Filming guide

Your phone is all the camera we need.

Good analysis starts with usable footage — and usable footage is easy. Five rules, the right angle for your package, and you're done. No gear, no editing, no trimming: send it straight from your camera roll.

The five rules

Get these right and everything else is optional.

1

Landscape. Always.

Turn the phone sideways before you press record. Vertical video cuts off the one thing we need to see — the whole swimmer moving through the water.

2

Whole swimmer in frame

Fingertips to toes, entry to exit. Stand back far enough that you never have to chase them with the camera. Wider is always better than closer.

3

Hold still

Brace your elbows, lean on a rail, or prop the phone on a water bottle. A steady wide shot beats a shaky zoom every single time. Don't zoom mid-clip.

4

Full swims, not fragments

Each clip should be one complete effort, start to finish — a full length or a whole race. A 19-second 50 free is perfect; a ten-second mid-pool snippet isn't. Past 3 minutes, nothing new is happening.

5

Race pace, not drill pace

We analyze what happens when they're actually swimming. Moderate-to-strong effort for stroke work; for races, obviously, the race itself.

Don't edit anything

No trimming, no filters, no slow-mo — that's our job, and edits throw off the frame timing we use. Upload the raw clip exactly as filmed.

Camera angles

Where to stand, in order of value.

You don't need every angle — the first one on each list does most of the work. Extra angles are a bonus, never a requirement.

For a Stroke Analysis
  1. Side view, standing still — stand at mid-pool, level with the water, and let them swim through the frame. This is the money shot: body line, catch, kick, and timing all live here.
  2. Side view, walking along — same angle, but walk the length with them a few strides back. Adds stroke-rate context across a whole length.
  3. Head-on — from the end of their lane (deck or blocks). Shows crossover, breathing symmetry, and hand entry width.

Underwater? If you happen to have a pool-safe camera, a side-on underwater clip is gold — but it's completely optional. Most of our analyses are done from above-water phone footage.

For a Race Analysis
  1. Elevated side view — film from the stands, roughly level with the middle of the pool. High enough to see every wall, wide enough to keep the whole race in frame.
  2. Start to finish, one clip — begin recording before the whistle and keep rolling through the finish. Starts, breakouts, turns, and the last 15 meters are where races are decided; don't stop early.
  3. Keep neighbors in frame — don't zoom in tight on your swimmer. Seeing the lanes beside them is how we read pacing against the field.

Bonus: a second short clip of the start from behind the blocks, if someone else can film it. Nice to have, never required.

What to send

One analysis, in practice.

Stroke Analysis

2–4 clips of one stroke, including at least one full length from the side. Same session is ideal — we're reading one version of the stroke, not three different days.

Race Analysis

The whole race in one clip, plus the behind-the-blocks start if you have it. Tell us the event and the goal time in the notes — it changes what we look for.

Season Pack

Each credit works exactly like the single packages — pick stroke or race per submission. Between videos, swim the priorities we gave you; that's what makes the next comparison worth it.

Common questions

Before you press record.

How do I actually send you the video?

Through your member portal — no email attachments, no Dropbox links, no file-sharing accounts. Create your account, pick a package, and the upload page takes video straight from your phone's camera roll. Big files upload in resumable chunks, so shaky pool-deck wifi picks up where it left off instead of starting over.

How long until we get the analysis back?

Most analyses come back within 3–5 days. You'll get an email the moment it's posted to your portal, and every past analysis stays there for good.

What if the footage isn't usable?

We'll tell you exactly what to re-shoot and why, and the re-shoot won't cost you a credit. It almost never happens if the five rules above are followed.

Do we need underwater video?

No. Underwater footage is a nice bonus if you have the equipment, but our analyses are built around above-water phone video — that's what the drawn-on markup and voiceover are designed for.

My swimmer doesn't compete. Is this still for us?

Absolutely. Fitness swimmers, triathletes, summer-league kids, adults learning proper technique — a stroke analysis works the same way for all of them. Only the race analysis assumes an actual race.

What equipment do I need?

A phone from the last several years. That's the honest answer. Tripods, gimbals, and action cams are all fine if you have them, but none of them will change what we can tell you.

Ready?

Film it this week. We'll take it from there.

Pick a package, upload through your portal, and the analysis lands back in 3–5 days.