I'm on a mission. A quest. A quest to make great sports videos.

I watch Youtube a lot. Too much. Loads of ski and bike videos. And very often, I stumble upon videos which leave me speechless. Well edited, nice shots, action-oriented, upbeat music, you name it.

Recently, it was these three:

So I thought I'd just start collecting ideas about what makes a great video great!

Ski videos

Here my conclusion is that it all depends on the music. I would recommend to pick the music before starting any editing. I find songs of alternating fast phases and slow phases the best, as you can sort of tell a story. When the rythm is fast and energetic, you can cram in as much action as you want. When it's more relaxed, it's easy to switch to contemplative scenes, landscapes, etc. Here is a music creator on Youtube, who makes great background music for sports-oriented videos. Here's another channel.

Regarding the shots now.

• Avoid shooting in shadow, prefer under sunrays. Likewise, avoid cloudy weather. Foggy weather on the flip side can be nice for a change, for one or two scenes.
• Target people, ideally one person, instead of a group, when skiing. A group is fine on a chairlift, or when everyone has come to a stop.
• Avoid filming people's back. Prefer skiiing by their side (close to them, or at a distance), or ahead of them. It's better to see people's faces.
• Most of the time, film people closely. I find shots where the suject is getting closer and then farther away pretty cool, when there's movement. Likewise, overtaking someone at high speed (or being overtaken) makes really nice shots. But if you're to maintain the same distance, remain close as much as possible.
• Fast-paced skiing scenes are better than slow ones :) except if the subject ends up falling 😁
• Don't forget to record landscapes, mountains, sunsets, etc. Film while being on a chairlift. These scenes are nice for moments when the music slows down.
• Shoot when the sun is out and at sunset/sunrise, when it's very low in the sky. Alternating between different times of the day helps tell a story in a video. For instance, sunsets are nice to end a video.
• Record at 50FPS at times, when the scene has potential to be slowed down. When editing the video, consider speeding up some landscape shots too (or shots of crowds, cities, etc).
• Carving shots make an impression! For these shots, it's fine to film a subject from behind.

Cycling videos

So far, I have not given these types of videos much thought. I'll make sure to come back here and update this article when I do so.

Oh and by the way... Here's my latest attempt at making a cool video 😎: