Combine two ends of basketball action?

[LinuxElf]

A friend pointed out some new features of the new version of Final Cut Pro, and I would like to know if anyone can suggest whether any software on the market can do what I would like to do.

I would like to set up two static video cameras, each filming one half of a basketball court. I would let both record an entire game. So, while one camera has action in it, the other camera is filming an empty court.

I would then import both camera's inputs, and put them side-by-side synchronized. These two side-by-side inputs would be the same height as the final video should be, but double the width.

Then, using a "window" or "frame" the size of the final output (16:9 aspect ratio), I would "sweep" the "window" or "frame" left and right, following the action of the game.

The final output would be a single screen, 16:9, showing the action flowing from one end of the court to another.

This is similar, essentially, to Photoshop's distinction between image size and canvas size. The "canvas size" of the video would be 32:9, and the "image size" of the video -- which I would control and move back and forth over the course of the video to produce the final product -- would be 16:9.

So, my moving the "image size" back and forth across the "canvas size" would define the output seen in the final HD DVD.

Does Final Cut Pro or any other software allow this kind of work? Any help would be appreciated. I have tinkered with Final Cut Express, and not easily found a way to do this.

Thanks!
LinuxElf

 

[mBox]

Does Final Cut Pro or any other software allow this kind of work? Any help would be appreciated. I have tinkered with Final Cut Express, and not easily found a way to do this.

Thanks!
LinuxElf

FCP and FCPX can help you achieve this but a Motion Graphics Software would be best such as After Effects. In AE its more of an animated mask if Im reading your post right.

 

[Richardthe4th]

What you also have to think about, is the alignment of the two cams. That the lines of the basketball field don't make a strange twist if going from the one to the other half. The same is with multi cam broadcast in talk shows switching/cross-dissolving from one person to the other with similar backgrounds. You don't want the background to make strange changes. So the cam's need to be aligned (pan/tilt/lift) to produce more or less the same image. And color balance them.

You want to make a DVD. But that is never HD, only SD. Or do you mean BluRay? Because if you your output is SD, then it is perhaps easier to have an HD cam filming the whole field and crop and pan in that image (or use a 4K cam )

Stitching the images together can be done in FCP, AE and motion. But if they are not good aligned, you need AE, or motion 3D handling of the images to get them together (more or less) in post.

Test before the match!!! With two cams and with one...

Good luck

 

[cgbier]

Could be done in FCE. You can scale and position your clips in the Motion tab.