Pet peeves about filming disc golf

[DanJon]

After someone makes a banger putt, I want to see the cameraman put his hand in front of the lense.

You'll get it if you've ever seen skate vids.

 

[beereakfast]

My biggest bitch is about the resolution. Discs seem to disappear on most videos yet folks keep making low quality videos.
I get it, No budget. Still..... If all you can see clearly is the x step, and the putt, it might as well have been shot with a phone.....

 

[Jopa]

Be Patient

It will get better with time. Go back and look at NFL or NBA coverage from the 70's and 80's. The graphics were a joke, and even some of the commentators were a joke. Disc golf is still a relatively young sport even though some people have been playing for 20+ years. As the interest in the fastest growing sport in the US grows, so does the $$$ and so does the quality of coverage. You will appreciate how good we will have it in 10 years by suffering through the building phase.

 

[Anon]

It will get better with time. Go back and look at NFL or NBA coverage from the 70's and 80's. The graphics were a joke, and even some of the commentators were a joke. Disc golf is still a relatively young sport even though some people have been playing for 20+ years. As the interest in the fastest growing sport in the US grows, so does the $$$ and so does the quality of coverage. You will appreciate how good we will have it in 10 years by suffering through the building phase.

The glaring difference is the fact that the technology we have access to these days absolutely blows away anything the NFL/NBA had in the 70's/80's. And its dirt cheap (from a broadcasters prospective).

Really no excuse for **** video/coverage in 2014 outside of laziness, ineptitude, lack of budget and lack of talent.

 

[Kramp]

Not a complaint but I'd like to see the hole distance/number displayed throughout the hole. I always forget and have to rewind to remember.

 

[tampora]

More explosions.

And car chases.

 

[scarpfish]

Even with the best camera work and editing in the world, I don't think I've sat through the entirety of more than a few disc golf videos that went longer than five minutes. That's about how long my attention span is when watching them.

 

[Star Shark]

Youtube is downgrading the videos after a while, also. At first, they drop the bitrate and eventually drop the resolution itself. Look at older lcgm8 vids and you'll see they're no longer even 1080p.

 

[Smigles]

Driving slow motions that are filmed from the back side of the thrower... Cmon man, stand on the other side... I wanna see the plane of the pull trough etc..

 

[Bacon]

lol really dude. ponder me this. if the main guys filming dont have the correct lense power how can we see the discs entire flight when they "shoot" behind the thrower?

i agree that i'm not a huge fan of the sit halfway down the fairway technique. it's okay for a few shots but when a majority of the video is done that way i just turn it off.

i also don't like it when they sit right over the shoulder of the person putting so you have no idea what the depth of the shot is. marty has really gone more and more in to this and it's one of the few things i just really dislike about his vids. the other being how he has pretty much just started filming final 9's which are usually boring because the tournament is often over by then. he filmed every round at the kc open but round 3 where all the action happened and not once did he film the lead card. by the final 9 paul was up so much it was over, i didnt even want to watch the final 9 and when i did it was boring.

Ever notice how the quality from behind is not as sharp or close? Thats because its not the right power. A hand held sports lense will rarely be above 26x and potentially have a doubler. If you doubt me look into it. This is my profession I know much more about cameras than I do disc golf.

 

[Nasty Nate]

I agree, trying to follow the disc with the camera is not always a great maneuver.

However I think the biggest problem is wind. If people don't have a wind guard on their mics then it's just a big mess.

 

[B3NDER]

A) its not filming its shooting
B) they dont shoot the whole lenght because they do not have the lense power to do so.
I assume most use anywhere from a 17x to possibly a 26x even if they have a doubler that doesnt tank the quality its still not gonna be great.

*Length.

*Lens

 

[Paintray98]

I've seen a few of the "professional" videos where they had 2 or 3 camera guys, one behind the tee pad, one on the fairway and one at the basket/closer to the basket. They'd cut all the videos together to get a fairly continuous shot of the flight of the disc.

 

[SteezeOG]

I've seen a few of the "professional" videos where they had 2 or 3 camera guys, one behind the tee pad, one on the fairway and one at the basket/closer to the basket. They'd cut all the videos together to get a fairly continuous shot of the flight of the disc.

I want to see all three of those simultaneous during ace runs. Then when an ace is hit you get to see the reaction at the teepad, the actual disc hitting chains, and the flight it took to get there. That's not going to happen until disc golf footage is able to produce revenue and get people watching but I can dream.

 

[Anon]

*Length.

*Lens

So pedantic its painful.

