Ahoj! This is Zdenka. What can be very
tricky
is when you film yourself by yourself,
when you don't have any help and I know
because I film most of the time by
myself.
So in today's video I'm gonna share some
tips and tricks
for filming solo B roll.
Let's talk about the gear. You might only
have a camera
and couple lenses or you might only have
a smartphone and that's really
all you need. You just need to bring with
you a sturdy
tripod which can be extended to a good
height. Or
you can be someone who has more gear and
that can certainly
help you to create wide variety of shots.
I have a 360 camera which is an enormous
help for me as it is recording
everything around
and I don't have to worry about
positioning it. I also use it with a
giant invisible selfie stick as I don't
have
a drone. I just choose the shots in a
post.
Or you can be someone who actually has a
drone and that can give you
very different point of view. Whenever
you are in a location and you want to
film yourself, you might want to think
about
the previous scene and the following one.
Are you using this B roll to move from
place
A to place B? Or is it supposed to follow
what you are previously talking about in
the video? Or is it strictly a B roll on
top of spoken word?
There are so many ways you can fit it in
your video. I tend to use it most of the
time
on top of the spoken word so as strictly
as a B roll or
if I want to break the pace of the video
so if I'm talking too long about certain
topic and I want to give the viewer a
little bit
rest to watch something cool or nice and
then
I'll come back to talking some more
about different topic.
Let's move on to how to make it as a
story but first I need to tell you that
this video has been brought to you by
Skillshare which is an online
community with thousands of great
classes for creators.
You can learn anything about animation,
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and much more. There are always new
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there are no ads as it is specifically
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It is quite affordable with annual
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Stick around till I'll show you how I
actually created those solo B roll shots
and then I'll tell you which classes I
like personally.
What works for me is to get what I call
a sequence of
five shots to tell the story and those
five shots are strictly shots of myself.
On top of that I shoot surroundings as
well which will help
mixing it all together. Those five shots
are usually a mix of
wide shots, medium and close up shots
of me doing something, action shots. If
you have more lenses,
try to shoot with different focal length
to get great variety.
Take advantage of foreground and
background,
shoot through stuff. Let's look at some
example. Here is a mix of
shot from far away and then some medium
shots and close-up shots
which I'm also mixing with a footage
from 360 camera which will give me
completely a different view
to even get more variety. You can also
have some shots from eye level
and other shots from the low ground. If
you are using a smartphone
on a gimbal you can take advantage of
tracking features so
the camera can actually track you if
you're perhaps moving,
walking.
When I shoot myself with a regular
camera, I create the movement in a post
and the same goes
if I'm filming with the 360 camera. I
just pick the scenes and I make the
movement
in a post.
How to create the shots? Well, first of
all, choose a location where you have a
complete
control over your gear. Don't shoot in a
city
full of strangers. Last thing you want is
to place your camera on a tripod,
turning away from the camera, turning
back and the camera is
gone. Make sure you have your camera
nicely leveled with horizon.
You don't want it to be cricket. Pay
attention to lighting,
composition, what is in a background and
foreground.
If you have a great auto focus on your
camera, awesome.
What I usually do, I go very close to the
camera until I see the camera is
tracking me and then I
usually back up to get the shot. If I am
filming through stuff
or further from the camera, I have to use
manual focus otherwise it will be
hunting for the focus
or you're not going to be in the focus
at all.
The foreground will be sharp and you're
going to be blurry.
I also sometimes use my smartphone app
which connects with the camera via wi-fi.
If I film with Canon M6 mark ii then I
use Canon Camera connect.
If I use Sony A7S iii, I use Imagine Edge
mobile
app. I can control the focus by tapping
on the face but
if even that doesn't still work, then
manual focus it is. Once I'm done filming
I import the video to editing software. I
use Adobe Premiere pro
and there I create the movement. I zoom
in and I zoom out,
I pan from side to side or up and down.
Basically so the shot is not so static.
If you are enjoying this tutorial so far
then you might also enjoy more classes
at Skillshare.
I personally really liked Instagram of
worthy photography
shoot edit and share with Brandon Woelfel.
He has this very specific style when it
comes to photography and that's what's
making him unique.
And as you know, I'm quite involved with
stock photography and video. There is an
interesting class.
Creative video storytelling and editing,
making the most of stock footage by
Nikki Stephens
which really went into great detail on
creating high quality clips and how to
actually find them
in your footage. Skillshare is offering
free trial
to first 1,000 of my subscribers. You can
find the link in the video description
below so you can explore
your creativity. Once you have your clips
edited
and color graded then you can make it
fit into your video, you can make it
short, you can make it long depending
what you need it for
or you can just add a music cut it
together, have fun with it. You can come
up with something like this.
Hit the thumbs up if you found it useful
and subscribe for more. If you have any
questions, comments
or simply want to say Hi or Ahoj, you
know what to do. Leave it below
and I'll see you my friends in the next
video,
Cau... Ahoj...