DT McDowell
New member
huskeraddict: I use a mac and I use just the basic video editing software that comes with all macs, iMovie. I don't know much about movie maker, but I'll bet it's very similar to what I use. It does have several effects and transitions, but I usually just stick with the basics...dissolves/fades/cuts and a wipe every now and then. I think that some of the effects that I have as options are pretty cheesy and actually make it look more amateurish. Sometimes I'll try to do some things...the Jay Z part of Project 2 is an example where I tried to effect some of the video. I've tinkered around with some of the flash-cutting techniques that are pretty popular on TV, and some of the speed-altering techniques (like when you see a shot that goes from live speed, then speeds up at a certain point, then returns to live speed...all within the same shot) but I can never seem to get things to work out to my liking. My program will do all those types of things--speed changes, reverse video, etc...but usually I prefer to just play it straight (Unless I have to change the speed of a shot to get something to line up better with the music). Same goes with the audio...I always have good natural sound to work with, but usually I find that it distracts from the work I do in trying to line things up along with certain beats or rhythms of the songs. A lot of guys like to use nat. sound of the crowd roaring and play-by-play calls and it works really well...it's more of just a matter of personal preference. I'd love to have a program like Final Cut pro, but I could never justify the expense (about $1000) unless I was doing this as something more than just a hobby.
A lot of my video comes from a friend at ESPN who provides me copies of what are called "melt reels" of all the games that he can find in the ESPN tape library...usually those that are on ABC/ESPN. These reels usually run between 30 minutes to an hour long and are compiled in the broadcast truck on the remote site after the games have concluded. The associate producer who's in charge of producing replays and building in-game packages will work with the tape operators after the game is done and dump all of the big plays from each camera and other useful video to one reel, which is sent back to Bristol and archived. It's pretty common for the networks to trade these melts with one another and pretty easy for my friend to burn me copies of what he can come up with...but this year, the only games I was able to get melts from were those on ABC (so you'll notice that for games such as LaTech/Troy/Ksu/Auburn I had to use what was available off of the television broadcast. Earlier, huskerfan500 mentioned that there was no Nicholls state footage--that's because I had absolutely no video of this game to include, and didn't care too much about looking too hard for video of such a meaningless game.) It's nice to have several camera options to choose from on the melt reels, but you kind of have to have a connection with someone in the industry to get your hands on this type of video.
Other than that, I just tape every game on my DVR. It's an older model, made before they started putting hard drives on them (it cost around $400 at the time, although for less than $100 bucks you can buy a digital encoder box that would do the same thing with a VCR...but I think that most DVRs should now port directly into most computers.) so I just burn every game to disc and then import my video clips into my editing software, choosing from the cleanest that's available during a particular broadcast ("clean" meaning no clock & score/network bugs/graphics/etc.) Sometimes I have only one option (like Cally's "throat slash") Sometimes, having the clock & score as a point of reference actually helps apply some context to what I'm creating (like the 4th and 11 play at the end of the Cotton bowl) but in the past, I've also chosen to put a letterbox effect on shots that I wanted to block graphics out of...but like I said, I tend to look for shots with the least amount of crap on them to begin with, so I have to deal with the issue less. Some people don't care...it's just in my background to look for clean vid...at ESPN, some producers would yell at you if you included bugged video on a clip reel. A lot of times in the past, TBS games have had lower-third scoring updates that ran through their otherwise clean replays...this always pissed me off when I wanted to use a particular play, but it had the score and stats of the USF/Uconn game plastered across the bottom of the frame. But from the looks of the new Big 12 TV contract, it looks like that's not going to be a problem any more.
Hope that helps to answer your questions, if not I can keep trying...but I'll quit now for fear of boring everyone to death with tech-talk!
A lot of my video comes from a friend at ESPN who provides me copies of what are called "melt reels" of all the games that he can find in the ESPN tape library...usually those that are on ABC/ESPN. These reels usually run between 30 minutes to an hour long and are compiled in the broadcast truck on the remote site after the games have concluded. The associate producer who's in charge of producing replays and building in-game packages will work with the tape operators after the game is done and dump all of the big plays from each camera and other useful video to one reel, which is sent back to Bristol and archived. It's pretty common for the networks to trade these melts with one another and pretty easy for my friend to burn me copies of what he can come up with...but this year, the only games I was able to get melts from were those on ABC (so you'll notice that for games such as LaTech/Troy/Ksu/Auburn I had to use what was available off of the television broadcast. Earlier, huskerfan500 mentioned that there was no Nicholls state footage--that's because I had absolutely no video of this game to include, and didn't care too much about looking too hard for video of such a meaningless game.) It's nice to have several camera options to choose from on the melt reels, but you kind of have to have a connection with someone in the industry to get your hands on this type of video.
Other than that, I just tape every game on my DVR. It's an older model, made before they started putting hard drives on them (it cost around $400 at the time, although for less than $100 bucks you can buy a digital encoder box that would do the same thing with a VCR...but I think that most DVRs should now port directly into most computers.) so I just burn every game to disc and then import my video clips into my editing software, choosing from the cleanest that's available during a particular broadcast ("clean" meaning no clock & score/network bugs/graphics/etc.) Sometimes I have only one option (like Cally's "throat slash") Sometimes, having the clock & score as a point of reference actually helps apply some context to what I'm creating (like the 4th and 11 play at the end of the Cotton bowl) but in the past, I've also chosen to put a letterbox effect on shots that I wanted to block graphics out of...but like I said, I tend to look for shots with the least amount of crap on them to begin with, so I have to deal with the issue less. Some people don't care...it's just in my background to look for clean vid...at ESPN, some producers would yell at you if you included bugged video on a clip reel. A lot of times in the past, TBS games have had lower-third scoring updates that ran through their otherwise clean replays...this always pissed me off when I wanted to use a particular play, but it had the score and stats of the USF/Uconn game plastered across the bottom of the frame. But from the looks of the new Big 12 TV contract, it looks like that's not going to be a problem any more.
Hope that helps to answer your questions, if not I can keep trying...but I'll quit now for fear of boring everyone to death with tech-talk!
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