French Football Weekly Filmed & Recorded… Telling A Story
So above is an online advert for the great site that is French Football Weekly.
As many of you will know I was in Paris last week with two runners of the FFW site. It was a pleasure to be away with Andrew Gibney and Jonathan Johnson, who also kindly put up Andrew and myself. As I said on their podcast they should think about offering a footballing tour guide experience in France a few times a year as they are both extremely knowledgable on French football plus Jon knows the best bars, get around the Metro system and can speak the language. I am sure many a football fan would enjoy such an experience and pay for it.
Anyway back to the video. I thought it might surprise a few people to learn that I shot it all on the camera below… A Sony cyber-shot HX5.
Looking at it you wouldn’t expect much from it but I was pleasantly surprised. Broadcast quality? Certainly not but I think it does well in the job that I wanted it to do for this trip.
So the positives – Well the shots are not at all bad. They are not as sharp as a professional camcorder but online you can get away with them.
Remember this was a trip away and not a job, the flights in total cost around £120 with Easyjet, should I have taken my smallest professional video camera that would have resulted in an extra bag and then I would have wanted to bring a tripod which equals another bag. That would have meant an extra £80 added to my bill. A price that if I were doing it as a job I could work into my bill.
Then the size of the Sony is ideal. Again say I had all my normal equipment, it would have been a nightmare to get around the Paris metros. I would have required permission to film in the busy cafe and would have needed a lot more room. With the Sony I was happy sitting in the corner filming the podcast.
I certainly wouldn’t have got into the football with my video gear. When you film any football match with a handheld camera or phone its all down to luck. Having a bit of knowledge on the game helps as you can tell things like corners and freekicks will stand you more of a chance at getting you to record a goal. Obviously a penalty is a godsend. Though remember to continually check your battery.
The one major negative would be the sound. The mic picks up general sound well so at the football it was ideal for this but in the busy cafe I could not get any good sound of just the guys talking, also it wouldn’t work well for interviews. Microphones, spare batteries and lightening could be kept in ones camera bag for professional shoots.
Remember anytime you film no matter what it is, that you try and get some cut away shots.They are there to break up shots, at the cafe we had the menu and at the football we had the fans and the flares. Also film longer than you think you need as it helps with your editing as its much easier to cut things than it is to fly all the way back to Paris because you didn’t get enough of a certain shot. .
For example look at the cafe scene, the coffee shots actually tell a story. At the start its full (start of the pod), then you see Andrew take a drink (middle/break of the pod) and finally a shot of the empty cup (the end of the pod).
Even at the start I am setting the tone and starting the story. I have the FFW sign and site address, important client information. But added to that is the French national anthem and the footage of the Eiffel Tower signifying that we are talking about France. Then we have a clip of the fans and then its about football, quite simple thinking about it now but not always easy at the time.
Then we have Heros in French as our main song. Again picked for a reason, firstly I think it goes well with the pictures and secondly its an English speaking site talking about French football, so add a bit of change and have the music being an English song sang in French.
The cut aways in Paris again focus on the fact the site is dedicated to France and the cutaways of the Red Star wall and Paris FC stadium are there to show its not all about PSG.
For anyone wondering, the piece was edited using Final Cut 10. Which I found easy to use.
Now in relations to timing, had it been a TV advert then it would be between 25 and 4o seconds long. For me this is an online ad/short documentary about the FFW website so I afforded myself a wee bit more time to show everything off.
Just to prove it was me, here I am with the Blackpool tower wannabe. I hope you enjoyed the video and the insight as to why and how it was shot and edited.
Any questions please feel free to ask and I hope you noticed the Full Time Films bit at the end.
Posted on February 10th, 2012 by scott
Filed under: Blog Video
A great video Scott & now I have found a great French football website swell.
Thanks Dan, glad you liked it & FFW is indeed a great site.
Sounds like a blast!
Great stuff Scott! Well done mate
Cheers Ashley.