It all began when she just wanted to make a music video for her little sister’s band.

Helen Modesett, a senior film-television-digital media major, found her love for film around the age of eight.

Her younger sister and sister’s best friend had their own band, and they wouldn’t let Modesett join.

“It was right around the time that Kelly Clarkson was super popular, and she was making all these cool music videos,” Modesett said. “I was like, ‘I’ll just make a cool music video of y’all.’”

She asked her parents for a video camera and got one the following Christmas.

After that, Modesett said, she was the girl who was constantly carrying a video camera.

Her passion for film later developed into an interest in documentaries. While her grade school and high school did not offer many classes on the subject, she said she took advantage of summers to pursue film.

Starting after sixth grade, Modesett began going to summer school for film. She attended Texas Art Project, American University and Maine Media Workshops in the summers, all to learn her craft.

“I took any opportunity in the summer,” Modesett said. “I had so much I wanted to learn.”

She quickly learned that photography was the basis for videography.

“Every teacher said, ‘You have to be able to take a good picture to be able to tell a good story,’” Modesett said. “’You have to be able to compose an image, otherwise no one’s going to listen to the story you’re trying to tell.’”

Though she became more involved in photography this year, Modesett said she always knew she wanted to go into film.

Once she arrived at TCU, she declared her FTDM major but never thought she would work in sports, especially football. She said she had seen her male cousins play football and simply saw it as a sport where people got injured.

At the end of her freshman year, Modesett was ready to transfer. She said she hadn’t felt like she had found her fit at TCU.

That was, until a friend across the hall in Foster Hall jokingly asked if she wanted to join the football video crew.

The group works at every practice and game to shoot the team’s play. The coaches analyze this video to critique it, and the players then watch the film and study their coaches’ notes.

Kyle Cox, a senior education major, told Modesett the group had not had a female for a few years, and his boss was hoping to hire a woman.

“I laughed at him,” Modesett said. “I thought he was kidding. I also hated football at the time.”

While she did not take him seriously at the time, Modesett said she realized she would be crazy to say no.

“I knew nothing about football,” Modesett said. She was in Maine after the semester ended and special-ordered the book “Football For Dummies” to read before she came back to Fort Worth.

Modesett said she knew that working for Gary Patterson, she would have to know the sport.

“Honestly, it didn’t help with the nerves, but it gave me some sort of basics,” she said, laughing. “The boys still tease me, saying, ‘What do you really know about football?’ and I say, ‘I’m learning! Leave me alone!’”

Beyond a book “for dummies,” Modesett has learned the game through watching hundreds of hours of football through the lens of a video camera.

As part of the Horned Frog football film crew, she works two-a-day practices in the summers, fall practices, home and away games and spring practices. In addition, she takes pictures and videos for the “TCUFTW” Twitter and Instagram accounts, which show a behind-the-scenes view of the team.

Cox said his coworker has proven her worth in the group.

“From filming for the coaches during games, to shooting on-the-field highlights, to acting as the team’s personal photographer, I would argue Helen has contributed more to the TCU Football program in more forms and facets than any filmer before her,” Cox said.

He also said having a female helped the crew off the field.

“The office always smelled a lot nicer after hiring Helen,” Cox said. “The guys all seemed to behave a bit more.”

Modesett spends two-a-day practices in one of six video towers high above the football practice fields. She stands alone in the heat with her camera to capture every drill, snap and tackle.

By spending so much time around the football program, she has gained a new respect for the sport and all those involved.

“Through the football team, I’ve gained so much respect for them, and I’ve seen how much they sacrifice,” Modesett said. “There’s much more to the team than the scoreboard. There’s a story there that I think deserves to be told, and I want to tell stories like that.”

Modesett said she hopes to keep telling people’s stories through sports documentaries after she graduates.

During her last regular practice with the team, Modesett was filming in the video tower behind the goal posts. Often when a field goal or point after touchdown is made, the videographer in this tower has to either dodge or catch the ball.

“In three full seasons with the team, Helen never even came close to catching a ball,” Cox said. “She was laughably bad at judging the ball in the air.”

Modesett said she made it her goal to catch the ball before she graduates.

A ball hit her in the face at her first practice, but at her last practice with the team, she finally achieved her goal.

“The last day, the last practice, the second-to-last field goal, I freaking caught the ball,” she said.

Cox said the whole team noticed.

“Helen not only caught the ball, she caught it one-handed,” he said. “The sideline, coaches and players alike, started cheering. It was the perfect ending to her career as a TCU filmer.”

She may have never made that music video for her sister’s band, but Modesett said she can now graduate happy.