Virtual-based backup

We are very new to the world of virtualisation and backing up virtualised servers. I am interested in the process for performing a virtual based backup BUT with excluding certain folders from the backup set.  The reason for this is that one of our servers has a lot of 'static' data that does not need to be backed up every week.  As such I would like to exclude these folders from the normal weekly/incremental backup cycles.  Could someone advise on:

1.  Can folders be excluded from this type of backup?

2.  If so, where in the backup setup process can you specify the the folders / sub-folders to be excluded?

Thanks for any assistance