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My name is Erik Rachie and I’m the owner of Recruitlings. I’ve been filming sports game videos and creating highlight videos for college recruiting for around 10 years. I picked up my first video camera in 1980 and got my first Nikon a year later. I earned a degree in video production and post production from Columbia College in Chicago. I’m also involved with corporate video production for marketing/social media and I’m an FAA Part 107 license holder to fly drones commercially.
I don’t claim to be “the” expert in this field. All of us that film sports have our own style of shooting. What I do know is what’s watchable and what not, so I’m going to cover some techniques that one should look for when hiring a company to film your sports games. Each sport is different, and so should be the manner that it’s filmed. There is no “one size fits all” when filming sports, so I’m going to discuss sports that I film. My goal is to provide game video for team review purposes that also produces compelling highlight videos for college recruiting. Below each sport, I’ll post a video of that sport if I have a highlight or game video for it.
This is one of the easier sports to film. I position myself at mid court as high up as I can get. There isn’t much need to zoom in and out for basketball. The only instance that I may zoom in a bit is for free throws. I have the camera set at a fixed focal length and try to keep all the players from both teams centered on my screen. College coaches want to see ball handling, footwork, shooting skills, and teamwork. I’m close enough to the action that everything a coach wants to see is covered.
I’ve been filming lacrosse seasons for a local high school since 2014. It’s important to keep as many of the 13 players allowed on either side of the field at a time framed up. However, because lacrosse is played on a football-sized field, shooting the entire game wide presents its own set of problems.
I’ve found that instead of focusing my attention on the game, it makes more sense to focus my attention on framing up the players. If that means I’m riding the zoom rocker in and out then so be it. I don’t need to frame-up the players that are literally standing at midfield, not allowed to cross midfield, waiting for a steal and a pass or a loose ball rolling towards them.
I’m zoomed in tight for every face-off. FOGOs deserve their moment in the spotlight and it’s almost always a great battle, so zoom in for it.
Keeping lacrosse players framed up can be challenging, but ultimately it provides a better viewing experience for teams and the highlight videos that can be produced from them are that much better. When I recognize that a player is going in for a shot, that’s when I start zooming in.
Once again, a sport that’s played on a football field. I have my own techniques for filming soccer. I don’t see the point in filming all three lines framed up at all times, completely wide. It just doesn’t make any sense.
Why does someone need to see a defender’s positioning at midfield when a corner kick is about to happen on the far side of the field? I’m filming the kicker to the goal and anyone that’s actively in the play. And guess what? When that corner kick is sailing towards the goal, I’m zooming in to catch the action in front of the goal. Why do I do this? Because that’s where the ball is.
Admittedly, I haven’t filmed many football games because football games are already overly saturated with cameras mainly because of Hudl.
The start stop nature of football makes it one of the easiest sports to film. Frame all players, or as many as possible, on the field when the play is about to begin, then zoom in to follow the ball as the play progresses.
The games that I filmed, I covered the offensive backfield to the defensive linebackers. If the defensive backfield is deep, I don’t frame them in at the beginning of a down but I do follow that pass and zoom in to zero in on the defender and receiver.
Don’t forget to film the halftime show. Band directors and band members love to see their halftime performances.
I’ve filmed tennis once, a doubles match, early in 2020 in Chicago just prior to the pandemic shutdown. I filmed it on an Osmo pocket in 4K at 60fps. It looked fantastic.
I set up the camera behind one of the teams up on a balcony and pressed the record button. Frame it, press record, walk away.
See tennis…
The only thing I would do differently filming volleyball is I would like to be able to film a game from higher up. Most high school and club volleyball games are filmed on a tripod a few feet off the ground. I think above net height from behind would provide a better angle. Otherwise, coaches like to see teams playing from behind. I’ve only filmed from the stands. I shot it very much like basketball, but wider since it’s such a fast sport.
I’ve filmed high school club hockey several times but it’s been a while for me. Filming hockey is a lot like filming basketball except after a goal, the person behind the lens has to zoom in for the celebration.
I can go on and on about how to film sports. A great deal of how it’s done is based on experience, comfort level, even fear.
If you’re hiring someone like me to film your games, do your homework. Check out my website, search me on Google, read my reviews. Do the same for anyone you’re hiring. Most importantly, watch their videos. I've actually seen promo videos of some companies that bring in ENG cameras, like your local news uses, to film their promos. When they show up to film your games, there's that $150 Best Buy camera you had your eye on the day before...
I see a lot of summer tournament videos that my clients hire me to edit for their kids. My opinion, I really believe that teams should raise their expectations for game films.
I see a lot of shoddy game films every year. There’s an old saying in the newsroom, “bad video is better than no video.” It seems to me that there’s nothing but bad video out there when it comes to tournament video and I find it very surprising that tournament organizers continue to hire the same companies to provide their lackluster services.
As with anything in life, you have to enjoy what you’re doing to do it well. Filming sports is a lot like storytelling. Watching a recruiting video should be as enjoyable as reading a good book.
A recruiting coach should be able to clearly see a player’s ability on the field, not just the whereabouts of the ball. Footwork, foot skills, ball handling, ball movement, teamwork, attitude, all need to be clearly visible to a coach during the recruiting process.
Recruitlings films more than your sport, we film your game.