In Sports Productions it’s often easy to dismiss an edit as simply being a montage. Sports Production is one of the only forms of video production where it’s become acceptable to slap a bunch of A+ footage together over a killer track and (as long as everything hits a beat) you’re going to make something interesting enough for people to watch.
But everything has a story and in my opinion, your viewers desperately want some sort of linear content that pulls them through the piece.
I recently cut this commercial for C&C Yachts that makes for a good example of finding storyline.

When this project showed up on a hard drive there was ample direction provided on what shots it needed to begin with. The crew walking to the vessel was obviously the beginning, followed by some rigging shots.

When they got to the open water, it was suggested that it could be a mishmash of great shots. Which could have been great! But as I was looking through the footage and listening to the song I’d pulled for the rough cut, I’d noticed there was an amazing build in the track that couldn’t be ignored. The crescendo at 1:10, that’s my key edit. I’ll often place a marker on the song and select the best shot to fit that part of the track. Then I’ll actually build the rest of the edit around that moment. That moment is where your viewer is going to really “feel it.”
You’ll notice that the beginning of the edit contains of lot of shots of sailing upwind, which provides great action and works in unison with the build in the music.
Onboard shots of tacking and the crew trimming the sails gives a wonderful feeling of excitement.

As the viewer approaches the 1:10 minute mark the song finally crescendos. This is my key edit and what better way to hit that beat than with the raising of the spinnaker and see this puppy run?

Producer/Director/Cinematographer Onne van der Wal did an amazing job of pulling together various angles of this moment using a helicopter, on-water chase boat, and multiple GoPro Hero3 cameras positioned around the boat.

In summation, Hip Hop mogul Dr. Dre said it best “Make’em feel it” and adding that extra continuity into you edits to create storyline is a great way to achieve that.