33,000 continuous streamers watched Brad Shaffer's work on starwars.com during the premiere.
Brad Shaffer sat dozens of feet away from stars Harrison Ford, J.J. Abrams and Carrie Fisher at the TCL Chinese Theatre.
Though a Star Wars fan, the 2002 Ohio University alumnus was not at the Star Wars: The Force Awakens red carpet premiere in Los Angeles to see epic light saber battles on the screen, but to work as a technical director for the live streaming of the premiere for starwars.com.
Shaffer, 35, sat in front of a switch board inside a 53-foot wide semi truck, controlling what viewers on the website saw. He serves as a freelancer for My Media Group. Compared to his previous works on ESPN and UFC, Shaffer said the technicalities of the premiere were fairly simple.
“We’ll have 10 cameras all around the red carpet ... with a team of about 25 to 30,” he said. “During the show, I sit next to the director. He or she asks for different camera angles.”
Shaffer said the premiere was one of the largest premieres in Hollywood history. The movie screened in two other movie theaters aside from the famous TCL Chinese Theatre.
“We have the talent set which is where Harrison Ford, George Lucas and J.J. Abrams would come by and talk to us,” Shaffer said. “Since we were starwars.com, they would hang out with us a little bit longer.”
The website had 33,000 continuous streamers on the website, but Shaffer was unsure about the amount of unique views.
“I make sure that the production personnel, the director and the producer get what they want technically in terms of the camera,” he said.
Shaffer credits a lot of his technical experience to WOUB and how the media group functions a lot like a real TV studio.
"It was cool to do," Shaffer said. "My position is not supposed to be very vocal once the show goes on. I'm the eyes and ears for the director."
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