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You can record a football match via a phone but professionally one requires professional equipment and personnel like videographers and editors. Different cameras are used during a football match recording, a total of 12-20 cameras with camera operators is the best professional way of filming during a football match. Sky-cam is usually used during football filming, it is a computer-controlled and cable-suspended camera system that is maneuvered through 3D in the open space over the pitch of a stadium and cameras used during filming must be a digital camcorder with high definition specifications.

KNOW THE GAME

Knowing the football rules is the first big step for becoming a professional football videographer, one can anticipate or predict a potential goal-scoring opportunity and capture the moments with precision. Understanding how football is played can be advantageous to the videographer hence enhancing the ability to follow the match and track the player’s movements by capturing high-quality footage.    

CAMERA BLOCKING

Camera blocking in football filming is simply the positions of the cameras around the stadium, cameras are positioned in such a way that another camera operator is not in the shoot of another camera operator. Seeing another camera in another shoot is very minimal during the match filming, whether shooting from the sidelines or in the stands the positioning matters to capture the events of the actions professionally.

THE MATCH BALL

Keeping the ball in frame is very important during football matches, it is usually the focal point of view of an action. The dribbles, shots and goalies saves are very essentials during a match that shows the viewers the ball’s movement, camera operator are normally assigned to only film the balls movements and nothing else so as not to miss the flow.

REACTIONS

While filming the videographers not only focus on the players but also have shots of fans, coaches and even referees. Usually known as reaction shots show the emotions/reactions of the spectators or coaches when a goal is scored, missed goal-scoring opportunities or fouls on the pitch, the reaction shots add depth to the footage.

TYPES OF SHOTS

Adding varieties of shots from different camera angles also makes the football footage more interesting, from wide shot captures to close-ups highlights of the player’s skills and emotions. Professional videographers get creative with their framing to enhance cinematic quality footage, by using a mix of aerial shots, tracking shots, reaction shots and slow motions.

ACTIONS

Since football is a fast-paced game, so the camera operators must be ready and be prepared to react quickly to anticipated actions from players. They must be ready to pan, tilt or zoom to capture actions and focus so as not to miss anything, by staying alert during a match filming one can capture every moment with clarity and in detail.

EDITING

Finally, the footage have to be edited where the raw footage taken and are transformed into a cohesive highlighted video. A live football match is edited at the same time as the recording by a separate professional personnel team of editors, camera controls and graphic designers at an outside broadcasting station (OB). The camera control and editors prepare for the optimal angles to be viewed on television while the graphics team inputs graphics on the screen where necessary as soon as possible.

Football film-making requires a combination of passion, technical skills and a creative vision.