Highlight video quality

[commitch]

I haven't had the chance to see Ultivillage's DVD quality coverage of a major tournament, so this is not a criticism of Rob's work, but check out this video from the UOA Ivy League Tournament by Tufts student Arlin Ladue. It's nothing short of stunning in my opinion in terms of camera work and hi def goodness. USAU should be putting out clips of this video quality this for their college and club nationals coverage (as should UOA for their tournaments).

http://vimeo.com/16418725

Marry production value like this with elite level play and you have on heck of a highlight video to bring interest to the sport and showcase the amazing play we see every year.

Mitch

[ambler]

Thanks for sharing that highlight footage. Arlin Ladue did a great job with producing the video, which I am sure it took him quite awhile to do.

During the Club Championships, USA Ultimate (or rather UltiVillage, as that is who had the videography contract) is working under difficult time constraints as highlight videos were posted each day for fans following at home. Some of those involved in producing the highlight films this year explained to me that it was highly labor intensive to finish the editing, scripting, voice-over recording, and producing each day for multiple rounds of games. I believe the UV crew was at the tournament headquarters till at least 3 am after each of the first three days of the tournament.

Highlight videos that are intended to showcase the sport and generate interest in ultimate do not have the same type of timeliness constraints. In fact, USAU showed a highlight promotion video to the club captains that had high quality footage from the past year of UPA/USAU events that had been well produced and seemed like a great product to be able to sell the sport.

The longer UltiVillage is in the ultimate-video business, the better its equipment and production capabilities seem to be. I am looking forward to seeing the quality of the DVDs produced from this year's Club Championships.

[jeremy.mcnamara]

Thanks for sharing that highlight footage. Arlin Ladue did a great job with producing the video, which I am sure it took him quite awhile to do.

During the Club Championships, USA Ultimate (or rather UltiVillage, as that is who had the videography contract) is working under difficult time constraints as highlight videos were posted each day for fans following at home. Some of those involved in producing the highlight films this year explained to me that it was highly labor intensive to finish the editing, scripting, voice-over recording, and producing each day for multiple rounds of games. I believe the UV crew was at the tournament headquarters till at least 3 am after each of the first three days of the tournament.

Highlight videos that are intended to showcase the sport and generate interest in ultimate do not have the same time of timeliness constraints. In fact, USAU showed a highlight promotion video to the club captains that had high quality footage from the past year of UPA/USAU events that had been well produced and seemed like a great product to be able to sell the sport.

The longer UltiVillage is in the ultimate-video business, the better its equipment and production capabilities seem to be. I am looking forward to seeing the quality of the DVDs produced from this year's Club Championships.

My cell phone can take 720p video so i'm sure their camera can do at least that. Editing, scripting, and voice-over take the same amount of time regardless of the resolution (although possibly encoding could take longer, but not that much longer). They should be releasing an HD video with no excuses. If bandwidth is the issue, let vimeo or youtube carry the weight.

The real problem I saw on the highlights was that the announcer said what was going to happen before I got to see it myself. That makes watching it much less interesting.

j mac

[commitch]

i definitely get that the video highlights being posted ASAP have time constraints. I was thinking more long term. As I said, I haven't seen any of the high quality footage. All I know is that Arlin's footage is baller.

[rrudnic]

Thanks for sharing that highlight footage. Arlin Ladue did a great job with producing the video, which I am sure it took him quite awhile to do.


I'm gonna have to shoot you down on this quote, the Ivy League tournament was October 30th and 31st and the video was posted on November 2nd, so that means it took about 2 days certainly not a long time.

[torre.hargett]

I'm gonna have to shoot you down on this quote, the Ivy League tournament was October 30th and 31st and the video was posted on November 2nd, so that means it took about 2 days certainly not a long time.

in comparison to the ultivillage clips posted from Nationals, 2 days could be a long time. clips from multiple divisions across 4 divisions were posted within 6-10 hours of play? So he had about 4 times as long to make that video as the UV crew did.

not that i don't agree, having better resolution would've been amazing, staying at the HQ til 3am is redic, props to Rob & crew.

[colinmci]

No complaints about the quality of editing. I appreciate the short turnaround time.

But the resolution of all of the videos on the USAU site leaves a lot to be desired. If we could know more about what is preventing USAU from providing higher resolution (higher quality in this sense) video clips, I'm confident some members with relevant experience (like Jeremy McNamara?) could help propose a solution.

For starters, is there any reason Vimeo or Youtube is not an option? I imagine so, but I'm sure knowing the reason would be helpful in coming up with an alternative solution.

-Colin

[commitch]

I can see wanting to host the videos from the USAU website to drive traffic to it instead of to youtube/vimeo (as well as ~$4,000 cameras used as was in this one being cost prohibitive). I think it's worth a discussion before logistics are set for college nationals or next year's club nationals.

[jeremy.mcnamara]

I can see wanting to host the videos from the USAU website to drive traffic to it instead of to youtube/vimeo (as well as ~$4,000 cameras used as was in this one being cost prohibitive). I think it's worth a discussion before logistics are set for college nationals or next year's club nationals.

I couldn't agree more that the discussion needs to happen. Even if highlights were hosted on youtube or vimeo, you could embed the videos within one of the pages on our website. Granted, it wouldn't capture 100% of the traffic because some people might click through to the hosting site, but it would greatly ease the congestion and allow for higher (and a selection of) quality. Additionally, because the video would be on a site that is visited by many more people than this site, some branding and links in the video for USA Ultimate might attract casual youtube viewers back to our site. I see it as a win - win situation.

Also, to use a $4,000 camera to take the video resolution that is being released is a travesty.

j mac

[commitch]

I couldn't agree more that the discussion needs to happen. Even if highlights were hosted on youtube or vimeo, you could embed the videos within one of the pages on our website. Granted, it wouldn't capture 100% of the traffic because some people might click through to the hosting site, but it would greatly ease the congestion and allow for higher (and a selection of) quality. Additionally, because the video would be on a site that is visited by many more people than this site, some branding and links in the video for USA Ultimate might attract casual youtube viewers back to our site. I see it as a win - win situation. i think there is definite merit in that idea. hopefully the appropriate people will read this.
Also, to use a $4,000 camera to take the video resolution that is being released is a travesty.$4k refers to Arlin's equipment used to make the video in the original post, not the cameras used at nationals. I have no idea what was used for those clips.