Editing question

redant1 · Post by **redant1** » Wed Jan 23, 2008 4:15 pm

I'm looking into editing sports video clips and have seem some clips that can pause the action and highlight a player or object. I've also seen some clips circle a player while paused and then the play continues. Can this type of editing be done with VideoStudio?

2Dogs · Post by **2Dogs** » Wed Jan 23, 2008 4:26 pm

Yes it can - although for circling the highlighted player, you would need to use another image editing application to draw the circle to be used as an overlay, with a transparent background.

If you're new to it, you might start with basic editing, and go on from there.

redant1 · Post by **redant1** » Wed Jan 23, 2008 4:32 pm

Thanks, how do I go about pausing the action and highlighting a player? I've been editing my sons soccer games with Video Studio for a while now and was wanting to get a little fancier. I'll either circle or highlight a player on the clip so if highlighting is easier that is the route I will start with. Thanks in advance.

2Dogs · Post by **2Dogs** » Wed Jan 23, 2008 5:06 pm

To be honest, I usually limit myself to posting about hardware issues, so perhaps a more capable videographer may jump in and advise further but here's what I might try:

To freeze the action, extract a still image from the footage at the desired point. Also use the "scissors" tool to cut the video at that point, and then insert the image file, giving it a suitable duration. VS will generally have a default duration for inserted image clips, which may be OK, or you can change it.

It's probably easiest to find the spot where you wish to freeze the action in timeline view. Then, when you've split the video with the scissors tool and extracted an image, it will be easier to insert the image file in storyboard view.

The downside of this technique is that any zooming in on the image will inevitably cause pixelation of the image - since it only starts out at the regular DVD resolution of 720x480 (or rarely 704x480) in NTSC.

I believe VS allows you to use zoom and pan effects on image clips.

I would add the circle on the video overlay track. It would typically be a .png file that you've drawn up in your favourite image editing program, such as Paint Shop Pro, etc. The circle would be a solid colour, but the background would be transparent. You might need to play around a bit to get the right alignment of the circle with the player.

Another highlighting technique used on broadcast TV seems to be to show the "highlighted" player normally, but to darken all the surrounding area. You can achieve this by making an overlay with full transparency for the chosen player, but only partial transparency around him/her.

GuyL · Post by **GuyL** » Wed Jan 23, 2008 5:57 pm

I would cut the clip in the spot you wish to pause it. I would then move forward by a frame and cut again.

The frame that is extracted could either be saved as an image and edited to include the highlights, circles, text, etc. It would then replace the extracted frame.

I've never actually done this but this would be my first attempt method off the top of my head.

redant1 · Post by **redant1** » Wed Jan 23, 2008 7:17 pm

GuyL wrote:I would cut the clip in the spot you wish to pause it. I would then move forward by a frame and cut again.

The frame that is extracted could either be saved as an image and edited to include the highlights, circles, text, etc. It would then replace the extracted frame.

I've never actually done this but this would be my first attempt method off the top of my head.

Thanks, I'll give that a try this weekend and see how it looks.

Post by **Ron P.** » Wed Jan 23, 2008 7:23 pm

Take One Flix has some excellent tutorials, one such showing how to do this. You can view it HERE

It's called Tracking a Moving Subject.

I've also used the light video filter in VS, to create basically the same thing. You can key-frame the filter, to move with your subject. It produces a highlight effect on the subject you want to, well highlight..

Light Video Filter Settings Used

Example
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qk3RkAjPkhE

redant1 · Post by **redant1** » Wed Jan 23, 2008 8:24 pm

Wow, thats great. I'll try that too this weekend. I really don't need the tracking but it's great to know it's there. I want to pause the action and either highlight or circle a player to bring attention and then continue with the play without the highlight or circle. I've used that type of point to point tracking with Ulead's Cool 3D and it works great. Who knows I may throw in some of the tracking now that I know it's there. Thanks.

redant1 · Post by **redant1** » Wed Jan 23, 2008 9:02 pm

Thanks vidoman, I just checked out the other tutorials and I will be using some of the techniques shown. Again, thanks.