- In this video I'm going through 10 tips
on how to get better footage with your smartphone gimbal.
Now this video is sponsored by Zhiyun
and this is their new Smooth Q2 gimbal.
It's like a tiny little gimbal
and I'm gonna go through a little bit about this gimbal
at the end of the video, give you my review
but I wanted to do 10 tips on how to get better footage
and if you stick around till the end
I'm gonna be giving one of you this gimbal.
So let's get into it.
(exciting tones)
So the biggest problem when it comes to these small gimbals
is how light the gimbal is.
It's so easy to move this around.
When you have a bigger gimbal with a bigger camera on it
it's much easier to keep it steady.
So when it comes to working with this gimbal
you really have to focus in on a few things
to keep the shot steady because if you're walkin' around
and just having it go like this
your footage is not gonna be very good.
Guys, if you're new here to this channel
my name is Jeven Dovey.
I do filmmaking tutorials, I do product reviews,
and also I do a lot of YouTube training style videos
so make sure you hit that Subscribe button
and turn on those bell notifications
so you don't miss one of these videos (bell ding)
and Rachel's arms are about to fall off
so she's gotta put this down.
- This is ridiculous.
I did shoulders today.
- Okay so the first tip is make sure
that you're planning out your shots.
One of the worst things you can do
is just turn the gimbal on
and kinda just spray everywhere and shoot everything.
If you wanna have good looking footage
then the key is actually planning
and putting some thought behind each shot.
So before you hit record
think through where you're starting, where you're going,
and where you're ending.
So if you're doing a moving shot how big is the movement?
How small is the movement?
If you are filming a subject
what is it specifically that you're looking for
when you're filming that subject?
Those kind of things
are gonna help you create better looking footage.
So plan out each shot.
Tip number two is make sure you try to keep your gimbal
on a level plane.
So this is what I was talking about earlier.
When your gimbal is light it's easy to move up and down
all over the place.
So the key with getting good footage
is keeping it on a level plane.
So really focus in on where your hand placement is
and make sure it's in a good position
that you can hold over a period of time
'cause if you have that up and down motion
what happens is it creates a bobble effect
and this is really noticeable on the footage
even with the stabilizers and everything in smartphones
you'll see this up-and-down bobble.
So the key is try to keep your hand on a single plane
so that you have smooth, steady footage
with everything that you're doing.
All right so tip number three is body placement
without moving your feet, and so what do I mean by this?
This is something that I use all the time
when I'm creating videos with gimbals.
When you're moving, when you step
there's more chances of the bobble happening,
what I was talking about in the last tip.
So if you plant your feet
and you're focused on just moving your body
from one side to the other
then you can create a more steady shot
than if you were to be walking 'cause when you walk
there's more opportunity for the footage to kind of bobble
because there's more things happening in your body.
So if you shift from say left to right
and just shimmy your legs
you can get a pretty decent sized movement
and you can get a really nice steady shot
because you're just shimmying your weight
and if you keep your gimbal on a level plane
then that's when you get those really smooth shots.
Now when it comes to this,
when you get to that end point just push yourself
as far as you can go before you tip
and a lot of times I'll trip over myself
because what happens is I move from one direction to another
and I start at the farthest I can on one side
and then shift my weight as far as I can the other way
and then eventually you fall.
So you kind of go with the furthest distance that you can
without actually moving.
Now tip number four comes
when you actually need to start moving.
So last tip I talked about body movement,
now introduce some steps.
There's a specific walk when it comes to creating
better looking gimbal footage and the key sit low
and kinda walk like a duck.
So the idea is that you want your body,
the mass of your body to be moving on a single plane
just like your hand is moving on a single plane.
So you're gonna have to find how low you have to go
to kinda squat and move
so that your body isn't moving up and down,
your arm's not moving up and down.
The less movement up and down you can make your body,
your arm, all of that,
the less bobble that you're going to get.
So it kinda looks funny and you have to practice the step
but if you just walk you're not gonna get good footage,
you're gonna get bobbling footage.
So you really need to sit a little bit lower
and really put some emphasis in the way you walk.
Now your body movements are super important
and all of it plays together.
The next tip comes down to how you're actually shooting.
So think in terms of a bigger camera.
So imagine that this tiny gimbal was a giant Red
or something else like an Arri Alexa or something.
How would you move that camera to get camera movement?
You wouldn't swing it all over the place
because it's so heavy.
It's got big lenses, you've got lots of gear wrapped on it.
So you would move it slowly with something like a dolly
or you'd move like a jib or something like that.
So the key is think of your camera as a bigger camera.
What are the style of movements that you would make?
So one of 'em might be just a dolly from left to right.
Also, if you have like a selfie stick
then you can mount this on the bottom
and be able to do jib-like shots.
That's the really cool thing about small gimbals
is when you attack a stick to the bottom of the gimbal
you can create these cool like arcing motions up and down
and all over and you can really create
some interesting-looking visuals.
It works because you don't have to have some crazy huge jib,
you don't have to have like a really heavy monopod.
