Perry Litman, graphics operator at MOOV, has worked in post production environments for some of the industry’s largest companies — BT/TNT Sport, CBS, BBC, and ITV Sport — and on live shows for UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, English Premier League, European Football, National League, and European Rugby. He speaks to TVBEurope about his fast-rising career, his experience with the Chyron Training Academy, and working in the industry with dyslexia.
You’ve gone far in the industry, and fast! How did you get started in graphics?
While at university, I took a sports performance analysis course where we would collect data and use video footage to highlight team and player strengths or weaknesses. We used Chyron PAINT software and its illustration tools to create and place visual effects onto the video to focus on those strengths or weaknesses. During that time, I also did an internship and voluntary work at two football clubs, working with the academies. In the first team level, I filmed games, edited the footage, made reports, collected data, and again used Chyron PAINT to highlight tactical and technical aspects. In addition to giving me real-world experience, working at a football club gave me a sense for the day-to-day of being an analyst, working with players and coaches at different levels, and considering different aspects and concepts when providing feedback.
What was your first big show with MOOV?
When I first joined the company about a year and a half ago, I started out by shadowing colleagues using the Chyron PRIME platform to prepare and play graphics out to live TV audiences, which seemed a bit daunting. But I progressed, learning on the job and through the Chyron Academy, until I was ready to do my first live show: a Champions League game. It was quite a big show to be thrown onto, to be honest. But when you have a clean show, you get such a good buzz. And working with PRIME, you know it won’t have any issues or let you down. Once I did that first show, it was like a snowball effect; I progressively moved into more and bigger shows, and I grew accustomed to the pressure of working for a live show.
Talk a bit more about your Chyron Academy training. What was that?
When I joined MOOV, they encouraged me to do the free Chyron Academy online courses in PRIME and PAINT. The courses are interactive and very user-friendly, taking you through training step by step and testing your knowledge with quizzes. Once I had the basics covered, I then got a bit more creative, making graphics, testing what I could do with more advanced techniques. When I did have questions, I got in contact with Chyron, and they got back to me straight away. I completed certification and earned a black belt for both graphics systems. This training proved valuable to me when working on a show because if a graphic needed editing, I already knew what to do and how to do it.
I’m dyslexic, and while the professional content and clear organisation of the courses were great, it was also helpful to be able to take my time throughout the course. (And it’s nice that I can easily go back and go over things now.)
What else would you want people to know about dyslexia?
It’s important to highlight that people with dyslexia can work in these types of live production environments, and that they shouldn’t be hindered or their strengths and weaknesses attributed to being dyslexic. I, for example, might sometimes take a bit too much time thinking on a certain question, but I can excel in other ways and be creative and design things that no one else can really imagine. I just think outside the box, really. And working with my colleagues at MOOV, I’ve gotten all the support I’ve needed. They understood when I joined the company that I’m dyslexic, and they asked what I needed and how they could help, and that made a difference.
What’s your most challenging project or show right now?
This season I’ve been working on The Goals Show for TNT Sport, which covers every Champions League goal with a panel of European football experts. As pundits and guests watch all the games — about six or seven at once — and talk about what’s happening, we go into those different games. For this show I use Chyron PRIME in kind of a different way. Rather than just play in-match graphics or promos, I’m more focused on selecting the matches that they’re discussing. If there is a goal, a red card, or something else noteworthy, I quickly turn to and highlight that match. I’m also playing promos throughout the whole show.
We have the outputs of all the games in front of us, and we just respond along with the director and the producer when they want to change games, or as events happen in different games and what needs to be highlighted on the graphics. I also show the teams’ sheets at the start of games, so I need to think about the timing of those and other graphics. How long have they been on? Do I have time to play out a stats graphic before we move on to another game? Keeping on top of it all is quite a challenge.
It’s a good show to work on because I really enjoy sports, and football most of all. In previous jobs I’ve filmed football matches, and now my job is to play graphics on TV. Just being involved in sport, I don’t know quite how to say it, but it just doesn’t seem like work when it’s something I enjoy this much.
