Beginner.... Need advice for producing softball highlight videos

[Softball Knight]

Hi All,

I became the "ESPN" video crew for my DD's 10u travel team last season and started recording games and editing them to provide highlights for parents/family members that couldn't make the tournaments. What started as a minimal effort task has evolved into a big interest of mine. I want to start making higher quality videos with better graphics/overlays and multiple camera angles embedded on a single view. I'm a novice when it comes to video editing/production and everything I learned is basically from YouTube or trial and error.

Here is an example of one of my videos from a past tournament:


This is my current set up:

Recording Setup
-Go Pro Hero 8 w adapter battery cover
FOV: Linear
Resolution: 1080 HD 60 FPS
- Skandisk Extreme 256 GM Memory Card
- 20000mAh Battery Pack
- LynkSpider Mount
- Xenvo Squid Grip Mount

Editing Software
OpenShot Video Editor "Free Version" (For Rendering)
Windows Video Editor (For Video Clipping)
Computer: Alienware 17 Laptop (2014)

What I am trying to do is increase the quality of my videos to make them more like the ones we see on TV like college (with different angles and overlays/graphics). I have a few questions for you more experience parents

1. What recording devices do you use?
2. If you use more than one camera/recording device, how do you sync them up?
3. I want to include a view similar to the Centerfield camera you see in baseball/softball games, what device/video camera do you recommend that can zoom in from the warning track of CF all the way to circle and still maintain a high resolution....and that's affordable
4. What software do you recommend for Windows? I want to overlay other video angles, scores and better graphics but am limited with my current software.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks

 

[Josh Greer]

Welcome to the party. It just keeps getting more expensive from here on.

Others can chime in with streaming options. These are some suggestions for recording:
1.) As for software, I highly recommend Adobe Premiere Pro. The problem with Adobe's "Pro" anything line is that you don't really own it. You have to pay a monthly service to use it. But in your case, where you may only use it for a short time, and can only pay for the months you need. I suggest the entire creative cloud package. This will give you Photoshop, Premiere, After Effects, Audition, and more; all of which we use when we make a video.
2.) As for syncing multiple cameras (again, this is for recording and not streaming), as long as each camera is in range of hearing the same thing, we use the visual audio waveform to sync the videos. I usually find the first hit of the game. The ball impacting the bat (especially a metal bat) makes a nice sharp peak on a waveform. Every video file will have its own layer on your timeline. Get them all visually close to sync. Then zoom in and drag each until the peaks all align. Repeat until you are zoomed in fully. That's as good of a sync as you can get.

I also recommend watching some videos on YouTube regarding the usage of Premiere Pro. There is a learning curve. But I've found it to be the easiest application to learn that you won't run out of capability.

Good luck!

 

[wheresmycar]

Agree with both of Josh's recommendations. If you want to "own" your editing software, you can still buy Adobe Premiere Elements. You can get it stand alone, or bundled with Photo Shop elements. It may not have all of the features of Adobe Premiere Pro, but so far, it has been able to accomplish everything I've needed it to do for softball.

For the outfield camera, I've used my 35mm DSLR with a 150mm to 600mm zoom lens. I typically will use about 400mm zoom to get a nice frame with pitcher, catcher and batter. You can also use one of the less expensive "super zoom" digital cameras, like the Cannon Power Shot or Nikon Cool pics. Since we are usually at different tournaments, I bought my wife a Cannon PowerShot with a x50 zoom, so she can get some outfield video when DD2 is pitching.
We set-up beyond the outfield fence, and put camera on tripod. When shooting through the fence, you will find, that when you zoom in a lot, the fence will disappear from the image. Generally, I am only interested in recording when one of my DDs is pitching, so I will stand out there and start/stop the recording when we are up to bat. Or I may switch to DSLR mode, and get a few batting pictures.

So, we both have a behind the plate camera, I use a Mevo for streaming/recording, and she has a GoPro just to record. Then, when we want some outfield pitching video, we will set-up the 2nd camera in the outfield. We don't use the 2nd camera all the time, just when we want a different perspective when pitching.

Personally, I would invest in a decent DLSR, with a 150to600mm zoom lens, because sometimes you want nice quality photos, and the big zoom lens gives you ability to get close to the action shots, and you can clearly see faces and expressions. The point and shoot cameras, like the power shot, are too automated, and your image quality suffers as a result. Although, for just video, the smaller Power Shot is a lot easier to carry around and set-up.

Multiple cameras will also consumes an enormous amount of Hard Drive space. The desktop PC I use for video editing has about 14TB of HDD storage, and it is quickly filling up, so I may have to replace a 4TB drive with an 8TB. I'm guessing your 2014 Lap Top probably has 1 to 1.5 TB of storage.

One suggestion for the video you posted to give it a more polished look, is to add a simple transition between shots. I like to use a simple "dip to black" transition. This gives the viewer a clear indicator that one play is over, and a new play is starting. There are many types of transitions, but I like the "dip to black" because you don't even notice it, where swipes/dissolves can be distracting.

 

[Netspeed]

Hat's off to you for doing this for the team. I can tell you it takes a monumental effort to produce videos.
I have a question:

1. What is the intent for these videos? If you intend to do multiple angles from a single tournament, by the time you finish all the editing and so forth, you might be headed to the next tournament. If your intent is just to have something that the parents can enjoy, you may find that most people will not sit through a 20+-minute video. Tons (literally) of effort on your part may not yield the results (viewership) that you seek.

If you just want to have something the other parents can watch, just upload the games individually to Youtube. If they pay attention to their kid(s), they all know where to scroll too to see their kid in action. If you can stream with the GameChanger Team Manager app, the app will automatically clip any batting highlight for each player. I've heard they're working on fielding clips as well.

 

[KrisHur]

I use a Mevo plus with Lynkspyder. I like Filmora/Wondershare for editing and graphic overlays - a small learning curve but there are a ton of videos on youtube and it has so many choices built in.

I stream games for parents who could not attend, and after the game upload the full game to YouTube (unlisted, not public) and give parents the link so those who want to pull clips for recruiting can do it themself, or if they want to review the "not highlight worthy" parts and parents/coaches can review the entire game. Also, parents can pull clips of each plate appearance for batting coaches, select pitches for pitching coaches, etc. Let them do the work if they want it to make reels as it's really too much work for one person and believe me they will start to ask, and if you haven't already been asked, why Suzie's X play didn't make the reel, you will soon. Nope, let them do it themself.

IIWY I'd move my camera more to the left to get a better view of the batter - she's completely blocked by the ump so hitting mechanics cannot be seen (I am so guilty of this too). Our school field has a cutout in the windscreen so the camera has to go there but other fields - I always wind up going to that same spot, LOL. Batting coach always polite, but asks what she's supposed to do with this film of the Ump's back. LOL

Here is my DD's spring update HS video to show you some of the features of Filmora - I don't do anything fancy, keep them short and simple, but the software is more than capable of fancier things.

 

[Softball Knight]

Thank you all for your input. I do appreciate it.

@Josh Greer. I will give Adobe Premiere Pro a shot and see how I like it. I will try your method of syncing to see how if I can do it easily. So far everything ive done has been "brute force" and it's time consuming. This is only for recording purposes as my luck with streaming has not been very successful due to coverage areas and network limitations. I didn't realize how much a financial investment I decided to step into with this "hobby"

@wheresmycar Thank you very much for the CF camera options. Most of the items I was researching was thousands of $$$ and I felt I wasn't searching for the correct items for my use. My DD is a catcher and I want to see how she receives the pitches and look at her techniques as well as her batting. I have always enjoyed the CF view from watching games on TV and I feel adding this view will give some nice perspective to my videos. Also, I run analytics for the team as well (stats that game changer does not capture) and I have been in talks with the coach to provide clips to them for teaching purposes.

