WINOL Sport week 5

I am really pleased with Sport this week, but something happened that must NEVER happen again and that put a dampener on what was a good week for us.

Tate - Your filming was great, which made the whole piece a lot more interesting to watch. Your voicing was good and although your script was too descriptive in places, it is easy to learn how to write better scripts. Despite him saying a few good things, the interview with Steve Riley was a bit too long. I know you had problems cutting though, when people don't give outs it can be a problem.

You were fully deserving of Chris Coneybeer's praise.


Charlie - For a first go at producing a football highlights package you did pretty well. Despite being unable to get onto the roof, you did well to film the game at pitch level and on Saturday you will be able to improve your filming if you have to film at pitch level.

Your voiceover was a bit descriptive in places, but it is easy to learn how to not do that.

The massive problem with the VT that went on the original version of Sportsweek was that you had got some of Sholing's goalscorers wrong. This can't happen because if a VT is factually wrong, it is nonsense. Fortunately I noticed the problem and you were able to change your voiceover on Thursday and I could re upload it with the new VT,  but that must never happen again.


Sam - I thought that your piece was really good. The PTC at the start was like something from a real sports programme. My only gripe with that part of the VT was the pan across the signs on Wembley, when I first watched, it looked OK, but after seeing it a few more times, I think you should have cut from a still shot of the 49ers sign to the Jaguars sign.

The filming of the Uni training session was good as there was a lot going on. There was not enough variety of shots though, it would have been nice to see some close up shots.

The interview with the captain was shot well, but you had a building in the background, which is a no-no. I suppose it would have been difficult to have much else in the background because of where the training sessions take place. You could have made him stand facing towards the building, but the light may have been an issue if you had done that.

Your voiceover was entertaining and the shots of you taking part were good, it was a shame that you only had one clip of GoPro footage as having more of it would have really improved the quality of the VT.


Laura - You did well to make a not so interesting story into a VT that I wanted to watch. The opening shot was nice and you left just enough time between the start of the piece and your voiceover.

The shots of the cyclists were nice but the same as Sam's VT, there were no close up shots. The interviews were generally well shot, but the second interview looked a little odd as the woman was holding a gun mic. Even though she was short, you could have got tighter into her face and left less headroom. All you had to do was put the tripod down a bit and re frame until it looked right. Remember that you are in control of an interview, so take as much time as you want to make sure they are framed well.


Drew - Your bulletin package was a good sports news piece and the addition of you taking part in the sport for the SW package lifted it. I thought that you scripted that section well, it made it interesting to watch. The piece could have been improved if you had put on a radio mic and been filmed talking about how hard the sport is whilst you were actually playing. Doing that would have made the piece flow a lot better and instantly engaged someone watching. More close up shot needed!



Notes to all

To make your football highlights scripts less descriptive, watch the BBC's Football League Show. Even if you don't want to watch the football, listen to how the reporters voice the packages. They use quite a few facts about the teams and the players. Viewers can see what is happening e.g. if Newport County player Chris Zebroski hits the post, you can see that happening, so the reporter won't say that the player hit the post, but will say something like 'it was the third time that Zebroski has hit the woodwork in as many games'. This makes the VT more interesting and is especially important at the level of football we cover, the quality of play isn't usually very good so an interesting voiceover is needed in order to spice up the VT.

You MUST fact check every VT and text story you give to me. I shouldn't have to pull you up on wrong information because you should do it right the first time. E.g. if you are producing a football highlights package and you are unsure of which player has scored then feel free to ask me and I can help you identify the player and/or look at a match report and/or call the club to get a list of scorers. Double check and even triple check your facts to make sure you are correct.


There was some great work this week, please keep it up and remember you can always do better.

If there is anything you need me to go through, please ask.

WINOL Sport week 4

Laura - I thought your highlights package was probably the best that we've had this semester. Your filming was pretty good, but you didn't zoom in close enough to the action and as a result the action was a little hard to see in some clips, but the footage from the second camera gave the viewer another perspective and allows you to see the action better. Your voiceover was too descriptive but you mixed the natural sound well with your voiceover. This meant that we could still hear the NATSOT but not so much that your voice was drowned out.


