Suggestions for VB Video Apps (for PSA Highlight Videos)

[Deleted]

I am hoping some people on here can make some suggestions for applications or software they have used (and like) to video their kids' volleyball games that are good for making highlight videos suitable for posting or sending to coaches.

Our club uses HUDL but a lot of the players do not like that the video quality is lowered (for bandwidth likely) and it freezes too much.   They also do not like that each "cut" can only be 20s total as some have been told to include entire plays in their highlights (to show their defense etc).

Last year in Detroit, a father showed us an IPad app he was using that seemed specific for volleyball and was $10-15 per month but I cannot remember the name.   He said it was easy to choose/size/download the clips and then edit it into a highlight reel.   

Any help or suggestions (even ones people do not like) would be appreciated.    I want to try it at AAUs and GJNC side by side with HUDL and see if we can get a solution for next year.

Thanks in advance.

[Wolfgang]

This probably won't address your question.

Before 2010, I filmed a lot of footage of my kids and dogs using a Sony video camcorder, uploaded the footage to my computer, and edited them using iMovie. Then, I graduated from iMovie to Adobe Premiere Pro CS3 plus Adobe After Effects. Some of these "films" have been uploaded to youtube. It was not efficient but I got good results and learning how to edit film was a LOT of fun. I did a lot of Indiana Jones-type transitions for our travels and also to overlap cartoony graphics onto live action.



Then, my iMac crashed and died. Fortunately, this coincided with all of my kids leaving for college so the need for video was not as pressing anymore. I bought another iMac which was unfortunately incompatible with Adobe software. This forced me to use just use iMovie and it was okay because I learned over time that too many fancy edits, transitions, and visual effects really didn't add anything of value to the final product. As they say, keep it simple. So, that's what I'm using now: Sony video camera, iMac, iMovie. I may eventually pony up some $$$ for Adobe After Effects because it's a cool visual effects editor and something really professional like Final Cuts Pro.

My setup is probably a lot more high maintenance and "bulky" than you want. I went with this setup because it gave me the flexibility to create all kinds of videos, for any length, and without restrictions.

I don't know of any APPS.

[volleav]

When we did videos we just uploaded from Go Pro and put together highlights in iMovie. The 20 second limit on hudl didn’t work well as often plays went longer than that.

[shawty]

I've used WeVideo. I liked it because you can store your video files in a cloud (Dropbox; Google Drive) and bring in your video files from there rather than move them onto your personal computer where they take up a lot of space. It's a subscription service so when you don't need it anymore, just cancel it. The interface is very consumer friendly.

[vbjustice]

iMovie

[nickd]

I think if you do a search of this forum you'll find at least a few threads on this subject with lots of great approaches/idea. In the end, you gotta find what works for you for efficiency. Here's a few thoughts based on my experiences:

Equipment:
Ipad Mini - I ended up sticking with this because one full charge would last an entire day..no more charging camcorder batteries between matches, etc. The video quality is sufficient if not better than other setups. Plus the apps I used were the same one's I used on my Mac. The screen size is just fine for reviewing video but the unit is small enough to be convenient for carry-on. GET A SCREEN PROTECTOR - Ballistic Glass. A tripod is a great target ...or, perhaps just I was...

Accessories:
For the iPad you need a tripod mount. There are many and I can suggest a few but you also need a wide angle lens. They sell inexpensive clip-on lens that are adequate but they can misalign, you have to always zoom a bit to eliminate the "shadow" caused by some of these lenses OR for some $$ you can get an IoGrapher tripod mount to use a full size wide angle lens which you can buy at a reasonable price on amazon...

When I bought my iPad I went with 64gb storage that was enough for a three-day tournament. But, now you can get an iDragon cable. This cable along with its app will allow you to transfer files from your iPad to a micro SDXC card. So, you can transfer video at the end of each day to make room for more on your iPad. This wasn't available when I was doing video.

Apps:

Cute Cut Pro - Much simpler than iMovie, at least for me because I don't know iMovie. Plus its easy to add a circle, etc. around your play to point them out. Plus many other good features.

Shave - This may not be available any more. It's a pretty basic movie file editor. I used to just video an entire match then use this app on my mac to quickly slice it down to just her plays, and/or cut things out like timeouts, etc. then my daughters could use Cute Cut to select and build their highlights or we could easily pull a full set without timeouts for a coach. Of course, you can do all this with Cute Cut or iMovie...but this app made quick work of slicing up a video.

Highlight Hunter Pro - I did not have much luck with this app but others did...so the idea is as you record your video you hold a lens cap or your hand over the lens (thus creating a dark spot in the video)to indicate the start and stop of the scene you want to later include in your highlight video. Then later you use this app to have it automatically cut out everything you didn't want....resulting in a highlight video. You still have to do some post editing anyway so I just stuck with the above plus I had a hard time getting it to work for me or I'd forget to wave my hand in front of the lens at the right time because I was enjoying the game.

Handbrake is a more gritty app that allows you to do some video conversions but it made it very easy to strip the audio track from the video.

Hope some of this helps.

[Deleted]

Nickd that is really helpful.
I bought an Ipad pro recently and figured out I would need a wide angle lens (have not bought yet). I am hoping it will last a day on one charge.
The iDragon is good to know. I will look into that.
I will also check out these apps and thanks for the tip on search the forum. I went through 5/6 pages of topics and did not see anything but had not noticed the search box.

[universityathlete]

Try ActionClip for iOS. It's designed by the universityathlete programmers. A lot of colleges use it to record video of prospects and sync it to their recruiting notes on UA. You can record, tap to highlight a good play, draw shapes and text, and push the composed video to your UA account via a shareable YouTube link. We are investing heavily in it to make it a great product for college coaches, parents, and clubs.