Being digitally literate came to me at a young age. It started early because right around the age of 11 I knew I wanted to be making videos as my career. I was fascinated by the quick moving images that riddled the screen on intro videos for sports teams. I was enthralled with the combination of highlights and athlete faces that were timed perfect to a bed of music. The narrative behind intro videos has changed a lot over the years. From 2010 where the objective was to hype up the fan base to now where the objective is to tell a story with every intro video.
As a kid I remember going to Chicago Wolves game. A minor league hockey team that played close to my house. I would go with my dad and I remember looking up before the game and seeing their intro video to get the crowd hype. Nevertheless, to Kick start my heart by motley Cru, a Bop. I needed to know how to do that. How to edit a video. How to create emotion in a 2-minute video. So, at that age of 11 I started researching on YouTube. Which just started up. I started researching editing platforms. “how to create a video.” Of course, I started with iMovie and worked my way up to Final Cut 7 (which was the top editing platform at the time). At a young age I learned the importance about taking an image, taking a video clip and piecing it together to create something. To take a piece of music that fit an emotion and lay it under a set of video clips to create a work of art.
In the early days of intro videos, like the Chicago Wolves one in 2010. It was about the hype of the game. Get the crowd on their feet. Me being digitally literate knew that to create hype there needs to be fast paced edits. Edits that make your mind almost confused. There needed to be highlights of hits/goals/crowd/atmosphere to convey the excitement of hockey. Another thing I learned was the importance of music choice. Who doesn’t like Kickstart my heart for a hyped-up music song? But that song does a good job to get people off their feet. The song also has a good opportunity to edit on fast beats. Which I will explain later. This was the first time I realized some important things to consider if I ever made an intro. I learned to first start with music. Music conveys emotion. The music starts off with 10 beats in a row, Each beat has a different edit. Having the edit on the beat of the song gives the video more credibility. More intensity. Music illustrates the tone of the video. Taking an Mp3 of a song and putting it together with an Mp4 is one of the most vital things I learned to do. That is the general basic of making a video. I still carry that same principal around today.
Fast forward 10 years and now Intro videos are more produced and thought out. The Minnesota Vikings 2018 intro video is now where I get inspiration from. This way more than just music and highlights. It tells a story. It gives a narrative. It conveys emotion. It creates that hype, but now it tells a story. There is theme behind intro videos. It becomes more memorable. The theme behind this intro video Is the defender of the north. The opening shot of the intro is a medieval character holding a torch. Immediately it makes you think of game of thrones. Followed by a shot of ice. Next comes a narration “This is the north”. This sets the scene. It sets the tone of the rest of the intro video. The theme being defending their home stadium. We go along a journey with the medieval character. Throughout the intro you go back to the theme of Ice/weather/defending/highlights/players.
This intro video plays with the idea of creating a narrative. Creating a story. I learned from this intro video to play with lightning. To play with telling a story. To have a theme, and of course have good music and pacing. This intro made me think on how I can use colors. Obviously, the Viking colors are purple, and purple is an overlay throughout the whole intro. You see purple eyes. Purple smoke. Purple everything. The players have a key component in the intro. The producers are always showing their faces. They are showing emotion from the players. The highlights bounce back in forth. Highlights to eyes of the players. Back to the story line. Back to progressing the theme. It created hype by the fast-paced editing to the music. Fire is used near the end to give the good contrast between ice and fire.
This taught me a lot about digital literacy. It made me think about a narrative of an intro shoot. It taught me how colors can be effective in an intro shoot. It made me think about creating an overall theme throughout the whole video, and most importantly how to create hype. SFX were a big tool the Vikings intro used to get fans in that frozen forest. To give the video a more 4-D feel.
So, throughout the years of critically looking at intro videos. What they did in the past? How they evolved into what they are today. I got to produce some intro videos for our ball state sports teams. The first one was last year’s Men’s basketball intro. I utilized the idea of having a theme throughout. Just like the Vikings did. Our Ball State slogan “We fly” and that is what I wanted to get across. So why not shoot some of the footage at an Airplane hangar. I also utilized the idea of SFX throughout the intro. Placing airplane noises, and the ding for the seat belt sign is always a good SFX. Also putting in some random control tower voices give the video more depth. I also played around just like the Vikings intro the use of players. Showing them close-up. Showing their reactions. Showing their personality up front and having private jets in the background is always a plus. I learned through the old-time intro videos how to edit to the music. The music starts off slow, so the edits start off slow. Then the music ramps up, and so does the edits. The music goes into the vocalist saying, “stand and deliver” and that is when the call and the game winner from Tayler Persons is seen. Throughout the intro I kept it going from highlights to candid’s of the players. I believe is created that hype.
If I did not have the digital literacy about the process of making a video, I wouldn’t know how to create a narrative inside an intro video. I wouldn’t know that have reactions with fast edits. All these things in an intro video are done on purpose. Many people don’t even realize that every frame of intro is mapped out. There are no accidents when it comes to making a video. It is also interesting to mention how we can bring all these digital things together. How to bring a piece of music into a video. How to make that piece of music relevant and work well. How to bring highlights from years to go in seamlessly in the video.
This has shaped my digital literacy. It all stems from when I was young. Being curious about videos. Being curious on how someone puts together a video. Not only just the technical side of it but also the creative side. Anyone could edit clips in a sequence and make a video, but its more about of hoe to create a story and having an overall theme. Its more important to create emotion in a video. Every edit matters.
IF I didn’t have the digital literacy of intro videos THEN I couldn’t do what I love doing.
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