Yes, as I realized, games take up a lot of data. I purchased a 4 TB HD and its already 75% full from all the games ive recorded this season. My main Computer has a bout 1.5 TB and its already full and its something I really didn't realize how much data these games take up

I have considered doing a "dip to black" transition to distinguish the different clips. The reason I haven't is I cant figure out how to control the length of the transition. when my videos have close to 100 clips and the transition is 5-6 seconds it adds another 7- 8 minutes to the video. Still learning this software.

@Netspeed Yes, It takes a long time to produce these "highlights" as they take close to 16-20 hours to make. I just feel there is a faster way. I am still new to video editing and I'm trying to streamline the process to make it quicker. Originally, my intent was to do a quick highlights for parents that either missed the game or couldn't get the right angle with their phone when their kid made a play or got a hit. Now, I like to document my DD's team and show the journey they have been on throughout the season. I agree, most wont sit through a 20 minute highlight video but I tried to break up the video's into chapters so they can at least get to a game in particular they want to see. Other than making the video shorter, not sure how to increase viewership, or keep them entertaining.

Another reason I'm doing it is, when the my DD gets older, she can go and look back on the games she played and reminisce about those memories they made on the field. When I played baseball back in the day, there very few pictures of me and my teams journey. In this digital age, I wanted to give my DD a way to look back on theses memories and have something I didn't when I played.

I did originally try to upload the entire game but I noticed many parents didn't care to re-watch the entire game. They wanted "me" to show instances of their kid making a play or provide clips of them. This ended up be my highlight videos that they can watch and pull clips of their kid. We do have gamechanger but steaming has been challenging and many parents have the free version and cannot re-watch the games or see clips of their kid.

@KrisHur Thank you for showing me your video. I will take a look at Filmora/Wondershare and see if I like the interface. My DD is still doing 10u so most of the clips I get are for entertainment purposes, not scouting or recruiting as I don't think we are there yet as a team. Most of the parents on the team are not that tech savvy and just ask me to send them the clips. I tried summitting the whole game but they are not patient to sift through it.

I have tried to move the camera but I end up cutting off 1st/3rd base when shifting it. I set the camera up 10-12 feet in the air to best capture the field. but i hope by setting up multiple camera I can get batter views of the batters.

 

[Dabears17]

Thanks for info. My DD just changed her mind from being sure she was not playing in college to thinking about it. Throwing a quick one-minute highlight video as a teaser to get coaches to think about seeing her at Zoom Into June. Doing it brute strength with built in Microsoft 10 products.

 

[Orange Socks]

I use a Mevo plus with Lynkspyder. I like Filmora/Wondershare for editing and graphic overlays - a small learning curve but there are a ton of videos on youtube and it has so many choices built in.

I stream games for parents who could not attend, and after the game upload the full game to YouTube (unlisted, not public) and give parents the link so those who want to pull clips for recruiting can do it themself, or if they want to review the "not highlight worthy" parts and parents/coaches can review the entire game. Also, parents can pull clips of each plate appearance for batting coaches, select pitches for pitching coaches, etc. Let them do the work if they want it to make reels as it's really too much work for one person and believe me they will start to ask, and if you haven't already been asked, why Suzie's X play didn't make the reel, you will soon. Nope, let them do it themself.

IIWY I'd move my camera more to the left to get a better view of the batter - she's completely blocked by the ump so hitting mechanics cannot be seen (I am so guilty of this too). Our school field has a cutout in the windscreen so the camera has to go there but other fields - I always wind up going to that same spot, LOL. Batting coach always polite, but asks what she's supposed to do with this film of the Ump's back. LOL

Here is my DD's spring update HS video to show you some of the features of Filmora - I don't do anything fancy, keep them short and simple, but the software is more than capable of fancier things.

That first clip got me laughing. That 3B got juked...by herself.

 

[Netspeed]

Thank you all for your input. I do appreciate it.

