The NFL Films Treatment of SB50 Is Nothing Short of Pure Magic!

The twenty minutes you will watch below, is nothing short of a masterpiece. And yet, this is what NFL Films does. All day, every day.

As a mere video-enthusiast dad, who likes to roll tape on all kinds of functions and slap-dash edit them together, I marvel at how good NFL Films is at getting “THE shot.” Granted, they have the budget, the equipment, the 50 years of experience from cameramen and editors, and plenty of practice.

It doesn’t matter. Just look at this!

Never before has NFL Films looked this gorgeous. They are now using awesome “shallow depth of field” cinema cameras and lenses, that give a magical look to many shots. They have crystal sharp super-slow-mo, likely using FULL HD 1080p as high as 240 frames per second. I’m guessing they might be using some 4k native cameras, which means when melted down to 1080p those shots are packed with even denser detail and dynamic range.

There are gimbals for smooth motion shots, and all of the immersive sounds from players who are mic’d up during the game, and on the sidelines.

The musical score, makes it epic.

WATCH: NFL FILMS PRESENTS SUPERBOWL 50 – 1ST HALF HIGHLIGHTS

WATCH: NFL FILMS PRESENTS SUPERBOWL 50 – 2ND HALF HIGHLIGHTS

Some things to think about as you watch it….

1. The early game afternoon sunshine, gave NFL films the BEST natural light to film in since the last game at the Rose Bowl. If only kickoff could have been about 90 minutes earlier, the entire game could have been that good.

2. The back angle of the Jerrico Cotcherry “non-catch” shows that the call wasn’t just close, it was flat out WRONG. The ball never, ever, ONCE touched the ground. And yet, all Blakeman would say is “we’re gonna go with stands.” What a fucking joke, and a waste of time replay has become. Oh well, the entire Super Bowl probably hinged on that call. No biggie.

3. It looks like Peyton Manning actually called for the Von Miller strip-sack before it happened. Was probably LegoNeck’s biggest contribution to the game. A little karma.

4. Aquib Talib was laughably off-sides on the missed FG by Graham Gano. However, despite the MANY things regarding the “line of scrimmage” that ARE allowable challenges, the issue of whether a player was OFF-SIDES, is apparently not one of them. Again, what’s the point of replay again?

5. Tedd Ginn’s deflection-INT was more than just his notoriously bad hands, it was awful technique. He inexplicably tries to “underhand” the catch with his “lead” arm (his left) while running right-to-left. Your lead arm is always ON TOP for passes waist high or above.

6. Malik Jackson said something very not-nice to Cam after a sack. Cam kept his cool, just saying “I don’t call people names”. I wonder what America would think if that naughty word was not bleeped. Hmmmm.

7. I loved the audio of Kubiak saying: “‘Let’s just go run-run-run” down near the goal-line before the clinching TD by CJ Anderson. It was unclear if he said this BEFORE the PI call on 3rd down that bailed out the Broncos. But yeah, he said what everybody on the couch assumed he said!

Lastly, the closing shot of Cam Newton, in full despondence on the bench, as passing Panther players and coaches walk past him, is nothing short of perfection. It memorialized an important fact of this year’s big game – that Cam didn’t take losing well, at all – and did it in a marvelously cinematic way: the player “reveal” Cam almost like curtains being pulled to each side.

Wow. Just wow. Thank you a million times over, and forever, Ed and Steve Sabol, and to everyone who carries on their vision and legacy. Don’t ever think we don’t appreciate the quest for artistic perfection.