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Anyone film their matches?

dscl

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Minuteman
Jan 12, 2021
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Illinois
Just curious if anyone out there films their matches in an effort to approve. I have a GoPro laying around that I could use, but being new to shooting in general I'm not sure how I would leverage the footage.
 
I think you would be miles ahead filming practice sessions. Set the camera up to watch how you address the rifle, the stage, and the target.
 
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Its standard procedure for handgun shooters.

I film myself practicing even.

It gives you some self awareness of things you may be doing, but don't notice. You can also solict feedback from people. You can zero in on things like
where is the recoil going?
how was your breathing?
Did you f up a reload?
Trigger press and follow

Its endless.
 
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Yes.


Last match RO called some penalty on my shooting partner. I replayed the footage and RO had to backtrack his bullshit. He wasn’t even in a position to make the call but his buddy said it happened so it happened….until they saw it didn’t happen.


cost too much to play these games to have a top finish taken away because you are at someone else’s range.
 
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Yep, I have someone take video of every stage when I shoot a match. Good for review afterwards, and for sharing with others to try and get them involved. 🙂
 
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Its standard procedure for handgun shooters.

I film myself practicing even.

It gives you some self awareness of things you may be doing, but don't notice. You can also solict feedback from people. You can zero in on things like
where is the recoil going?
how was your breathing?
Did you f up a reload?
Trigger press and follow

Its endless.

Exactly
 
I’d definitely record practice sessions. As far as matches, I won’t say don’t do it, but will just advise some caution.

I see far, far too many shooters more concerned with setting up cameras or getting other shooters to film them, but trading that for time on glass or preparing for a stage mentally.

If you have a plan/system that you can set up fast and still be properly prepared for the stage, go for it.

Also, unless you’re at the top of your game or have some other goal, just use the footage for your own betterment. Far too many people are mid pack or less shooters and spend hours on editing footage for YouTube instead of dry firing or being on the range. If that’s your goal, cool. But if your goal is to become better, postpone YouTube until it makes sense.
 
But if your goal is to become better, postpone YouTube until it makes sense.

Or just post it raw. Aside from trimming any BSing before the buzzer, I don’t edit videos I post. A) Why? I don’t care if I look perfect, and 2) others can see my mistakes which holds me accountable and opens the door for them to offer advice or suggestions.

Most stages only last 90-120sec anyway, so editing is fairly pointless, IMO. Let the world see your flaws, too much of social media is about trying to look perfect and everybody knows your full of shit when you do it, so why bother? 🤣 But maybe that’s just me…
 
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This could be from any/every video I’ve ever taken at a rifle match. Not sure what I’m supposed to get from 90-120 sec of tactical twerk…

625399CC-369C-49EF-9EAC-4E11F109FF12.png
 
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I (my son usually) will record random stages for me so I can go back and review what I did/didn't correctly/incorrectly and critique for improvement or continuity and or adding and refining my mental "shooter ready? / standby / engage" checklist that I run through in my head.

Do the same once in a while with dry fire practice in the yard on a barricade.
 
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GoPro footage is next to worthless for assessing your performance. Everything looks faster than it is and targets look further/smaller and you often aren't pointing your head at all the things you're doing wrong. Looks cool for the gram though I guess.
Third person is where it's at for catching mistakes and making improvements, both in practice and matches. Some people don't have an eye for honest self evaluation, if that's you have some dickhead with skills watch it, he'll catch all the suck and be sure to tell you about it.
 
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Yes.


Last match RO called some penalty on my shooting partner. I replayed the footage and RO had to backtrack his bullshit. He wasn’t even in a position to make the call but his buddy said it happened so it happened….until they saw it didn’t happen.


cost too much to play these games to have a top finish taken away because you are at someone else’s range.
That's crazy! Hopefully that sort of thing is rare.

I’d definitely record practice sessions. As far as matches, I won’t say don’t do it, but will just advise some caution.

I see far, far too many shooters more concerned with setting up cameras or getting other shooters to film them, but trading that for time on glass or preparing for a stage mentally.

If you have a plan/system that you can set up fast and still be properly prepared for the stage, go for it.

Also, unless you’re at the top of your game or have some other goal, just use the footage for your own betterment. Far too many people are mid pack or less shooters and spend hours on editing footage for YouTube instead of dry firing or being on the range. If that’s your goal, cool. But if your goal is to become better, postpone YouTube until it makes sense.
Yeah, intent here is to get better not for YouTube of the Gram

GoPro footage is next to worthless for assessing your performance. Everything looks faster than it is and targets look further/smaller and you often aren't pointing your head at all the things you're doing wrong. Looks cool for the gram though I guess.
Third person is where it's at for catching mistakes and making improvements, both in practice and matches. Some people don't have an eye for honest self evaluation, if that's you have some dickhead with skills watch it, he'll catch all the suck and be sure to tell you about it.
It wasn't clear from my post, but the intent was going to be to use the GoPro with it attached to my spotting tripod setup -- not a POV from my head or anything.
 
