The fact is you don't need any fancy or expensive recording equipment to record videos on the go. Your smartphone is all you need to create great videos for your campaigns.
Here is a quick overview of how quickly and easily you can shoot videos using your smartphone.
Before you start recording:
1) Make sure you have enough battery to record.
2) Go into settings and Turn "Airplane Mode" to ON. This will save you a lot of frustration because it will stop anyone calling or texting you whilst you are recording because this can sometimes cause your recording to stop which is not ideal when you're in the middle of recording footage.
Also turn off:
- Wi-Fi
- Bluetooth
- Mobile
- Hotspots
This should all turn off automatically when you turn on "Airplane Mode" but we recommend turning this off as well whilst recording.
In addition, this helps save your battery whilst recording.
3) Next, go into your "Brightness" option and set your brightness to about 80% of maximum and also make sure the "Auto-Brightness" setting is not on.
4) Check on your phone how much useage you have - if you want to create more space move pictures and apps over to your pc.
5) Camera Focus
When recording simply click on the object on the screen that you want to concentrate the focus of the recording on.
6) Stability
Normally, when people record with their phone they use both hands at each end of the phone to record. This does nothing to prevent your recordings from being shaky because the phone is so light in the first place and therefore impossible to keep the phone steady with your hands.
Instead the best way to keep your recordings shake free is to wrap your hand around the phone in a grab position at the end of the phone furthest away from the camera lens so that the palm of your hand curves around the back of the phone and your palm is cradling the phone. Once you start recording support the elbow holding the phone with your other hand.
This creates sturdiness when your body moves as you record and pan in and out and greatly removes the chances of shakiness in your recording.
Alternatively, you can use a tripod but when you are starting out you may not have any equipment so this is the best way to keep the phone stable whilst recording.
7) Audio
Ideally you want to capture high quality, crisp audio and you have 3 choices here:
a) Let your smartphone capture your voice automatically as you speak - this is not the best way to record your audio because the quality will not be great.
b) Attach an external microphone to you smartphone.
c) Use an compact external voice recorder to record your voice using a lapel microphone that is connected to a voice recorder. Highly recommended for this is the H1 Zoom $100 which is connected to a lapel microphone such as Audio Technica ATR 3350 (approximately $15). This will give you an extremely high quality crisp audio for your recording.
Then all you have to do when you edit your video is to sync your audio to it.
8) Use A Wide Angle Lens
One issue with some smartphones is the narrow field of view which limits your view when recording.
By using an Olloclip lens you will have more versatility and wide view options. This lens simply clips onto your smartphone and can be picked up on Amazon for about $70 or less. Cheaper alternatives are available on Amazon for as little as $7.99 just search for smartphone lens kits.
Using a wide angle lens will give you so much scope when recording for the absolute best effect with your videos.