DanceComp Genie | Video Adjudication - Do Studios Even Watch the Videos?

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Dec 09, 2014 Views: 3699 By admin

Video Adjudication - Do Studios Even Watch the Videos?

A video critique is the ultimate learning tool and, in our minds, a must have for any dance competition. Back in the day, dancers would receive score sheets with written judge comments or audio comments on cassette. Both of these provide a limited view of the adjudicator’s advice because it is difficult to determine the specific part of the performance that they are referring to. Each time we perform our routine the performance has subtle differences. Providing a visual tool, like video critiques, is the best way to help dancers master a routine. Do studios watch the videos you share with them? The short answer is yes, but they need to be done properly in order to make them worth their while. After all, studio owners and teachers are a busy bunch!

Here are some tips in providing a great learning tool for dancers and how to make sure your adjudication videos aren’t going to waste.

1. Fast Delivery

Highly competitive studios compete in multiple competitions each season. This can mean that they are performing multiple times within the same month and, therefore, do not much time to work on their routines in-between performances. It’s important to get the videos to the studios as soon as possible; 1-2 days max. This will ensure they can use the videos as a training tool to correct those subtle imperfections.

2. Great Audio and Video Quality

This should be common sense, but we have seen some pretty ugly looking videos on the market. It’s one reason we placed a lot of focus on the quality of videos produced in our DCG Video software. The video critique can become useless if the audio sounds like the judge is underwater, or the video is blurry.

*Tip: For the audio, make sure the microphones have noise cancellation. This way judge 2’s voice won’t record onto judge 1’s video.

3. Keep the Footage Simple

You don’t need to pan around, and zoom in and out, as the dancer moves around the stage. But you do need to make sure you have a good clear view of them and their movements during their entire performance. The camera lens should capture the full stage in one shot so you don’t need to worry about following the dancer around.

*Tip: A wide-angle lens will help achieve this while keeping a close-up shot of the dancer.

4. Easy for Studios to Access and Watch

USB drives or online downloads are the way to go. This will let the studio save the file onto their computer so that they can view it at any time. This way they don’t need to lug a DVD player and TV into the studio for playback. When it’s time to watch the video, a light laptop or a smart device will do the trick.

5. Proper Audio / Video Synchronization

If you are recording audio and video separately and then manually stitching them together before sending out, make sure you get them aligned perfectly. It’s hard to follow along if the music is out of synch or the judge’s voices are behind the movements.

*Tip: DCG Video and DCG Tabulation Plus products will automatically synch audio and video footage together so you don’t need to worry about the alignment being off.

6. A Video from Each judge

The best way to setup your microphones is to allow each judge to have their own microphone. This will allow them to talk freely and give their own advice. If you list judge bios in your program book, or in your DCG Events app, you can share what dance styles each judge is best at. If the studio doesn’t have time to watch all of the videos, they can watch the videos from the most experience judge for that routines dance style.

*Tip: When using USB microphones, you can connect them into a USB hub if you don’t have enough USB plugs on the computer. When doing this, it's important to make sure the USB hub can be plugged into the wall for power, so it doesn’t run off of the computers power source. This can affect audio quality.

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