@Josh Greer. I will give Adobe Premiere Pro a shot and see how I like it. I will try your method of syncing to see how if I can do it easily. So far everything ive done has been "brute force" and it's time consuming. This is only for recording purposes as my luck with streaming has not been very successful due to coverage areas and network limitations. I didn't realize how much a financial investment I decided to step into with this "hobby"

@wheresmycar Thank you very much for the CF camera options. Most of the items I was researching was thousands of $$$ and I felt I wasn't searching for the correct items for my use. My DD is a catcher and I want to see how she receives the pitches and look at her techniques as well as her batting. I have always enjoyed the CF view from watching games on TV and I feel adding this view will give some nice perspective to my videos. Also, I run analytics for the team as well (stats that game changer does not capture) and I have been in talks with the coach to provide clips to them for teaching purposes.

Yes, as I realized, games take up a lot of data. I purchased a 4 TB HD and its already 75% full from all the games ive recorded this season. My main Computer has a bout 1.5 TB and its already full and its something I really didn't realize how much data these games take up

I have considered doing a "dip to black" transition to distinguish the different clips. The reason I haven't is I cant figure out how to control the length of the transition. when my videos have close to 100 clips and the transition is 5-6 seconds it adds another 7- 8 minutes to the video. Still learning this software.

@Netspeed Yes, It takes a long time to produce these "highlights" as they take close to 16-20 hours to make. I just feel there is a faster way. I am still new to video editing and I'm trying to streamline the process to make it quicker. Originally, my intent was to do a quick highlights for parents that either missed the game or couldn't get the right angle with their phone when their kid made a play or got a hit. Now, I like to document my DD's team and show the journey they have been on throughout the season. I agree, most wont sit through a 20 minute highlight video but I tried to break up the video's into chapters so they can at least get to a game in particular they want to see. Other than making the video shorter, not sure how to increase viewership, or keep them entertaining.

Another reason I'm doing it is, when the my DD gets older, she can go and look back on the games she played and reminisce about those memories they made on the field. When I played baseball back in the day, there very few pictures of me and my teams journey. In this digital age, I wanted to give my DD a way to look back on theses memories and have something I didn't when I played.

I did originally try to upload the entire game but I noticed many parents didn't care to re-watch the entire game. They wanted "me" to show instances of their kid making a play or provide clips of them. This ended up be my highlight videos that they can watch and pull clips of their kid. We do have gamechanger but steaming has been challenging and many parents have the free version and cannot re-watch the games or see clips of their kid.

@KrisHur Thank you for showing me your video. I will take a look at Filmora/Wondershare and see if I like the interface. My DD is still doing 10u so most of the clips I get are for entertainment purposes, not scouting or recruiting as I don't think we are there yet as a team. Most of the parents on the team are not that tech savvy and just ask me to send them the clips. I tried summitting the whole game but they are not patient to sift through it.

I have tried to move the camera but I end up cutting off 1st/3rd base when shifting it. I set the camera up 10-12 feet in the air to best capture the field. but i hope by setting up multiple camera I can get batter views of the batters.

If people really need highlights of the plays, just use a GoPro, get the $5 per month subscription, and then upload the games to the GoPro cloud. It does it automatically when connected to home WiFi. Takes about 12-18 hours per game. Just send them the links when it’s completed. Let THEM scroll through hours of footage. They’ll learn real fast how long it takes.

 

[Eric F]

I've done all my video editing with iMovie on an Apple device - mostly my phone. I run a Mevo on the backstop, and get a second angle of my DD's at bats with my phone. That said, my primary goal is focusing on the performance of just one player, rather than optimum angle for every player. If I did that, I would probably go with a 3-camera Mevo setup.

Here's a game-footage skills video I did for my DD last year...



Be aware...Cutting out highlight clips from a full game will usually take longer than the actual game, and that doesn't include assembling them into a compilation video, and adding production tweaks. It's a cumbersome task.