Here's a question that sounds trivial and isn't: when you film your jump, where does the phone go? Because a single camera can only see one plane of a three-dimensional jump — and the two sensible answers, front-on and side-on, show almost completely different faults. Choose by habit and you might spend a month filming the angle that can't see your actual problem.
The rule is simple: pick the angle that matches the question you're asking.
What the front view shows
Camera straight on, facing you, whole body in frame. This is the SHAPE angle — the judge's-eye view.
It's the view for leg height and straddle width: how high your thighs actually rise in a toe touch, how wide and straight the split really is, whether your pike lines are parallel, how high a hurdler's front leg drives. It's also the arm angle: whether your T is level with your shoulders, whether it arrives on the peak or a beat late, whether it wilts before the landing. If your questions are "are my legs getting higher?" or "is my T sharp and on time?" — film front-on.
What it hides: depth. Forward and backward movement is compressed away, which softens the read on your set depth and your chest angle. A chest drop is visible front-on only when it's dramatic.
What the side view shows
Camera to your side, perpendicular to where you're facing. This is the STORY angle — beginning, middle and end.
It's the view for the set: you can see exactly how much your knees bend before takeoff and whether the arm swing is real or a wave. It's the definitive chest-drop angle — trunk lean is fully exposed from the side, and a fold that the front view forgave is unmissable here. And it owns the landing: knee bend at touchdown, stumble steps, the stick. If your questions are "am I rushing my set?", "is my chest dropping?" or "how soft are my landings?" — film side-on.
What it hides: width. From the side, a glorious straddle and a narrow one look similar, and the T mostly disappears into the body's line.
Use both, on purpose
The practical pattern: alternate. Front-on one week, side-on the next — or match the angle to your current project. Working the chest drop? Side. Chasing leg height? Front. When an angle can't see a thing, no honest analysis should pretend otherwise — CoachVision reads whichever view you send and measures your scores from a plain phone clip, and part of the value is that it knows what each angle does and doesn't show; the front view reads your straddle and T properly, the side view unlocks your set, chest and landing. Two clips, one from each angle, gives the fullest picture the phone can offer.
The drill — Seated Straddle Lifts at the Wall
Since the front view's headline number is leg height, here's the drill that moves it. Sit in your straddle with your back flat against a wall, hands off the floor. Lift one leg a few inches, hold two counts, lower slow. The wall keeps your chest tall, so the lift comes purely from your hip flexors — the exact muscles that raise the number your front-on clips are tracking.
Do 3 rounds of 8 lifts each leg. Then film front-on this week, side-on next week, and let the two angles take turns telling you the truth. Between them, nothing about your jump stays hidden for long.