Let’s shoot some scenes like in GTA on the street!
Hey Guys, it’s Gaba VR.
I’m a 360 content creator and photographer,
shooting 360 travel videos and tutorials about 360 photo- and video techniques.
I think 360 cameras are really great tools to use in traditional filmmaking, too.
You can also find tutorials about it on my channel, and this time I show you another technique
how we can combine a 360 footage with a normal video format
to get a really interesting camera angle and point of view.
It’s more than 2 years ago that I uploaded my first tutorial about my flying cam photo technique
to achieve such an effect.
Even more, later I published a video of my so-called rearguard360 technique,
talking about the possibilities of using the camera angles behind us.
And for now Insta360 has created a tool for very similar things for video, too.
So I’ve got it to try it
The basic idea of this setup is that I can mount the invisible selfie stick on my waist,
so the video will look like it was captured with a floating camera behind me…
or in front of me.
Of course, there could be some home-made solutions for this,
but I think this waist strap is so strong and reliable that it’s worth using it.
Taking a closer look you can see that this back part is made of a very solid plastic
which fits well against the back and it can’t move anywhere.
On the other hand, you can see this steady part on the front side.
Thanks to these small cogwheels, after setting up the angle,
this connection cannot get loose, and the camera can’t get lower at all.
Of course there are some limitations of this technique, too, for instance
I experienced that it’s really hard to take super steady shots during walking, with a full length selfie stick.
Of course, during skateboarding, biking or rowing it’s much smoother and easier.
But during walking, the pole is always moving a little bit,
and despite the really great stabilization of the camera, in these cases it won’t be totally seamless.
But talking about GTA style shots, we don’t really need such drone-like angles.
In the video game the camera is a little bit lower anyway.
So I prefer opening up only two sections of the invisible selfie stick: the two thickest ones.
Another important trick to keep the pole really steady is to fasten the bottom of the selfie stick very well.
Despite we can twist the pole and this plate too, I recommend to keep this plate in the basic position
and only twist the pole.
Always grab it next to the handle, because otherwise the rubber cover will turn around the selfie stick,
and you can’t fasten it tight enough.
Besides, there are some further tricks to shoot with this strap.
First, I put on the belt with the pole, turn it sideways, and fix it just to keep it on place.
I don’t need to make it too tight.
But this way I can attach the camera really easily.
Then I turn the belt to the final position and fasten the belt really strong.
And here we need to make a choice.
In most of the times I don’t really use the mobile app, because I prefer to set up everything right on the camera
This way I can save battery time, too But in this case I need to compromise.
The first option is to start recording when the camera is standing sideways,
and before I stop recording I loosen the belt to get access to the camera.
The other option is connecting my phone and the camera using the wifi connection.
This way I can avoid unusable frames in the beginning and the end of the footage,
and it’s a little bit faster to record and also to edit the video later.
Another advantage of the wifi connection is that I can check out my scene in a live preview.
I can see the angle, and if I don’t like it, I can change the setup.
And then I also check out my clothes too.
In most of the cases I like to wear this belt under my clothes,
but this way there are a lot of weird things going on around the base of the pole.
So it’s nice to check out if everything’s okay.
Well, clothing is an important part of this technique.
To hide the waist strap I like to wear it under my t-shirt.
In this case I have a dark t-shirt and dark trousers to blend things together.
Another option is to wear a backpack.
This way the belt will be invisible on the scene, so I can keep it even outside the clothes.
And the bag hides everything anyway.
But if you are shooting without a bag, take care of your underwear, too.
Actually my underwear is also black, but I have to pull it up way higher, than normally.
Otherwise it can look like I was wearing a thong.
Seriously! It’s just because the t-shirt can slide up a little bit more because of the pole, revealing my back.
So I must make it black somehow.
And finally talking about the details of this GTA like look,
to achieve the same result, don’t go too high or low with the angle of the pole.
Set it around 45 degrees.
And to keep the same distance, the pole must be around 70-72 centimeters long.
It’s two units using the original Insta360 selfie stick.
If I’ve done everything right, post production is really simple.
I can open the footage in Insta360 Studio, or even directly in Premiere.
In insta360 studio I switch to FreeCapture mode, turn on FlowState stabilization and Lock Direction.
So the floating camera will follow me wherever I go.
Then I can export the scene.
Of course, after installing the original Insta360 plugin, I can import my raw footage directly in Premiere, too.
With GoPro Reframe plugin I create keyframes, setting up camera directions,
so it will follow me, just like in the previous case.
Or even I can create other camera movements, too.
I hope you will try and like this technique with or without this Waist strap.
As I told you in the beginning, there can be some other, home-made solutions for this.
And if you have any ideas about it, please share with me in the comment section.
And if you like this video, please thumbs up,
and for further 360 contents and tutorials, subscribe to my YouTube channel. See you next time!