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golf tournament filming tips?

R

Rasheem

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jul 12, 2006
149
0
Ok so i got the task of filming our church golf tournament and im not getting paid but if i do a good job it will likely lead to paying jobs. Anyone have any tips for getting good shots? I plan to bring adecent tripod and will probably use the churches camera which is a great one... not sure what type but ive used it before.
 
That's going to be tough with one camera - not sure what the best way to do it.

Check out the Golf Channel or a PGA event on the telly to see how the camera is positioned and jot down some notes.
 
Is this the first time your Church has filmed their gold tournament? If not, see if you can track down copies of the past tournaments to see how they turned out.

Then like said above, check out some golf television. I don't know much about golf, but don't they break up into groups of four and start at different times from the first tee. I think usually they have a cameraman with each group in addition to some other cameras throughout to course. So with one camera, you're essentially going to be running around and trying to pick up everyone's best shots and puts...which is darn near impossible. But if their past tournament videos aren't that great, then at least you know they aren't expecting it to look like the British Open or something.

One last suggestion, Pray. :)
 
behind the golfer for tee shots. but enough to the side of them to follow the ball for a bit.

chipping/putting = have the flag in between you and the golfer. you know.. stand on the edge of the green facing the golfer. have his shot come towards you (the flag). make sure u follow the ball to where it goes when it comes near the green.
 
You need lots of tape, extra batteries and an assistant if possible.

As for shots, d wade pretty muched covered it.

Shoot a lot of footage. Try to get something of every golfer. It's better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it...

Every shot does not have to be a tee shot or putt. Get some candid stuff of people cutting up or horsing around. Don't forget the awards at the end of the day.

You can also incorporate still photos into the edit if you can get some from some one else.
 
I've worked for a company that did this kind of thing a million times at corporate boondogles in Florida. We would shoot the golf tournamnet in the morning & show a video of it at their dinner that night. The thing to remember is that the golf itself doesn't matter. It's really a video about the people playing in the tournament.

Rule #1 - Ensure that you get a cart and a driver! Your main goal is to get as many people in your video as possible. In a perfect world, you will get every single golfer on the screen. You'll have to make a couple laps around the course to accomplish this.

Rule #2 - They probably suck at golf. So don't worry too much about where the shot goes. Stay on the people after the shot. Get the reaction from them & their partners after the shot. You'll get teasing, laughing, cringing, high fiving...all good stuff. The exception is putting. You can follow the ball here and either keep them in the shot as well or quickly get back to them after the ball goes in.

Rule #3 - As in any video, have a good microphone. In this case a quality camera mounted shotgun. You'll probably end up editing to music, and it breaks it up well to occasionally add some good funny audio. I used to get people to talk a little smack. If I got lucky I would get the same person doing something horrible like completly missing the ball or making a 10 foot drive or something. (Happens more than you think) Comedy Gold. You can even cheat & get the smack talk after the fact if you catch somebody that wiffs.

Rule #4 - Golf is boring. Therefore, golf videos are boring. Be creative and make it fun to watch. This is totally up to you, because it is boring by nature. We did all kinds of stupid crap to jazz these up and the clients LOVED it. We had people put commando hats on & sneak through the woods to steal peple's balls...follow a fake "bad shot" (off a tree, down a cart path, into the beer cart girl's lap, etc..)...replace the CEO (in your case the pastor?)'s ball with a trick "exploding" ball from a prank shop, etc. Sounds stupid, but it was always a hit. They just want to have fun watching the video of their day.

Rule #5 - You MUST try to get the beer cart girl's phone number. ALWAYS. We usually had 2 camera rigs, and would film each others attempts. Fun stuff. A few times we used video of ourselves being shot down in the final video.

Finaly, I know it's been used a million times and it's a bit trite, but "Oh Yeah" by Yello is the perfect song to cut a fun golf video to.

Good Luck.
 
PegasusMedia said:
I've worked for a company that did this kind of thing a million times at corporate boondogles in Florida. We would shoot the golf tournamnet in the morning & show a video of it at their dinner that night. The thing to remember is that the golf itself doesn't matter. It's really a video about the people playing in the tournament.

