Worlds 2012 & Tali Open on TV/ Disc Golf Live video magazine

[Disc Golf Live]

Thanks to the PDGA, Dynamic Discs, and Innova for their support as we work to grow the game of disc golf, one community at a time.

Disc Golf Live # 51 is en route our broadcast partners and stations across the country. Below are youtube links for online viewing. This episode continues our coverage of the 2012 PDGA World Disc Golf Championship from Charlotte, NC, and there's also a story from the 2012 Tali Open in Finland by the Scandinavian Video Mafia. Pt. 1 features play in the men's senior grandmaster division at Sugaw Creek. Pt. 2 features the grandmaster division doing battle at the Scrapyard at idelwild. Final nine footage rounds out early round footage for both divisions. The Tali Open footage is in the middle, split between the two portions of the show.

Part 1: http://youtu.be/PvG3f3lLvNM

Part 2: http://youtu.be/pI8RSUzm7eg

If you have community or public access TV in your town, look into what it takes to get involved and provide a show for broadcast. Our program DVDs are free, as are downloads from PEGmedia.org. If you'd like to see your video creation featured on a future episode, we're happy to help you share your story with an ever expanding disc golf community.

Joe

[JR]

lcgm8 and me agreed that this was the last time i try to announce live while filming. It is too much for the brain at times and i missed some shots yapping away. The microphone on my camera is not good enough for announcing either. I need to run in between throws and hold breath while filming. Adding speaking on top is pretty taxing too so not announcing is a relief. Too bad sound was not up to scratch. I needed to whisper to not disturb the players either on film or on adjacent holes and that is poison to the already non professional level mic.

[Disc Golf Live]

Don't kick yourself, JR, I love what you guys do and so do lots of others. Trying to commentate does add to the long list of things to keep track of, for sure. Most take the easy route of dropping music in behind footage and calling it done, so I always give extra credit for going beyond that.

Enjoy your winter and thanks again for sharing.

Joe

[JR]

I know that i do better post event when announcing and i have better quality gear for audio capture means that while i need to work more the results are better too in recording the announcing when i'm not out of breath and brain

[Disc Golf Live]

Don't give up on the live bits altogether, though. Sometimes live comments can be great and really help carry the narrative, usually easy enough to work around in post if the comments are not up to par. I also like to use chat among the players when that's good. They often say the best stuff.

[JR]

Live commentary can often interfere with what the players are saying. Normally a single camera needs to too far away from the players to hear what they are saying but with two cameras live commentary can ruin the audio where it counts. That is what the players are talking about.

Most of the rounds we've published are filmed with a single camera so live audio needs to be used and if the live commentary does not work there is little one can do in post production without killing all of the sounds which sounds odd.

[Royalhghnss]

I've never tried doing live commentary while filming. I've always been afraid of pissing off the players lol. I think doing the commentary in post is the way to go.

CentralCoastDiscGolf

[JR]

If i suspect i'm within earshot of the players when they are throwing i whisper or won't comment at all. The events are first and foremost for the players so anything that disturbs them has to be avoided. I go by the rule i've set to myself: I do all that i can to avoid doing anything that would disturb me and a more nervous or sensitive player. Including not getting a shot. Usually i'm in the middle of the fairway so most of the time me speaking won't disturb the throwers and since there is always some gallery players are used to that. Even the top players of the world are ok with staff filming and photographing standing on the fairways. As long as the staffers are not in the way or disturbing the players. I've been filming even on the flight path of the discs standing outside of speaking range. So far nobody has yelled at me to move possibly from fear of disturbing other groups but it has been rare that the players have waved me to the side. I have made it a point to talk to the players i follow for the round beforehand so as to not disturb them during the round. I've told them that the footage will be published on lcgm8 and hope that they'll point me to the direction they need me to move as they please.

When i'm close to the players i'm quiet as a mouse when somebody is setting up to throw and throwing. I try to get silent to operate cameras too. I try not to take a step when a player starts their routine. I'd rather lean to stay silent than move to a better filming position because there are players that are disturbed by the slightest of sounds so close in the critical part of the throw.

Live commentary in native language is something i've not attempted because much of the audience does not speak Finnish. Trying to comment in English while filming is too hard for me to pull off as well as in post. Maybe en English speaking filmer might pull of at least partially live commenting. It would make post production quicker and then there's the world of live broadcasting if live commentary proves to be too easy

[Royalhghnss]

I totally agree the players come first. I'm sure you're more than courteous JR! You raise another good point about live commentary, it's live! This definitely increases the difficulty. I'm not quite that good yet . If you guys ever want an English commentator for any of your vids please let me know, I'd be more than happy to do it. For my last couple vids I had my 2nd cameraman join me for a dual commentary. I think it came out pretty well. Anyway, thanks for doing what you do JR! you guys inspired me to start filming, and lgcm8 helped me with camera selection. Keep up the awesome work.

http://www.youtube.com/user/CentralCoastDiscGolf

[JR]

Thanks you've certainly improved your videos lately and please contact lcgm8 about the commentary because we have asked many English speaking people if they could do the announcing. We figured that the announcing has to be of better quality done by a native speaker. We are looking at several events to film this year so there will be a lot of commentary to be done.

[Disc Golf Live]

I have a remote wireless mic which is a great resource when I get a chance to use it, but it does have drawbacks. This would allow a commentator to be somewhat away from the players to be able to speak more freely. However, when hooked up, the audio from the camera mic is disabled, so all the "native" sounds are lost. When I was checking out HD cams for perhaps one day an upgrade if that's ever possible, one that caught my eye had a nice audio option where you could record one channel external, the other native. I thought that would be a nice feature and leave many options during post production. If either of you guys are looking at an affordable ext mic, here's what my research said was a best value for the money, considering you can drop some serious change on audio equipment:

http://www.azdencorp.com/new/product.ph ... at=0&page=

I've seen these running around $125-150 or so, MSRP is a lot higher though.

Keep up the good work, gents.

Joe

[JR]

I bought a low price not high end Zoom H1 portable audio recorder that is ok in post production. i haven't used it in competition yet but should probably try it. It does not have the option to do live broadcasting though. lcgm8 has thought of getting a wireless mike so we'll need to see what's what. He is planning a camera upgrade so the camera choice will dictate what needs to be done with the audio too. The Zoom i have has a nasty feature of auto volume correction in the limiter. Whenever there is a loud noise like someone banging the chains hard the limiter kicks in and reduces the volume so much permanently that the signal to noise ratio cannot handle it. Hisssssssss city.

I'm sure that the audio is ok on the camera lcgm8 chooses because he is going for a pro model. An since his health is better he will film more events this year than ever if nothing goes wrong. Knock on wood. So the audio will be getting better this year.

[Royalhghnss]

Thanks you've certainly improved your videos lately and please contact lcgm8 about the commentary because we have asked many English speaking people if they could do the announcing. We figured that the announcing has to be of better quality done by a native speaker. We are looking at several events to film this year so there will be a lot of commentary to be done.

Thanks JR!

I'll contact LGCM8 about the commentary on youtube, that would be so fun, and I think would add just that little bit extra on some already amazing work. You guys seriously set the bar when it comes to quality.

[JR]

I look forward to hearing from you

[Royalhghnss]

I look forward to hearing from you

I sent lcgm8 a message on youtube. If there's a better way to contact him please let me know.

Thanks JR!