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Video Feedback

Reviewing Athlete Videos

Your Video Queue

The Videos page (accessible from the main navigation) shows all videos submitted by your athletes. Videos are ordered FIFO (First In, First Out) to ensure fair review times.

Video Status Badges:

  • Submitted: New video waiting for review (these appear at the top of your queue)
  • In Review: You've opened the video but haven't marked it as complete
  • Completed: Review is done and athlete has been notified

Tip: Your dashboard shows a "Pending Reviews" count and highlights the next video in your queue. Keeping this count low helps maintain a good response time metric.

Recording Video Feedback

FormLab's primary feedback method is recorded video. You watch the athlete's submission and narrate your analysis in real time — athletes see the video with your webcam as a picture-in-picture overlay and your coaching commentary.

To record feedback on a submission:

  1. Click on a video from your queue to open the review page
  2. Watch the athlete's video to understand their form
  3. Click the Record button to start recording your feedback
  4. Position your webcam — your face appears as a small picture-in-picture (PiP) overlay on the athlete's video. Drag the PiP preview to reposition it anywhere on the video so it doesn't cover the part of the form you're analyzing.
  5. Play the athlete's video while you narrate your analysis in real time
  6. Pause and rewind as needed to highlight specific moments
  7. Click Stop when finished recording
  8. Preview your recorded feedback to make sure it's clear
  9. Click Save to deliver the feedback to your athlete

Tip: Recording video feedback lets athletes hear your analysis while watching their own video. It's like having a coaching session — athletes see exactly what you're looking at as you explain.

Frame Stepping

Frame stepping lets you advance the athlete's video one frame at a time for precise form analysis. This is especially useful for catching split-second mechanics that are easy to miss during normal playback.

Keyboard shortcuts:

  • Comma (,) — Step back one frame
  • Period (.) — Step forward one frame

Frame stepping is most useful when analyzing:

  • Release points and follow-through
  • Weight transfer timing
  • Grip pressure and wrist position
  • Follow-through mechanics

Tip: Frame stepping is especially powerful during recorded feedback. Pause the athlete's video, step frame-by-frame to the exact moment, and explain what you see. Athletes get pinpoint precision.

Video Scrubbing Controls

Beyond frame stepping, FormLab offers multiple ways to scrub through athlete videos during your review:

  • Seek bar: Drag the seek bar beneath the video to jump to any point. The seek bar has velocity capping to prevent overshooting — fast drags still move smoothly
  • Mouse wheel / scroll: Scroll over the video to scrub in fine 0.1-second increments — great for zeroing in on a specific moment
  • Surface drag: Click and drag directly on the video surface to scrub at a fixed rate. The scrub speed is consistent regardless of video length, so a 250-pixel drag always moves about 1 second
  • Touch controls: On mobile or tablet, swipe on the video to scrub — same fixed-rate feel as mouse drag

Tip: Combine frame stepping with surface drag for efficient reviews: drag to get close to the moment, then use comma/period keys to step to the exact frame.

Annotations & Drawing Tools

While recording feedback, you can draw directly on the athlete's video to highlight form issues:

  • Enable annotations: Click the annotation/drawing button in the video controls to activate drawing mode
  • Drawing tools: Choose from shapes and freehand drawing. Select your color to make annotations stand out against the video
  • Draw on the video: Click and drag on the video to draw shapes or freehand lines. Your annotations appear as an overlay and are captured in the recording
  • Undo / Redo / Clear: Use the undo, redo, and clear buttons in the video control bar to correct mistakes. These controls are always visible — you don't need to leave annotation mode to access them
  • Annotations in the recording: Everything you draw is composited into your feedback recording. Athletes see your annotations exactly as you drew them, timed to your narration

Tip: Use annotations to circle release points, draw lines showing body or equipment angles, or highlight weight shift direction. Visual markup combined with your verbal explanation gives athletes the clearest possible feedback.

Side-by-Side Comparison

You can compare the current submission with a previous one from the same athlete — side by side in the recording modal:

  1. Click the Compare button in the recording modal
  2. A dialog shows the athlete's previous submissions — select one to compare against
  3. The modal splits into a side-by-side view with the current video on one side and the comparison video on the other
  4. Toggle Sync to lock both videos together — play, pause, and seek control both simultaneously
  5. Turn sync off when you want to scrub each video independently
  • Dual annotations: Annotations work independently on each video — your current submission and the previous one you're comparing against. Each side has its own undo/redo/clear
  • Recorded in output: The compositor captures the full side-by-side view with annotations in your recording. Athletes see exactly what you showed them

Tip: Side-by-side comparison is powerful for showing progress. Record feedback comparing their old form to their new form — athletes love seeing concrete improvement.

Completing a Review

After recording and saving your video feedback:

  1. Confirm your recorded feedback has been saved
  2. Click "Mark as Reviewed" to notify the athlete
  3. The athlete receives a notification that their review is ready
  4. The video status changes to Completed

Tips for Great Reviews

Deliver exceptional value to your athletes with these best practices:

Be Specific

Instead of "Your form looks off," say "Your shoulders are opening too early, which reduces power transfer." While recording, reference specific moments by pausing and stepping through frames to show athletes exactly what you're seeing.

Prioritize Issues

Don't overwhelm athletes with 20 different things to fix. Identify the 2-3 most impactful changes they can make and explain why those matter most.

Explain How to Fix It

Athletes want to know HOW to fix issues, not just what's wrong. During your recorded feedback, suggest specific practice routines or training exercises they can implement.

Encourage Progress

Acknowledge what they're doing well, identify the main focus area, and give them encouragement. Great feedback builds confidence alongside skill.

Remember: Great recorded feedback is specific, actionable, encouraging, and prioritized. Your goal is to help athletes make measurable improvements while building their confidence.

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