Tate - Overall I thought it was a good piece and with a bit of cleaning up it would have been a really good item as the quotes Ben Strevens gave you were good. Your piece to camera worked at the start as it is a feature interview, not a serious news piece. You sounded tinny and I don't know why that has happened. Did you try to turn down background noise on FCP? You also repeated what I had said in the link as soon as the package started.

Your choice of cutaways was good and considering we only had one game to work with, you did well to show Strevens in all the clips. I thought you could have used some pictures of him as cutaways. You would have been able to get a couple of images cleared for use somehow. You could have contacted some of his former clubs as I am sure they would have had something for you to use e.g when he mentioned Brentford and Crawley it would have been nice to have pictures of him playing for Brentford and Crawley.


Charlie - Your Dodgeball package was pretty good but it still had a few problems. The main one was that the interview wasn't framed correctly. Angus went through this with you and you know for next time to leave the camera recording with the interviewee looking at where you will be standing when you are asking the questions, this means that you can adjust the shot before you begin the interview. If you want me to go through this with you, please say.

The next problem with the package was that you assumed prior knowledge of Dodgeball. How quick does winning a game in 16.5 seconds compare to the speed of how quickly Dodgeball games are usually finished in? The viewer needs to know.

The footage of Dodgeball was pretty good and had 'people doing things', which is something we want to see. Once again, your voice was too quiet and I know you talk quietly but make your voiceover a bit more expressive. It is a sports feature, so be enthusiastic!


If any of you want me to talk to you about what I have said, please ask.

WINOL Sport week 3

It was a much better week for sport than last week, however there are a few issues I want to point out.

Tate - It was your first package for WINOL and it showed in some places, but saying that, no one's first package is going to be particularly good, it's just how things work.

I think that your filming of the game was OK, but you didn't zoom in enough to the action so some of the action was difficult to see. You should find a level of zoom that allows the viewer to see the action but doesn't mean that you lose the ball when filming.

The main thing wrong with the package was how late it was completed, if your bulletin VT is late then it puts pressure on the production team, but the Production Editor Nicole was fine with the bulletin sport package being in the gallery at 2.30, I believe this was the case because it was your first package, so this is something that can't happen again. Your bulletin VT being done early means you can concentrate on finishing the Sportsweek version.

Due to not completing your Sportsweek version of the highlights until after 7pm, Sportsweek went online very late. Next time you edit a football highlights package, pick out all of the usable chances
 and then copy the clips onto a new project for the bulletin. Cut out all the clips you don't want on the this package and then get it finished before the end of Tuesday. This means you have enough time to finish editing the Sportsweek version. Anything you want me to go through about this please ask.


The voiceover was OK, but it was difficult to hear on the bulletin package as the NATSOT as too loud. You turned it down on the Sportsweek version and you were easier to hear. The scripting of the voiceover could have been better but only in a couple of clips I noticed things you could change, sadly because of how the action had been filmed, you were unable to have long clips, therefore less time to talk over the footage.


Laura - I think your package was really good. It had all the elements needed in a VT of that type - a good news peg, exposition with GVs, a interview, good PTC and you taking part in the sport. Your GVs were OK but I think some close up shots should have been used.



Lewis - A definite improvement on last week and I thought the way the VT went from a feature on the football team went to WINOL Woodwork worked pretty well. I had to edit the package down quite a lot as the WW part was too long, I also added music to it as the footage on its own sounded a bit strange.

The interview was framed well, but the picture quality wasn't great and as a result it reduced the overall quality of the piece. It was unfortunate as the vice captain said some interesting things.


Charlie - Your feature on the girls Dodgeball team sounded pretty good, you had a news peg in the form of the team winning a bronze medal at a recent competition and had organised an interview with the captain of the team. It didn't work out in the end as the footage was all was too dark, especially the interview. I decided to not use the package in the end, but if there is any news from any of the Dodgeball teams, please suggest an idea for a VT to me, as it would be good to have something about Dodgeball in the bulletin or on Sportsweek this semester.


