High Schoolers Get Creative With Highlight Films
By Eli Saslow
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, May 21, 2005
Tony Marino spent almost an hour on his computer editing video of his football games to create a one-play highlight. When he finished, he leaned back from the screen and admired perhaps the most spectacular play of his Broadneck high school career.
Marino, a quarterback, dropped back in the pocket and threw a high-arching, 38-yard pass to Jordan Sokel in the end zone, giving the Bruins a 21-0 lead over Thomas Stone in the 2003 4A East Region final.
"Unbelievable play," Marino said.
If only it had actually happened.
The play on Marino's computer was actually the blended result of two entirely separate football plays: one a simple pass by Marino; the other a 38-yard touchdown pass actually thrown by Broadneck's Andrew Holland. Using relatively basic video editing techniques he learned in class, Marino combined the two plays seamlessly to create a fictional highlight -- one that reflected his computer aptitude, not his athleticism.
And while Marino, a senior who's headed to Towson University, only doctored his highlight to get a laugh out of a few friends, he exemplified a problem that's beginning to make college coaches leery: Are highlight videos, long relied upon during the college recruiting process, still worth trusting?
There's never been a reported case of a high school athlete doctoring a recruiting tape -- perhaps because a well-spliced tape would be indistinguishable -- and some coaches said they have never even considered the possibility. Those who have, though, are beginning to fear the implications of a doctored recruiting video at a time when athletic scholarships can be worth $200,000.
"The kids are so good on the computer now that they can do these special effects," Towson Coach Gordy Combs said. "It's like Hollywood. How do you know what's real and what isn't?"
Often, it's impossible to tell.
In the media production class at Broadneck, students learn almost as much about distorting reality as they do about reflecting it. Five football players have used the media production class -- taught each term by junior varsity football coach Ross Stimley -- to create highlight videos.
At least six other schools in Anne Arundel County offer a similar class. While neither Maryland nor Virginia keeps track of how many schools offer media production classes, Stimley estimated that at least one-third do. More than 900 students in Montgomery County entered a school district media festival this year. Fairfax County offers a centralized television and video production program to all of its students.
The Broadneck class uses iMovie, a program that comes with a standard Apple computer, for most of its video editing. On the right side of the iMovie display is a list of options to distort footage. Some have silly effects: An earthquake feature causes the movie to shake violently. Some look convincing: A rain option can make a quarterback seem competent in nasty weather.
"You can do anything, any kind of feature you want," Stimley said. "You just have to be willing to take the time to learn the program. Then anything's possible."
Said Marino, standing nearby: "With a few edits, you can create a different reality. Say you're talking and you said one thing. Well, I can edit that and make it look like you said the exact opposite. Same thing with football."
It's an enticing possibility for high school players who think a highlight video could make or break their recruitment. Some high schoolers send out 50 videos -- usually about 10 minutes long -- to colleges in hopes of catching a coach's attention.
Jonah Bassett, the video coordinator for the University of Maryland football team, is often surprised by the effort put into highlight videos that account for only a brief stage in the recruiting process. Bassett spends four days each week during the season editing and putting together motivational, pregame highlight videos for the Terrapins.
"It's exhausting, and sometimes you wonder how much time a player should be putting into one of those things," Bassett said. "Sure, a coach might be wowed by a highlight -- fake or not. But then he's going to call your coach, watch you play, visit your family and everything else. Nobody's getting a scholarship off a tape."
Nonetheless, Combs, the Towson coach, said he receives several hundred recruiting videos each year. Even though he tries to have at least one assistant coach watch every video, the tapes and DVDs sometimes get lost or pile up in closets and boxes.
"You can't keep track of all of them," Combs said.
So some high school football players send eye-catching packages to make their highlight videos stand out. Marino sometimes wrapped his DVD in a color copy of a newspaper article about him. Other players, Combs said, print out special labels or order personalized cases for their DVDs.
It is, Marino said, an endless search for the upper hand. So what's to prevent a player from going one step further and doctoring his video?
"Nothing. I'd bet some kids are already messing with them," said Trey Perrone, who used to work for PrepAmerica Sports Video, based in Fredericksburg. "Editing has become so easy that anybody can be an expert. With a few clicks, you can cut one player out and put him on an entirely different playing surface, in an entirely different game."
Perrone said that PrepAmerica Sports Video, which used to specialize in high school recruiting videos, hasn't made a highlight video in about six months. The dry spell boils down to simple economics: PrepAmerica Sports Video charged as much as $2,000 to videotape four games and produce a highlight tape.
Now, Perrone said, a family can buy a computer with iMovie and a digital camcorder for almost half that amount -- and do it without sacrificing quality.
Football players at DeMatha, which sent 17 players to Division I-A or Division I-AA schools last season, make their own highlight videos at school using a Landro machine, a play analyzing and video editing system. DeMatha Coach Bill McGregor encourages his players to make their highlight films as basic as possible.
"But sometimes they don't want simple," McGregor said. "They'll find ways to add music, use slow motion, sound effects -- all of that."
Brett Cheplowitz, a Broadneck offensive lineman also headed to Towson, created a highlight video that's a testament to do-it-yourself ingenuity. With Stimley's help, Cheplowitz found a way to run plays in slow motion and circle his image, making an otherwise-indistinguishable lineman easy to pick out.
Marino, too, benefited from iMovie's features. In his recruiting video, editing makes him look even more dramatic than the quarterback who led Broadneck to the state championship game in 2003.
The highlight video starts with a slow fade from a still picture of Marino, in full uniform, staring down at the camera. Then the opening screams of Ozzy Osbourne's song "Crazy Train" blast in the background, and a tightly edited series of highlights -- some in slow motion, some in fast -- begins.
It's an impressive collection of touchdown passes -- even without the fictional 38-yarder against Thomas Stone. But Marino sometimes wondered if it would be good enough.
"When you've got hundreds of kids sending out a similar tape, everyone's looking for an edge," Marino said. "I'm sure there are people out there thinking: 'Man, if I could just get rid of that linebacker or edit out that dropped pass, this tape could get me to college.' "