Videographer gripe

Revlucjl

Revlucjl

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Would you go to any sport and view it through a paper towel tube?
Hell no!!! My main gripe with watching videos of pool tournaments is
that the videographers think it's artsy fartsy to crop in tightly on some
shots so that when the ball is hit, you are prevented from seeing the
tracking of the cue ball. I think that most of us would to prefer to see
all of the play that takes place during a shot. Stop the zoom in and zoom
out crap and let us see the whole table during the shot process and
not just the zit on the side of the players face.
 
Revlucjl said:
Would you go to any sport and view it through a paper towel tube?
Hell no!!! My main gripe with watching videos of pool tournaments is
that the videographers think it's artsy fartsy to crop in tightly on some
shots so that when the ball is hit, you are prevented from seeing the
tracking of the cue ball. I think that most of us would to prefer to see
all of the play that takes place during a shot. Stop the zoom in and zoom
out crap and let us see the whole table during the shot process and
not just the zit on the side of the players face.
Click to expand...
Feel free to contact the streamer(s) in question or better yet start your own streaming service. You'll probably get agrees/disagrees on this but no one on here can change anything.
 
Accu stats does a much better job than any of the others.
Then there’s the issue of out of focus & varying resolution.
And sound not in sync
I’ll just stop here for now*

* I am thankful for the free & timely videos

Will say the last 3 matches of mens world 10 ball was something!
 
Bad direction, clumsy camera work, and errant cuts, seem to be endemic to the genre. Fact is pool is difficult to frame; even for the ones playing. They spend all the money on football and formula 1.
 
I am very happy that streaming is available and really believe that it will continue to improve. Just look, I have formally complained about the various funny colored balls ... and what happened? They quickly went back to the original colored balls. LOL.

Well one improvement for my experience would be better views of the players stroke.
 
straightline said:
They spend all the money on football and formula 1.
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They can't so a good job there either. The best view of the game is above and behind the quarterback but they shoot from the sidelines zoomed in so you can only see 5 yards around the quarterback. For all I know the receivers and the secondary could be having a tea party. Aerial shots are best for F1 but they don't use them enough. Credit where credit is due, it can't be easy to fill the frame with a guy's helmet when he is going 150 mph, but I'd like to see other cars. Actually F1 does pretty well but I still get the feeling far too many cameramen have no interest in whatever they are shooting and are more interested in making pretty pictures than documenting the event.

There is one pool match from Germany that I think is exceptionally well shot. Although they still have the habit of isolating the player when he breaks, cutting to the rack exploding, and then showing the table, there are nice medium closeups of the players sitting in the chairs and reacting and most of the action on the table is shown pretty well, aside from the low resolution. There are even some nice artsy-fartsy shots that enhance the production.

 
Revlucjl said:
Would you go to any sport and view it through a paper towel tube?
Hell no!!! My main gripe with watching videos of pool tournaments is
that the videographers think it's artsy fartsy to crop in tightly on some
shots so that when the ball is hit, you are prevented from seeing the
tracking of the cue ball. I think that most of us would to prefer to see
all of the play that takes place during a shot. Stop the zoom in and zoom
out crap and let us see the whole table during the shot process and
not just the zit on the side of the players face.
Click to expand...
I agree, especially when it comes to the break. As someone who often keeps track of what balls were pocketed on the break, and in which pockets, I want to see the entire table until all the balls stop rolling. One approach I like is to show the break from behind and above the foot rail, from as close as possible while still showing the entire table and the breaker (i.e., not showing the entire arena), and then to show a replay of the break from an overhead view.
 
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The video is never as bad as the audio. "Folks, he's going to drop that one ball right where it's hanging and go two rails for the two in the side. Notice the red measles on the ball, how they spin according to the English applied, swirling and rotating to go into position. These top world players know just how much spin to apply. Right now we have Fugimar Slozmire joining us in the booth. Fugy doesn't play pool, but he does great commentary, always knowing when a combo is going to be played."
 
Commentary is tough. I love when JJ is in the booth, as does everyone else I think. But not all can do it like him so I make due.

The camera angle thing kills me though. I do appreciate free streams and I give my super chat donations and shit to help the cause but I think we should all bombard csi with messages asking them to reevaluate their camera work.

The camera changes angles at the absolute worst time, pretty much every time someone’s shooting. And always when they’re shooting a shot with tricky position where you really wanna see the cue ball. Nope. Look at this pocket while waiting for the ball to show up. What?!? Noooo. Noooooooooooo!!

I’m pretty sure it’s csi that does it. I’ll have to pay attention to that before I start my bitching
 
JazzyJeff87 said:
Commentary is tough. I love when JJ is in the booth, as does everyone else I think. But not all can do it like him so I make due.

The camera angle thing kills me though. I do appreciate free streams and I give my super chat donations and shit to help the cause but I think we should all bombard csi with messages asking them to reevaluate their camera work.

The camera changes angles at the absolute worst time, pretty much every time someone’s shooting. And always when they’re shooting a shot with tricky position where you really wanna see the cue ball. Nope. Look at this pocket while waiting for the ball to show up. What?!? Noooo. Noooooooooooo!!

I’m pretty sure it’s csi that does it. I’ll have to pay attention to that before I start my bitching
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They(csi) are fairly decent at responding on FB. We all need to let our feelings on this be known. For me the ultimate would be full-table shot with overhead as secondary. As for commentary i can take it or leave it. I don't need EVERY single shot hyper analyzed. That's my only gripe with JJ. Show the score and just let the video/audio of the table tell the story.
 
garczar said:
They(csi) are fairly decent at responding on FB. We all need to let our feelings on this be known. For me the ultimate would be full-table shot with overhead as secondary. As for commentary i can take it or leave it. I don't need EVERY single shot hyper analyzed. That's my only gripe with JJ. Show the score and just let the video/audio of the table tell the story.
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Ability to use split screen would be a big help. As far as commentary, you would think there was no game going on. Stay focused. I don't really care what they would do as they constantly predict wrong. Just comment on the action.
 
chefjeff said:
It's better than it used to be by far.


Jeff Livingston
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Better player/color commentators are needed. There are good current/retired players that would be great in the booth. Video quality now is obviously light-yrs better than in the past.
 
The best and brightest video people aren't doing pool streaming. They go to work for companies that give them a salary and fancy free toys. Pool is working with trickle-down videonomics

Seems like just a couple decades ago, we were buying videos from 10fttall. I think it damn incredible we get to see so much.
 
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