Thursday, April 24, 2008

This whole video camera thing...

I've been trying my hand at video at the Catfish games lately.

My cell phone takes really, really small, really, really low quality videos.

But, when I take one, I can upload it to YouTube really, really easily.

But the quality, like I said, is low. Sometimes, it's okay, but sometimes, it's not.

Last couple of nights, I've been playing with The Wife's video camera. She has a JVC GR-D270U. That's a decent video camera for a beginner. Only, I need to get a lot better before I'm a beginner.

Where I sit at the baseball games in Columbus -- season tickets right behind home plate -- is nearly the same view the local TV stations offer when they show clips from the games.

WTVM/WXTX and WRBL will often send someone -- sometimes a pair of folks -- to the games. They'll set up behind me, and catch the action. Or some of it.

Often, they can only stay for a few innings, and never for the whole game. That's because they're covering local high school games, college games, and other sporting events. Oh, and then putting it all together to go on the air.

Most of the time, it's the on-air personality that is taping highlights. And he's the same guy that has to go back to the office, dub it from tape to the mixing equipment, find the clips he wants to use, write up enough script to describe the action and summarize the game.

And he's got to do that for the Catfish, the Cougars (Columbus State), and all the local high school games they can get to.

And that's between air shifts and meetings.

Having worked radio news and sports, I understand some of what they have to go through. But doing it with video is harder.

Take a look at this recent YouTube video I shot, my first from The Wife's camera:


See what happened?

I have a shaky camera, first of all. That's never good.

When the batter hits the ball to right field, I tried to follow the ball with the camera. I failed.

I did catch each base runner crossing the plate. But notice when the second runner is approaching the plate, you can see the batter rounding second base in the background. I missed getting the batter runner (yes, that's the correct term: "batter runner") arriving at third base to completer the triple.

See? Sloppy camera work.

If I worked for one of the local TV stations ... well, I wouldn't work there long. They'd send my happy butt to the curb in short order.

Now, just a clarification. I'm not trying to do camera work because I think it's easy. I know it's not. I knew it wouldn't be.

I'll never on par with Dave or Andrew or Jack or Chris or any of the local TV crews. I'm not trying to be.

I'm just trying to have a good time. My MacBook is supposed be useful for doing video. And since I have access to The Wife's video camera, I thought I'd give it a shot.

It's not easy. And the video doesn't look that good. But, hey, if you want good video, turn on the TV. If you want sports fan quality stuff ... well, that's what I'm aiming for. And, one day, I'll hit the mark.

6 comments:

  1. It's OK, Basil...after all, Rome wasn't built in a day.

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  2. And it's SO much better than the cell phone!

    By the way, I understand your wanting to use that fuzzy-word thing to keep the spam down, but dang if I can read the words half the time.

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  3. Oh, these fuzzy words are much better! The last one had "nult." Who ever heard of a nult? Oh! I get it! Their marriage was a nult!

    Ok, back on topic...
    Your video skills will no doubt grow better exponentially.
    Go Catfish!

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  4. Your sister has to be a hoot! I love her 'a nuit' comment!!

    Basil, don't you know it is not the camera that is shaky, but Basil? I sat that because I suffer from the same thing. :) So, I bought me a camera that has lens image stabilization. I hardly ever get a blurry picture. I haven't tried making a video on it yet, but I know it works.

    Do you live in Columbus? I thought you lived in AL.

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  5. Oops! I think I also suffer from word lossage! I meant to say "I SAID that". Oh well, can't get everything correct.

    ReplyDelete

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