Unleashing Energy Through Cinematic Cheer Intro Videos
Cheerleading Competition Intro Videos That Brought the Energy
In mid-October of 2024, Hamil Bros Studios was juggling multiple productions when we were contacted by Matt from The Open Championship Series. This cheerleading competition series needed 8–10 high-energy intro videos for social media and other outlets. These would be short, attention-grabbing spots to hype the audience, introduce themes, and reinforce branding across their events.
The video production request was straightforward: capture all necessary footage against either a green screen or a black background, with a strict delivery deadline by the end of the month. This particular production was slated to occur in Lubbock, a location that offered us a degree of flexibility and a wider array of logistical options compared to other potential sites.
However, our philosophy at Hamil Bros Studios isn’t about mere simplicity; it’s about delivering truly stand-out work. We view every single project as a unique opportunity to push the boundaries of creative expression, to innovate beyond expectations, and ultimately, to build something truly unforgettable. We believe that even the most basic requests can be transformed into compelling visual narratives, and our team is dedicated to finding that distinctive spark in every assignment.
Rethinking the Standard: What We Were Shown
Our collaboration with Matt on the cheerleading competition intro videos for the series began with a critical review of existing samples. While these past videos were technically competent and fulfilled their basic purpose, they undeniably lacked a certain spark—a dynamic quality that would truly captivate an audience. We recognized immediately that these intros, as the very first impression, held immense potential to set the emotional tone, ignite excitement, and build palpable hype for the entire event.
Delving deeper into the examples, we identified key areas for improvement. The previous iterations often relied on static compositions, minimal and uninspired lighting variations, and generic, unmemorable audio cues. While they met the technical requirements, they ultimately fell short in imbuing any distinct personality or energy. This was a glaring missed opportunity, especially within the highly energetic and identity-driven world of competitive cheerleading, where intensity and a strong sense of self are paramount. We envisioned a transformation, turning these functional intros into powerful emotional primers, capable of energizing both the athletes poised to compete and the enthusiastic audience members.
Furthermore, we considered the diverse platforms where these cheerleading competition intro videos would be showcased. From social media feeds and large-scale live event screens to dynamic recap reels and broad online promotional campaigns, each medium demanded visual sharpness, precise pacing, and compelling branding. The intros needed to maintain their impact and ‘pop’ whether viewed on a colossal LED wall or a compact smartphone screen. This multifaceted requirement necessitated a layered approach to our creative process, meticulously integrating elements of performance, meticulous pacing, sophisticated lighting design, robust branding, and uncompromising technical precision.
Our overarching ambition was clear: to infuse these intros with an unparalleled sense of energy, visual depth, and exhilarating excitement. We aimed to produce something truly visually powerful—content that would feel right at home on a national broadcast, elevating the entire competitive cheerleading experience to a new, professional standard.
Choosing the Perfect Location for Impact and Control
For this ambitious project, we returned to a familiar and exceptionally well-suited location: Raintree Christian Church’s versatile Treehouse room. This expansive space, roughly half the size of a professional basketball court, boasts carpeting and soaring high ceilings, creating an environment that is naturally conducive to both superior lighting design and pristine audio capture. Beyond its inherent structural advantages, the Treehouse offers additional benefits that made it an ideal choice.
Its relatively low weekday foot traffic ensures minimal external noise interference, allowing for uninterrupted creative flow. Furthermore, the room’s thoughtfully designed decor, featuring various architectural elements and soft furnishings, acts as a natural sound diffuser, effectively breaking up sound reflections and preventing unwanted echoes. This combination of features provided us with a controlled environment, guaranteeing clean audio recordings and unparalleled flexibility in our lighting setups.
The selection of the right location is not merely a preference but a critical, foundational element in the production of top-tier cheerleading competition intro videos. Without a suitable space, the technical challenges can quickly become insurmountable. Inadequate environments often lead to unwanted light spill, where illumination leaks into unintended areas, compromising visual clarity and artistic intent.
Equally problematic is excessive reverberation, which can utterly destroy dialogue intelligibility, rendering spoken elements muffled and unclear. These issues, if not preemptively addressed by a carefully chosen location, inevitably lead to a nightmare scenario in post-production, demanding countless hours of arduous and often imperfect corrective work. The Treehouse room, with its unique blend of acoustic and spatial advantages, allowed us to circumvent all these potential pitfalls. More importantly, it liberated us from technical constraints, granting us the creative freedom to fully unleash our expertise and produce the exceptional quality content that is our hallmark.
