Even since the early days of our club, we made lots of videos which we posted on social media for others to see. We felt that videos were a good way to attract new members and indeed this has proven to be a good strategy. Most of our members found us through social media and several of them have told us that it was the videos that convinced them.
The three most common feedback we've gotten:
a) Our training sessions seem like a lot of fun
b) The technical sessions seem very sound and modern
c) We do a lot of randori!
In the early days, our video efforts were very basic and somewhat amateurish. We just shot the videos using our mobile phones, which were handheld and shaky. But it was still more than what other clubs were doing. Most clubs don't even post pictures of their sessions let alone videos.
These days, our video set up is a lot more sophisticated, and it allows us to make much nicer videos. We can also do a lot more types of videos because of the gear that we have.
For each session, we use at least three cameras and sometimes four. Here are the details:
Two of the cameras are Yi Discovery cameras, one on each end of the dojo. These cameras allow us to capture footage for the following purposes:
a) Full technical sessions which we capture so our players can revise techniques that are taught in class. It's also useful for those who had to miss class but want to learn what they missed out on.
b) Full randori footage so our players can analyze their performance.
c) 1-minute technical highlights for Facebook and Instagram. These are purely for promotional purposes.
c) 1-minute fun, promotional highlights, also for Facebook and Instagram. These can be taken from our warm up drills, our uchikomi/nagekomi exercises, judo games or any other fun and funny scenese.
The Yi Discovery cameras are pretty basic cameras but they can shoot in HD and are sufficient for the purposes above.
We also have a Yi 4K+ Action Camera on a Gimbal. This is a high-end camera and is used for handheld close-ups that we shoot for special promotional videos we wish to make. We don't always use this, only when we have something specific that we want to shoot
Fans of our Facebook Page would know that we livestream all our sessions. To do that, we use a special livestream camera (arguably the best camera in the market for livestreaming) called Mevo. This is normally set up on a tripod in an elevated area and we position it to capture the entire dojo.
We used to have a problem with our livestream getting cut off due to the fact that we play music during our training. Facebook is super strict about copyrighted music appearing on livestreams so quite often our livestream would get cut off even though I had put masking tap on top of the Mevo's microphone. Apparently even if a little bit of music seeps through, Facebook will cut off the livestream. It's happened to us so many times. I finally figured out a solution, although it's not an elegant one, which is to mute the audio via the mobile app that controls the camera. So, there is no sound at all. This is not great because it would be nice if people could hear the sounds of the dojo but you can't have your cake and eat it too. We want to play music during training (our players claim they can't randori properly without music!).
Through the use of Mevo, we can stream via Facebook live at 720 rather than the default 480 when you stream through a mobile phone. Mevo also allows you to save a copy of the video on an SD card. So the livestream feed is a useful back-up video for the Yi Discovery cameras. If the Yi somehow malfunctions or a particular action was at a bad angle for the camera, the livestream could offer and alternative clip that we could use.
The livestream is very important because when some of our members can't attend training for some reason, they can still follow the class via livestream. So the livestresam is not just good for attracting new members but also for providing a useful service for our members.
Overall the camera gear that we've invested in is quite pricey (when you add it all up) but it's so worth it. Without the videos, many of our members would not have discovered us at all. Setting up the cameras for each session also takes up a lot of time but again, it's worth the effort. Our videos is what makes us stand out. It's how people get to know us. But just as importantly (and possibly more so), the video footage is useful for our players to refer to, study and analyze. It's something we can offer them that no other club (to my knowledge) provides.
I often do wonder why other clubs don't do this. Even if they don't have the time or skills to edit and produce well-done promo videos, how hard is it to livestream your session? A basic set up involves a tripod and a mobile phone. That's literally all you need. You can start a livestream via Facebook just like that.
So why don't other clubs do it? Who knows. What we do know is that our training sessions are damn interesting, innovative, fun and very different from what you'll find any other judo club. That being the case, it makes all the sense in the world for us to share our livestream with anyone who wants to tune in and check out our training sessions in real time.
