Customer Reviews

Maryland's March - The Official 2002 NCAA Championship Video [VHS]

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(0)
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2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I feel incredibly cheated having paid full price for this unbelievably awful highlight video. Being an alumnus of University of Maryland, I had such high hopes for this 'official' video of the 2002 NCAA Basketball Championship. I had hopes that it would capture the magic and emotion of Maryland's run to the championship (as well as the rest of the tournament action). This video didn't even come close. Initially, I found myself feeling flat towards the footage and then I began getting angry as I realized what a slip-shod production this was. For the entire first half of the video, until it focuses on the four Final Four teams, the footage consists of nothing more than 5-second clips edited together with production values that were straight out of a high school TV production class. You couldn't get any feel for what was really happening in any single game in those 5-second snippets. The ones where you could actually grasp what was going on chose some of the worst camera angles to show. For example, the 5-second clip the makers chose to show of the final shot of Creighton's dramatic first round upset of Florida was of the facial expression of one of the players on the bench. They didn't show the setup for the shot or the shot taking place. They just showed that stupid kid's face while the shot was being taken and a brief celebration by the player that hit it. With other snippets, you could tell that Gonzaga got eliminated in the first round, but unless you remember the game, you'd have no idea who actually beat them. Of course, with most of the snippets, you would have no clue what was actually happening.

When the video actually began to focus on the respective journeys of each of the Final Four teams to Atlanta, it still came across as rushed and forced. It completely missed the emotion and true intensity of the games. No fan who endured that journey with their team will feel anything resembling nostalgia with this video. I remember vividly what each and every tournament game felt like for the Maryland Terrapins and I know that I would have a better chance at recapturing that feeling by watching a series of cobbled together highlights from the local sports report than from watching this video.

Admittedly, highlight videos are tricky ones to put together. It's more of art form than a science. The people responsible for editing the footage together need to get close to the games and try their best to feel what those games felt like. They need to try and feel what the fan feels in order to be able to capture that emotion on the video. Think of it as 'method acting' for film editors. For a truly shining example of where this was accomplished, you need to look no further than the highlight video of the 2001 World Series between the New York Yankees and Arizona Diamondbacks. Granted, some of the drama in the video directed itself, but there was still the distinct possibility of glossing over that drama and failing to really capture the magic of those games. Yet, the combination narration, actual game footage, film editing, and choice of musical score enabled the video to be almost as dramatic Series was, itself. The buildup is so tremendous that Luis Gonzalez' Series-winning hit in the bottom of the 9th in Game 7 still sends as many chills down my spine as it did when I saw it as it happened. Now, THAT'S how a highlight video should be done. The people who put this video together should have looked at the World Series video for a blueprint on how to do it.

On an additional note, this video could have warranted at least a 2-star (or perhaps even a 3-star) rating if they had actually had the common sense to include the "One Shining Moment" montage that CBS always runs during the closing credits after the championship game. You would think that, given that this is the 'official' championship vide, they would have included it. But, they didn't. It's just one more example of how bush league this video truly is. If you really feel you want to see it, then rent it from your local video store. There's absolutely no reason to see this more than one time. It's a disgrace!

The video doesn't even focus on Maryland for the most part. It seems they already had 3/4 of the video done before the end of tournament, then they could just throw in the championship stuff at the end so they could sell the 'official' video before anything else came out.

The previous reviewer made some excellent points. I really just wanted to second the opinion.

I like championship videos, but this one was awful. Clearly a product of 'quick-to-sell' marketing by CBS. The previous two reviewers were dead on with their comments.