MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — It was a summer opportunity of a lifetime for Middle Tennessee State University video and film production student Tobin Smith as he spent nearly a month in Paris, France, working production for NBC Sports during the 2024 Summer Olympic Games.

Smith worked as a senior utility and Steadicam assistant. His role consisted of transporting gear from place to place, building the Steadicam and taking care of it and its operator.

“I was part of the ‘Maria Taylor Late Night Show,’ which consisted of my team and I going through the city to different locations like the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre and many more places to record shots for Maria’s show,” he said, referring to the NBC sportscaster.

Smith said he was fortunate to know someone already in the industry, and they helped show him the way.

“He took me under his wing and set me up with my first-ever production assistant job, and from there, I was able to learn new skills that led me to new jobs, and I moved up in the industry. Once I was at the level he thought was right, he brought me onto jobs like NBC’s Big Ten coverage and the Olympics as a stead assist,” he said of the summer opportunity.

Smith said his favorite part of working at the Olympics was the people.

“I was able to meet so many new people but also reconnect with old friends I hadn’t seen in a long time. The people I was around daily slowly became family in a weird way,” he said. “It was bittersweet to say goodbye in the end.”

Smith is a senior majoring in video and film production in the Department of Media Arts with a concentration in live production and a minor in mass communications. He will graduate next spring from MTSU’s College of Media and Entertainment and hopes to direct movies, be a cinematographer or operate a Steadicam in the future.

“I’m still learning so much I can’t give a definitive answer (about what I want to do in the future),” he said.

MTSU’s video and film production students learn the art of cinematic storytelling and how to apply those skills to any genre. Students obtain hands-on experiences and work with professional-quality field production gear, top-of-the-line audio facilities and postproduction labs and suites.

The video and film production program also offers a combination of filmmaking, video production and live production. Three concentrations are offered in the program including: filmmaking, live production and motion design.

For more information, visit mtsu.edu/program/video-and-film-production-b-s/.

—   DeAnn Hays (deann.hays@mtsu.edu)