Filming guide

How to film a match so the app can follow every player and put names on them. The first three matter most. Print this for whoever holds the camera.

Before kick-off

1. 1
   Record in 4K (3840 × 2160) Names come from shirt numbers, so the digits have to be in the picture. The app takes 1080p and up and measures the footage before anything runs; 4K is what reads numbers reliably. Use the 4K setting, not "HD".
2. 2
   Film from high up, level with the halfway line A stand, a tower or a scaffold, 5 m or more. From a low tripod players hide behind each other, and the far side of the pitch is too small to read.
3. 3
   Keep the players big enough Follow the play rather than filming the whole pitch from far away: a player should be at least a tenth of the picture's height. A fixed wide camera gave sharp video where players were 65 pixels tall, and the app could name only 4 of them; a following camera named 10. A wide camera (Veo and similar) is still accepted: the app finds its small players in tiles, so tracking, positions and running data work, but it can rarely read their numbers, so most names come from your clicks and the team sheet. It also takes about twice as long to analyse.
4. 4
   Sun behind the camera Filming into the sun darkens shirts and turns numbers into silhouettes. Pick the side of the ground with the sun at your back.
5. 5
   Steady camera, smooth pans A tripod with a fluid head. Shaking and jerky zooms break the link between the picture and the pitch, which speeds, distances and positions depend on.
6. 6
   Have the team sheets ready Shirt numbers and names for both teams. A game on ESPN is found for you; otherwise paste both clubs' sheets when you set the match up.

Kits and ball

1. 7
   Teams in clearly different colours Light against dark is best. Two similar colours, or two striped kits, make the app mix the teams up. The keepers and the referee should each wear a colour no one else wears.
2. 8
   Big numbers in a contrasting colour, on the back Dark on light or light on dark. Numbers on stripes, or in a colour close to the shirt's, cannot be read at any resolution.
3. 9
   A white ball if you can A coloured ball works too: the app learns its colour by itself, and you can confirm it in one click.

During the match

1. 10
   Film the whole match without stopping, kick-offs included Each kick-off is how the app lines the video up with the match clock, which places the goals, cards and substitutions. If you must pause, restart before play does.
2. 11
   Stay on the play Close-ups of the crowd or the bench, and replays, are skipped: players are not followed through them, and the gap costs names.
3. 12
   Keep the scoreboard and its clock on screen, if your feed has one A visible match clock places every event to the second.

Avoid

• ×
  Filming from behind a goalHalf the pitch is too far away to read.
• ×
  Digital zoomIt makes the picture bigger, not sharper.
• ×
  A panoramic picture stitched from several lensesNot supported yet: a stitched panorama is curved, and the app cannot yet place its players on the pitch, so it is refused at upload. Upload one camera's ordinary 16:9 picture instead.
• ×
  Night games under weak lightsShirts blur when players move; numbers go first.

Why it matters. The app reads shirt numbers, matches them to the team sheet and follows each player from there. Every tip above is about one thing: keeping a number readable for long enough to be sure of it. Upload a test clip first and the new-match screen tells you straight away whether the video is good enough.