How NOT to Video a Run
No, Karen, it is not acceptable for you to video the run in portrait view — and for goodness sakes, make sure you get our time!
Ladies, Gentlemen, Moms, Dads, Nanas, Grandpas, Sisters, Brothers, Cousins, Uncles — for goodness sakes please listen to us when we explain to you how we would like you to video our run! It is heartbreaking when we get our phone back after a fabulous performance and the video is not up to par. The video starts off great and then, whoops, the camera stays in place and we’re turning our second barrel out of the frame.
I’m going to take it a step further than that and vocalize how upset we get when y’all video behind a pole, video the ground or, better yet, take pictures the entire time instead of videoing.
This task is a difficult but important one. Believe me when I say there is a science behind videoing us while we’re in the pen. If you want us to stop yelling and stomping around like 12 year olds when we see our poor videos, please take note of these very simple ways to improve your videoing skills.
1. Video Landscape
Please, please, please, for the love of all things holy, if you do not take anything else from this article, turn the phone sideways when you video. When you film in portrait we can’t even watch our horse move two strides. Grandma, turn the phone and hold it with both hands. I swear you’ll capture more than our first barrel if you do this! You will be amazed at how much of the pattern you can fit in the frame of the camera if you just turn the phone sideways.
2. Get Our Time
A year from now when we compare our current run to last year’s run, we will not remember our time. Heck, we won’t remember our time two weeks out. We’ll accept just continuing to run the video as the announcer announces our time as progress, but know we will eventually expect you to zoom in on the timer so that we can also see our time on the video. If we accomplish a new personal best, or we’re running at the top of the 1D and you don’t get the time, did it really even happen?
3. Watch the Video
We know you want to watch our run and scream at us to kick, look, sit, ride, etc., but concentrate on the video, Karen! You have one job — keep your eye on the video. Do not watch us as we make our run, watch the phone. This common mistake leads to you videoing our horse’s legs, the camera staying at the first barrel while we’re making our way to the third or, worst case scenario, a 30 second video of the ground. Leave the screaming and micromanaging to our friends and other family members and complete the task at hand.
4. Start Videoing When the Announcer Calls Our Name
You see dad, you think you have time to pull the phone out, get to the camera and start videoing when they call our name. YOU DO NOT HAVE TIME! We’ve got a thousand pound animal between our legs that is ready to take off into the pattern. This 15.1hh fiery mare isn’t going to wait while you fumble around in your pockets to find your phone. You’ve heard the announcer say we were in the hole, on deck and now in the pen. Pretty, pretty please, be prepared. Not to mention the fact that we love to hear how the announcer butchers our name when we’re watching the video later.
5. Pick a Prime Location
Okay, now I’m just being particular. This seems like common sense to most, but I can’t tell you how many times our siblings and family members want to continue chatting and end up videoing a pole or the back of someone’s head instead of our run. There has been really good footage of poles that come in so clear we can see where the paint is chipping and what kind of metal the pole is made of. This is not helpful and when you become a repeat offender, we start to ask some stranger’s dad because we feel like we have a better chance of getting a quality video from an innocent bystander.
And one more thing, if you want to jump and scream and micromanage us while we’re making our run, for the love of Pete, please hand the phone to the nearest stranger and give them these instructions because we all know within the first three seconds of the video, you’ll be recording grass growing.
I’m not necessarily giving you homework, but if you have videoed a run, please, for the competitor’s sake, go and review your videoing skills. Once you have mastered videoing our runs, we will only tell our closest friends, or else you’ll be videoing stranger’s runs as well (it’s hard to find a good videographer).
Above all else, thank you for taking the time to support us, jump and scream for us and video our runs. We appreciate it more than you know — especially when it’s done right.
