Nfl Films

On the monitor, Charles Mann, a touch of blood smeared on his knuckles, was bearing down on John Elway. The camera shot tightened, the tape slowed down and the viewer could see Elway gasp as Mann applied a bear hug. "That one will work," said the man sitting in the dark. "Plug in some sound bites and it will be very dramatic. " The sound bites are the grunts, groans and Wagnerian crescendos that have made NFL Films famous. And the man sitting in the dark is David Plaut, an editor/writer/director who has the job of stringing together a few hundred such shots from Sunday's Super Bowl, adding the bites and the caramel-coated narration of Harry Kalas and producing NFL Films' latest "McMovie.

Doug Pederson stepping up and "solving the Eagles' offensive struggles"? Mike Mamula showed "great promise in his first three seasons"? A "powerful, proud franchise," OK. But one "ready to reclaim its place among the NFL's top teams"? Whoa, NFL Films. Accentuating the positive is what annual team "highlight" videos are supposed to be all about, and NFL Films has no rivals when it comes to filmmaking brilliance. In the case of the Eagles' 1998 highlight video, however, NFL Films dodges reality better in 24 minutes than Barry Sanders danced away from overaggressive arm tacklers.

The four members of Boyz II Men gathered in Mount Laurel late last month to sing a special tribute to the finale of the 1993-94 Monday Night Football telecasts on ABC. Wait a minute! Finale? The telecasts don't even debut until tonight at 9 on Channel 6, so what gives? An updated video of their monster hit song, "End of the Road," that's what. The Philadelphia vocal group was in a post-production room in the bowels of NFL Films, which served as the set for the new video of the song that made the foursome famous.

Just when you thought Monday night's turf fiasco couldn't get any more embarrassing for Philadelphia, along comes HBO. The cable network, in conjunction with NFL Films, has been running a series called Hard Knocks, at 11 on Wednesday nights, that follows the Baltimore Ravens through their grueling training camp in Westminster, Md. Tonight, it will show the defending Super Bowl champions encountering Veterans Stadium. "We follow the team from the moment when Coach [Brian]

Several years ago, the NFL wanted to broaden its fan base. Part of the plan included reaching out to women. The league asked NFL Films to help by producing a one-hour show for Lifetime called Her Life and the NFL. The show is coproduced by Suzanne Morgan and Michele Valkov, who is also NFL Films' public relations director. Its focus is on women who enjoy football in their own way. It is hosted by Marg Helgenberger, who stars in CBS's CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. "We try to highlight stories that women would be interested in," Valkov said.

BARBERSHOP SPORTS talk in a basement between a pair of fanatics isn't anything out of the ordinary. But when those two fans get a chance to banter on a national platform, well, that closes in on extraordinary. Such is the case for a pair of Pitman (N.J.) High alums Greg Molyneaux (Class of 1994) and Chris Meares (Class of 1997) who started the growing YouTube sensation, "Mole and Meares Show" in Molyneaux' basement in 2008. Tonight, their project is a scheduled feature on Showtime's "Inside the NFL. " In what started out as just a couple dudes talking - and arguing - about various sports topics, Molyneaux (aka Mole)

By the time the opening kickoff is launched high above the Giants Stadium playing field, NFL Films photographer Phil Tuckett has already run more than 400 feet of film past the lens of his shoulder-borne camera. In the next 60 minutes of playing time, Tuckett will record enough celluloid footage of bone-crunching tackles and collisions between sweaty, beefy linemen to stretch from goal post to goal post nearly 18 times. But to NFL Films, based in Mount Laurel, Tuckett's 6,400 feet of film is just a drop in a Gatorade bucket.

Richard deFrenes helped make possible the first handheld cameras to show both Rocky Balboa and Ron Jaworski getting the punk beat out of them, then triumphing. "Dick was the Thomas Edison of NFL Films," Steve Sabol, the firm's president, said in a statement yesterday, marking Mr. deFrenes' passing. "He was a brilliant engineer, a tireless technician, and an ingenious inventor. " Mr. deFrenes, 78, who died of lung cancer Sunday at his home in Schwenksville, was director of camera technology when he retired in 1996 after almost 22 years with NFL Films in Mount Laurel.

The mother of three of Marshall Faulk's children has accused the star running back of beating her. He calls her a liar engaged in "an unfortunate attempt at a money-grab. " Faulk and Helen Dunne are seeking unspecified damages from each other in their lawsuits. The trial began in St. Louis yesterday with jury selection. No criminal charges were filed against the St. Louis Rams star, whom Dunne accuses in the lawsuit of assault, battery and intentional infliction of emotional duress.

One afternoon last week, at NFL Films' spacious headquarters in Mount Laurel, the NFL Network was preparing to be born. Inside a 60-by-80-foot studio, the first edition of NFL Playbook, a show that previews the weekend's games, was in rehearsal. At one point, host Solomon Wilcots looked into the camera and told his as yet nonexistent audience, "As we can attest, [show] No. 1 is never easy. " After months of preparation, the new network, owned and operated by the NFL, makes its debut tonight at 8 o'clock.