Winning the Sports Video Game

Spring has sprung. The grass has riz. I wonder where my camcorder is? (Our apologies to Bullwinkle J. Moose.) For many videographers, the onset of nice weather means breaking out the video gear and shooting sports videos in the great outdoors.

Whether you want to be really creative or simply have fun shooting Joanie scoring the winning run, this article will show you how to best capture the fast-moving world of live sports on videotape.

First, we'll explain what to do, and what not to do, to shoot quality Little League baseball scenes. Then, for the fledgling Fellini interested in doing some postgraduate work in sports video, we'll show you how to effectively use your camcorder at a popular, yet challenging sports venue: NASCAR stock car races. Along the way we'll sprinkle in specific hints on how to employ camcorder features to produce sports videos you'll be proud of.

Be Prepared
As any chef knows, preparing a gourmet meal takes preparation. The same is true of sports video. Preparation is the best way to ensure good, professional-looking pictures. Keeping your subject in the viewfinder is the first problem you'll encounter; ballplayers may be moving at different speeds, directions and distances in relation to your camcorder. You won't have time during the game to practice following your moving subject, so go to the ball field well before the game starts. As the players toss the ball around, practice your shooting without actually recording, and rehearse each sequence you expect to shoot.

Most of the action in Little League baseball is between the pitcher, the catcher and the first baseman. From a position half way up in the stands, you'll be able to tape them all. Your second shooting outpost might be behind the batting cage. You should set up early to shoot your son or daughter taking batting practice.

Then begin practicing your shots. Zoom in to the pitcher as she warms up. Focus on her face, and capture her concentration. Television, as sports producers will tell you, is all about being "up close and personal," so don't be afraid to zoom in close and fill the frame with your subject.

Try to anticipate the action. If your son reaches first base, aim your camcorder at foul territory in the outfield so you can capture him at first and still see the pitcher, catcher and batter. During a stoppage in play--a discussion at the pitcher's mound, for example--take the opportunity to reshoot the overall scene from another position. Vary your shots. Shoot from the dugout, from the coaches' box near first or third base and from the stands. Later, with some basic editing equipment, you'll be able to select and compile the best shots and eliminate erratic camera movements and poorly composed scenes.

The Interview
As your child's team runs off the field at the end of an inning, interview her about the last half inning (but do it quickly or you may incur the wrath of the manager or umpire). The immediacy of talking to the athlete during an event is what professional network directors strive for, and you should, too.

Similarly, after the game, conduct post-game interviews with players from the winning and losing teams. Since your camcorder microphone will pick up extraneous sounds, clip a wireless mike (if you have one) onto your subject's uniform. You can even position your camcorder on a tripod, and, using remote operation, provide your own on-screen post-game summary.

In general, when taping team sports, all of the basic rules for outdoor shooting apply. With a little bit of planning, some simple editing and attention to detail on the entire project, your sports videos could be the envy of the entire team.

NASCAR
Successful sports videotaping requires good organization and planning. Selecting the best place to shoot and setting up in advance are extremely important. In the excitement of a high-speed car race, there is no time for system tweaking or belated efforts to obtain special effects.

The first rule of thumb for producing first-class videos of championship auto racing: don't try to capture an entire lap on your camcorder. Networks such as ABC and ESPN use numerous camera positions and aerial shots from tall construction cranes, overhead airships and in-car cameras to cover racing. But an attempt to duplicate network coverage without similar resources will look amateurish, so stick to what you can do, and do well, in your auto-racing shots.

Location, Location, Location
NASCAR stands for National Stock Car Racing, although the only thing stock about these 700-horsepower beasts is their slight external resemblance to Chevy Monte Carlos or Ford T-Birds. From a video purist's perspective, the best place to shoot a NASCAR race is probably at the entrance to a turn. At most tracks, the turns provide not only your best opportunity to tape a car continuously for a few seconds (rather than getting microsecond glimpses as they flash by the straight-away), but you can get a good look at the "lines" the individual drivers take--the paths they carve around the track. What's more, most of the passing--and, unfortunately, most of the accidents--occur as the cars enter or leave a turn.

Plan your shooting location well. Even at the so-called superspeedways, such as Daytona, with its sharply banked turns and fast speeds, each track offers preferred areas to get good video shots. At the egg-shaped Darlington track (10 miles north of Florence, South Carolina), for example, cars get very close to the outer wall in turn four. If positioned well, you can tape cars picking up "Darlington Stripes" as they get too close and rub their fenders along the wall. Even Martinsville Speedway in Virginia--a track often described as two drag strips with short turns--provides crew pits on the back and front straights where cars slow down for fuel and tire changes. This is a great place to capture the choreography of the pit crews as they rush to get the cars back in the race.

The Need for Speed
If you plan to view some of your racing video in slow motion, your camcorder's high-speed electronic shutter--operating at 1/1,000 of a second or faster--will allow you to record even the fastest moving car without a problem. When you record these scenes in the high-speed shutter mode and play them back on a four-head VCR, you can enjoy exceptional slow-motion images. Such high-shutter-speed settings are fast enough to clearly identify, without blurring, the smaller Die Hard, STP and Western Auto sponsorship logos on Michael Waltrip's Citgo T-Bird as it roars through Turn Four at Phoenix International Raceway. (Incidentally, the hillside above turn four at Phoenix provides the best video shooting view on the racecourse.)

