The girl behind the camera: Raising spirit through media
FIELD FILM — Palo Alto High School junior Clare Antonow kneels by the sideline with her camera. “Football was definitely a hard one to start out with just because you really have to stand there for like two hours straight, ” Antonow said. “And that’s not even including pregame, postgame and sideline stuff.” Photo: Tate Hardy
Palo Alto High School football players sprint across the field, their motions synched to the beats of A$AP Rocky’s “The God Hour.” A touchdown pass is announced, and the victorious hollering of students bleeds through the song lyrics momentarily before the video resumes its course.
This teaser clip of an October football match between Paly and Milpitas High School spans less than a minute — but the high quality, multi-angle footage took junior Clare Antonow hours to film, edit and produce. But the time is well spent; Antonow’s videos, a project started for Madrono yearbook, garner thousands of views on Instagram and boost morale for sports teams around campus.
Antonow began producing videos in 6th grade using GoPro cameras to create short travel montages.
“I really have a hard time watching my first videos because they have definitely gotten a lot better since then,” Antonow said.
Now, she films and edits videos for multiple organizations at Paly including theater, intramural spikeball, student-led spirit rallies and different sports. Of all the activities she has filmed, Antonow said football was particularly challenging at first.
“You don’t know what’s going to come next,” Antonow said. “You don’t know if there’s going to be a touchdown or not, so you kind of just have to stand there and film the entire thing.”
Although the production process can be time-consuming, Antonow said she finds it rewarding.
“Obviously, it’s different for every sport, but for football, I was able to make a lot of friends on the sideline,” Antonow said. “It’s really fun when people interact with the camera. … My favorite part is at the end of the games; hopefully if the team wins, they’ll all stand around and hold up the ‘W’s’and cheer.”
Aside from her early experiences with video production, Antonow said that she draws a lot of inspiration from a videography account on TikTok and Instagram dedicated to the sports teams of St. Ignatius College Preparatory, “@wildcatsportsreels.”
“I saw a post from ‘Wildcats Sports Reels’ on TikTok [at the beginning of this school year],” Antonow said. “I got super inspired and I really wanted to try something [like that].”
Antonow has learned aspects of the production process, such as the complete software behind Premiere Pro, on her own.
“I basically taught myself the entire process — all the effects, all the camera stuff,” Antonow said. “I really didn’t have experience with nice cameras. I use [Canon] R6 right now and I had no experience with shooting video on it … YouTube taught me everything.”
Antonow’s video work continues to uplift Paly sports teams, often raising morale for athletes such as senior and varsity football captain Va’inga Mahe Jr.
“It [her videos] made us more excited for the following weeks,” Mahe said.
The videos also help athletes evaluate their performance on the field.
“It gave us a different perspective. But also, it was a very cool video for us to showcase ourselves … I appreciate that she took the time out of her day to come record us. … It really helped us.”