The short answer
Film side-on, in landscape, from about 30 feet, on a tripod, at 120 or 240 frames per second, and keep the whole movement inside the frame. That perpendicular, slow-motion angle is what lets a coach or an AI tool read your joint angles and phases instead of guessing. Get the setup right and even a free first analysis is sharp.
Key takeaways
- Shoot perpendicular to your line of motion, not at an angle, or every measured angle is wrong
- Use landscape orientation so the whole runway, lane, or pit fits in frame
- Film at 120fps for manual review and 240fps when AI skeleton tracking is on
- Stand back about 30 feet and keep the full movement in frame start to finish
- A tripod and consistent setup let you compare clips week to week
- Good light, ideally daylight, keeps the footage clean enough to analyze
The one rule that decides everything: shoot perpendicular
The single biggest mistake in self-filming is shooting from an angle. If your camera is not square to your line of motion, every joint angle, every stride length, every measurement is distorted before analysis even starts. Dartfish, the long-standing standard in sports video, is blunt about it: position yourself in line with the markers so the athlete is captured laterally, with the body perpendicular to the track. A photo taken without accurate perspective will always give incorrect calculations.
So the default for almost every event is side-on and square. Stand on a line that runs at 90 degrees to the direction you are moving, point the camera straight across, and let yourself run, jump, or throw through the frame. That perpendicular plane is the one a human coach reads and the only one a pose-estimation model can measure cleanly in two dimensions.
Quick check before you press record
Stand the phone where the camera lens sits 90 degrees to your path. If you can see the lane lines running flat across the screen, not fanning toward a corner, your perspective is right.
Source: Dartfish, Athlete Performance Filming Tips
Landscape, always (with one exception)
Turn the phone sideways. Landscape orientation gives you the horizontal room to keep a full runway, sprint lane, or throwing sector in frame, and it matches the way nearly every analysis tool expects to read video. CoachNow, which builds athlete video tools, recommends landscape for most sports and reserves portrait only for tall vertical events. For track that exception is narrow: a high jump or a pole vault clearance, where the athlete travels mostly up, can justify portrait. Everything with a horizontal run reads better wide.
Stand back about 30 feet
Distance is a balance. Too close and the movement runs out of the frame before you capture the phase you care about. Too far and the athlete is too small for the software to find the joints. About 30 feet (roughly 9 to 10 meters) is the working default for a single movement like a start, a takeoff, or a throw. For events with a long approach, back up further and frame wider so the whole runway fits, the way Dartfish suggests filming jumps from further away with a panoramic view.
Filming distance and framing by movement
Start here, then adjust so the whole phase stays in frame.
| What you are filming | Rough distance | Framing goal |
|---|---|---|
| Block start / drive phase | ~30 ft | Blocks to about 15m out |
| Max-velocity sprint | 30 to 40 ft | One full stride cycle, mid-run |
| Long or triple jump | 40+ ft | Last strides plus the pit |
| Throw (shot, discus, javelin) | ~25 to 30 ft | Whole circle or runway plus release |
| Pole vault / high jump | back and wide | Plant or takeoff through the bar |
Frame rate: why 120 or 240 fps matters
Normal video runs at 24 or 30 frames per second, and at sprint speed that smears the fastest part of every movement into a blur. To freeze a foot strike or a release you need a high frame rate. CoachNow calls 60fps the absolute minimum, recommends 120fps for manual high-speed review of sprinting and throwing, and highly recommends 240fps when AI skeleton tracking is involved, because the extra frames cut motion blur and give the model a cleaner shape to track.
The slow-motion sweet spot
At 30fps you can hide flaws; at 210 or more frames per second they become crystal clear, with every part of the stride visible. Most modern phones shoot 120fps or 240fps slow motion in their camera settings.
Source: Science of Running, The Poor Man's High Speed Video Analysis
On an iPhone or recent Android, slow-motion mode is usually 120fps or 240fps. Switch it on. One caution from BoxCast: anything above 60fps is treated as slow motion and often records no audio, which is fine for form analysis since you are watching, not listening.
Filming solo: tripod and stable options
You do not need a person behind the camera, but you do need the camera to hold still. A shaky handheld clip makes joint tracking jump frame to frame. Use a tripod if you have one. If you do not, improvise a stable, level base and keep the same setup every time.
- A phone tripod with a phone clamp, set to about hip-to-chest height
- A mini tripod or gorillapod on a bench, fence rail, or hurdle
- Your gym bag braced against a cone or wall to prop the phone level
- A teammate holding the phone steady with both hands, locked to a fixed spot
- Whatever you choose, keep the same height and distance week to week so clips compare
CoachNow's advice on consistency is worth following: lock in one filming setup and reuse it for two to four weeks so the only thing that changes between clips is your technique, not the camera. That is what makes a before-and-after actually mean something.
Keep the whole movement in frame
An analysis is only as good as what the camera caught. If the start is cut off, or the foot leaves the bottom of the frame at takeoff, the most important instant is gone. Before your real rep, do a dry run: walk or jog through the movement while the camera records, then check the playback. Did the full phase stay inside the frame from first move to finish? If the athlete drifts out, back up or widen, do not zoom in.
Don't crop out the answer
Resist zooming in tight. The phase that costs you, a heel that floats up at toe-off or a hip that drops over the bar, often lives at the edge of the movement. Frame loose and keep all of it.
Source: CoachNow, Best Practices for Recording Sports Video
Light, surface, and a few last details
Shoot in good light, ideally daylight. Filming guides for sprint apps warn that dim or flickering artificial light can blur fast motion and throw off analysis. Put the sun behind the camera, not behind you, so you are lit and not a silhouette. Wear fitted clothing if you can, because loose fabric changes your outline and makes joints harder to find. Then film one clean, full-effort rep rather than ten rushed ones.
Now upload the clip
With the camera square, landscape, 30 feet back, on a tripod, and rolling at 120 or 240fps, you have exactly the footage analysis is built for. Upload that rep to Track & Field AI and it grades the technique frame by frame, flags the phase costing you time or height, and gives you the cue to fix it. Want the angle dialed in for your specific event? See the camera angle guide for each event, then go film.
Sources