Steady, Now
Most race tracks are huge. When shooting subjects with such large distances involved, the temptation to use the telephoto end of the zoom lens is great. Be careful, however; zoom magnifications above a mere 5x or so drastically increase image shake. Vibration and camcorder movement can be major obstacles to getting steady pictures. If your camcorder has image stabilization, be sure to turn it on before you try to capture that car way across the track. Digital zoom adds the extra worry of reduced resolution--which can become even worse if you also engage an electronic image stabilizer. This is why many camcorder enthusiasts prefer optical correction systems to electronic image-stabilization circuitry; optical systems won't degrade the resolution of your image.

While today's camcorders have electronic reflexes that respond to action faster than you can, even the best autofocus systems may have difficulty with the breathtaking speed of Winston Cup stock cars racing around the track. And the more complex the autofocus system, the more trouble it may have keeping up. If your camcorder has manual focus, practice using it, then use it.

Practice, Practice, Practice
In any case, it would help to practice your focusing and other camera operations at the track while the drivers are doing their practice laps. If you can, obtain a pass to the garage area. Hang around the garage long enough during practice and you'll have a great chance of getting close-up shots of Dale Earnhardt, Rusty Wallace, Jeff Gordon, Bill Elliott and all of the other notable drivers who make their living by exceeding the highway speed limit by some 100 miles per hour.

NASCAR also offers several preliminary races in the days preceding a Winston Cup event, and you can use these races to practice your technique and familiarize yourself with the workings of your camcorder. The Busch Grand National Series (named for its sponsor, Anheuser-Busch) uses cars that are similar in appearance to Winston Cup cars but lighter and less powerful. Busch Grand National drivers and teams use the series to prepare for Winston Cup competition. At many venues (Daytona, Rockingham, Michigan, Atlanta and Darlington, for instance), the Busch Series race is a day before the Winston Cup race.

It's Too Loud!
In NASCAR or any other automobile race, there is more than video to consider. The sounds of the race, including mechanical, human and amplified announcer sounds, go on uninterrupted, except for yellow-flag (dangerous-track) conditions, for up to three hours. And it's loud enough to redline your brain's internal VU meter. Indeed, two dozen high-powered engines revving at 10,000 rpm each produces a sound that is not just loud, it has a substantive bass component that vibrates through your body. It can be quite uncomfortable, actually, and makes adding voice-over commentary or talking to your neighbor nearly impossible.

Most auto-racing veterans, realizing that conversation during the race is difficult at best, come equipped with earplugs or radio headsets, which serve also to help keep up with the action beyond their line of sight. If you want to add "play by play" narration to your race footage, you'll have to do it through post-production audio dubbing.

Keep It Simple
A final thought. Video can help you re-experience those moments that make sports so enjoyable. But you won't want to see your sports videos over and over again if you overuse special effects. There is nothing more annoying than constant, unnecessary zooms or repeat fade-in/fade-outs. So keep the story moving, vary your shots, and, above all, have fun.

For 20 years, Murray Slovick has been videotaping sports, including three Olympic Games, an America's Cup yacht race, the Indianapolis 500 and the Daytona 500.

SIDEBAR

The Camcorder as Coach
Today's camcorder has electronic reflexes that respond to action faster than you can. In less time than it takes to say "Smile," the camcorder automatically focuses, adjusts for changing light and sets the sound level.

That leaves you free to think about content, and concentrate on how best to use the videotape to instruct your athletic subject.

The most common mistake in using homemade video to help an athlete improve his performance is shooting superfluous detail.

Your aim should be to include only the material that will help the athlete study his or her technique. Focus your attention and your camcorder on the individual and the mechanics of his performance, rather than on crowd reaction or the scenic background. Remember, in producing instructional tapes you don't have to entertain, just inform.

Chances are, your first problem will be in keeping the athlete in the viewfinder as he passes you. Rotating the camera horizontally to follow a moving subject is called panning (the word is derived from panorama), and it takes some practice. Try first without pressing the record button. Keep more space in front of your subject--in the direction of movement--than behind. This space is called "lead room."

Most of your tape should focus clearly on the important parts of the athlete's performance, such as a level bat swing in baseball, and knee action or foot placement in running. Front angle shots generally should capture your subject's torso, head, arm and leg position. Aim side shots to capture posture and stride--in particular, knee lift height and leg extension. You can use rear shots to examine foot-strike angles (knee and hip injuries are common because the athlete's foot is striking the ground at the wrong angle).

Don't eliminate close-ups. Showing the expression on your athlete's face not only adds interest, but can reveal facial tension and excessive head movements--both indicators that the athlete is tiring.

Finally, don't worry too much about the audio portion of your tape in a training environment. It is easier to show someone what he or she is doing wrong rather than to tell them. If you want to add audio, mix in voice-over comments, music or sound effects in post-production rather than trying to do it on the spot.

--M.S.