In December, I pitched making a season documentary to my coach. In January, I fundraised and sorted out the logistics of getting equipment. In February, I pressed record on a legitimate camera for the first time. In March, I stood for hours straight holding a used Panasonic Lumix G9 filming every second of our events. In April, I begun editing. In May, actually no, we haven’t gotten there yet.
For the past few months, as part of our push back into the FRC spotlight (aka, when people know about us from our marketing efforts and not a 2018 CD post), we have embarked on the ambitious journey of making a FIRST Robotics Documentary. I’m sure I’ll look back on this documentary and think to myself, “what the heck was I doing?” But hey, it’s my first attempt. We plan to make three more of these up until I graduate in 2028 (I hope someone will continue it for me).
For a first attempt, as of now, I think we have done a fantastic job so far. It’s visually appealing, fast-paced, and well planned. FRC students will adore it, our school’s students will stop calling us nerds, and 1778 will love how many audio clips are interrupted by their team’s cheer. My hope is that we have/will/and are creating a documentary that will appeal to students outside of robotics; thus, spreading STEM to a broader audience.
This seems like an incredible project, I can’t wait to watch it when it releases! I love making videos and I love FRC, so I think it’ll be a great combo for me, and I’ll definitely share it with my non FRC friends.
Most importantly, maybe now I’ll learn who the 4911 Cyberknights are…
apologies, I had to
Does anyone have any advice on how I can promote and grow the documentary beyond the FRC community? I know the FIRST Robotics Community will love this documentary, but the film’s purpose is to promote and grow STEM, which is hard to do when everyone who is watching the documentary is already involved in FRC. Any tips/advice for this? Thanks.
Cyberknights (2025) is ranked 26 spots ahead of More Than Robots on IMDB’s Science and Technology rankings (because of how many people have clicked on our IMDB page)