Lighting Techniques
Lights, Camera, Strategy
How We Lit the Set for Drama and Energy
The initial request for this video production project involved the flexibility of a green screen, which would have allowed for diverse background options in post-production. However, after careful deliberation, we opted for a blacked-out background. This decision was primarily driven by the desire to streamline the post-production workflow and circumvent the often time-intensive and intricate chroma keying process, which can be prone to artifacts and require hours of refinement.
To achieve the desired rich, dark, and absorption-heavy backdrop, we strategically employed a Hamil Bros Studios favorite: our Matthews 8×8 double-sided Matthbounce/black cloth. This versatile piece of equipment offers both reflective and light-absorbing properties, allowing us to control the light spill and ensure a truly deep black. Complementing the 8×8 cloth, we utilized several 4×4 floppies. These portable and easily maneuverable flags were instrumental in precisely shaping and cutting the light, further enhancing the darkness and depth of the background by preventing unwanted reflections and light contamination. This combination allowed us to create an environment that minimized distractions and kept the focus squarely on the subject, while also significantly reducing the workload in the editing suite.
For lighting, we leaned on:
- Key Light: Aputure 600c LightStorm with the LightDome 150
- Fill Light: Amaran 300C COB with mini light dome
- Background Lights: Two Amaran 150C COBs set to magenta and blue
- Those colors weren’t random. We had researched The Open Championship Series branding and found their identity revolved around magenta and blue. So we leaned into that aesthetic, even adding Amaran color tubes in matching hues for depth and energy.
These color choices didn’t just look good—they made the brand recognizable and gave the cheerleading competition intro videos a cohesive, high-energy vibe. Fog added texture and dimensionality to the visuals, enhancing that cinematic, hype-building effect.
Putting the Gear to Work: Our Camera Arsenal
The Open Championship Series presented a significant opportunity to rigorously test our new Blackmagic Pyxis 6K camera. We’re thrilled to report it performed exceptionally well, seamlessly integrating with our existing, highly reliable Blackmagic Cinema 6K setup. This dual-camera approach allowed us to capture a broader range of angles and ensure comprehensive coverage of the high-energy cheerleading performances.
To achieve the desired cinematic aesthetic and optical quality, as always, we paired both cameras with Tokina Cinema Vista Primes. Specifically, we utilized the 50mm and 105mm focal lengths. These lenses are renowned for their exceptional optical clarity, beautiful bokeh, and consistent color rendition, all of which are crucial for professional-grade video production.
Furthermore, our commitment to visual excellence extended to our choice of filtration. We employed Firecrest IRNDs (Infrared Neutral Density filters) to precisely control exposure in bright lighting conditions, preventing any unwanted infrared contamination that can affect color accuracy. To add a touch of artistic flair and subtle diffusion, we incorporated Revar Cine’s PA Tears diffusion filters. These filters are known for their ability to gently soften highlights and create a pleasing, organic glow, contributing to the overall polished look of the final product.
The strategic combination of these full-frame camera bodies, premium lenses, and specialized filters proved to be a winning formula. It allowed us to achieve a truly stunning image, preserving detail in both the brightest highlights and deepest shadows. Coupled with the shallow depth of field capabilities of the prime lenses and full frame sensors, we were able to effectively isolate our subjects from the background, drawing the viewer’s eye precisely where we wanted it by blurring out the lights in the background.
This technique is paramount in high-stakes environments like cheerleading competitions, where every millisecond counts in captivating an audience. In the fast-paced world of cheerleading competition intro videos, where the goal is to grab someone’s attention in under 30 seconds, maintaining sharp focus and visual clarity is not just important – it’s absolutely critical. Our chosen equipment enabled us to deliver on this demand with precision and artistry.
Making the Magic Happen On Set
Though the request called for a single camera, we had time and talent on hand—so Hamil Bros Studios rolled with a two-camera setup. Samantha Ryan, our on-screen host, brought instant professionalism and energy. We coordinated a dual-camera delivery style, having her start lines on one camera and complete them on the other. This added movement, rhythm, and engagement to each cheerleading competition intro video production.
Matt was initially surprised by our lighting choices—particularly the magenta/blue tubes—but once he saw the monitor, he was sold. It was a creative risk that worked, and it elevated the production value far beyond a basic black backdrop.
Having two cameras also allowed us to move faster. While one was rolling, we could reframe or tweak focus on the other. That efficiency gave us room to play. We tested different line deliveries, varied Samantha’s movement, and even played with subtle lighting shifts between takes to match her tone and cadence.
The collaboration with Matt was a big part of the video production’s success. He trusted us to take calculated risks, and we kept him looped in through a live monitor feed so he could see exactly what we were capturing in real time. That transparency builds confidence—not just in the production team, but in the final product.
