Interview with Matt Conlin: Freelance filmmaker with a viral Super Bowl video
Matt Conlin, Copyright Dylan Eddinger Photography
Freelance videographer Matt Conlin, Saint Joseph's University ‘17, created a promotional video to celebrate the Eagles’ NFC win, which quickly started trending online after it was picked up by Philly Mag. The video has reached around 160,000 views, and unlike what people assumed, “Brotherly Love - Eagles Fan Video 2018” was not commissioned by the team or the news.
After graduating with degrees in business administration and communications, Conlin has been using his self-taught skills to create films for himself and for Philadelphia production company Ripe Creation Media, where he is currently a contributor.
Following the advice of friends and family, he set out to tailgate the NFC game with the intention of capturing anything he could.
“So I just went out and I had the camera with me and went home and saw that I had some good footage and put it all together,” Conlin said.
Shooting a video for a major sports team doesn’t come without risk. As he made his way towards the stadium, security asked if he was on his way into the game. Conlin explained he didn’t have tickets, but then the guard spotted his Matt Conlin badge. Turns out, you really shouldn’t wear credentials that don’t coincide with an event’s press assets, because you will undoubtedly be questioned.
“They put me on some list! And I didn’t even try to come into the game! So now I have to clear that up with the Eagles.” Conlin said.
The Philly Mag headline featuring the video reads This Video Just Might End Hating on Eagles Fans Once and For All, and Conlin agreed that that’s a great description of his idea. While filming the NFC game started out just as something to keep him busy, he realized that there was a lot of depth to the event.
“I was just getting the raw emotion that was there, and when I looked back on it, I realized there was a narrative here.”
That whole week following the game, Conlin spent his time storyboarding an idea centered around the people he met and their passion for the game and each other.
“All I wanted to do was tell viewers that this video and the message isn’t really about the sport, it’s about the people and the city.”
Dylan Eddinger, Saint Joe’s ‘19, a fan of Conlin’s work, said that he believes the reason “Brotherly Love” went viral so quickly was because of his goal to really pull emotion from people. “People believed what his message was saying. It’s not a promotional thing for the team, it’s highlighting the fact that the media puts Philly fans in a bad light, and this is just showing how we’re more like a family than fans.”
That’s the key to get a video trending. Dr. Bill Wolff, Communications Professor and Director of the Beautiful Social Research Collaborative at Saint Joe’s, said that “people have to feel some sort of emotional connection to [a video]. That emotion can be one of identification, empathy, laughter, sadness, awe, etc. The video also has to appear at the right time - that is, the context needs to be exactly right.” Days after the NFC game was the perfect time to release a video to hype up the city and spread positive energy about the fans who live here, and Conlin knew it. The excitement and anticipation fans were feeling during those days before the Super Bowl was the perfect fuel to help this video take off.
“I think people were drawn to Matt's video for a number of reasons, but mostly because they are Eagles fans and identify themselves as Eagles fans. A quick archive of tweets shows the video was tweeted over a hundred times, mostly by fans wanting to share it with their followers,” Dr. Wolff said.
Conlin’s promotional video wasn’t the only one to surface that week - there were countless others, but his is the only one that is really tailored towards the people who support the team and the love they have for each other, and that’s why it made people so excited. People can relate to a video about people. It’s hard to put yourself in the shoes of an NFC winning quarterback, but it’s easy to put yourself in the shoes of a passionate fan tailgating the game.
All of Matt’s work, including “Brotherly Love - Eagles Fan Video 2018” can be found on his website, www.mattconlin.com, and the follow-up short he made after fans stormed Broad Street to celebrate the Super Bowl win can be found on his Instagram, @MattConlin_.