Hockey Recruiting Video - Stage 2 - Clip Organization

Project Setup:

Create New Project dedicated for all players on a single team.

• Name it: “Team Name Recruiting Videos”
• Place it in a folder labeled with the Team Name

 

Import the relevant sequences for each of the games projects the team participated in.

• Select Play Selection sequences for each player as well as any Full Shifts sequences. If there is a goals sequence, import it as well.

Create a Bin titled “Players” and within that bin, create individual bins for each player.

• The title for player bins and the beginning of each sequence name should be the team initials followed by the players numbers. i.e. Shawnigan Lake #15 would be SL15.

Inside each player bin, create a sequence with the suffix Footage (i.e. SL 15 Footage)

• Open the sequence, as well as the play selection sequences for each game the player participated in.
• If there are more than 1 game, make the label colour of the video layer for each game a different colour. For aesthetic purposes, I like to use the following order: Forest, Green, Teal, Caribean, Cerulian, Iris, Blue.
• Copy and paste all the clips from each Play Selection Sequence and paste it into the Footage sequence.

 

Duplicate the Footage Sequence and rename it with suffix “Recruitment”

Recruitment Video Organization

Final Play Selection

Open the Recruitment sequence and select the clips for the final video.

• Selection Theory (there are always exceptions to the rules and few clips will fit perfectly within the entire hierarchy):
• Aim to select a range of 1.5 to 3 minutes per game. If there are not 2 minutes of positive plays, it is okay to go under. It is better to show fewer positive plays than diluting the video with negative plays.
• The most desirable clips have multiple instances of positive play, both in terms of individual output and team result. Great players will often have multiple clips over 30 seconds with numerous instances of positive play.
• The Hierarchy goes as follows and will be used during step 8 for prioritizing the final selections:

1. A play with objective wow factor (or the players best play)
2. Multiple positive plays leading to positive team result.
3. One positive play leading to a positive result.
4. Multiple positive plays leading to neutral team result.
5. One Positive play leading to neutral team result.
6. Multiple positive plays with a negative play in the mix.
7. Multiple positive plays with a negative team result.
8. One positive play with a negative team result.

• If there is a longer sequence of positive plays with a negative play sandwiched in the middle, cut out the negative play, splitting the original clip into multiple positive clips. If the one negative play is minor in nature and is quickly neutralized by a positive play, it is okay to include the negative play as part of a larger clip (if it falls under #1-6 of the aforementioned hierarchies).
• If there is a quick instance of positive play (5 seconds or less) that is buttressed by negative plays or ineffective team play, cut out the entire clip (unless the player is below average and is in need of positive plays).
• If you are unsure about whether a borderline play (Hierarchy #6-8) will make the final cut, mark it for future deliberation by dragging the audio layers down one row so they stand out from the other plays without compromising the play type on the video layers.

As you select the clips, you will also be finalizing the in/out points.

The hierarchy for in point choices are as follows:

• Start the clip at the inception of the buildup that leads to the highlight play. Consider using the 2nd step of the hierarchy under the following circumstances:
• The players positioning or foot movement hasn’t caught up to the play yet.
• There is not a good camera angle to show the buildup or it would require an extra camera change.
• Start the clip in the moment just before the player makes the decision to follow through on their highlight play. This often takes form in the players footwork and head movement.

The hierarchy for Out Points is as follows:

• If the clip has a purely positive team result, end the clip at the culmination of the players last positive action. This often includes their team advancing the puck after the players contribution.
• If the clip has a neutral or negative team result, end the clip at the last possible frame where it is plausible that the team could have made a positive action with the puck. If the distance between the last positive play and a bad team result is too narrow, consider removing the clip (especially if there is already an abundance of positive team results or the positive play was only average).

As you select the clips, you will also be finalizing the camera angles.