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Or just post it raw.

Or just don't post it at all in places where all you get is bullshit advice.

I've never seen one single match video (talking USPSA, my game) that got any constructive input on any social media, youtube included. 99% of the comments are from mouthbreathers wanting to know what shoes/trigger/holster/belt/shirt/mods is the person in the video "running"

If you want useful advice from video (in USPSA) pay someone like Steve Anderson or PSTG (Ben Stoeger/Joel Park/Hwansik Kim) to do so. Don't know if any high level PRS guy is banking on a similar service.

If you want it for free, share it with a friend in the sport that is much better than you
 
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but the intent was going to be to use the GoPro with it attached to my spotting tripod setup -- not a POV from my head or anything.

Agreed. POV video is not very useful to diagnose what you're doing. It's borderline useless, actually.
 
I see far, far too many shooters more concerned with setting up cameras or getting other shooters to film them, but trading that for time on glass or preparing for a stage mentally.

The ones I see do that in USPSA are the same ones that fail to prep well for the stage no matter what. It's either lack of experience or they just only care about looking cool for the gram.
 
I've never seen one single match video (talking USPSA, my game) that got any constructive input on any social media, youtube included. 99% of the comments are from mouthbreathers wanting to know what shoes/trigger/holster/belt/shirt/mods is the person in the video "running"
It used to be back in the golden era of the Enos forum that you could post videos asking for advice and a bunch of GM's would give it to you straight. Not sure if there's enough traffic for that now.
 
It used to be back in the golden era of the Enos forum that you could post videos asking for advice and a bunch of GM's would give it to you straight. Not sure if there's enough traffic for that now.

Gotcha. Doubt there are too many GMs on there now. They might be lurking, but it seems most of the advice giving is from B-C class dudes.

Anyhow, I meant YT, IG, and FB when talking about social media.
 
Are you kidding or can you seriously not see the value in replaying what you did?

I hope it's the former.
A bit of both. I see the value, but not from video hastily assembled during prep time and shot from one angle. I video matches so that my wife can see her boys shooting together.

Now, if I could get a behind the shooter aspect , from the strong side aspect, and from in front of the shooter. That would be a benefit.
 
A bit of both. I see the value, but not from video hastily assembled during prep time and shot from one angle.

When my buddies and I video each other, we kinda know where to be to get the most useful video. It just comes naturally after your noob season.
 
Gotcha. Doubt there are too many GMs on there now. They might be lurking, but it seems most of the advice giving is from B-C class dudes.

Anyhow, I meant YT, IG, and FB when talking about social media.
I know of a few GM's that have given up trying to help. They got tired of getting shouted down by C's.
 
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I film myself when dry fire practicing, working on building positions and transitioning to another position, just to help me identify where I'm wasting movements or can find more efficient ways of movement from one position to another and eliminating wasted movements. Sometimes I'd like to get some 'on the clock' footage to see where I could be better, but I'm keenly aware of how much of this game is mental and I don't want to distract my friends who have their own match to shoot and are doing their mental preparations. Occasionally someone is nice and surprises me after a stage and says, "I filmed that for you" which is always appreciated.
 
Or just don't post it at all in places where all you get is bullshit advice.

I've never seen one single match video (talking USPSA, my game) that got any constructive input on any social media, youtube included. 99% of the comments are from mouthbreathers wanting to know what shoes/trigger/holster/belt/shirt/mods is the person in the video "running"

If you want useful advice from video (in USPSA) pay someone like Steve Anderson or PSTG (Ben Stoeger/Joel Park/Hwansik Kim) to do so. Don't know if any high level PRS guy is banking on a similar service.

If you want it for free, share it with a friend in the sport that is much better than you

Sure, that's an option as well.

Or you can just ignore the mouthbreathers and let them do their thing while you do yours. In my case, I'm not followed by enough people on YT to get the BS, and I control my social group on other media platforms so I don't have the troglodytes and other neckbeards who have no idea what they're doing. Therefore, when I do get feedback, it's not full of bullshit, LOL.
 
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Filming yourself shooting is an awesome training tool. Seeing what you are doing is way more valuable than being told a lot of the time. If I have someone point out an issue, and see myself doing it on video, I find that is very helpful in correcting the problem.

Its easier in practice than during a match, but the match is probably the best test to see how you are performing under stress. My son and I film each other a lot, and I always get something out of the footage.
 
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