---
name: "fitness_video_production"
description: "Plan, film, and finish workout and coaching videos: angle discipline per movement family, on-camera cueing, program overlays (timers, counters, exercise cards), and form-check framing. Triggers when someone asks to film a workout video, record exercise demos, coach on camera, build a follow-along program, or make a form-check video."
---

# Fitness Video Production

## Purpose
Turn a workout program into video a viewer can actually copy: clean repeatable angles, coaching cues that survive the lens, and on-screen program graphics that remove all guessing. This skill covers filming, not exercise selection. It never prescribes training or diagnoses pain.

## Workflow

### 1. Plan the shoot
- Get the session's exercise list, rep/time scheme, and target platform (horizontal for classes and TV, vertical for reels and shorts).
- Run `bin/shot_plan.py` with the exercise list to generate the shot list. It assigns camera position, framing, and demo length per movement family. See `references/angle-chart.md`.
- Decide audio up front: live coaching (mic required, quiet location) or silent demo footage plus voiceover recorded later in a quiet room. The voiceover route is more forgiving and most working coaches use it.

### 2. Set up the camera
- Phone in airplane mode, highest quality setting, on a tripod or stable surface. Clean the frame: no stray logos or clutter.
- Light bright and even: window or lamp to the side and slightly above the coach, facing the light, never with a bright window behind.
- Lock focus and exposure on the coach's position before pressing record.
- Camera height near the coach's own posture: mid-torso to hip height for most demos. Too low distorts proportions and breaks posture cues; too high hides feet, knee tracking, and foot pressure.
- Framing check: the coach stands in position and runs the full range of motion while the camera rolls a test clip. Head and feet stay in frame through the whole rep. For floor work, check the floor position separately: a good standing view can miss it completely.

### 3. Film with angle discipline
- One movement family gets one primary angle. Squat, hinge, lunge: side view so torso and knee travel read clearly. Squat, press, pull: front view for symmetry and alignment. Rows and glute work: back view for hip extension and shoulder control.
- Shoot the full body for every exercise demo at least once. Close-ups are seasoning, not the meal: grip, foot placement, or one checkpoint per exercise.
- Demo clean form at working tempo, 2 to 4 reps per angle. Do not rush the eccentric: viewers learn from the lowering phase.
- If there is no cameraperson, rotate the tripod between sets, not mid-set. Keep motion simple; interest comes from the content, not the camera.

### 4. Coach on camera
- Keep a steady coaching rhythm the whole way through. Common failure: coaching hard for the first ten seconds, then fading into silence while performing.
- Use the four-part cue structure for each exercise. Details and examples in `references/cueing-overlays.md`:
  1. Setup: what happens before the rep starts.
  2. Execution: one main technical focus.
  3. Range and tempo: what correct looks like over time.
  4. Quick fix: what to do if it feels off.
- One or two cues per exercise per pass. If you explain the concept, boil it down to one or two actionable cues before the set starts. Retire any cue that is not changing how people move.
- External cues travel better on video than anatomical ones: "push the floor away" beats "extend your knees."

### 5. Build the program overlays
- Every follow-along needs four graphic elements. Full spec in `references/cueing-overlays.md`:
  - Exercise card: name, target sets/reps or work time, and one setup cue, shown 3 to 5 seconds before the exercise starts.
  - Timer for timed work (intervals, tabata, AMRAP), rep counter or set tracker for counted work. Never both fighting for the same corner.
  - Checkpoint line: the one or two form cues for that exercise, kept on screen the whole set.
  - Transition card: what is next plus rest length, shown during rest.
- Keep graphics in one visual system per program: one font, one accent color, consistent corner positions. Changing the layout per exercise is a distraction tax.

### 6. Cut and check
- Cut on the rep, not on the clock: edits land between reps or on a clean rep start.
- Before export, watch the full program once at real speed and confirm: every exercise has a visible angle, every timed block has a readable timer, every cue is audible over the music.
- Export a master in the shoot format, then cut the vertical and horizontal versions from it. Never upscale the vertical cut to make a horizontal one.

## Output Contract
When asked to produce a workout video plan or edit script, deliver:
- Shot list: exercise, primary angle, framing, demo length (from `bin/shot_plan.py`, adjusted to the program).
- Cue script: per exercise, the four-part cue lines actually spoken.
- Overlay spec: graphic elements, timing, and positions per section.
- Session checklist: battery, storage, audio, lighting, permissions (public gyms: ask the owner first, never film other members).

## Operating Rules
1. Film coaching, not performance. The viewer needs to see the motion clearly enough to copy it. That is the whole job.
2. Verify, never invent. Every factual claim in the final video copy (exercise names, rep schemes, timing) comes from the program supplied or a primary source. Uncertain = cut it.
3. No medical or rehab claims. If the brief asks for pain, injury, or rehab content, decline that section and suggest a qualified professional instead.
4. Audio is half the product. If the audio is unusable and there is no mic, switch to the voiceover workflow rather than shipping bad audio.
5. One angle per movement family per pass. Do not stack angles inside a single rep: it looks flashy and teaches nothing.
6. Consent on set. In a shared gym, confirm filming is allowed and keep other members out of frame.