The three most common feedback we've gotten:
a) Our training sessions seem like a lot of fun
b) The technical sessions seem very sound and modern
c) We do a lot of randori!
In the early days, our video efforts were very basic and somewhat amateurish. We just shot the videos using our mobile phones, which were handheld and shaky. But it was still more than what other clubs were doing. Most clubs don't even post pictures of their sessions let alone videos.
These days, our video set up is a lot more sophisticated, and it allows us to make much nicer videos. We can also do a lot more types of videos because of the gear that we have.
For each session, we use at least three cameras and sometimes four. Here are the details:
Two of the cameras are Yi Discovery cameras, one on each end of the dojo. These cameras allow us to capture footage for the following purposes:
a) Full technical sessions which we capture so our players can revise techniques that are taught in class. It's also useful for those who had to miss class but want to learn what they missed out on.
b) Full randori footage so our players can analyze their performance.
c) 1-minute technical highlights for Facebook and Instagram. These are purely for promotional purposes.
c) 1-minute fun, promotional highlights, also for Facebook and Instagram. These can be taken from our warm up drills, our uchikomi/nagekomi exercises, judo games or any other fun and funny scenese.
The Yi Discovery cameras are pretty basic cameras but they can shoot in HD and are sufficient for the purposes above.
We also have a Yi 4K+ Action Camera on a Gimbal. This is a high-end camera and is used for handheld close-ups that we shoot for special promotional videos we wish to make. We don't always use this, only when we have something specific that we want to shoot
Fans of our Facebook Page would know that we livestream all our sessions. To do that, we use a special livestream camera (arguably the best camera in the market for livestreaming) called Mevo. This is normally set up on a tripod in an elevated area and we position it to capture the entire dojo.
We used to have a problem with our livestream getting cut off due to the fact that we play music during our training. Facebook is super strict about copyrighted music appearing on livestreams so quite often our livestream would get cut off even though I had put masking tap on top of the Mevo's microphone. Apparently even if a little bit of music seeps through, Facebook will cut off the livestream. It's happened to us so many times. I finally figured out a solution, although it's not an elegant one, which is to mute the audio via the mobile app that controls the camera. So, there is no sound at all. This is not great because it would be nice if people could hear the sounds of the dojo but you can't have your cake and eat it too. We want to play music during training (our players claim they can't randori properly without music!).
Through the use of Mevo, we can stream via Facebook live at 720 rather than the default 480 when you stream through a mobile phone. Mevo also allows you to save a copy of the video on an SD card. So the livestream feed is a useful back-up video for the Yi Discovery cameras. If the Yi somehow malfunctions or a particular action was at a bad angle for the camera, the livestream could offer and alternative clip that we could use.
The livestream is very important because when some of our members can't attend training for some reason, they can still follow the class via livestream. So the livestresam is not just good for attracting new members but also for providing a useful service for our members.
Overall the camera gear that we've invested in is quite pricey (when you add it all up) but it's so worth it. Without the videos, many of our members would not have discovered us at all. Setting up the cameras for each session also takes up a lot of time but again, it's worth the effort. Our videos is what makes us stand out. It's how people get to know us. But just as importantly (and possibly more so), the video footage is useful for our players to refer to, study and analyze. It's something we can offer them that no other club (to my knowledge) provides.
I often do wonder why other clubs don't do this. Even if they don't have the time or skills to edit and produce well-done promo videos, how hard is it to livestream your session? A basic set up involves a tripod and a mobile phone. That's literally all you need. You can start a livestream via Facebook just like that.
So why don't other clubs do it? Who knows. What we do know is that our training sessions are damn interesting, innovative, fun and very different from what you'll find any other judo club. That being the case, it makes all the sense in the world for us to share our livestream with anyone who wants to tune in and check out our training sessions in real time.
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