Alumnus shares view of Winter Olympics with millions around the world

February 04, 2022

Matt Andrew '10 at the Olympics in Beijing

Matt Andrew’s most ambitious professional dream was once to be behind the camera at the winter Olympics. He’ll have to reach for a new dream now – he is spending this month in Beijing at the Olympics, video graphing ceremonies and events.

After graduating from Quinnipiac with a communications degree in media production in 2010, now film, television and media arts, he started a Boston-based business called Frame and Focus Media and creates photo, video, sports broadcasts, short documentaries and written content for different brands and businesses. He also does still photography for business and personal clients.

See more stories of ambition from throughout Quinnipiac

He started working in the broadcast world 2006 as a utility worker, laying cable and assisting camera operators.

“I was the low person and then worked my way up into a camera position,” Andrew said. He’s been behind the lens since, with much of his work in the Boston market where he shoots Celtics basketball and Bruins hockey games.

Video: Matt's Story

Matt Unleashed

This month, he is in Beijing working as a contractor for the Olympic Broadcasting Service on the broadcast television side.

“A lot of the opportunities in the broadcast world come from networking, putting your best foot forward and working really hard. Over the course of the past 15 years, I’ve built a network of people that I think value my work ethic and value what I could bring to the table,” he explained.

This networking has allowed Andrew to navigate through the broadcast world, behind the camera for two World Series events, the Masters, NBA finals and earning two Emmy Awards for videography at the X Games. He has worked with NBC Sports, Fox Sports, CBS Sports, LifeProof, EarthRoamer, HGTV, Mohegan Sun and the U.S. Army.

“The Olympics was the last big event that I haven't been to yet. I spent the past couple of years trying to figure out how I could get there,” he said.

His focus will be the opening and closing ceremonies – he’ll be on the floor of the arena of the stadium, filming the athletes as they get to the stands and then he’s assigned to one of the medal podiums. He will be filming the skiing and snowboard big air events and then the closing ceremonies.

“Not only did I get to go to the Olympics, I somehow made it to the big air event, and skiing, one of my favorite things to do in the world!” he said. “I worked X Games Summer and Winter, and that was like a dream. I was like, ‘Whoa, this is so cool!’ I grew up dedicating weeks of my time to watching X games and here I am working it and that's where we won an Emmy. I still think it’s so cool that my career has made it to this point,” he said.

He’ll spend almost a month in Beijing, moving about under very tight restrictions.

“It's all lockdowns and work. We're in a very strict COVID loop. They have it pretty well locked down where we can move basically between our hotel and the venues, but we can’t go outside of our hotels unless we're on a designated shuttle that takes us from our hotel to the venue,” Andrew explained.

In spite of the restrictions and the monumental amount of paperwork, this job is an opportunity of a lifetime for Andrew.

His love for the camera began when he was around seven years old and from there, it took on a life of its own. He enjoys reflecting on his high school days when he made videos of his friends.

“And now here I am at the, at the Olympics. It has come full circle in a lot of ways – I always had this dream and ambition running in the background of my mind, but it’s so cool to look back on the high school and early college days and be like ‘Ah, wow,’” he said.

His advice for Quinnipiac students studying communication applies across fields of study: “Work super hard, and never stop trying to get where you want. When opportunities present themselves, latch onto them and then make the most of them. A lot of things happen by chance, and you have to work hard and prove yourself,” he said.

 

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