Kicker

What it means

A kicker is a jump with a steep, curved takeoff that throws the rider into the air. In snow parks kickers are shaped from snow with a flat top and a landing slope; in mountain biking they are dirt or wooden ramps; on water, wakeboard parks use floating kickers. Big backcountry snow kickers are often called booters.

For filming, a kicker is predictable. You know exactly where the rider will take off, peak and land, which makes it one of the easiest places to capture clean air time, plan slow motion and line up a second camera angle.

How it works in practice

The classic setup puts a camera on a tripod to the side of the landing, framing the takeoff lip and the full flight path. A wide lens from close in looks dramatic; a longer lens from further away shows height more honestly.

Record at 60-120 fps so the peak of the jump can be slowed. Lock exposure on bright snow or the jump will be underexposed.

Helmet or chest mount POV shows the approach and the sky during the flight, while a follow cam behind the rider captures speed into the takeoff. Put both in the same edit for a full picture of one jump.

What to watch out for

Kicker footage repeats quickly. Twenty jumps on the same feature look identical from the same tripod, and duplicate detection will treat them as one moment anyway, so move the camera between attempts and keep only the best few.

A camera too close to the landing is in the danger zone. Stand to the side, never in the fall line, and make sure riders know where you are.

Wide lenses shrink jumps. A big kicker filmed with an action camera at close range can look like a small bump, which is why many filmers prefer a phone or camera with a tighter field of view for this shot, or simply stand further away.