His 20-plus Ohio State-themed highlight videos have amassed almost half a million views on Youtube and have garnered high praise from the online Buckeye community. Not bad for a full time Ohio State business school student who took up video editing less than two years ago.
Alex Coates is Lexco44, the online alias he posts videos under. The alias stands for the merging of Alex’s first name with his last name Coates.
While Alex Coates is not a known name to Buckeye fans, Lexco44’s extensive work making professional looking highlight videos has drawn the attention of tens of thousands of Buckeye fans.
Most recent videos (Please note some videos contain explicit lyrics not suitable for children):
Chris Wells for Heisman
Ohio State- Where Amazing Happens
Malcolm Jenkins Highlight Video
2007 Season Highlight Video
The Tressel Fan Impact
Born and raised in Cincinnati, son to a “casual” Buckeye fan, Alex quickly developed into a full-fledged Buckeye supporter during the Tressel era.
“I became a big time fan when Tressel took over and won the national championship,” says Coates.
When it came to applying for college, Coates only applied to two schools hoping he would get into his first choice of Ohio State.
“I was pretty set on Ohio State. I always wanted to go there.”
A Newfound Hobby
Coates enrolled at Ohio State in fall of 2006, around the same time he started making videos and posting them onto Youtube.
“I just watched some videos online and just thought I could do it. I gave it a try, and just fell in love with it I guess,” recalls Coates.
Coates made a first series of videos that were well all well received, which furthered his interest in the hobby.
Highlight Video Making 101
With over two dozen videos, Coates has evolved his process in making videos into a near science.
Coates starts the process by downloading the entire game onto his computer via a torrent. Once he has the game footage, he watches the entire game from start the finish before viewing it again, but this time saving individual clips.
The clips are then put into editing software called Sony Vegas Video, where Coates can begin to add text, effects, and music. Coates puts a high premium on finding a soundtrack matches the theme of the game or player and subsequently meshes the highlights to match the tempo of the song.
“It usually takes me about four hours to go through the video and save all the clips. Once I have the clips it might take about another three hours to make a video. However a whole season video can take 10 hours.”
Family, Friends, and Fans React
Coates justifies the time spent making the videos as something he enjoys doing and something that entertains himself and fellow fans. Despite being impressed with Alex’s proficiency in making videos, his parents still find areas they believe need improvement.
“They show them to a bunch of friends and family, but they do not approve of some of the lyrics in some of the songs,” he said. “I try to find edited songs to basically appease my parents. They especially liked my Where Amazing Happens video because it had no words and showed it to my grandparents, my aunt and uncle, and my dad tells people about it at work.”
Looking Back at a Impressive Portfolio
Coates admits that he wasn’t sure if he was going to keep on making videos in the early days and is pessimistic that being video editor will one day be his full time job. Regardless, Coates has built an impressive portfolio of videos in less than two years.
The NBA Where Amazing Happens video is one of Coates’ best achievements, earning praise from far and wide in the Buckeye fan community.
“My friend Andy came up with the idea of it, and I thought it was a great idea… It’s rewarding to see all the positive feedback on Youtube and elsewhere.”
Looking back, Coates has a handful of personal favorites including recent releases of Chris Wells and Malcolm Jenkins (his favorite current player). However Coates identifies four particular videos as his favorites.
“I like both the season videos I made for 2006 and 2007. Another one that sticks out is my Texas video as it was the first video I was really impressed with. I also like my second Troy Smith Heisman video, which was linked to in a Sports Illustrated article, so that sticks out.”
Remnants of Fall
Coates’ high quality work allows thousands of Buckeye fans to relive past glory as well as look ahead to an optimistic future. Coates plans on making a handful of additional videos before the season including a 2008 preview video.
Similar to many Bucknuts experiencing football withdrawal, Coates is looking forward to September with much anticipation. However, Coates has the added satisfaction knowing that the fall brings a new season of material to create videos that act as celebratory and nostalgic looks back at the most exciting time of the year.