The Lubbock shoot ran smoothly, and the results exceeded expectations. These moments on set—when creativity and precision come together—are what make our work so rewarding.
Transforming Raw Footage
Turning Footage Into Fire
At Hamil Bros Studios, our post-production process was is crafted for both speed and maximum visual impact. We leveraged the robust capabilities of Adobe After Effects, integrating a powerful suite of tools from industry leaders. From Video Copilot, we harnessed cutting-edge plug-ins to simulate realistic lighting interactions and dynamic motion. Red Giant’s comprehensive toolkit provided us with an array of effects for visual stylization and sophisticated color grading, while ActionVFX offered a vast library of high-quality stock footage to enhance environmental elements like fog and atmospheric effects.
Each individual frame was treated with the utmost care, transforming into its own meticulously designed digital stage where every element contributed to the overall spectacle and energy of the cheerleading routines. This strategic blend of software and specialized tools allowed us to deliver visually stunning and impactful introductory videos within an exceptionally tight timeframe.
The creation of the Open Championship Series logo was a process, far more intricate than a simple visual placement. Every aspect of its animation was conceived with deliberate intent, from its dynamic movements to the nuanced play of light upon its surface. Our core objective was to imbue the logo with a tangible presence, making it feel as though it genuinely occupied the same physical space as Samantha. This careful integration elevated the introduction beyond a mere static graphic, transforming it into a truly cinematic experience that drew viewers deeper into the narrative.
Beyond the visual artistry, a crucial layer of immersion was achieved through sophisticated audio design. We meticulously layered a diverse array of sound elements, each chosen to amplify the overall energy and imbue every video with a distinct, memorable signature. The strategic deployment of punchy sound effects, coupled with seamless transitions, transcended the conventional role of an introduction. These weren’t just intros; they were expertly crafted trailers, building anticipation and setting the stage for the exhilarating experience to come. The synergy of compelling visuals and impactful audio created a holistic and engaging opening for the Open Championship Series
From Studio to Spotlight
The Big Moment
Just a few weeks later, on Thanksgiving Day, our family gathered to watch the annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. It was a moment of relaxation and shared tradition, until a familiar scene unfolded before our eyes. Among the vibrant floats and energetic marching bands, we caught a glimpse of The Open Championship group performing—a spectacular cheerleading display that instantly resonated with us. And then, there she was: our on-screen talent, Samantha Ryan, clearly visible in the background, her energy a familiar presence even on such a grand stage.
It was an absolutely surreal moment for Hamil Bros Studios, a collective gasp echoing through the room, to see someone from our intimate video production in Lubbock suddenly appearing on national television. This unexpected cameo reinforced, in the most profound way, just how far these cheerleading competition intro videos had reached, transcending their original purpose and audience to become a part of a much larger cultural tapestry.
Moments like that are the ultimate validation, the powerful affirmation that makes all the demanding work of video production not just worthwhile, but truly meaningful. They justify the countless long hours spent meticulously setting up camera angles, the delicate precision required for every lighting tweak to capture just the right glow, the intricate post-production effects that added that extra layer of sparkle, and the many revision passes undertaken to perfect every single frame. What begins as a local shoot in Lubbock, TX, conceived for a niche audience, can unexpectedly explode onto one of the biggest, most celebrated stages in the country, reaching millions and leaving an indelible mark.
These cheerleading competition intro videos weren’t merely pieces of content; they were, in essence, a dynamic part of a larger, inspiring movement. They served as a powerful conduit, carrying these dedicated athletes, their passion, and their incredible talent from regional competitions all the way to one of the most celebrated and globally recognized stages in the world. They amplified voices, showcased athleticism, and elevated a sport, proving that art and dedication, no matter the scale, can truly resonate and reach unprecedented heights.
Elevate Your Event with Cinematic Excellence
At Hamil Bros Studios, we specialize in crafting compelling visual narratives that resonate deeply with audiences. The videos you see here are a testament to our passion and expertise: telling stories that not only captivate but also leave a lasting impact. We blend style with precision, ensuring every frame contributes to a powerful and cohesive message with every video production.
Our commitment to excellence extends to every project, whether it’s capturing the electrifying energy of cheerleading competition intro videos, documenting a high-stakes athletic event, or building a dynamic brand identity. We understand that in today’s visually driven world, compelling content is paramount.
If your competition, event, or brand is seeking cheerleading competition intro videos that not only grab attention but also convert viewers into loyal fans and customers, then you’ve found your creative partners. We invite you to experience the Hamil Bros Studios difference, where innovative storytelling meets strategic impact.
We don’t just deliver content—we deliver moments that live beyond the screen.