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AFM Magazine

AFM Magazine


In the Eyes of the Beholder

Whether taping a game or practice, coaches see how valuable good video can be in teaching
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It’s been about fifteen years since video tape has come into the world of college and high school football. It has imparted many changes on the way coaches do business.

Film was the format of the day. It was a great format with a few important exceptions. It was not easy to work with, attested by the phrase cut-up as in actually cutting it up to get what you wanted. It was not an easy process to get the final product as it had to be sent out for processing. But, most importantly it was not cheap. Most colleges could not afford to shoot more than one angle of a game and most high schools could not afford it at all.

With the advent of video and the tape that went with it came a change in how a coach did his job. Once you “filmed” a game you no longer had to wait for it to be processed, the original was ready to be viewed. To do a cut-up meant finding the plays you wanted and putting them on a new tape. You no longer physically cut the film to make a new one. But also, most importantly, it was cheaper and has gotten less expensive each year. It is this last point that has effected the greatest change on the way the coach goes about his job.

Due to the greater accessibility of video and the ease with which it can be used, coaches now have the ability to tape practices as well as games on all levels of the game. While game shooting is the same at both levels, what a school can do with practice varies according to the amount of money and people you have at your disposal.

Game day shooting has become fairly standard at the Division I-A college and pro level. It involves shooting two cameras, one on the sideline and one in the end zone. The sideline is shot at a wide angle or involving all 22 players. This allows for coaches to see the entire play develop and closes in on the end of the play. The end zone shot is a tight shot of the line, allowing coaches to see what goes on in the trenches between the two lines. Of course there are some that take that to a new level.

Some schools will shoot two end zone cameras allowing for their team to always have their back to the camera. Some will use this third camera for a sideline tight view, others for an end zone wide view. There are a few out there that will use two extra cameras and do both.

Of course, not everyone can do these things. Some places do not have end zones to shoot from. Some can not afford to have multiple cameras. In these cases you have to do what you can, whether it be shoot both cameras (wide and tight) from the sideline or only shoot a wide shot from the sideline.

Filming Practice

The biggest difference in how teams operate is practice. Teams shoot anywhere from one to five cameras when on the practice fields. This allows for a number of different things and a number of different headaches as well.

What you use can be dictated by what your setting is. If you have multiple fields or just one the setting will dictate what you can do as well as how many cameras you have.

The first thing you need to be aware of is how many fields you have as that will determine where you place your camera platforms or towers. You will want to make sure that your towers allow you to cover as much area as possible on the fields and still provide quality shots from both side and end views. It is important to remember not to place the towers too near the field as players may run into them and be injured. Also, you need to be aware of the height of the tower and how close you can see to it. The line of vision from the tower is obstructed by its height as you can not shoot straight down from where you are standing.

Of course you don’t always have the ability to place towers where you would like and have to make due with what is available to you. In this case here are some points to keep in mind. Remember to place drills far enough away from the tower, so that you can get the entire drill into the shot. Also, there is no rule saying you can’t run a contained drill across the lines of a field so as not to use the same location every time. Most importantly, be aware of where the sun is located during your practice as this will effect your cameras ability to see. The last thing you want is for all your footage to be “blinded out”.

When you only have one tower or platform, you will have to make important decisions as to what you want. It will fall to you the coach to decide what is important to shoot and when you shot it. You will need to structure your practice so that you get maximum usage from your only shooting locating. The same can be said for someone with only one camera.

Once you know your set-up and limitations, it is important to know what you are doing with your camera. Today’s cameras have any number of options to help you get a better picture. Whether it is a filter for different levels of light available (sunny or cloudy day) or auto focus, one must use the tools available on the camera to get the most out of what you are trying to get which is great practice video for teaching.

The last thing about shooting video for the coach to remember is that you get what you want. The camera is just a tool to get what you want and the video shooters job is to make it happen. Everyone has a different idea of what they want to see in a drill, but unless you tell the shooter what it is, all kinds of problems can creep in. As an example, if some one is shooting a tight shoot of the line and you say to shoot “tackle to tackle”, a common mistake is to shoot only offensive tackle to offensive tackle and not shoot the defensive ends that may be just outside the tackle box.

Once again, thanks to video you can get what you want and get it at any level you can afford. A coach once told me that good video was the greatest teaching tool he had as it allowed him to get more reps on the field and make all his corrections in the meeting room.

5 Quick Tips to Remember:

1. Use the tools your camera has to your
advantage (i.e. filters and focus)

2. Place drills so as not to shoot into the sun
and get a blinded view.

3. Remember to shoot all of a drill not just
“tackle to tackle”

4. The higher you can place your camera on a tower or lift the more area you can cover.

5. Make sure the person shooting knows
what you want and not what they think
you want.






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