 

[joshmo65]

Remember the glowing puck in the NHL? We need that so I can track the discs...

 

[Moify]

Are you talking about random videos or tournaments? Because if it's tournaments I think the OP is a little over done. Saying they are filmed like the blair witch? Might want to watch some more DG vids because that isn't the cause with about all the ones I've watched (tournaments that is).

To be honest I didn't feel like calling out specific YouTube channels just to bash them on a forum. I wanted to kind of make a point. But I am speaking about some tournament videos I have watched. It's not something I see constantly, I was looking to rant and hopefully "discreetly" let them know, haha.

I don't mind them showing the tap in putt if they show the score that person took on the hole right then. Otherwise it's a waste of time. I try not to critique them too much because A) I'm not paying for it and B) I can't do better myself.

I also agree with this. The tap-ins aren't really vital to my viewing, but if I'm watching a disc golf video, I would feel weird not watching them finish the hole. I do understand what you mean about it being a moot point, but like you said, it's free coverage for the sport we love and I'm not the one out there filming (or "shooting" to whoever was whining about that).

You know what grinds my gears about disc golf filming? That we don't have boon cranes and blimps and 8 camera crews per hole with live commentary happening on every hole. MAN, that's so frustrating.

Your trolling is well appreciated, but I still do not see how any person shooting coverage wouldn't gather that going halfway down the fairway and expecting to "catch" the disc as it flies by is a useless shot and a headache to watch.

I hate zoom. Yes I'm talking to you McFly. It's not so much you but it's your intern. Teach her to shoot.

But I appreciate what you're doing and keep the footage coming.

He said it.

After someone makes a banger putt, I want to see the cameraman put his hand in front of the lense.

You'll get it if you've ever seen skate vids.

Mike C and his friend kind of do things like this to end their shots. Like "spiral" the camera in. I like it, but his videos are extremely well shot, yet still manage to be accessible.

It will get better with time. Go back and look at NFL or NBA coverage from the 70's and 80's. The graphics were a joke, and even some of the commentators were a joke. Disc golf is still a relatively young sport even though some people have been playing for 20+ years. As the interest in the fastest growing sport in the US grows, so does the $$$ and so does the quality of coverage. You will appreciate how good we will have it in 10 years by suffering through the building phase.

I'm glad you said this. I was going to summarize and say something to this regard, as well.

I know our sport is growing and footage for it will improve in time. Take a look at the Japan Open from this year. Lots of attention to detail and good camerawork/positioning.


I just want to point out these flaws so that we can grow as a sport. If we are satisfied with camera phone footage, how can we expect the rest of the world to get on board? I know some of us want to keep our sport a "secret," but we can't expect to expand with sub-par camerawork.

 

[JTacoma03]

Sorry I'm late to the party, I actually got to PLAY a tournament this past weekend (woo!)

OK. *Cracks Knuckles*

A) its not filming its shooting
B) they dont shoot the whole lenght because they do not have the lense power to do so.
I assume most use anywhere from a 17x to possibly a 26x even if they have a doubler that doesnt tank the quality its still not gonna be great.

A) Terms are interchangable, only a select few feature films actually use film anymore, but the term is fine.
B) Quoting "17x" lenses etc either denotes very cheap cameras (aka bought at best buy) or $50k+ broadcast camcorders, which none of the typical dg crews have the money for...so it doesn't really apply to the quality argument.

My biggest bitch is about the resolution. Discs seem to disappear on most videos yet folks keep making low quality videos.
I get it, No budget. Still..... If all you can see clearly is the x step, and the putt, it might as well have been shot with a phone.....

No, the quality "downgrade" you're referencing has to do with the compression upon export so you can see it for free on YouTube. Never, ever underestimate how much we have to sacrifice so you can see it for free

...on my editing rig though, that footage is beautiful and crisp.

 

[KDFrosty]

I've only made a few disc golf tourney vids, but this is all good stuff to keep in mind. It really is a lot more work to get good tourney footage than to actually play in the tourney.

My two "pet peeves" are over-exposure and the vid being out of focus.

I've noticed the over-exposure problem lately on some vids taken at DeLa, but I cant remember who the YouTube Channel was. I believe it was multiple vids/channels. The out of focus problem usually happens when someone putting is filmed from behind. That player will be in focus, putt and hit chains/sink the basket, and then only after the basket comes in to focus.

 

[wkelly42]

I am just really glad that all of the folks doing disc golf vids seem to be working together to provide better coverage of major events. Working out who is covering what group can be tough (especially since everyone wants to cover the lead card and get the most views), but they seem to be doing a really good job of it.