Keene State film students Riley Bergstrom and Cam Isbell displayed their senior capstone film “Beyond The Nest” on Wednesday, April 30 in the Mabel Brown Room. The film follows the KSC Men’s Basketball team through the 2024-25 season with Head Coach Steven Enright.
Before the film began, both Enright and the filmmakers gave a small speech thanking all those who helped contribute to the film. There were cameras in locker rooms of practices and games, film sessions and footage of every game the team played throughout the season. Footage was taken of practically everything, including the Little East Conference Championship victory, Senior Day celebrations, the NCAA tournament win and loss and Octavio Brito receiving the DIII player of the year award.
Due to the openness of the basketball team’s roster and management, “Beyond The Nest” was able to capture moments that the outside world would never get a glimpse of. Enright spoke on the more candid moments of the film where excessive language is heard and the commonness of that in successful college basketball teams.
“They were able to capture what people don’t see but for any successful college basketball team it’s going to look like what you just saw. There’s going to be colorful moments, big characters, competitive edge, and the ups and downs that come with the season. They were able to capture all of that and show the togetherness of our group,” Enright said.
One of the co-directors, Isbell, touched on how the allowance of cameras in places they normally would not be helped them bring the cohesiveness of the team together.
“The coaching staff was so open to letting us get in there and being in the most tense moments,” said Isbell. “We didn’t know when is a good or bad time to stick a camera in someone’s face, but as the season went on they got so open to it and at some points they even wanted people to see that kind of stuff. It would not have been able to happen as well as it has been without the support from the players, athletic department, and the coaching staff.”
The other co-director, Bergstrom, added about the allowance of footage in every area of the KSC basketball team.
“The first day of filming was a little awkward, like we are in these guys’ film sessions and now there are a ton of cameras in here and that’s kind of weird. I think people just learned to accept that there is a documentary crew and I think the players were really excited about it and they were bought in,” Bergstrom said.
Adjustment to constant filming by the directors took some time to get used to, but the players themselves also had to get used to having a camera in their space constantly. The team was filmed in their heartbreaking losses as well as their shining moments of the season. Fifth-year Nate Siow touched on that adjustment and the involvement of the film crew practically everywhere.
“Since my sophomore year, we have been having cameras at our games all the time. This year it was a little harder seeing cameras everyday but we got used to it,” Siow said.
Throughout the film, there were interviews with members of the KSC athletics community. Each interview played into the next “chapter” of the season, and each interviewee gave their take on certain issues or praise of the team at a certain time. One of those interviewees was student broadcaster Logan Paronto who gave his take on how the film brought out the culture within Keene State as well as the men’s basketball team.
“Culture-wise they [team] are the best, you can’t get that culture at other programs, even DI programs. You get [Brito], who is the most talented player, and other guys in the film who are willing to put others’ achievements above their own,” Paronto said.
Many hours of filming was done by the entire crew along with much time spent patching the broadcast audio with whichever game film went with it. Away games are covered by other broadcasting crews which meant hours of sifting through those games and pairing them with the game footage captured. Bergstrom said it was a grueling process putting all of the audio and video clips together to create a cohesive film.
“It was the editing process where we really had to change our mindset and really be disciplined. It was a lot of editing work, organizing, a lot of long hours and it was more than a full-time job. There were a lot of nights I would have left early if I didn’t have other people depending on me. We just had to do the best we can to make something good,” Bergstrom said.
Throughout the 55-minute film, the players were present and laughed at their own funny moments on screen, pointing out each other as the film went on. The audience shared laughs and gasps when they were needed and shed tears when the film brought on emotion.
One audience member, Jaden Sanders, gave his thoughts on how the film was able to capture the culture of the KSC men’s basketball team.
“The documentary’s ability to capture the feeling and emotion that we have here at Keene State, especially after the fourth championship in a row. The ups and downs, the funny moments, the sad and emotional moments. It did a really good job of capturing all of that,” Sanders said.
Jacob Enscoe can be contacted at
jenscoe@kscequinox.com