You can really use lightweight gear
and be able to get some awesome footage
and that wraps right into my 6th tip
which is use extra gear around the gimbal.
Gimbal is great but finding those extra pieces of gear
that will enhance your shooting is key
to getting some really dynamic-looking footage.
So an extension pole,
that is the way to go to get some good sweeping shots.
If you're also shooting yourself
you can get the gimbal further away, get a wider shot
if you have like a selfie stick of some sort.
So having that extra gear is really gonna help you
create some really dynamic-looking footage
and that wraps right into my next tip
which is create dynamic shots.
Now what do I mean by this?
Put a couple of the movements together.
So say you're walking forward while also put a pan down.
So try to put two movements together
to create more dynamic-looking footage.
So a pan down and move forward looks better
than just panning down or just moving forwards.
So find ways where you can combine two different movements
or two different things
to create more dynamic-looking shots.
So it might be coming out from behind a tree
and then going over another tree or something like that.
All right, I was just finishing up this video
and there's one more thing I wanna talk about
when it comes to dynamic shots
and that is with the Smooth Q you can actually do vortex
which is something that I haven't seen
in a lot of these smaller gimbals.
And so with the vortex mode
you can create some interesting dynamic shots,
find some ways to fit it into your projects
to do something a little bit different.
Now with the last tip, what I was saying
is coming out from behind an object.
This works great
but you have to be using your manual settings
otherwise the auto exposure's gonna kick in
and the auto focus and so it's not gonna look as good
as if you use everything manual.
So there's different apps
that you can get for your smartphone
and you wanna set everything to manual
and the reason for this
is you don't want the exposure to auto fluctuate
and the same thing with focus.
You don't wanna focus on the object
like right here in front of you
and then it focuses away from you
because that's not a very cinematic-looking shot.
Rather, it would be great
is something was out of focus in front,
pops out all of a sudden this subject way in the distance
is in focus.
Now obviously with smartphones
you don't have the super shallow depth of field
but there is still focusing and exposure breathing
when you're doing auto exposure and auto focus.
So use manual modes.
Okay number nine is create transitions using your gimbal.
Your gimbal is a great tool
to be able to create some unique, seamless transitions.
Now one in particular that I like
is going from behind an object
and then popping out with a different shot
when you come out on the other side.
So for example I have a tree here, Rachel's walking,
I have a wide shot, I'm gonna pan across,
all of a sudden I'm now down at her feet
and this is just a simple transition
that you can do in your editing software.
Just key framing a mat across your footage,
cutting out one footage and key frame it across
as the wipe happens.
Now if you wanna know more about some seamless transitions
I'll put links in the description
to some other videos that I have done
that are all about seamless transitions
but gimbals are a great way
to create these seamless transitions
because when you're moving and it's super smooth
you can create some cool effects
going from one shot to another.
Another easy one is put the gimbal in POV mode
and just wipe it.
So you're moving smooth in one direction
and then you wipe to the left or to the right,
do the same motion into the next shot,
got an awesome transition.
Super easy to use.
And my final tip and this goes without saying
but practice makes perfect.
So the only way to get good at getting better gimbal footage
is to shoot gimbal footage.
So get out there, practice a ton,
and you will be able to get some awesome-looking footage.
Okay so let's talk about the Zhiyun Smooth Q2.
So I've been playing around with this gimbal
for a little while, I've had it for about a week now.
It's an interesting little gimbal for sure, I like it.
Now at first I thought it was gonna be a little too simple
but sometimes the simplest things are the best
because when you're working with a gimbal
you don't always need
like all these crazy bells and whistles,
especially when it comes to a smartphone gimbal.
In reality when I use a gimbal
I pull it out and I either use it in tilt walk mode,
follow mode, lock mode, or POV mode
depending on if I'm doing transitions or not
and what's really cool about the Zhiyun Smooth Q2
is that it's very simple.
So on the back here you only have three buttons.
You have your power button, you have your joystick,
and you also have your record button.
Now what's really cool with the record button
is you don't have to link your phone
to get the record to work.
So right now I'm just in the Moment app.
I click the record button and it starts recording
using that app.
So like I said, super simple, easy to use.
You can use the record with any app that you're in
and it just seems to signal to your phone,
which is a great feature for sure.
Now also it's super small
so you just have to really focus on your shots
like I've been talking about in this video.
However, this thing can fit in your pocket,
fit in your bag, it's great.
Now the last thing that's kind of interesting
about this gimbal is that it does have it's own plate.
So if you wanted to leave this on your phone
and then take this off you can and pop it back on.
Interesting feature,
I haven't really seen a smartphone gimbal
with a plate system like this.
So something unique about the Zhiyun Smooth Q2.
So guys if you want to win this Gimbal
I'll put a link down below in the Description
to the entry page to where you can win this.
Also I'd love it if you guys could just comment
and let me know why you want to win this gimbal
and I'd appreciate it
if you were subscribed to this channel as well.
But guys that is it.
I will see you on the next one.