-This hotel sucks!
My bed hasn't been cleaned in a week, cockroaches everywhere!
I'm going to Sri Lanka!
-Okay.. and where's Lorenzo?
-It's my day off!
-I guess I'll be alone today.
[Cinecom's intro music]
[String music chords]
[Rock music]
Hey folks, my name is Jordy for cinecom.net and this is Creative Tuesday.
A weekly series where we think outside of the box
and come up with some creative tips and tricks for filmmakers.
And are you sometimes in that situation where you just wanna make a video,
but there's nobody around to help you with that?
Well it's definitely not pleasant, but don't hold yourself back.
There're plenty of techniques to make an exciting video by yourself,
regardless of its genre and we have 5 tips about that to share with you guys.
But before we begin, I'd first like to thank our sponsor, videoblocks,
which is an incredible library filled with stock clips,
After Effects templates, transitions, video effects and so much more.
It's the perfect tool to save time, create beautiful videos by yourself
and save a ton of money.
Because, there's only a single price per year which allows you to download
unlimited video assets.
For more information, make sure to click the first link in the description below!
The first tip that I have for you guys is to make your camera move automatically,
and although that might seem complex it's actually quite easy.
This right here is the slider from Syrp, it's the Magi Carpet Pro,
however, of course you don't need such a heavy-duty slider, anything will do,
one of those smaller DSLR sliders will also work perfectly.
So, what you want to do is slightly slant your slider,
so that your camera will move automatically over that slider,
So what I have right here is a small box,
which I can just put underneath that slider, like this,
just unlock the slider itself right now,
and as you can see it's moving automatically!
And now you quickly run to your scene and do your thing.
Other ways to make your camera move automatically is by using a simple tripod.
Make sure to set your friction in such a way that when you untighten the lock
it'll kind of pan automatically -I mean- tilt automatically, like this,
because of its weight which is pulling itself backwards,
and now you've got a very nice tilt while you can do your action over there.
Another cool trick is to slant your camera on its ball head like this.
If you then would extend the arm, it will kind of have its weight pulling back on here,
if I would now let go, you can kind of see the camera panning.
So, also that works, which is pretty cool.
So, if you think about it, anything that can offset the balance of your camera
can create automatic movements.
If you don't have such tools or the ability to use them on your location
then a second way to add movement into your shots is with the help of some editing.
Make sure to film in a long shot and have plenty of space around the action.
In post-production, you scale your clip or digitally zoom in.
Then you can animate the position of that clip to make it pan or tilt.
Other possible movements are animating the scale to zoom in or out.
Or even animate the rotation property, which could give some creative results.
And, of course, you can also animate multiple of these properties at the same time
to get some unique motion.
And finally, I'd like to share that we have a free preset pack
of different styles of handheld motion for Adobe Premiere Pro.
If you do wanna get that handheld motion, yet you have to film from a tripod,
you can simply add these to your clip
and have some post-production handheld movement.
Next up is b-roll.
When filming alone, b-roll becomes more important
since there's nobody to run around with the camera and take different kinds of shots.
So after you're done filming your scene, take some time for some awkward b-roll.
In my case, that would be mentally preparing for the next trick.
A point of view of me riding the skateboard, waxing the rail,
or even just some closeups of the skateboard itself.
B-Roll can essentially be anything.
These are small shots that can connect the different actions together
or create interesting cut scenes.
That brings us to tip number 4! If you have the cameraman with you,
that person will probably take multiple shots of a certain action.
If you're alone and you have to set up your camera on a tripod somewhere,
that tripod probably won't take multiple shots of you.
So, what I advise you to do is always repeat the same action that you're doing
but record that from multiple stand points.
For example, I'm going to do a 360 flip right here and first going to set up the camera over there,
do that trick, then I'm gonna do that trick again and set up the camera over there.
Let's do it!
And that brings us to the final tip!
Since you're setting up the camera and acting at the same time,
it's hard to see wether or not you'll be in focus,
how the lighting will be, what the framing shall look like, etcetera.
Luckily, there are a few tools for that! And let's start with focus.
Autofocus is a helpful tool, but not always.
Let's say that you wanna walk into the frame.
Autofocus could mess that up, so it's best to set your camera to manual focus.
I'm using a focus chart from x-rite, which I can lay down on the place where I'll stand.
Then I focus to that point and, if necessary,
you can add some tape to that spot.
When you then hit record, you walk perfectly into that focus
and get some really nice shots that would normally require at least two people.
As for framing, there're basically two things that you can do.
Either take a light stand with you, which you can set to your height
and that way you know when making a framing, it'll give you enough headroom.
Such a light stand is also perfect to attach your focus chart to.
And by the way guys, I'll leave a link to this portable focus and color chart
in the description below, but of course you can also just print out one of these yourself.
Just search for 'focus chart' on Google.
The second option to framing,
is when you don't have the option to bring anything else with you.
Then you have to make sure to keep enough space around yourself.
We'll then make our desired framing in post-production.
Simply zoom in and reposition your clip.
And those were my 5 camera tips when you're out by yourself.
Thank you so much for watching, thank you Videoblocks for the support,
and like always:
Stay Creative!
-Sorry guys, you won't be seeing me the next two weeks,
I'm going on holiday, but Lorenzo and Jordy will keep you entertained, so...
Stay Creative and keep watching!
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