Very little empirical evidence is available concerning the influence of video viewing on preservice teachers’ teaching activity. This article presents an exploratory study putting into perspective the influence of two video-based vocational education programs on pre-service teachers’ teaching activity. These innovative programs have been designed on the same conceptual framework – an activity-based framework for work analysis (Durand, 2013) – but using two different theoretical and instructional approaches: the “normative” one (Berducci, 2004; Nelson, 2008) and the “developmental” one (Varela, 1989). With both approaches, the results highlighted that video viewing influence pre-service teachers’ teaching activity, provided that: (i) preservice teachers’ professional concerns “resonate” with what they are viewing, and (ii) preservice teachers adopt, adapt or invent a new way to act from what they viewed. Supported by self-confrontation interviews data, benefits and limitations of each approach are presented and discussed.