# Filming protocol — read once, keep on the tripod

One page. Follow it and the pose engine has an easy time; break it and Lane C fights soup.

## The shot
- **Phone landscape**, on a tripod or leaned so it can't move. Never handheld, never portrait.
- **1080p, 60fps.** 4K is wasted — pose models downscale anyway. 60fps → we resample to 30.
- **Whole body in frame the entire take — feet included.** If a foot leaves the frame, the
  ground contact is lost and the clip drifts. Frame with headroom top and bottom.
- **2–3 m from the phone.** Close enough to fill the frame, far enough that a step doesn't
  clip you out.
- **Even light, plain-ish background.** No harsh single-side shadow, no busy patterns behind you.
- **Fitted clothes.** Baggy hoodies and swishy pants = joint error. Snug beats stylish here.

## The take
1. **Start in a T-pose, hold ~1 s.** Arms straight out, legs together, facing the phone.
2. Do **one move** — a walk, a DJ scratch, a pick-up. One move per take.
3. **End in a T-pose, hold ~1 s.**
4. Keep takes **5–30 s.** Short and clean beats long and mushy. Re-film rather than salvage.

The T-pose bookends are not optional: they're the calibration reference and the anchor Lane C
uses to auto-trim the clip. No bookends → manual trimming.

## Getting it to the pipeline
- **AirDrop** the clip from the phone to **ultra**, save into
  `~/Documents/MOCAPGOD/capture/inbox/`.
- Then run **`python3 ingest.py`** (or let the Lane D `mocap` CLI do it). Ingest validates,
  normalizes to 30fps, and puts it in the local pose queue (`queue/` on ultra, where the engine
  runs). Rejects (portrait, no feet, garbage) land in `capture/rejected/` with a reason in
  `capture/LEDGER.tsv` — check there if a clip vanishes. (`--remote-queue` ships to m3ultra instead.)

## Common rejections (and the fix)
| Symptom | Fix |
|---|---|
| `portrait` | Rotate the phone. Landscape only. |
| `too short / malformed` | Re-film; hold the T-poses, aim for 5–30 s. |
| drifty / foot-skating result | Feet left the frame, or baggy clothes — re-film closer to protocol. |