Tennessee Football can now add an Emmy to its resume.
On Valentine’s Day, producer Noah Halford’s viral “Dark Mode Reveal” video won the award.
Halford is a Tennessee native who grew up as a University of Tennessee fan. Previously working for NASCAR, he now works for Tennessee Football as the assistant director of football creative video.
“When I was a senior in high school, and then into freshman year of college, I was kind of discovering content creation and video, photo editing, graphic design, stuff like that,” Halford said.
Halford went on to gain experience in the field, taking an internship at his local church and another opportunity to create content for Middle Tennessee State University’s football team.
“It was a really good experience and that kind of got me into the sports world of content creation because back in 2016, 2017, sports creation for social media wasn’t as big then as it is now,” Halford said. “It was becoming a thing, and I fell in love with it around then as well.”
As part of the content creation team for Tennessee Football, Halford specializes in videography, creating videos and posts for the athletes and the Vol Football social platforms.
“I really like the grind of it — I really enjoy learning new things,” Halford said. “I love when a video pops off, or we work hard on a video and it does well and it’s widely accepted by fans and other peers, and stuff like that.”
Halford’s “Dark Mode Reveal,” released in the fall of 2024 prior to the annual “dark mode” football game, popped off, gaining not only millions of views and likes but also an Emmy.
The “Dark Mode Reveal” video showcased a unique concept based on the popular Marvel character Venom, with football player Jakobe Thomas taking on the role.
“The Venom idea actually spurred from an idea we had the year before, but I didn’t really know how to do it at that point,” Halford said. “So I got some 3D expertise under my belt and then the next year we were like, ‘You know, we should try this Venom thing.’”
From start to finish, production took roughly five days. Halford created the storyboard, followed by a day of filming and three days of editing and finalizing.
Adding on to the quick turnaround, Halford visited his wife’s family during the editing process.
“I did a lot of this in a hotel in the a.m. hours, and then we got back from visiting her family Sunday night, and I came to the office at like 11 p.m. at night and finished it at like 3 a.m.,” Halford said. “It was posted at 8 a.m. the next day, on Monday.”
Halford called it a “spur of the moment decision” and had no idea how viral the video would end up. As of now, the video has gained over 30 million views and has been shared by multiple platforms, including ESPN, Barstool Sports and Bleacher Report.
“I thought it was cool, but I did not expect anything that had happened when it came out,” Halford said. “(I’m) obviously grateful, it was awesome, but I was shocked a little bit.”
The “Dark Mode Reveal” video beat out five other nominees to bring home the Emmy in the “Sports Promotion” category at the Midsouth Emmys in Nashville.
“I’ve never really won an award before, so I obviously felt like I had actually accomplished something in my industry for the first time and that was a great feeling, but it also motivated me more to run it back next year and try to get another one and keep pushing for really awesome content,” Halford said.
Halford especially showed appreciation for everyone on the content team for Tennessee Football and everyone who helped with the creation of “Dark Mode Reveal.”
“We try to push each other to the boundaries of creativity,” Halford said. “We’ll have some late nights all together in the office, and I actually enjoy those times because we’re a close group.”
As Halford soon enters his fifth year with Tennessee Football, more content will be on the horizon for UT fans to enjoy.
“I get to work for the greatest university in the world and the greatest team in the world,” Halford said. “Getting to work here and getting to do what I do, it’s the best of both worlds.”