The hierarchy for camera angle choices are as follows:

• Which camera angle shows the player’s action best within the context of the play. An ideal angle should feature views of the player, puck, and opponents / teammates that are relevant to the ensuing play.
• Try to keep the player in frame at all times by switching cameras accordingly. It’s okay to have the player off screen under the following conditions:
• No cameras are framing the player at the same time.
• Keeping the player in frame would lead to quick camera changes under 2 seconds. Only use a camera change of under 2 seconds if it is absolutely necessary to show the players action for that moment (i.e. a shot, hit, block, etc).
• The player only briefly exits the frame (generally under 2 seconds) and re-emerges quickly.
• The players action out of frame is inconsequential to the ensuing play (i.e. a breakout pass that leads to a quick counter attack, centering pass that leads to a shot, etc).
• When both angles are covering the play in a similar fashion you can prioritize as follows:
• Favour the ice level angle when the play is compact in a tight space (along the boards, around the net, etc) and the camera is located close to the action. Sometimes Ice level angles on the opposite end can show shooting angles from point shots better than the center ice angle.
• Favour the center ice angle when the play is spread out or the ice level camera is on the opposite side of the rink. Sometimes the center ice angle will show shot accuracy better than the ice level angle on the near side of the play.

Play Prioritization

Once the final clip selection is complete, organize and group the plays in chronological order based on their play type (i.e. all offensive plays clumped together from 1st game to last game, etc).

Drag all of the grouped clips to the left and leave ample space for sorting the clips.

• Go through each play type individually and rank the plays using the following criteria:

1. A play with objective wow factor (or the players best play)
2. Multiple positive plays leading to positive team result.
3. One positive play leading to a positive result.
4. Multiple positive plays leading to neutral team result.
5. One Positive play leading to neutral team result.
6. Multiple positive plays with a negative play in the mix.
7. Multiple positive plays with a negative team result.
8. One positive play with a negative team result.

• For tiebreakers within each criterion, try to keep multiple clips from the same game from appearing back to back. Alternating games allows for a more diverse sampling of the players games, however this distinction should only take place within an individual criteria.
• Identify the best ice level clip for use as the first clip of the video.
• For forwards, choose the best offensive ice level clip (or a goal if it takes place on the ice level angle). For Defenders, choose the best defensive or Neutral zone ice level clip.
• Try to choose an ice level clip that is between 8-20 seconds. Short clips don’t provide enough time to identify the player and long clips make the initial pacing of the video too slow. A longer clip should only be selected if it is by for the most impressive play of the video.
• It’s okay to use a clip that starts with the ice level angle and switches to the center ice level, as long as the initial ice level angle is at least 6-8 seconds long.
• Identify the best clip for use as the final clip of the video.
• The final clip should come from the play type that has the most examples.
• Do not make the final clip the worst example, rather choose an example from the first 5 categories. The idea is to end on a positive play that leads to (at the very least) a neutral result.

Clip Organization

Once every play is prioritized, move all the clips to the left of the timeline and place your pre-selected first clip first and ensure that your chosen final clip is at the end of the category with the most examples.

Take stock of how many examples are in each play type and organize the order of clips using the following criteria (screenshots of timelines are provided as a reference for each player archetype):

• If a clip including a goal is present (and was not used as the first ice level clip) include it as the second clip. If there are multiple clips including a goal, make the best goal clip second and work the rest using the criteria.
• If there are close to an even number of clips, cycle through the categories using a single example for each. This is most apparent with an all-around player.
• If there are many more clips in a particular category, consider clumping multiple examples together and alternating between the lighter categories. This is most apparent with offensively or defensively minded players.
• If a player wins multiple faceoffs that do not result in a subsequent positive play, it is okay to clump the short faceoff clips in groups of 3-5 (totaling around 10-15 seconds).

For this example, the player generated 23 offensive clips, 14 defensive clips. 9 puck movement clips, and 7 goals. This distribution would be considered a well rounded player with a high offensive impact and allows for the video to begin with an even distribution before trailing off into predominantly offensive and defensive clips at the end.

The objective is to alternated between clip types in a consistent fashion.