Written by Recruiting/Communications Coordinator Dave Bradley
The annual poster shoot took place on a warm Sunday evening at Southpoint Mall in Durham. In the diary below, you will see it takes a lot of patience, attention to detail and talent to produce the best team poster in sports year in and year out. Among those who joined our players at Maggiano Restaurant’s for the shoot were the Duke Photography team, Mrs. K and Debbie K, video coordinator Kevin Cullen, graphic designer Jim Jarvis, Duke Athletics Director of Promotions Bart Smith, several Maggiano’s staffers, and me.
Mrs. K and/or Debbie have coordinated the poster’s production since Coach K’s first year in 1981. All of the past posters line the walls of our office and the annual poster is one of the many unique Duke Basketball traditions we all look forward to each season.
Alright, so you have seen the poster by now (revealed at Countdown to Craziness). Here’s how it went down:
8:00 PM – We’re sitting in a private room enjoying a hearty Italian meal with (sometimes gruesome) scenes from the movie Goodfellas airing on a TV. Why Goodfellas? That’s the theme of the poster this year and Debbie wanted to ensure that the players were in the right mindset to deliver their best “Goodfellas” poses tonight.
8:21 PM – We are waiting for the restaurant to clear out and then Duke Photography will spend some time setting up the shoot. Meanwhile, we are still eating and Debbie K has brought out numerous clippings from magazines to give the guys some ideas for their facial expressions. Kyle is leaning towards a pose like “The Thinker” with hand on the chin, except with a ferociously intense spin on the composed statue.
8:28 PM – A pair of youngsters peer in through the windows, wondering why the Duke Basketball players are out here on a Sunday night. Or, they might be entertained by the variety of poses Nolan is sampling in the dining room. On a night like this, there’s never a question Nolan will live up to his nickname of “Showtime.” You just don’t exactly know how.
8:53 PM – Time for the guys to get dressed and ready. Suits vary by class – with the seniors in pin stripes. Nice touch.
9:33 PM – With the restaurant emptied out, Jon sits at the bar eyeing the Chicago Bears game. Originally, the Illinois native was planning to ignore all reports of the game on his cell phone, car radio and TV in order to watch it in full length on his DVR when returning home. Obviously, he couldn’t resist the Bears’ Week one contest.
9:41 PM – With the players still hanging out around the restaurant, the set is ready. Duke Photography has 16 different lights set up all around the main seating area, including some reflecting off glass and mirrors, and some stationed in the upstairs seating area facing down. There is a table with a red-and-white checkered tablecloth and five chairs around it. A Nike Duke ball, a Duke notebook, a clipboard, a few napkins, and some glasses of water sit atop the table.
9:50 PM – Before the players are introduced to the set, photographer Chris Hildreth wants to take a test shot with the staff. Since there are 14 players and only 10 people from our staff and the Photography team, a chef and a dishwasher are asked to join the trial run. The chef takes Mason’s eventual spot and is about the same height as the freshman forward if you include his towering chef’s hat.
9:55 PM – Traditionally, these poster shoots take a really long time, as evidenced by the fact that we are nearly two hours in and not a single photo has been snapped of a player. I ask video coordinator Kevin Cullen to set the over/under on the end time. He says 11:45. I take the over.
9:59 PM – Our seniors and Kyle enter the set. The photographers want to place them first and build around this group of the older vets.
10:20 PM – There is some surprise that Zoubs went with the full-beard look tonight. The New Jersey native says he may stay with it all year and makes it known that numerous people, including Coach K, have complimented him on it.
10:24 PM – Jon is slightly uncertain about what pose to choose. Mrs. K proposes that the senior captain sit as broadly as possibly, straight up, with arms crossed on the table with a stern, powerful glare.
10:27 PM – In trying to establish poses and looks for the rest of the players, Debbie K suggests that the guys imagine they are having a very important, private business meeting and an intruder (the Maryland turtle?) has walked in unannounced. Their reaction to the visitor should be the pose they are going for.
10:35 PM – LT walks off the set to grab his hair brush. Even though his hair could not be any shorter, the veteran of four posters knows you have to look your best. This will be hanging on his wall 40 years from now, and he knows it.
11:06 PM – Nolan introduces glasses into his look and pose. Will he wear them in the poster? Looks like they are out quickly.
11:12 PM – Nolan’s glasses are back in play. Showtime is holding them in hand, still looking intimidating even though the glasses have no lenses.
11:13 PM – Photographer Chris Hildreth tells the group there is still “miles to go” before we are done. Looks like I was correct in taking the over on 11:45. I’ve been around for a few more poster shoots than Kevin. I already knew.
11:20 PM – It has been a long time since Jon established his perfect pose. Debbie K reminds him to keep his chin raised confidently. He does it, and there’s no doubt he will have one of the greatest spots and poses in Duke poster history. With the players huddled so closely around the table, you can tell the poster will show less background and more of their faces. It is tough to come up with something unique and different each year, but it is obvious Mrs. K and Debbie have done it again.
11:36 PM Chris Hildreth tells the group the shoot will be complete in 15 minutes “if we work together”. I think it is looking like this one will end Monday, though.
11:40 PM A camera switch – We are getting closer to the money shot. The guys are enjoying the process and aren’t too focused on time, although they are concerned with their watches showing up in the photo. Apparently, the guys believe they are rocking stylish timepieces.
11:49 PM Five minutes remain, according to Chris Hildreth. Nolan’s glasses are back out of the mix. At this stage, the players enjoy making quiet comments amongst themselves to break down a teammate’s pose and draw a smile. Since they are removed from the group standing around the camera, they can drop inside jokes only they can hear.
11:52 PM After eight rounds of poses and photos, Zoubs demands focus from the guys. When you are 7’1” with a beard, people listen.
12:04 AM Chris Hildreth takes the final shot and the shoot is a wrap.
12:07 AM About four hours after we arrived, Lance takes a look at the finished product on the iMac stationed near the camera. “I dig it”, he says, and the guys head back to campus. There is still much work to be done on the production side adding effects and text, but our players’ role in the process is complete until they see the finished product.
October 16 – Debbie shows our players a framed version of the poster for the first time during an afternoon walk-through for Countdown to Craziness. The poster is revealed to the public later that evening at CTC.
In his latest video blog entry, Coach K discusses Countdown to Craziness, signs in Cameron and our first exhibition game before answering questions from fans. If you have a question you would like to ask next time, email us at db@dukeblueplanet or tweet @dukeblueplanet.
