We are now full into the swing of the ski season in the Northern Hemisphere, which means the number of videos posted for MA (motion analysis) will be exploding over the next few months. However, some videos are better than others for doing motion analysis. So here are some tips to get the best out of your video so we can give you the best advice.
- No POV- POV shots, like GoPro, are fun to show your friends, but useless for MA. In order to analyze your skiing, we need to be able to see you. The most we see in a POV shot are ski tips and maybe hands. This applies to analyzing the person wearing the camera. If you can get someone else to wear a camera and ski along with you in frame, that is actually ideal.
- No vertical shots- If you are recording on a smartphone, make sure the person shooting is holding the phone horizontally. A vertical video will automatically be shrunken to fit a standard screen, which makes it hard to see.
- Get multiple angles- Have the person shooting your video record you as you ski down to them, pass them, and ski down away from them. We use different angles to assess different things in skiing. Just an approach shot can tell us some things, but a multiple angle shot can tell us a whole lot more.
- High-Resolution is your friend- Shoot your video at as high a resolution as is feasible, and upload in hi def. Yes, we can figure things out from a 240p video, but it's a lot easier to spot what's going on if you're in 720p or greater. While you're at it, if you can shoot at 60fps or more, go for it. It makes it easier to slow down if needed.
- Make sure the lighting is consistent- Smartphone camera sensors are great at adapting to most daytime lighting conditions, but only one at a time. If it's cloudy, you're fine. If the sun is out, make sure you are not shooting in a place where you are going in and out of shadows. The camera will adapt to the sunny part, and you wont be able to see the shadowed part.
- Shoot on appropriate terrain- Unless you are asking something that has to do with the challenge of the terrain, such as "my form breaks down when it gets steep/bumpy/icy", shoot your video on terrain that is not overly challenging to you. We can assess your issues in fundamental technique much better when you are not in survival mode. (Unless you are always in survival mode. Then just give us what you've got).