Sports Package on FCP

[Scott Sheriff]

Hi,
You ought to post this in ‘The Art of Editing’ forum.

But since your here, what sports are we talking about?
While there are some common themes in sports, what works for hockey doesn’t always work for golf or F1 as an example.
Are these VO/SOT, or packages with a stand up? If they have a stand up, your direction will come from the reporter.
Did they give you licensed music to use?
More specifics on what you are doing will help here, as you can see.

Scott Sheriff
Director
https://www.sstdigitalmedia.com

I have a system, it has stuff in it, and stuff hooked to it. I have a camera, it can record stuff. I read the manuals, and know how to use this stuff and lots of other stuff too.
You should be suitably impressed…

[Andrew Rendell]

I don’t think there’s really a different school of editing, except that sport tends to use such appalling music and shouty presenters that I can’t watch it with any enjoyment any more! I was actually taught how to edit sport by a BBC Sports producer and the overwhelming thing was always tell the story of the match, flashy graphics are great but always secondary to the storytelling. I don’t suppose that’s a terribly fashionable attitude nowadays, but it does tend to go down well with the viewers and has stood me in great stead when editing in other genres.

[Mike Jones]

Thanks for replying, from this point I’ll post these types of questions in the Art of Editing Forum.

It’s for advertising so I’m guessing 30 or 60 seconds of flash with direction coming from an event that’s happening soon. It’s for Hockey, that much I do know. My main concern is working with effects. What’s the level of difficulty to achieve the average results of an “sports” commercial effect and how many happen during 30 seconds vs. 60 seconds. For example: 5 filters while keyframing motion and compositing layers with titles from Photoshop, or simpler to the extent that it’s variable speed changes with a few filters…etc, Also I use Motion, Photoshop and FCP, no after effects and should that be a problem?

But with that said, any rules that you’ve set up for yourself that you feel are necessary for getting out a good product would really help give me some insight.

Thank for your time and help

[Mike Jones]

Can you elaborate on the concept behind story of the match? And if you have the time or want to, can you give me an example of how you applied this to something you did so I can put it to something in my head?

Thank you

[Dan Monro]

I’ll second what Andrew says. Tell your story first, then trash it up. If your story is “this is going to be a great game!” then tell us why; what’s the drama? who’s the key player? what’s the history of these two teams?, etc. Keep in mind that if its a promo, your story needs to include when and where I can watch it.

Build your excitement with your cut, then worry about spicing it up with flashes, or film pops, or rolls, or whatever. Starting with your transitions is working backward, and it’ll slow you down.

I’ll put in a shameless plug for our editors at Turner Studios who work on sports. Insanely good cutters. The FX are brilliant, but they enhance the spot, not make it. If you look at the TNT website I’m sure you’ll find some examples.

ESPN does great work, too. Turn them on for an hour and you’ll see some really effective ads. And don’t get mired in Sports as a medium. Good cutting is good cutting. IFC, SyFy, AMC, any of the Scripps channels, NatGeo, all great places to see good promo work.

Hope this helps, Good luck.
D

Dan Monro
FCP, Avid, AfterFX, Atlanta
MacBook Pro 2.53 GHz Intel Core i5 4 GB ram
Mac OS X 10.6.4
NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M
Final Cut Pro 7 Quicktime 7.6.6
– OR –
2 x 3.2 Quad Xeon; 16 GB ram
Mac OS X 10.6.4
NVIDIA Quadro FX 5600 Final Cut Pro 7.0.2 Quicktime 7.6.6

[Steve Eisen]

[MIke Jones] “My main concern is working with effects”

Do your edit then add effects. A good edit can be done with no effects.

Hockey is a fast sport. Fast cuts are all you need.

Steve Eisen
Eisen Video Productions
Vice President
Chicago Final Cut Pro Users Group

[Scott Sheriff]

Mike,
I suggested the other forum just because you have other editors there besides FCP guys-just a bigger audience. Not a criticism.

I’d go easy on the cheesy for hockey.
Fast cuts! Big Hits. Boarding. One-timers. Big saves. Teeing up a big slapshot, and pulling the trigger. Repeat as needed. ESPN seems to shy away from fights, you might want to ask for guidlines on that before you include any. I’ve gotten some nastygrams from them on replay content involving fights on live games. Good nat sound on the action, beats FX on hockey.

Scott Sheriff
Director
https://www.sstdigitalmedia.com

I have a system, it has stuff in it, and stuff hooked to it. I have a camera, it can record stuff. I read the manuals, and know how to use this stuff and lots of other stuff too.
You should be suitably impressed…

[Mike Jones]

Thank you all for your feedback, insight, and advice. I will keep it all in the front of my mind. I greatly appreciate it.