Re: Sports Videography Ethics Question

Hey everyone,

Just some clarification here. And this may help others who are considering sports videography as a venture. I have been filming football for over 10 years and, not to brag, consider myself a good game videographer. A lot of people are asking me how I can use the same game footage for other players if I'm "focusing", or "isolating" on the client's son. Football game films should always be shot at a wide angle to capture all of the action. This should be the rule whether you're shooting an entire team, or shooting an idividual play. I make sure the kid I am shooting is always visible in the shot, but I am careful not to zoom in tight on him. Zooming in tight creates multiple problems. College recruiters want to see how the player is reacting to what's going on around him. In this player's case, he is a slot receiver. Coaches want to see how he is reacting to what the quarterback is doing. They also want to see how he blocks for other players who are carrying the ball. If I zoom in on a slot receiver, I have no way of knowing the route he is about to run. I could be thinking he is going to run a 15 yard out, and then he ends up running a 15 yard in, and I could miss the shot entirely. To get around the issue of haveing "no isolated shot", I shoot the games in HD, and edit them in SD. This allows me to show the play once from a wide angle in properly downcoverted SD, and again in a replay that isolates on the player in question (for this I use the HD footage in an SD timeline that automatically is "zoomed" in upon importing it into the timeline). For now that works, because there aren't any recruiters (that I've come across) that are looking for Blu Ray discs. Recruiters are currently taking DVDs, or watching the videos online (usually YouTube). Obviously, the videos would work as HD online, but the results of properly encoded SD video on YouTube still look good.

Best,

Aaron