the event this project gets executed, athletes that have never been exposed to the sport will have something to look at that gives them a fundamental understanding of what it means to be a part of Wisconsin Men's Rowing. Furthermore, videos like these can easily be added to email chains, posted across social media platforms, and added to newsletters that help secure alumni donations.

Tunney will be directing, shooting, operating a drone, and executing a quick-turnaround edit, all at no cost. His goal is to make this project as affordable as possible and invest all of the money into the project for the best end-product possible. The estimated time that will be volunteered by him to complete this project is roughly 110 hours across all four stages. Approximately 60% of the budget is going towards renting industry standard equipment and 30% towards labor costs of other crew members, and 10% towards fees associated with the fundraiser.

Ian Tunney is a Film Director and Drone Pilot based in Madison, WI. Since graduating in 2020 as a coxswain at UW, he has volunteered hundreds of hours towards working with his alma mater to change the stereotypes surrounding the sport. His short documentaries about Wisconsin Men's Rowing have amassed over 70,000 views across social media platforms and have given viewers an authentic look at the work ethic and nature that Wisconsin Rowing possesses. After leaving the team, Tunney started his own media company that specializes in high speed aerial cinematography for commercial video production. Since the company's founding in 2021, he has been hired by brands such as Amazon Prime Video, Toyota, Fox Sports, The Milwaukee Bucks, The PGA, Honda Marine, Crossfit Games, Wisconsin Badgers, American Family Insurance, Travel Wisconsin, and many others.

With regards to the rowing community as a whole: Nothing like this has ever been executed by another program in the IRA, and no other team has access to a film director with the skillset, passion, and close relationship to the current athletes on the team. This year will be Tunney's last year residing in Wisconsin and it is his hope to leave the team with a set of videos that they can utilize for years to come.