Rule #1 - Ensure that you get a cart and a driver! Your main goal is to get as many people in your video as possible. In a perfect world, you will get every single golfer on the screen. You'll have to make a couple laps around the course to accomplish this.

Rule #2 - They probably suck at golf. So don't worry too much about where the shot goes. Stay on the people after the shot. Get the reaction from them & their partners after the shot. You'll get teasing, laughing, cringing, high fiving...all good stuff. The exception is putting. You can follow the ball here and either keep them in the shot as well or quickly get back to them after the ball goes in.

Rule #3 - As in any video, have a good microphone. In this case a quality camera mounted shotgun. You'll probably end up editing to music, and it breaks it up well to occasionally add some good funny audio. I used to get people to talk a little smack. If I got lucky I would get the same person doing something horrible like completly missing the ball or making a 10 foot drive or something. (Happens more than you think) Comedy Gold. You can even cheat & get the smack talk after the fact if you catch somebody that wiffs.

Rule #4 - Golf is boring. Therefore, golf videos are boring. Be creative and make it fun to watch. This is totally up to you, because it is boring by nature. We did all kinds of stupid crap to jazz these up and the clients LOVED it. We had people put commando hats on & sneak through the woods to steal peple's balls...follow a fake "bad shot" (off a tree, down a cart path, into the beer cart girl's lap, etc..)...replace the CEO (in your case the pastor?)'s ball with a trick "exploding" ball from a prank shop, etc. Sounds stupid, but it was always a hit. They just want to have fun watching the video of their day.

Rule #5 - You MUST try to get the beer cart girl's phone number. ALWAYS. We usually had 2 camera rigs, and would film each others attempts. Fun stuff. A few times we used video of ourselves being shot down in the final video.

Finaly, I know it's been used a million times and it's a bit trite, but "Oh Yeah" by Yello is the perfect song to cut a fun golf video to.

Good Luck.
Click to expand...
Thanks yeah you got the right idea! this helps alot!!! ill try to find a friend to help me out with filming/driving the cart. As for the beer girls number i dont know im only 15 so she might be a few years older and i dont know if we will have beer. but the rest will for sure help!:)
 
I'd get a few shots from the side of golfers as they swing.

In addition to the tripod it would be great to have a steady cam or some type of stabilizer. Not sure if the church will give you any cash to rent one, or if you have time Google for the $14 steadycam and build one.

Don't forget to get some cut-a-way shots to use to fill gaps in your footage.
Some Examples: a club or putter hitting the ball, a nice slow pan over one of the greens or bunkers, some shots of scenery like trees, rolling hills, shots of the club house, golf course signs, people talking/laughing, any food/drink, etc.

You can "fake" a bunch of stuff by having a friend or assistant help you--have them off camera and throw the ball down and you film the ball landing, or have them swing an iron or take a putt. You don't have to get them in the shot.

Once you have these filler shots you can place them between your edits to fix bad transistions or jump cuts.
 
sigamy said:
I'd get a few shots from the side of golfers as they swing.

In addition to the tripod it would be great to have a steady cam or some type of stabilizer. Not sure if the church will give you any cash to rent one, or if you have time Google for the $14 steadycam and build one.

Don't forget to get some cut-a-way shots to use to fill gaps in your footage.
Some Examples: a club or putter hitting the ball, a nice slow pan over one of the greens or bunkers, some shots of scenery like trees, rolling hills, shots of the club house, golf course signs, people talking/laughing, any food/drink, etc.

You can "fake" a bunch of stuff by having a friend or assistant help you--have them off camera and throw the ball down and you film the ball landing, or have them swing an iron or take a putt. You don't have to get them in the shot.

Once you have these filler shots you can place them between your edits to fix bad transistions or jump cuts.
Click to expand...
cool thanks im still trying to find one of my friends to help me out .... it seems noone wants to wake up at 5 in the morning
 
I got the camera im using its a Sony DSRPD150 Mini DV Camcorder and its pretty sweet.
 
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