Bears’ Great Save Productions Enjoying High Definition Upgrade
HERSHEY, PA – Brandon Sheaffer, lower right, directs a Hershey Bears preseason game in the new HD control room for Great Save Productions. (Kyle Mace / Chocolate Hockey)
On September 30th, Hershey Bears season ticket holders were introduced to the new Giant Center scoreboard. This HD jumbotron is all bright and shiny, but needs good content to really help it pop. That’s where Great Save Productions comes in.
Aaron Henry helps run Great Save Productions, who will be producing new content for the Bears games. “You have to learn to crawl before you can walk, walk before you can run, run before you can sprint. This is going to be an ever-evolving process,” Henry told us. “We’re still learning what we can do and what we can’t do.”
The Bears went from a scoreboard that was a small, 4:3 standard definition screen to a 16:9 board that will allow bright new content to be showcased to bears fans. “We’re going to be doing a lot with the content. I promise you, you come October 24th, you’re going to be blow away, especially by the starting line up. The show you will get on October 24th will be completely different by the time the end of the season and playoffs rolls around.
Great Save Productions has run the Bears in-game production and content since Giant Center opened in 2002.
“You may see Game of Thrones (opening sequence) once again in a revamped HD version. We’re going to create different content for the show, not just because it’s HD, but because we’re able to do it now. Things are becoming streamlined and a lot easier for us. What we used to spend four or five hours on may only take us one hour and that’s going to allow us to create more and better content.”
The upgrades not only help the Bears, but everybody else in and outside the league. “Everything in this world is becoming HD and 4K. We’re in HD now so we’re now compatible with other buildings and other teams. It’s going to help us exchange a lot highlights, things are going to look better, it’s not going to look scrunched and squished and you’ll be able to see things.”
A big thing Bears fans enjoy is watching football games before the game on the GC scoreboard. With the new board, you can finally enjoy these games on the best screens you can find. “One of the comments we get is when we show football games during intermissions or pre-game, people walk in here, they could barely see it on the regular SD board. Now you’re going to be able to see football games on this HD board.
“You’re going to be able to see more fan shots; we have better cameras that will get tighter. Just the overall HD technology is going to immensely change our show, it’s going to change everything we do, it’s just going to make things better for the fans and the experience overall is going to be outstanding.”