Camera Angle + Russian Club Championships 12/13

Stumbled on this video not long ago so I don't know if its been posted here yet.

I think the angle these games were recorded at is superb. It really shows the speed and spin during the rally and how much power these athletes really have.

Some greats such as Ma Lin, Samsonov, Ovtcharov are in this video.

I wish most global ITTF events were recorded and shown on TV like this. Maybe it would boost the viewer ratings, doesn't hurt to experiment right? Just like with our equipment for the viewers, but a simple angle and camera change can do wonders as well.

Anyways, I thought some of you might appreciate this if you have not seen it yet. *Note - not my content, give credit to the youtube channel.

part 1:
http://youtu.be/pstCYEwzNHA



part 2:
http://youtu.be/0JrDOXUbmo0



Edited by DreiZ - 08/07/2014 at 2:29pm

100niTenis wrote: This is a great video

I know!
I was not old enough to witness the old days of TT, but from watching older videos of Waldner, Gatien, Saive, etc. it gives you that type of sense of different viewer captivation.

Edited by DreiZ - 08/07/2014 at 2:14pm

Great Video Angle! You could actually see how much power they unleash when they hit the ball and how they change grip after they serve. Thanks for sharing.

Yes, these beautiful videos pretty much kill the idea that the sport is not visually appealing.

One possibility I can think of, Argothman, is that some people are not good at the sport the way it is played now, and figure if rules are changed enough, dumb it down enough, get rid of enough speed and spin, then they might have a chance.  These people want to ban any sort of deception in serving (maybe they have a hard time returning serves). Color the balls so people can see the spin (which will have virtually no effect at all for anybody that is anywhere remotely close to professional level). Force rubber to be thinner. Make the matches shorter. That sort of thing. 

Another possibility is if some people don't care that the sport if beautiful as it is now, but can get paid for forcing some changes through, and are in a position to do so, it's going to happen.  It is also possible that some people think these changes will really make the sport better but a lot of the time I think that what they mean by making the sport better is the thing I mentioned above. 

benfb wrote: The guy who does these videos does the very best. He's got a big collection and they're all superb. There are other people on the forum who know this guy but I believe his YouTube channel is at https://www.youtube.com/user/FanTTW/featured. I wish all videos were this quality.

No, that is actually another Russian video enthusiast, Alexey Lomaev (he is a spokesperson and head of PR for Russian TT Federation). The guy who did the videos in the title post is Alexey Patrogin (also from Moscow) and he indeed does a splendid job with many great videos, good shooting angles, and some very impressive compilations.

popperlocker wrote: The angle is unprofessional. It's amateur. You've got the guy in the back, blocking all the action. It's like watching a movie with a dude right in front of your face. The angle is nice to have once in a while, because you see the intensity, but this won't pass for daily viewing. Looks cheap and claustrophobic, b<span style="line-height: 1.4;">ut if you make the back player transparent, then you've got something. </span> http://youtu.be/U8L2OPgBIgY?t=4s

Your opinion.

Making a player transparent would require multiple cameras and a digital editor on standby to make any changes if a program doesn't work.
That costs way too much money.

For smaller leagues this angle is optimal IMO, it only needs two cameras at the diagonal positions and absolutely no camera man required. Only some editing to cut and paste or switch between players for the final edit.

Like I said, ITTF marketing and coverage need to experiment as well, just like with our equipment.

Ofcourse live editing is completely different and for bigger ITTF events, I agree, transparency would be ideal but it's far from ITTF's mind.

Edited by DreiZ - 08/08/2014 at 1:05pm

Some of the recent CCTV videos make me crazy.  They are constantly changing  video perspectives.  For example, they focus in on the face of the person serving while they serve (so you can't see where the receiver is standing, etc.), and them as soon as ball is served, jump back to distant view.  Moving around so you can see from directly above (which shows nothing useful).  Very annoying.  Keep it simple.  I want to see both players from as close as possible.

Some of those same problems are occurring in the ETTA videos.  No need to zoom in and out if it makes one player go out of frame at any time.  Really annoying example is at 2:44 in the ETTA video shown above.

IMHO the Russian videos are much better.

JimT wrote: benfb wrote: The guy who does these videos does the very best. He's got a big collection and they're all superb. There are other people on the forum who know this guy but I believe his YouTube channel is at https://www.youtube.com/user/FanTTW/featured. I wish all videos were this quality. No, that is actually another Russian video enthusiast, Alexey Lomaev (he is a spokesperson and head of PR for Russian TT Federation). The guy who did the videos in the title post is Alexey Patrogin (also from Moscow) and he indeed does a splendid job with many great videos, good shooting angles, and some very impressive compilations.

So which one did all those videos of last year's Russian Premier League championship? And does Patrogin have a YouTube channel?

The last time camera angle was discussed, I thought most of us agreed that this is the preferred camera angle: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xF8pob52ggo

racquetsforsale wrote: The last time camera angle was discussed, I thought most of us agreed that this is the preferred camera angle: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xF8pob52ggo

Agreed that that's a terrific video and more professional than the Russian ones, with multiple cameras and multiple cameramen operating them. At that same time, there's a certain appeal to those HD courtside videos to make you feel like you're sitting right there.

In either case, both videos show what should be done and the unfortunate part is that excellent videos like these are rare.

racquetsforsale wrote: The last time camera angle was discussed, I thought most of us agreed that this is the preferred camera angle: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xF8pob52ggo

There was not just one camera angle, especially in Part 2 of teh videos above, but once it was set, it was not moved.  Actually the angle in the one you posted above (most of the time) was not too different from the Russian videos, except a bit higher, which is ok.  However, in the one you  post they insist on moving in and out and around a bit.  Personally I don't like that but mostly it is good.  And I have no objection to hotty spotting, as at 5:59!!  The one thing they have figured out in tennis coverage is to not constantly change the angle during the point.  Find one good angle (and there are quite a few that can work) and stick with it.  The nice thing about staying lower, as with the Russian videos, is that you get a much better sense of how freaking hard these guys are ripping the ball and how fast they are moving.  I think in the past when we discussed this, we have never seen anything quite like these Russian videos.