Filmed approach videos: what they show and what they don't

A filmed approach video is a recording of a real approach on the street, made outside a classroom or off a stage. A coach or student walks up to someone, talks, and the camera runs. Viewers get to see an opener, a voice, a conversation length, and an ending, none of which a book can show. Pickup coaches called these "infield" videos, and TikTok and YouTube creators call the genre "street rizz" (more on that in Is street rizz real or staged?).

That's the appeal. It's also why it helps to know how the footage is made and what ends up on screen.

What filmed approach videos usually show

The opener. The exact words, and how fast or slow they're said.
Delivery. Tone, volume, pauses, eye contact, and distance.
Her reaction. Whether she stops, smiles, answers, or keeps walking.
Length. How long the conversation runs before a number swap, an instant date, or a goodbye.
The exit. How the interaction ends, with a number or without one.

Different channels use the format differently. Simple Pickup, a 2011 channel, filmed three friends asking women for numbers on the street and included the rejections; see Simple Pickup. Bootcamp companies built their teaching around live sessions on the street. A coach demonstrating a method will usually pick clips that match it.

What a published video leaves out

A video is an edit. You see the clips the creator chose to publish, so a few things aren't visible:

Approaches that weren't posted. A channel with 100 clips may come from many more hours of filming.
The lead-up. The 20 minutes of walking, hesitating, and skipping people.
The after. Whether the number led to a reply, a date, or anything else.
Context. Who the woman was, what mood she was in, and what she expected from the camera.

None of this means the clips are wrong. It means one clip shows one moment, so treat a video as a worked example, not a statistic. The most useful thing you can pull from this footage is a technique to try yourself, not a success rate.

How some footage has been filmed

Some reporting says women appeared in this kind of footage without knowing they were being recorded. Here is what each outlet reported, with the responses of the people involved where they gave one.

Street Attraction (BBC investigation, 2019). Reclaim The Net reported that BBC reporter Myles Bonnar went undercover at a Street Attraction bootcamp for a BBC investigation. Its founder, Eddie Hitchens, told the BBC the company's activities were "completely consensual." YouTube then suspended the Street Attraction channel, along with the channel of Adnan "Addy A-Game" Ahmed, for violating its rules on nudity and sexual conduct.
Justin Wayne (VICE, April 2018). VICE reported on a channel with 127,000 subscribers that published footage with women's eyes covered by black bars. VICE said the bars suggested the women did not know they were being filmed, and that explicit videos on YouTube were still getting through.
Glasgow (January 2019). Third Force News reported that Police Scotland was investigating videos of Ahmed approaching women in Glasgow, with inquiries at "a very early stage." Ahmed said the footage was consensual.
Newsweek (November 2021). Newsweek reported that leaked material it reviewed appeared to show a coach who taught daytime street approaches secretly recording himself having sex with women and offering the recordings to men who paid for his courses. It said the coach had not responded to its request for comment; see Tom Torero and daygame.

A note on the law

Subhajit Basu, writing on the Inforrm legal blog in February 2026, says that in the UK filming someone in public is "not automatically unlawful." He adds that once a person is identifiable and the clip is posted for views or profit, it "can become unlawful under data protection law," and that harassment law may apply if filming leads to repeated contact. Laws differ by country and by state, so check yours before you film anything. If you film, get consent. If she says no, you stop.

How to watch filmed approaches for practice

Watch for the first 10 seconds. Pause after the opener. What did he say, from how far away, and what did she do?
Time the conversation. Note when it started and when it ended. Compare with the timing in how to cold approach during the day.
Copy one thing, not everything. Write the opener on a card and use it three times.
Listen to the voice. Compare volume and pace with voice and tonality.

What to do next

Watch three approaches from three different channels and write down each opener, the length, and the ending. See best pickup YouTube channels.
Pick one line and try it five times in one outing. Log each as Success or Rejected in Run Game.
Write a field report within an hour of coming home: what you said, what she said, what you'd change. The field report guide has a template.
Compare your five attempts to the clip. Where did you differ in voice, distance, or timing?
Record yourself, not strangers. After the outing, say your opener and the next two lines into a voice memo and listen for pace and volume.