Advice for teams that post videos

[cdurgan]

I love to watch match videos after an event. While competing at events, you don't always get to see how your friends on other teams are doing since you are so focused on your team's activity, especially at champs when they could be fields away. The fun part is always hearing the commentary for those recording or those sitting close to the camera. I just watched a video where the commentator bad mouthed the drive team actions a few times and then dropped the F bomb at the end when the score was posted. I assume he was hoping for a few more points.

My advice is to watch what you say if you are the video team or are sitting near a camera as it is being captured for history. There are so many videos where there is excessive cursing as well as commentary that is not very flattering. I'm not a prude and have heard curse words before but in an excessive situation it's not really called for. In most cases, the commentary is about their own team that I'm sure those that are working so hard at driving would not appreciate your feedback in that manner. In some cases, the comments are about the other team that are just as unflattering and can reflect poorly on the team making the comments.

My next advice is to listen to your videos for this very thing before you post them to try and catch it before posting. Maybe it's not your team that was talking and you didn't hear it while you were recording but you could put a music track over it to cover that up if needed.

[ToddF]

Unfortunately, the above advise is necessary. It seems that match spectators have learned their behavior from watching NFL and NBA games in the privacy of their homes, where half the fun is yelling criticism and commentary at the screen. This does not translate well into the GP environment we hope to maintain at FIRST events. I have learned to record matches while sitting away from the teams who are actually in the matches. Teams not on the field are less emotionally invested in the matches, and are less likely to provide "colorful" commentary.

[Tungrus]

I agree with this. It poorly represents your team, even if the words were not from your time. Please edit the audio or bleep it and please please do not remove audio. We enjoy the MC's commentary, it gives a better picture of the match. Sometimes all robots will not be visible in video, but the commentator may be talking about them.