The Elements of a Professionally Produced Recruitment Video
By Tom Conner – President – All Sports Videos.com

With the cost of a college education approaching $40,000.00 a year a talented High School athlete could save a good chunk of that of that by obtaining an athletic scholarship. It could be as much as $160,000.00 over a four-year college career.

Recruiting videos have become an essential part of any program designed to gain the attention of prospective college coaches. If you are thinking of sending your video to a coach it’s best to talk to him first and ask what format he prefers. Either DVD or VHS. Most recruiting videos today are presented in the DVD format and are easier to handle both physically and technically because they can be accessed through menus thus saving time when the coach is reviewing your material. They’re easier to carry home in a brief case or even a jacket pocket but in some rare cases the coach still may prefer VHS. There are also many on line services where you can post your video like Youtube and recruiting sites like Recuitlook.com

The Elements of a Good Recruiting Video on DVD

The Menu
The Main Menu should allow the coach to access either the Highlight Section of the disc or the Full Game or Play All.
The Highlight Section should have a sub-menu to allow the coach to either play “All” or select a “Play Number”.

The Highlight Section
The first thing a coach should see when he plays the highlight section of your video is a screen that has the following information and a picture of you in your uniform. This screen should remain up for about 6-7 seconds. If you have so much information that you need a second screen then it should follow for another 6-7 seconds but without the picture. The coach can pause the image if he needs more time to review it. This information should also be printed on the face of your disc.

Name
Address
Home Phone
Cell Phone
Email Address

School
Year in School/or Class of

Age
Date of Birth
Height
Weight

Coach Name:
Coach Phone
Coach email

Positions  (O/D)
Uniform Number
Uniform Colors: Home
Uniform Colors: Away

GPA:
ACT:
Scholastic Awards if any
Athletic Awards

This gives the coach all the essential background information he needs before he reviews your plays. It’s in one place and can be paused if he needs more time to review it. This information should be also be printed on the face of the disc so he can find you quickly if he needs to and he’ll have all your info at his finger tips.

The next panel should identify the season and the number of plays: Player Highlights 2008

Identifying the Play
Each play should be identified with a slate displaying the Play Identification Number preceding the play and have a chapter marker inserted by the editor during the editing process so the play is easily accessible through a menu by the coach if he wants to review certain plays again.

Identifying the Player on Screen
Each play should start with a freeze frame of the set up and the player clearly identified with a circle or an arrow so the coach knows exactly where to look on the screen. This should remain for approximately .5  seconds on screen then be released for the action to play through. In some cases, the editor may have to zoom in and out to locate you on the screen and in some rare cases, if the player is off screen when the play begins, the play will begin then freeze when the player enters the action, the player will be identified with an arrow or circle and the play will continue. If the action is very fast, the action may be slowed down.

Number of Plays
The number of plays should be determined by the quality of the play itself and the athlete’s performance within the play. A good number is between 20 and 30 .In some cases, less is more. The important thing is to convey how you do your job in a given situation and the consistency of your performance. It makes no sense to show 15 really outstanding plays mixed in with 15 marginal plays just because the number of plays is limited by the editing facility. The old show biz adage of “Always leave them wanting more” rings true here.

A Complete Game
It is becoming a common practice to include a complete game at the end of the highlight section of your presentation or 2 half games so coaches can see you total performance.
Pick the game you and your coach feel is your best work and include it at the end of your highlight section with separate access through the menu.

Pre-production
Logging the Plays
Any highlight video is only as good as what is on the tape, so it’s really important to get footage from as close to the original source as possible.  Now days most schools have moved on from VHS to mini-DV or DVD that allows for copying from tape to tape with no loss in quality. VHS, on the other hand, loses quality with every generation of copying. A VHS copy of the original game tape will suffice but be slightly lower quality than the original.  A mini-DV copy of the original VHS will yield the same quality as the original VHS tape.

For each game tape, start the tape at the beginning after resetting the tape counter to zero. If your footage has been transferred to DVD, the time or location of the scene can be view by pressing the display button on your remote.

When you reach a play you want to include in your highlight reel, pause the playback and make note of the time or location of the scene as it appears on the tape counter. Log the time each play starts and ends onto a log sheet with a brief description of the play. Log sheet forms can be downloaded here or you can make your own. Make a separate log sheet for each game tape.

Text Elements
All text elements that will appear on screen, like your bio and stats, should be created in a simple text editor and submitted to your editing faculty via email as a text file with a .txt file extension. Be sure to run it through a spell checker first because they will most likely import the file into their editing software “as is”.  In this case, you are responsible for providing with the correct information.

Music/Graphics/Special Effects
Overuse of music, graphics and other “creative” elements detract from the overall statement you are trying to make, so they should be used sparingly or not at all.

Review Before Duplicating
Ask your editing facility to post your highlight video on the Internet for a final review before duplicating copies. If you need something changed, added or deleted then is the time to do it. Before it’s “carved in stone”. Also ask for the video files themselves  so you can post your completed video on line to various recruiting sites.

When to start
The Junior year is the best time to start sending out recruitment packages with a follow up package in your Senior year. A well-planned highlight reel would include both Junior and Senior years.

A professionally produced and edited highlight reel will pay for itself for years to come if it results in a scholarship. A college education today costs upwards of $40,000.00 per year and you never get a second chance to make a first impression.

Tom Conner is the President of
All Sports Videos.com
www.allsportsvideos.com
A company that specializes in Highlight Video Production
1-800-728-2614

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