Tips for recording soccer games for coach's film study

[bobogs]

I've been asked if I can record my kid's soccer games for the coach to use for "film study." Anyone have any tips on positioning, techniques, and equipment/accessories? Here's some info on the situation...

- I have a Panasonic TM700 camcorder, an inexpensive tripod and a monopod. A new camcorder is not in the team's or my budget.
- It's a full size soccer field, about 100 yards by 50 yards.

- My biggest concern is positioning the camcorder to get a good, wide field of view, preferably looking down on the action. I don't expect to zoom much, but I will have to pan to follow the action. When I've set up the camcorder at the midfield line on the sideline, it's difficult to capture the action on the far corners and at the goals without zooming, but I think part of that is because the camera is at ground level. What could I do to raise the camera up to get a more tv-like view of the field? Super-tall tripod with a motorized remote control to pan? Set up everything (and stand on) on a ladder? Sit in a tree?

Thanks!

[Cornucopia]

Need:
Expensive, extensible tripod, with rock solid stability and fluid head for even, slow, smooth pans.

You will have to do either a LOT of panning or a lot of zooming. Pans happen most when you are ~midfield, zooms happen most when you are near the goals. Good tripod is necessary for either to succeed.

For height without nearby stands/stadiumseating, you could use the back of a flatbed/pickup truck.

Scott

[yoda313]

you could use the back of a flatbed/pickup truck.

Just remember to use common sense. There was that news story awhile back about some student film crew that got injured during bad weather while filming an outdoor sporting event - football practice or something (American football not soccer).

Also if its within your budget or if you could borrow one think about a two or more camera setup.

You could use one for a full field view without sacrificing the "big picture" and use another camera for point to point action. I don't know if three would be overkill or not. But the wide camera could easily be left automated. Just turn it on and record. Than you'd control the other camera for following the action more closely.

If this is not going to be edited for a final presentation than you wouldn't need to worry about synching anything during a final copy that you'd put to dvd or a video file like h264 in a mp4 file.

If you have adequate time to plan consider your options and what equipment you do have access to. If standards aren't a priority perhaps any old camera would do. You could press into service an old tape camera if that would be acceptable to the person you are doing this for. Of course you can still copy that to dvd or to a computer file.

Talk it over more in depth with the person and see what resources you might marshal together for this endeavor.

Good luck.

[Cornucopia]

If it is bad weather, they should't be playing, let alone filming!

I agree about multicamera.
If you can sync them up (clapper at start a good tool here), you wouldn't even need to do more editing - just create a multiangle dvd and let the coach choose which shot/angle to look at.

Scott

[bobogs]

Thanks for the replies. I'll probably try a few different configurations at the first few games, and we'll see how it goes. I probably will end up editing the video a bit.

[kabiba]

Just saw this thread. Old question, but still one that is asked. We do a lot of film review. Makes a huge difference on our team. Our team has won state, regional and been to nationals at the U16 level - thanks a lot to film review. Not just the "highlights" but also going through all the needs. Quick overview. We use a Sony HD camcorder mounted on top of a camera pole from SVT Advantage. Great set-up. Have used it for over 3 years. Easy to travel with and we have taken it all over the country - even on the airplane. We post the videos on you-tube and then connect the links on a website so that we have a catalog of all the games. Coach has film review, but he also asks the players to watch certain parts of the videos to see how the respond to first touches, field awareness,... Great tool. Great footage for college recruiting as well. Many of our players have college commitments now.