Steve Smith Sr. learns how Bears’ ‘Hard Knocks’ is made behind the scenes originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago
The NFL recently posted a behind-the-scenes video focused on former NFL wide receiver Steve Smith Sr., who got an inside look at how NFL Films and HBO crafted this season of the Bears‘ “Hard Knocks” training camp series.
Here’s the video.
Smith had his chance to learn from producer Shannon Furman to see how her crew of 36 people operates during Bears training camp. The wide receiver helped the crew place microphones on the players’ pads, shoot film during practice, learn about their robotics cameras and conduct interviews with the players.
It’s not as easy as it looks to shoot film at practice. Smith complained about the shoulder pain he endured from holding a heavy camera on his shoulder on the sidelines for part of the day. One crew member mentioned they shoot 400 hours of film for each one-hour episode.
The Bears finished up their final episode of “Hard Knocks” just before the start of the season. They had five, one-hour episodes documented on their training camp this offseason.
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