SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - From the soccer field to creative, self-taught student videographer Diran Bebekian found new passions throughout his journey within UC Santa Barbara Athletics. 

Bebekian was selected as a finalist for three 2024 Sports Video Group (SVG) College Sports Media Awards. He beat out top collegiate Division I communication departments to win the Outstanding Social Media Video - Collegiate Athletics Championship category for his UC Santa Barbara Swim Season Video. Finalists and winners are selected by a panel of judges at the SVG, in partnership with the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA).

Along with the award for the swim video, Bebekian was also selected as a finalist for Outstanding Social Media Video - Collegiate Student Championship for his 2024 Women In Sports Video and Outstanding In-Venue Video - Collegiate Student Championship for the 2023 Men's Basketball Introduction Hype Video. 

Bebekian is in his final year at UC Santa Barbara studying Film and Media. He played for the Gaucho Men's Soccer team for the 2021 and 2022 seasons. During this time, he would film Women's Soccer games and create edits as a passion project. 

"From an early age, I was making fun soccer videos," said Bebekian. "I was playing soccer and I just wanted to record myself."

Bebekian started by editing on iMovie and uploading his videos to Youtube. Seeing other creatives using new technologies and tools to design athletics videos prompted Bebekian to look into more advanced software. He taught himself on Premiere Pro as a beginner and continued to advance with each video by simply exploring. 

"I just kept watching how other people create stuff and I told myself that I can do that and I just need to take my time and learn the program and be creative. It's all about creativity…how can you get an audience to be like 'that was cool' or 'that was different'."

As a freelance videographer for the Women's Soccer team, he caught the eye of the UC Santa Barbara communications office as well as players and coaches who were impressed by his work. He was officially brought on board as a student videographer for the athletics department where he now works with every sport producing intro videos and game highlights.

Bebekian balances multiple video projects, especially in an overlap of sports seasons, on top of classes and freelance projects. On any given day, Bebekian may head out to Harder Stadium to capture a Gaucho goal, direct a media day video shoot for basketball or watch his new video debut in the Thunderdome, his favorite venue on campus. 

Bebekian emphasizes thinking outside the box as his key to a successful video. His award-winning swim introduction serves as a prime example of where he had to navigate showing off athletes in a sport where a cap and goggles can get in the way.

"If I just go to swim practices, it's going to be hard to make something dynamic or something that showcases the athletes. I had to make it somewhat different," said Bebekian. "I thought that if I go to the gym and catch them training…there's some variation."

Bebekian's proudest projects have been the 2023 Men's Basketball video, also a SVG Finalist, and 2024 Men's Soccer video. He selected the videos to submit to SVG based on the recognition and positive feedback he received and how well the video could tell a story. 

"It means a lot that I could [win] for them and represent the school in that way," said Bebekian.

Bebekian emphasized the difficulty and the importance of a good song choice in his process. 

"I try to go for an anthem type of hip hop song usually," said Bebekian. "Something that shows they're going to win something and they're fighting really hard for it."

His third SVG finalist video was a cinematic project for Women in Sports day. 

"I wanted to make it more of a film than a hype video, make it more of a story. I had the privilege of asking Kelly [Barksy, The John and Jody Arnhold Director of Athletics,] to narrate the beginning part and she was really willing to do that. It honestly pieced the story together really well," said Bebekian. 

Bebekian's advice for people who hope to get into the field is to keep observing, take your time, and be creative. He hopes to work for a professional soccer club in the future as he looks towards graduation from UC Santa Barbara in the spring.