Lights, camera, action!
Issue: Volume 29 Number 3
The twenty-first century coach wears many hats: trainer, motivator, nutritionist, statistician, administrator, accountant and increasingly, movie-maker.
Affordable cameras, fast computers with lots of storage and easy-to-use editing software, means any coach can now create, if not an Oscar nominee, then at least a watchable short video. At the same time, the possible motivations for making the effort are multiplying.
Firstly, there is the opportunity to subject athletes' techniques to video and motion analysis - a tool that used to be restricted to elite coaches only.
Secondly, employers are starting to demand coaches join their athletes in front of the camera. The Queensland Academy of Sport, for example, now requires coaches applying to work there to submit a DVD or video demonstrating their ability to coach a specific technical skill, communicate and deliver a training drill, and even to motivate athletes.
A final motivation for self-employed coaches is that hosting similar footage on your website is a powerful way to grab the attention, and hopefully dollars of younger, web-savvy prospects.
Camcorder
Whatever draws you to D.I.Y video, the first thing you will need is a video camera, or camcorder. As with still images, digital has eclipsed analog for capturing moving ones too.
Avoid the many second-hand analog camcorders going cheap on eBay. Getting analog footage into your digital computer is fiddly and sacrifices quality along the way. Besides, digital camcorders start at around $500, so there is a model for most budgets.
Digital camcorders divide into four main camps, based on whether they store video on a mini DV tape, a DVD, a hard disk or a flash memory card.
- Mini DV camcorders use a small cassette tape to store footage. As the dominant camp, they offer the best bang for the buck, with the likes of Sony, Canon, Panasonic, JVC and Samsung all offering mini DV models. Importantly, the Digital Video (DV) format they use to store video offers better quality than the MPEG-2 format used in other types of camcorders. This makes mini DV camcorders the best choice for coaches wanting to edit their footage extensively. So-called high definition (as opposed to standard definition) camcorders, which can take video of broadcast-quality, are also exclusive to mini DV.
- DVD camcorders sacrifice quality for the convenience of recording straight to a DVD you can load into a standard player. However, the shrunken, 8cm DVDs used in these camcorders cost more than mini DV tapes and editing the footage they contain is not as straightforward. But if you want to cut out the appointment with a computer that otherwise stands between shooting a video and having a DVD you and your athletes can watch on a regular TV, a DVD camcorder is a good option.
- Hard-disk camcorders make that appointment inevitable. They rely on the same disk drives you find inside in a PC or iPod. With up to 30GB of storage capacity, they can hold a lot more footage than other types of camcorders. However, only JVC and Sony currently offer hard-disk models, so you will pay a premium for never having to remember to bring a blank tape or DVD to the game.
- Flash memory card camcorders store video on the same slivers of plastic used to hold photos in a digital camera. The small size of these cards means the camcorders that house them are smaller too. The downside is that few manufacturers make them. Accordingly, they offer poor value for the average buyer.
Bear in mind that whatever type you choose, the quality of the raw footage will depend on the camcorder's image sensor, known as its charge coupled device (CCD). In short, a three-CCD camcorder yields videos with richer and more vibrant colours than a single-CCD one, while bigger CCDs (measured in fractions of an inch) deliver more effective pixels - a ready measure of image quality (look for at least 690,000).
Another number to look out for is optical zoom, or the number of times a camera can magnify through its lenses what is happening on, say, the other side of a hockey field. Don't settle for less than 10x. And ignore impressive-sounding numbers for digital zoom. The camera equivalent of smoke and mirrors, digital zoom gets you closer to the action by cropping and inflating the raw image, sharply reducing its quality.
Computer
You will also need a computer if have anything other than a DVD-based recorder or plan to edit your footage. Video editing programs will tax your PC in a way fewer other applications will. They may run on older computers, but so slowly you will lose the will to live.
Any PC less than two years old is probably fast enough, and the more memory it has the better (512MB as a minimum). As video files take up lots of space (1GB holds just over four minutes of footage), a big hard drive is also essential. A dedicated graphics cards with its own memory (as opposed to a so-called "on board" one) will get the job done even faster.
Video editing software
All this is subject to the particular computer requirements of your preferred editing software. Here, you have plenty of price points to choose from, ranging from free up to several thousand dollars for professional solutions. There are also specialist programs available for editing and analysing sport-specific skills like a golf swing.
If you have a Windows XP machine, a video editing application called Movie Maker is already included in the operating system; while Apple Mac computers come equipped with iMovie. Both programs offer enough features, including titling and transition effects, to satisfy most budding movie-makers. They also give you a choice of formats for your final creation, depending upon whether you want it on a DVD or a web site.
Finally, if it all gets too hard, you can always outsource the job. Though professional rates for camera operators starting at around $500 a day, plus post-production costs, may persuade you to persist.
Shooting for gold |
|
Unfortunately, even a top-of-the-range camcorder and powerful editing software can't make up for atrocious camera-work. If you plan to take a lot of video, consider putting yourself on one of the many introductory film-making courses offered by TAFEs and other providers. The following sport-specific tips will help you on your way:
|
