TOP TIPS for an epic acro video!

Making an EPIC acro video compilation has been on our wishlist for a while, and we are finally doing it!

Recently we had a photo and videoshoot and it was so much fun! What a joy to feel so in flow, in tune with each other and to create something together! 

We have so many valuable takeaways from this creation process that we thought to share it with you.

So let's start with our goal...

Our aim was to film a high-quality compilation of our skills.

Yes we have a lot of content that we film ourselves, but we want this video to be more professional, visually stunning and have more of a wow factor to it.

This is why we asked our favourite photographer Wari to shoot this, because he just makes magic! 

A big plus is that he is a retired acroyogi which is a big benefit, because he understands the movement and from which angle skills tend to look best. 

Tip 1: Invest in a good photographer/videographer. 

Ideally someone who knows acro and has shot it before, but also someone who is experienced enough to think about the creative process themselves. 

Not having to manage a photographer/videographer during the shoot makes it so much more enjoyable, efficient and smooth.

Tip 2: For a visually stunning video: choose a location where you can get a clean background.

The second thing we thought of was the location. We wanted a clean blackground and we found the perfect spot!

At a beach here in Bali was a grassy area that was elevated and it turned out to be the perfect location with flat ground, enough space, some shade and high enough to capture us with the ocean and sky as the background.

Tip 3: For timing: choose a time of day that gives you the best lighting.

Thirdly we choose the time of day. Early morning or sunset time tends to be the best here in Bali.

During the day it's too bright in the sun and frankly also too hot to shoot!

For us the light during golden hour was amazing!

Tip 4: Prepare your shot list:

Next up was the shot list. To make the most of our filming time and make sure we maximise this opportunity we listed out in advance what we wanted to capture. 

For the video compilation we made 9 small sequences of skills that all link together, this way it was easy to memorise each part and film it one at a time. 

We also shot some B-roll. This is footage used at the beginning and end of the video, to thread the content together and to give some personality, atmosphere and vibe to the video. 

Think of us giving high fives, laughing, cuddling, dancing, walking etc.

And to maximise this opportunity we also shot some photos for the manual of our Level 2 training that is coming up. 

Tip 5: list out everything that you want to capture and note for each thing the angle you want to shoot it from plus state if you want it shot horizontally or vertically. 

Thinking in advance if skills look best shot from the front, side or diagonal saves you a lot of time during filming. 

One of our main takeaways was that good preparation is half the work, and often we still don't prepare enough!

Here are a few points that we found helpful to discuss with our photographer/videographer:

- Share the shot list with notes on the angle of shooting, horizontally or vertically and if it's shot as a photo or video.

- Communicate for which platform you want to use it. For example horizontally for YouTube videos or vertically for Instagram stories or reels. And ask; if it's shot horizontally; can you post edit crop it to a vertical video?

- Do you want slow motion or normal speed? 

- Do you want to capture the full skill or do you also want to film zoomed in details and low and high angle shots? 

Having all this clear in advance set us up for an efficient shoot; and we were on fire! 

Smashing out skill after skill knowing that we had limited time because of the light. We started around 16:30pm and the sun sets around 18.30pm, so we had to keep the pace up before it got too dark!

Tip 6: What helped us was to give ourselves a limited amount of attempts per skill. 

Some of the skills we are not so consistent in yet, so we agreed to try and nail each one in 3-5 attemps and if it doens't work we would move on. 

Honestly, we pushed ourselves a bit level-wise with this shoot. Obviously choosing skills that we can do safely, but also wanting to showcase some of our more recent unlocked skills. 

We got a bit of a reality check today and realized why we always say this to students: pick skills that are well within your abilities and comfort level, because a nailed execution of a more simple skill looks better on camera than an okay ish execution of a harder skill. 

Looking back at the content just now we're not totally happy with our execution of some of the skills, so that's a good reminder. 

Regardless of that, we did bring the mindset: focussed, connected, 100% believing and going for it! 

I really appreciate how encouraging Caspian was saying things like 'come on babe we've got this!' and 'you're doing great! I know you're tired but we're almost there!'.

After this shoot comes the second part; identifying which clips are usable, identifying if we have enough and are satisfied with the content to determine if we need to do a second shoot and then edit the whole video! 

That's up next, so we'll keep you posted about that to let you know what we've learned along the way and of course...

...when the full video is finished we will be excited to share it with you all! 

So stay tuned for that! :)

For now I hope this was useful for your next acro videoshoot and if you have any useful tips or insights for us that will help us make this video better we would love to hear them. 

Catch you in the next one!

Ciao,

Laura