'Hard Knocks' Rams are ready for their close-up

"Hard Knocks" crew members lift a camera and boom mic above Rams players during a workout at UC Irvine on Aug. 1.

By Sam Farmer

Aug. 6, 2016 2:45 PM PT

The legendary Steve Sabol, late president and cornerstone of NFL Films, used to say that the frantic process of producing “Hard Knocks” – the HBO show that takes viewers into the inner sanctum of an NFL training camp – was like building an airplane in flight.

The six-week documentary series, which is focused this summer on the Rams and premieres Tuesday, is so up-to-date that the drama unfolds almost in real time. If a player were cut on a Monday, for instance, his story might be told in sharp relief the following night. Making that more impressive, the NFL Films people putting the show together comb through almost six hours of footage for every minute that actually airs. A crew of 30 is on site at training camp for the series, which launched in 2001 chronicling the Baltimore Ravens, and since has won 14 Sports Emmys.

If the all-access series is an airplane, it’s one that flies under the radar – the five camera crews pride themselves on being as low-profile as possible – and the cockpit is a converted classroom at UC Irvine, the campus where the Rams are holding camp.

That darkened classroom serves as the nerve center for the show’s 12 robotic cameras, discretely recording everything happening in the offices of Coach Jeff Fisher, General Manager Les Snead, the quarterbacks meeting room, the team meeting room, and elsewhere. A massive video wall is divided into a mosaic, showing each of the feeds, and a sound technician can toggle through them and eavesdrop with any of the multiple microphones throughout those rooms.

This season, “Hard Knocks,” the popular NFL Films/HBO series, is covering the return of the Rams to Los Angeles.

“The robotic equipment allows us to not distract the team,” said Ken Rodgers, who oversees the show as NFL Films coordinating producer. “That’s always our No. 2 goal in camp. No. 1 is to make a great show, and No. 2 is to not distract the team.”

On this particular afternoon, quarterback Jared Goff is sitting alone in a meeting room, leaning back in his chair and watching video, while a pair of free-agent receivers, Austin Hill and David Richards, sit at a small table in Snead’s office, apparently texting on their phones while waiting for their contracts to be brought in. Fisher’s office is dark.

Those cameras never stop rolling throughout the five-episode season, which after launching this week airs a new episode each subsequent Tuesday, culminating with the Sept. 6 finale. The footage is all digital now, but not too long ago, everything was shot on film. That was a costly endeavor, especially in light of how much of it wound up on the cutting-room floor. But Ed Sabol, founder of NFL Films and father of Steve, famously advised his crews to “let the film flow like water” to capture the essence of the sport.

The gray-clad “Hard Knocks” crews take pains to blend into the background. They don’t gather in large groups, but move in small clusters. Years of practice have taught them just where to stand to get the best angles, yet not be underfoot. Still, they aren’t invisible. While catching footballs from a Jugs machine after practice this week, linebacker Alec Ogletree noticed the shadow of a boom microphone creep over him.

“Guys try to watch what they say,” Ogletree said. “But as the days wear on, it will eventually all come out how guys are.”

Fisher spoke with his players on multiple occasions about being under the “Hard Knocks” microscope, telling them “it’s almost as if [the camera crews] disappear.”

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Two boom microphones record the all-important sounds while camera crews document a Rams practice at their training camp in Irvine on Aug. 1 for the HBO show “Hard Knocks.”