Drew - I think your footage of the Eastleigh game was pretty good, a bit shaky in places but we were able to use all of what you filmed of the goals.


You presented the bulletin sport and Sportsweek really well, a little more expression in your face would have been nice, but for a first time I thought it was pretty good.


This week coming up is very important for us as Angus Scott is coming in. The football highlights package for the bulletin should be done by Tuesday and then you should have the extended version finished by midday on Wednesday as putting this together shouldn't be too difficult as you should have a lot of the extra footage picked out already.

WINOL Sport week 2

Overall I thought that this week’s Sportsweek was pretty average, however some aspects of it were quite good.

 

Drew – I thought that for a first go at producing a football highlights package, you did pretty well with filming and editing it. Your camera movements were too shaky at some points and you move the camera too much, almost every time the ball moved or a player on the ball moved, you moved the camera. The best way to do it is to find the ideal zoom level so that you don’t have to keep moving the camera when the ball moves, but it still lets the viewer see all of the action and the shot stays smooth.

I thought your editing was good though, you used all of the best chances except for one of Concord Rangers’ chances when the striker skied the ball when in a one on one with the keeper. I think Tate’s footage of that chance was quite good so you could have used the main camera shot as well as her footage of the chance in the highlights.

Also, your after watching Sportsweek back, I realised that your voiceover sounds too relaxed. You needed to put a bit more emphasis on certain words and give the whole thing a bit more ‘oomph’.

Tate – Your camerawork was pretty good considering it was the first time you had filmed a football match, my only complaint would be that you didn’t get the ball going over the line for Eastleigh’s goal, I saw the ball in the net but your camera movement was too jerky so I saw the ball being struck and then the ball in the net, but nothing in between.

 

Laura – Same as Tate really, the clips we managed to use were good and your footage of the Concord goal allowed Drew to combine his clip with yours to create a nice edit. To avoid the fans getting in the way at the next game, maybe move along a bit from where you were last Saturday. This will allow to get a better angle of the action if it is on the other side to where you are.

Lewis – After watching through your package a few times, I realised that it probably wasn’t up to standard, simply because of the interview. I was going through Sportsweek with Brian and he likened it to the TV programme Creature Comforts! Your voiceover was also a bit confusing at some points. It would have been a good article for the website though, maybe if something like that comes up again write it up as an article and then think about how you will make it into a VT.

Charlie – For a first package I thought it was quite good, there were a few things wrong with it though. The main one was that your voiceover lacked any punch (no pun intended!), I know you have a quiet voice anyway but you need to almost become a different person when recording voiceovers! There probably should have been a PTC in there, but that was a joint decision we made when we were at the boxing club.
 

Also, , don’t say ‘I spoke to’ before your voiceover, it sounds a bit unprofessional. To be honest I should have picked up this on when I read your script.

 

We need to have more written stories on the website, so each week if you don’t have a package you need to be writing an article. I want 3 or 4 articles on the site a week, including the match report. I’ll talk to all about this more on Monday.

After talking to Brian about football highlights packages, the opening shots of the teams coming out of the tunnel, shaking hands, warming up etc aren’t the best shots to have. Maybe start with the build up to the first clip of a chance or a goal. Even if you show shots of the teams coming out of the tunnel, shaking hands, warming up etc, we could have graphics to show the lineups, I will find out how to do them and will hopefully have these graphics on the VT next week. I will get score graphics done for this week’s VT though.

Also, at the end of highlights packages we perhaps need to stop having the players shaking hands at the end of the match. End the highlights of the football with action and an extension of the final clip.

After each chance or goal, please record lots of the aftermath e.g the player who has missed walking away from goal. I always used to find the player who had scored or missed a chance and zoomed in on him, this means you have to be quick with zooming and focussing, something you get used to if you do it often enough.

It wasn’t a fantastic week for us, but we have nine or ten more to make things better.