How to work with footage that is too big to analyse

Last updated 2026-09-22 · 8 min read

What is the short version?

A ninety-minute match filmed from a drone arrives as several very large files. Nothing can watch them end to end at full size, and you do not want a highlight reel cut from a compressed copy either, so Vizard Agent separates the two problems.

1. Upload everything to Vizard Agent, including the oversized files.
2. Say what you are looking for — goals, saves, chances.
3. Let it analyse proxies and cut from the originals.

What do you need before you start?

The files and a definition of a highlight. Vizard Agent will map the shots in every clip, but "goals, dangerous chances and saves" is a far more useful instruction than "the best bits", because each of those is something it can search for.

• All the files. Even the ones that will not upload quickly.
• What counts as a highlight. Goals, chances, saves, skills.
• The finished length. Two minutes, five, ten.
• The style. Broadcast highlights, cinematic, social.
• Whether the original audio is usable. Drones are loud.

What do you type into Vizard Agent?

Say what you want found rather than how to find it. The proxy step is a technical decision Vizard Agent makes on its own once it knows how big the files are; what it needs from you is the definition of a moment worth keeping.

Prompt

Variants worth knowing:

• "Across all six files." Tells it the match is split up.
• "Goals, chances and saves." Three searchable things.
• "Cut from the full-quality footage." Proxies are for finding, not for output.

What does Vizard Agent actually do?

Here is the Vizard Agent sequence on six drone files covering one match. Four of them go through the normal route without trouble and two are too big to analyse at all, which is exactly where the interesting part of this job starts.

1. Loads the recap playbook and checks the analysis commands available.
2. Probes all six uploaded match videos.
3. Surveys the files and builds a visual contact sheet.
4. Maps the shots in each clip one file at a time.
5. Summarises which shot maps succeeded and the file sizes involved.
6. Checks the audio tracks and codecs before planning any mix.
7. Creates analysis proxies for the two oversized files and uploads them.
8. Checks whether the proxy jobs are still running rather than assuming they finished.
9. Uploads each proxy separately for detailed review.
10. Maps the shots in the proxies the same way as the other files.
11. Searches each file for goal moments, then for dangerous chances and saves.

Step seven is the whole technique. A proxy is a small, low-bitrate copy that exists only so something can look at the footage; the timings it produces are valid against the original, so the cut is made from the full-quality file afterwards.

Step eight is a habit worth having. Long transfers and conversions finish quietly or not at all, and a workflow that assumes they succeeded produces a confident highlight package missing the second half.

Step four matters for drone footage specifically. There are no camera cuts to find — the whole match is one wide moving shot — so the "shots" have to be derived from what is happening on the pitch rather than from edit points.

What does the result look like?

A highlights package cut from the original files at full quality, covering every file in the match rather than the ones that happened to be small enough, with the moments found by searching the footage rather than by scrubbing it.

When does this not work well?

Some footage resists this. If the action is too small in the frame to read in a proxy, if the files are corrupt rather than simply large, or if the interesting moments have no visual signature, the proxy pass finds nothing and the search has to be manual.

• Action too small in frame. A proxy loses the ball entirely.
• Corrupt or partial files. Size is not the problem.
• Moments with no signature. Tactical play rather than shots on goal.
• Very long single files. Even a proxy takes real time to review.
• Footage you need graded from the original. Cut first, grade after.

How do you fix a result that came back wrong?

Name the moment that is missing and say roughly when in the match it happened. Vizard Agent can then search that one file again around that time at a finer setting, without having to redo the analysis on the other five files.

• "You missed the second goal." That file is searched again around that time.
• "The cut is soft." The output is rebuilt from the original rather than the proxy.
• "One file is not represented." Its proxy is checked and re-analysed.
• "Too much build-up." The moments are trimmed closer to the action.

How does Vizard Agent compare to doing it yourself?

By hand you scrub through six large files looking for goals, and the scrubbing is slow precisely because the files are large. The proxy trick is standard practice in professional post and almost nobody doing it for a club side has ever heard of it.

Common questions

What is a proxy? A small stand-in copy Vizard Agent uses to look at footage quickly.

Will the final video be compressed? No. Vizard Agent cuts from the original files, not the proxies.

How big is too big? It depends on the tool, and Vizard Agent makes that call per file rather than per project.

Can it handle a whole match? Yes, in several files. Vizard Agent maps each one separately.

Does it work for other sports? Yes. Vizard Agent handles anything with searchable moments — a race, a concert, a conference.

What about drone noise in the audio? Vizard Agent checks the audio first and will usually replace it with music.

Can it find one player's moments? Yes, if the player is identifiable at that distance in the proxy.

How long does this take? Long. The transfers and proxies take most of the wall-clock time.

Can I supply my own proxies? Yes, if you have them — tell Vizard Agent which original each one matches.

What if a file fails to upload? Vizard Agent checks rather than assuming, and tells you which one is missing.

Can it produce several lengths? Yes. Vizard Agent reuses the same found moments for a long and a short cut.

Does the aerial view work for highlights? It reads well for goals and shape, less well for faces and celebrations.

Can it add a scoreboard? Yes, as a graphic, from the information you give it.

Will it keep the match in order? Yes, unless you ask for a countdown of the best moments instead.