Sports Video Editing

[nlcowand]

I have been volunteering with our local high school on videoing sports events for the past 4 years. I am a experienced videographer and rookie-plus video editor. Lately I have been trying to make video highlight DVDs for some of the kids to send to colleges and I am struggling.

I am not having any troubling with cutting/trimming and making videos but some of the editing seems impossible. For instance, I want to make a football highlight for an individual players and it requires: Creating a “pause” in the HD film while highlighting the player in question, to focus the viewer on the “right place” and then continuing the clip. I am sure this is somewhat easy but I have been baffled by it for a couple of weeks.

Could anyone there point me in the right direction on this… i.e. step-by-step; a guide; articles; resources; advice; certain software; anything! I'm thinking it may not be possible with VSX3.

Your assistance is greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[Black Lab]

As you will see in the following baseball recruiting video I do something similar. In my case I am "freezing" the video in order to tell the viewer what position they will be watching. What you have to do is go to the spot in the clip that you want to "freeze" and use the Take A Snapshot function (I believe that is what it's called - don't have X3 on my laptop). You then insert that still photo clip before the video clip, so it acts like a freeze frame.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHpExSkNSYs

[nlcowand]

Thanks, BlackLab.

But my situtation is a little different. It's football and its an OL. As most plays progress the player becomes vissable (with # exposed) and at that point is when I need to momentarly freeze it and Highlight/Box/Cirle him and then continuie the clip. I have seen many of these out there but I am really struggling to make it happen with VSX3.

BTW I have had 5 Labs myself and they were all great. Just lost my last one last week at 16 years.

[Black Lab]

At the point your player becomes visible is the frame that you freeze, so you Take A Snapshot of the frame. You would also cut the clip at that point so you can insert the still for the freeze frame effect.

Sorry to hear about you Lab. 16 years is a long time. Must have been a great dog.

[Black Lab]

Another thing you might try is to highlight the player (circle or arrow) before the play starts. It has been my experience that once the player is highlighted the human eye will follow that player, even after the "highlight" has been removed.

[nlcowand]

Thanks, again.

Is there a tool in VSX3 for inserting an arrow or circle?

[Black Lab]

No. Here's what I do. Start a new project. Put a color clip on the timeline. You want one that can easily be keyed out - the neon green one works well. Now create a title. Your "title" will just be an O. I try to find the roundest, thickest font. I typically make it red. Now use the snapshot function again. This will product a jpeg or bmp of your red O against a green background.

Now onto your highlight video. At the point you want to highlight the player you put this new highlight tool onto your overlay track. Go to the edit tab of the clip and chroma-key out the green. Now you should just have the red O over top of your video. Move and resize the O as necessary.

[Black Lab]

There is another thing to make the highlighter, if you don't mind spending more money. I just purchased NewBlue Video Essentials IV which has a Magnifying Glass feature that works well. It can zoom in (or not) and you can apply a colored circle or other effects.

[nlcowand]

Thanks, Black Lab!

This has been very helpful to me.
This has been a good experience... I was getting frustrated and this service got me to where I can go forward.
I had low expectations when I got on this forum but I am impressed at how well this went.
Thanks again... I feel much better about Corel now.

[Black Lab]

I had low expectations when I got on this forum but I am impressed at how well this went.

C'mon, you gotta give us a chance!

Thanks again... I feel much better about Corel now.

Just to clear up any misconecptions, the vast majority on this forum are users just like yourself.

[nlcowand]

Black Lab, I need help.

I had this down last week and now I can't make it work.

I think I am doing everything the same. I start a new project and insert the color clip into the time line add the text title (just an arrow) and take a snapshot. i then open my project create a "freeze frame" by taking snapsot and cutting my video clip. I then insert the color clip with arrow image on the overlay track. Everything seems good. I chroma out the color but I have no control of the text arrow. I can't sellect it, move or rotate it. Its locked.

I can not figure out what i am doing different... I had it working fine last week.

Please help!

[Black Lab]

What do you mean "locked"? Have you clicked on the clip that contains the arrow?

[nlcowand]

yes, and i cant select the text. It is as if it has become a fixed part of the snapshot.

[Ron P.]

Check to see if it is a multiple or single title? Single titles are not able to be rotated.

[Black Lab]

Let me get this straight. You put a color clip on the timeline. Then you added a title that included an arrow. Then you took a snapshot of the timeline that included the color clip and title. You then put that snapshot in your highlight project. Am I correct in my assumptions so far?