Editing Basketball game.

marksd wrote on 2/22/2004, 10:04 PM

Hi everyone,
I’m working on my 9 year old daughter’s basketball videos. I have 6 games to edit and have to do it in the next week and a half. So I was hoping that some one that has done some game editing can give me some pointers on editing it. I have all these ideas, but am afraid that I’m going to over do it. Kind of like when I first started to edit I used transitions on every cut…… a little over done. I’ve read some other post about editing games but nothing that was directed to the whole game.

Some things I’m not sure about are:
Should I keep the original audio or put something in the back ground?
What effects if any, should or could I use for the game itself? Like slow motion or fast motion.
I don’t want it to be corny, that is why I’m asking for other more experienced opinions how has done this before.

Thanks to everyone for your opinion.
Mark.

Comments

randyvild2 wrote on 2/23/2004, 1:33 AM

Mark,
The most important step is:
step #1. Go through each video and cut out all the excellent clips. Why just the excellent and not the good as well?
Because you have six games to edit and you should have enough excellent clips to work with. I have seen many family sport videos where the video editor bores the audience to death.

Step #2 Organize the clips either by games or by the type of plays. I suggest plays. For instance make a folder for all the steals. Then with no audio and an audio clip of a crowd chanting, "D-Fence" make a mini video for the steal aspect of the game. You could also show a quick image of John Stockton here and there (altime leader in the nba in steals). Then in the middle of this segment perhaps flash the 8Th commandment, "Thou Shall Not Steal."

Step #3 after you have all the media organized find audio and script each mini video on paper. Remember each mini video has it's own theme.

Step #4 Go on the net or whatever source you have and download images that are related to basketball like basketballs, nets, backboards, full courts, and a Michael Jordon image (NBA LOGO) . Be creative don't limit yourself.
example: Maybe there is an excellent shot of a refferee....well freeze the shot and flash a ZEBRA then go back to your daughters game.

Step #5 When completed with the project render and watch the video at least 3 times minimum and then cut out any boring parts. Some video editors lack this step because they feel that since they did all this work nothing can be boring. Even have a few friends watch and critique, but remember your the MAKER and only edit the suggestions you agreee with.

I hope this helps...I do understand that this is nine year olds playing basketball but the key is to always respect the game. If you can make your daughter feel like she is associateed with the big screen playing in the NBA then you just made a very successful video.

Any questions email me at randy@vildproductions.com or even call me at 805-304-2520. Randy

Hannibal_ wrote on 2/23/2004, 3:43 AM

Mark,
You didnt say if you wanted to preserve the games or create a highlight reel of the season. If you want to preserve the games then I would use the original audio, (voiceover is ok), no effects, and mostly cuts with a few crossfades if you have the space between action. At the end of each game and as a seperate menu item I will put from 90 to 120 seconds of highlights. This is where you can get creative with music over the original audio track,(keep the music constant volume, experiment with the game and crowd audio) stills,velocity, transitions, scrolling rosters ect.
One of my favorites is the faces, hugs and glee, coming off the foor after a win. I always slow this down. 9 +10 year olds have an unbridled enthusiasm (sp) that older athletes lose.
Your deadline suggests banquet and awards. If thats the case, use the highlight format. I would think 5 to 10 minutes total and fit what you can into that. Give attention to Randy's suggestions and include all players.

Hope this helps,
Carl

johnmeyer wrote on 2/23/2004, 3:55 PM

I have done many sports highlights videos. Organizing your clips is a major problem. Here is a post that describes my workflow, and a script I created to help that workflow::

Sports videos workflow

I used to have a sample basketball video at this site:

Basketball video

but I note that he ran out of money to store all the videos. That's a shame, but I fully understand the problem. Apparently you can get the videos on a CD by paying a small fee.

For a short time, I will put a copy of my latest volleyball video at this link:

Volleyball video

Actually, I just went ahead and recaptured and re-encoded the old 8th grade girls basketball video. Here is a link to that as well. This will only be there for a few weeks:

Basketball

Note that the first twenty seconds of this video is an audio montage over blank video. Also note how I "faded up" the live audio at times, and mixed it with the music. This was one of my first sports videos. I learned as I went about making it (this was three years ago), and you'll see that second half is much better than the first. Also note that much of the footage that makes for a good music video is not necessarily related to making a great play. There are many other aspects of the action that are more entertaining. A few crowd shots, cheerleaders, referees, etc. really go a long way towards breaking up the endless flow of great plays. Also, it helps to have a few "in" jokes that everyone can enjoy (the coach yelling "where are we" is one such joke in the b-ball video).

It also helps to use video of warmups to make sure you get everyone in the video. Some players don't get a lot playing time or don't do much in the game.

Finally, spend a lot of time thinking about the music to use. I agonized for weeks about what music to use for the volleyball video. However, when I heard the Moulin Rouge music, it was an epiphany. I instantly pictured the entire video. The music guided me, and the video -- effects and all -- just seemed to happen.

amendegw wrote on 2/23/2004, 4:40 PM

John,

While not as polished as your videos, you might be interested in the stuff I've done for my daughter's Field Hockey team:

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/gamende1

What parameters did you use to create your .wmv files? The motion in your videos came out much better than mine.

...Jerry

PS: The JDHS 2003 video was the only one edited using Vegas.

johnmeyer wrote on 2/23/2004, 9:31 PM

The basketball was done using the 256k default, although I changed rendering to "best".

marksd wrote on 2/24/2004, 7:16 AM

I want to thank all of you for responding so quickly and with so much great information and material to work from. I have reviewed all the information here and watched the videos provided and it helped so much. I can't thank you all enough for all your work. You guys have shown me a different way of editing and will be putting this to use right now. I haven't used the method mentioned by randy and john yet, so I may have some questions later after I give it a try and see how it turn out. Thanks to you all.