12 shots · 6 fields · 3 questions
2 shots the edit cannot survive without
Fill the card before you drive
The story, stated once
A man who is not from here walks into a room full of strangers, does something hard in front of them, and finds out whether he belongs.
Fifty rooms, fifty answers. You don't pick the workout and you don't pick the room — so the variable is never the WOD, it's the people. The failure mode is reporting the workout instead of the room: "today was 21-15-9 thrusters, my legs are dead." Nobody outside the sport cares and most people inside it don't either. When you're stuck on what to say, ask: what happened between me and another human today?
In the lot
Before you go in
2 min · phone only
Exterior / sign 5 seconds. Establishes the place, and it's thumbnail material.
You walking in From behind, or phone locked off on the car. The door moment.
Note before you touch the handle
01The Door
What did your body actually do? Not the feeling — the behaviour.
✗I was a bit nervous walking in.
✓Sat in the car four minutes after I parked. Waited for someone else to go in first so I wouldn't be the only one at the door.
Inside
The room
shoot as it happens
The whiteboardCRITICAL Steady, readable, 4-second hold. Lock exposure first — gym lighting hunts and the board blows out. This is your proof you didn't pick the workout, a free thumbnail, and the one shot genuinely different in all 50 gyms. If you get nothing else, get this.
Wide of the room 8 seconds, hold still. Shows how full it is.
One detail shot Photograph the specific thing you noticed — field 02.
The workout, 3 angles 15 seconds each — wide, low, close on your face. Enough for a 60-second montage; don't shoot more.
Your face after 10 seconds, no talking, still breathing hard. The best single piece of b-roll you get all day.
Coach interview 60–90 seconds on the Mic Mini. One real question — never "how long have you been doing CrossFit."
One other member 30 seconds. Ask why they drive however far they drive.
Leaving Car door, pulling out. Closes the loop and cuts to the next state.
Ask these three, on the mic, every state
"How far does the furthest person here drive to come to this gym?"
"What do people get wrong about this town?"
"If I moved here next week, would I know anyone in a month?"
Q3 is the one. It's the whole series in a sentence, almost anyone gives a real answer, and the fifty answers you collect are the spine of the final video. Log it every time.
Note while you're still in the room
02The Room
The first specific thing your eye landed on. One detail, not a description of the gym.
✗Nice gym, good equipment, friendly vibe.
✓Somebody's kid was doing homework on the plyo boxes. Nobody seemed to think that was unusual.
03The Turn
Where it went differently than you expected. It can be small, it can be negative. If you genuinely can't find one — that's the turn. Write "nothing happened" and mean it.
✓I'd braced for the workout to be the hard part. The hard part was the ten minutes before, standing by the rig with nothing to do.
Back in the car
Before you drive
4 min · do not skip
The truth, to cameraCRITICAL 60 seconds, phone propped on the wheel, engine off. This is field 06 and it's the ending of every video. Film it while you still feel it — wait until the hotel and it comes out as a summary, and a summary is dead on screen.
Phone settings — set once, never touch
1080p / 30fpsNot 4K 60. You'll fill the drive and never use the resolution.
Lock exposureBefore the whiteboard shot, every time.
Mic Mini always onEven for b-roll. Room tone saves edits.
Dump the cardEvery rest day. Two rest days, two backups a week.
Finish the card — four minutes, same day
04The Cost
What did today take out of you? Numeric where you can — you're already tracking sleep, bodyweight and spend.
✓Five hours forty of sleep. $38 to drop in. Fourth day in a row of gas station food. Down 3lb since Maryland and I don't think that's good.
05The Line
One thing a person said, verbatim. Their phrasing, not your paraphrase — you'll lose the exact words within an hour.
✗The coach said he was impressed and wished me luck.
✓"You came from where? Man. We got people who won't drive fifteen minutes."
06The Truth
One sentence you'd rather not say out loud. Not the honest-sounding line — the actual one. This is the field that makes or breaks the series.
✗Tough day but grateful for the journey!
✓I've done nine states and I still haven't told anyone in a gym my name unless they asked first.
At the edit
Card → video
45 min, hard cap
Every field has a home in the timeline. You are never deciding structure at 9pm — you're dragging clips into slots. The three shaded blocks are the only ones that get care; if the timer is running out, blocks 4–9 stay rough.
Time
Block
What goes here
From
0:00–0:05
Cold open
Your single sharpest image. No talking.
—
0:05–0:12
The hook line
One sentence: this state's anomaly.
—
0:12–0:22
The contract
"State 11 of 50. I don't pick the workout."
—
0:22–1:00
The door
Arriving, the lot, walking in.
field 01
1:00–2:15
The room + the turn
Whiteboard, wide of the room, the thing that surprised you.
fields 02 + 03
2:15–3:15
The workout
Fast, cut to music, 3 angles. Do not linger.
—
3:15–4:00
The line
Coach or member, unedited. Let them finish the sentence.
field 05
4:00–4:30
The cost
Fee, sleep, miles. Say the numbers out loud.
field 04
4:30–5:00
The truth
Piece to camera in the car, then cut. No outro, no lesson.