Fan Tagger
A new way to experience sports

Any parent that has watched their children participate in youth sports knows the story. You either fumble with your phone or camera in hopes of capturing the magic moment of a great play or highlight; or you focus on the game and the memory of greatness fades like the setting sun. Even when the games are recorded - how will you ever find the time to sift through hundreds of hours of games for the few minutes that we really want to see again?

Any parent that has watched their children participate in youth sports knows the story. You either fumble with your phone or camera in hopes Fan Tagger introduces a new way to watch and remember the game. Fans can easily tag the game live as it's happening without worrying about trying to find the moment again. Anyone from a parent with a stationary camera to a professional videographer records the game. When it's over the tags and the video come together for permanent memories.

The Fan Tagger Apps

The Fan Tagger system is composed of several applications working together to make tagging, recording, highlighting, and viewing easy for everyone.

Fan Tagger is an easy to use iPhone app that lets anyone create tags from any event.
Fan Tagger Web is a web-based version of Fan Tagger. Note that this version is not as full featured as the iPhone app.
Tag Set Creator is a web app to create custom tag sets for use with either the App version or the Web version of Fan Tagger.
Fan Tag Monitor is designed to let the videographer tag events while recording the event.
Fan Tag Editor is designed for the video producer to easily make highlight reels from the recorded events and everyone's tags.

How Fan Tagger Works

Fan Tagger needs three things - first we need a camera recording the game; second we need fans, parents, the videographer, or anyone tagging the game; and third we need someone to put it all together. The good news is that the cameras are easy to find these days. It's very common to see several cameras on a single game. Here we see a wide range - it could be parents taking clips with their phone, a videographer shooting professionally, someone streaming the event, fixed cameras for recording or live streaming, an A/V club project, or really anything else.

The Fan Tagger, Fan Tagger Web, and Fan Tag Monitor apps cover the second part. During the game, the cameras roll, capturing everything live. At the same time, anyone with one of the Fan Tagger tagging apps can pinpoint events in the game they want to see again. Some plays are obvious - scoring and defensive blocks. Others, are just as important to showing and remembering individual player's skills; but are often overlooked - a key tackle that leads to a goal, an assist, a great pass to cut through defenses, a blocked shot. These are the highlights that Fan Tagger makes easy. A simple keyword or two in a tag to instantly get back to that point in the game is all it takes. Scrubbing through the video without tags - the context is lost quickly and many plays look similar. With the tag and the keyword, you are instantly back to that point and remember the details.

The third part - bringing it all together is the hardest part. The video recorded by all these cameras ends up anywhere - some goes to YouTube as a live stream and the original is never saved. Some is relegated to an SD card or hard drive on a shelf. Some stays on a cell phone until the next upgrade. Some is saved on a system that is not publicly available. Fan Tagger takes a progressive approach to this problem. In the first phase we work with videographers and content owners to enable them to easily combine tags and recorded video to clip and edit personalized highlight reels for clients or friends. The next phase will enable fans to use their tags to search for content and preview and order highlight reels from the content owners.