Looking for creative input for home Video of Basketball team

[tmh]

I'm making a DVD for my kid's basketball team and would like some help finding a few things and/or creative help. This will be a combination of mini DV footage and photos. Here's some questions I have.

1. The photo section - when I've done this in the past I just had pasted the jpegs in my editing program and left them all at 4 sec. with no transitions (unless I was moving to a different "section" or theme. Any other ways to do this that migh look better? Different pace? Transitions that aren't just a distraction? etc.

2. I'm adding a "bloopers" type section - looking for music for this. Any ideas? I'm willing to pay for downloads so if you have a site to get them from also, thanks.

3. One section has some edited effects I'm trying to figure out the best way to accomplish. Example: One kid shoots a long shot (yes it actully missed by a mile), I cut it in mid air, then I want to paste in another kid catching it and dunking. I'll film the "dunking part" easily enough, but how best to do the cut from one to the other? Just cut/paste? transitions will wreck the "look" of it being a pass for a dunk. Any ideas here?

4. Any other creative ideas for this type project would be appreciated.

I'll be putting it together in Pinnacle 9 then encoding with TMPGenc and Authoring with TDA.

Thanks

[dipstick]

Q-1: A simple crossfade transition is often best with static pictures. If you have a large picture of the team, you can pan across it.

Q-2: Do a google search for sound effects ect.

Q-3: Shoot 3 shots. (1) Shoot the Kid making the long distance shot. (2) Shoot just the ball traveling over the camera. (3) Shoot the kid catching the ball and dunking it. For the best effect use slow motion.

[tmh]

thanks, dipstick. Good input.

I can't seem to find a bloopers soundtrack type thing sarching google . Anyone ever use something like this? I guess I could use the 3 stooges music or something.

oh, btw, for anyone else who makes videos out of camcorder footage, follow the advice many give here and USE A TRIPOD! I didn't early on and now I do - what a difference! For the non-tripod clips, you'd swear the person working the camera was in day three of narcotics withdrawal with all the shakes! It's really obvious when you have tripod footage to compare it to.

[byteguy]

1) I agree with the "simple crossfade" suggestion. I was playing around with one show that had lots of different transitions until a friend commented that it looked like a demo-reel for the software. Now I keep it simple. You can dress-up the slideshow with carefull use of the "Ken Burns Effect" (pan and zoom). This works well on action shots where you can make it look like you are following the ball.

2) The classic is somethink like "Yakity Sax." You've heard it before; it was used as the theme for the Benny Hill Show. Also, some Souza marches work well with bloopers.

[jimmalenko]

I was thinking Benny Hill music for the bloopers also ...

[tmh]

Thanks for the input. I'll check out the Benny Hill music somewhere. I haven't seen that show in 15-20 years! As I recall, the music wil fit great with what I'm doing.

The shot of the kid dunking an "alley-oop" pass turned out great. Not perfect because my original filming angle was not re-producable but good anyways. I have my 5 year old in full team uniform (4th grade team really) slamming the ball in and hanging on the rim. It really looks like he jumped up there. Thanks for the "3 shots" idea.

[jimmalenko]

Thanks for the input. I'll check out the Benny Hill music somewhere. I haven't seen that show in 15-20 years! As I recall, the music wil fit great with what I'm doing.

IIRC, every time the music came on, the footage was sped up to be "double speed", or thereabouts. That might be something to consider for your bloopers, too - IMO they'd probably look funnier in fast motion

(... with the super slo-mo replay following each, of course ...)