- Hey guys.
My name is Matti.
Welcome to another quick little pro tip video.
And we've talked a lot about gimbals,
but let's talk about how to properly use them.
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So the other day we were hanging out downtown Toronto
with my friend Alen Palander,
and Peter McKinnon was there, too,
but he was just kind of doing his own thing.
And I was testing out a new gimbal I got.
It's called the moza air.
I've had this actually for a little while.
I just haven't had time to un-box it, and check it out.
Learn a new gimbal.
'Cause they're all a little bit different.
Different apps and all that stuff.
So I was testing out the gimbal,
and I started thinking about some different tips
that could be maybe help you guys
in getting better gimbal shots.
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Alright, so let's do five tips
on how to use a gimbal properly.
Number one is to make sure your gimbal is balanced well.
I've seen a lot of people's footage
where it's shaking a little bit, and it shouldn't be.
It's just really because they haven't
balanced their gimbal properly.
And what I like to do is just balance it at home.
Before you even go on a shoot, balance it at home.
Just take your time.
Make sure it's really well done.
So you're not getting any of that shake
that shouldn't be there.
And then once you go out and shoot, it's already balanced.
You might just have to tweak it a tiny little bit,
but it's ready to go and you don't have
to worry about that later on.
But make sure it's well balanced.
Take your time on that.
Number two, a gimbal is for movement.
It's meant to move your camera around
using that gimbal and get those stable shots,
but I see a lot of people just kind holding it still.
And you're not really using the gimbal properly there.
I mean, yeah you're gonna get a more stable shot,
but you could be getting some really cool shots
if you just move the camera around more.
Even if it's just a tiny little bit of movement,
it's gonna be way better than just a static shot.
A lot of times I like to do just like a slow orbit
around my character or subject.
Or just this slow dolly in or dolly out.
Those kinds of shots are really interesting and nice,
especially for closeups.
Just use that little bit of movement.
Don't go crazy on it.
But a gimbal is super good for those.
So make sure you're actually getting
moving shots with your gimbal.
Number three is to have something in the foreground.
Now this is one of those things
that no matter how much you move the gimbal,
if everything is really far away,
and there's nothing in the foreground,
then it doesn't really look like you're moving at all.
And then the same applies for the reverse of that.
Even if you're not moving a ton,
but there's something close in the foreground,
you're gonna see a lot of movement.
So for example here, we have kind of
a lateral move of the street here.
And not that much is going on.
But then we put Alen in there and it looks way better.
There's a lot more movement.
Things are happening.
It just makes it a lot more interesting.
And that brings me to number four which is get close.
Get close to your subjects.
Get close to a wall or the ground.
I really like those low angles
where the ground is just whizzing by.
Get close to things and you're gonna see
that dramatic movement.
But if you're just far away from everything,
not much is gonna happen.
And it's not gonna look that dynamic.
One of my favorite shots with gimbals
is getting really close to the ground.
Following the feet or anything like that.
You guys have probably seen a few
of these shots in my videos.
And it's something that's kind of unique to get gimbals.
It's really hard to get these shots on a Steadicam,
a Glidecam type thing.
But with a gimbal, it's really easy.
It's this dynamic, nice moving shot.
Just really interesting, I think.
Number five, plan your shots.
And I talk a lot about planning,
and it's because it's one of those free things
that anybody can do.
And it's a guarantee that your video's gonna turn out better
if you just plan out some things.
And what I find with gimbal is that people
just a little bit too excited with gimbals.
They get a little trigger happy.
And they just start running around and going crazy,
and maybe it's also because it's a little bit heavier.
You feel like you just need to get your shots,
and get it over with.
You wanna be done with it.
But helping to plan your shots really helps
with all this craziness that happens
as soon as you pick up that gimbal.
And with planning comes one of the best shots
that gimbals are perfect for,
and that's oners or one take shots.
And these are shots that are typically
a little bit longer, moving around, getting different angles
all in the same continuous shot.
Before this was super hard to do,
but gimbals have made oners so much easier.
And these shots are always those really wow factor shots
that people are just thinking,
how did they get this shot?
There's so much going around.
So much movement.
They went through this thing and that thing.
How's the camera moving in all these different ways.
But these shots take a lot of planning.
Plan it out.
Execute it well and you could really wow your audience
with these nice long one take shots.
And that's it.
Five easy tips for you guys to use your gimbals properly.
And some of them sound really simple
like planning out your shots or having an object,
or person in your foreground,
but they make a massive difference.
But so many people just don't use their gimbals
to the maximum potential.
A gimbal is this crazy tool that's fairly new
that just opens so many possibilities,
and just allows for one person to get insane shots.
So make sure you're using your gimbal properly.
Alright guys, that's it for this episode.
A quick little pro tips.
I hope you got something out of it.
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And guys, enjoy the filmmaking process,
and go get some of those travel feels.
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