- Hi, guys, Justin Brown here.
This video is the complete guide to filming
with your iPhone.
Whether you're just starting out, or whether you're just
looking to pick up a few extra tips, this video is for you.
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Before we get started, there's four things
you're going to need.
The first is an iPhone.
The second is a tripod.
The third is an iPhone holder for your tripod.
And the fourth is a microphone for your iPhone.
In this video, I'm using the RODE smartLav,
and I'll put a link in the description below.
It's a microphone that's been designed specifically
for filming content videos using your iPhone
or Android device.
Now that you've got your gear sorted,
step one is to prepare your content for filming.
So organize any dot points, any notes, anything you need
to prepare your content for filming.
Step two, select a suitable location.
Now you wanna pick somewhere that doesn't have
too much noise, too much background noise.
You don't want something with a really distracting
background or a lot going on behind you
that's gonna draw the focus away from you
and the video content.
You also wanna make sure that the light isn't too bright
or too dark.
Step three is to set up your tripod.
It's important to set the height right to make your video
look professional.
So the correct height for filming, whether you're standing
or sitting for your video, is to have the phone
slightly below eye level, so that you're actually looking
just down slightly at the camera in your phone.
What we've actually done here is
we have propped up our phone, which is on a small
GorillaPod tripod, just to show you that you can really
get away with whatever you've got,
or whatever you're able to get.
If you've got a height-adjustable tripod,
that is more ideal.
But it's something that you may not have with you
and may not want to carry with you,
whereas you can use some books and a GorillaPod
in order to achieve the same thing.
Step four, put your phone into flight mode.
This will stop any incoming calls, emails, SMS notifications
going off while you're in middle of filming.
Step five, mount your phone on the tripod.
When you're doing this, you wanna make sure that you're
mounting the phone horizontally.
You also want the screen of the phone facing forward,
'cause we're going to be using the front-facing camera
to record the videos.
Step six is to clean the lens on your front-facing camera.
Because it's you're phone that you're using, it's up
against your face, it could have dirt, smudges,
makeup, anything on it.
You wanna make sure that your lens is clean
before you start recording.
Step seven is to wire up your microphone.
So attach your microphone to your shirt, jacket,
whatever it is that you're wearing.
If you'd like to know how to hide your microphone,
I've done a video on how to hide your microphone
and still get great audio.
It'll also help you reduce any wind noise
if you are filming outside.
If you don't have a microphone, make sure
you're sitting pretty close to your phone,
and also in a really quiet area so that you're not
gonna get too much background noise.
Otherwise, I recommend, if you can, to get
a plug-in microphone.
It'll just really help improve the quality of your audio
and reduce background noise.
Once your microphone's sorted, plug it into the phone.
Step eight, set up your iPhone for recording.
One thing to check before you get started is
that you've got enough free space on your phone
to hold the video files that you're about to create.
If you don't, plug it into your computer,
back up the files, and then remove them from your phone.
Open up the camera app, set it to video,
and then switch it to the front-facing camera.
Step nine, framing the shot.
First thing to do here is to make sure that your phone
is horizontal, and that everything is level.
The worst thing would be to have the horizon
or a line in the background that is crooked.
When you're positioning yourself in the shot,
you don't wanna be front and center,
you wanna be slightly off to the side and looking
across the camera, right into the camera lens.
Now, lighting is the key to making your videos look
professional, and it can be such a simple thing
or simple tweak, or positioning your camera in such a way
that you're actually getting a much better look.
So, in the example of this shot, we had a lot of light
coming in from my left, from the window here,
and it was creating a dark shadow down this side
of my face.
Now, I still like the rest of the shot.
So what we did, in order to improve this, is we brought in
a freestanding light,
which you can use a desk lamp,
you can use a reading light, whatever it is you've got
in your home or office, some sort of light source,
and position it so that you're trying to even up
any shadows.
So I'll just turn the light off now and you can see
the difference.
So, as you can see, it's pretty dark down this side
of my face.
By using the light, we are able to boost that up
and make it look a bit more professional.
Again, with these tips and with this video,
what we're trying to do is show you how we've got
everything set up to be simple for you to be able to
replicate.
We haven't run out and bought massive lighting gear,
or a big lighting kit in order to light this correctly.
We just wanna show you that you can use what you've got
around you in order to create a great-looking video.
Step 10, set exposure to manual.
You would've noticed when you're using your iPhone camera
before that it's constantly adjusting and analyzing
your shot and making it brighter and darker
depending on what's in the shot.
So what we'll need to do is to enable manual exposure,
which will lock it off, so it's not gonna be constantly
analyzing and adjusting the shot, but will lock it off
at the correct level.
So, to do this, you tap and hold on the screen
for the area that you wanna expose for,
which should be yourself, and hold in until it comes up
and says AE Lock, and AE Lock is autoexposure lock.
So when that's done, the exposure is locked,
is not gonna change, is not gonna make any adjustments
as your shot changes or as your position moves
within the shot.
Step 11, do a test run.
I think it's important to do a quick test run
before you actually get in and do your whole video,
to make sure that your audio and everything is right,
especially if you've got a microphone plugged in.
You'll have no way of checking that the microphone
is actually working or that the levels are good,
that there's no background noise, until you stop,
take the microphone out, and play back
what you've just recorded.
Step 12, record your video.
The first thing to check when you start recording your video
is that you are in AE Lock mode, that you've set your
manual exposure, which we did in step 10.
The next thing is to make sure that you're looking
directly down the camera lens, and not to the LCD screen,
or not to your phone screen so that you're talking
to yourself, you wanna make sure that you're making
eye contact with your viewer, in which case
you need to be looking at the camera lens.
The next thing to monitor is any background noise.
So if a plane goes overhead, or if there's a loud cow
or a truck that goes past, you might wanna pause
what you're doing and pick it up again
or start that sentence again once the noise has cleared.
The same if there's anything distracting in the background
that you notice,
someone walks past or there's a cow or something.
If you don't want it in your shot, then just pause
and pick it up and restart that sentence again
once it's cleared.
The other tip is, when you start recording your video,
is to position yourself and pause for about three seconds
before you start talking.
And, likewise, when you're finishing your video,
do exactly the same.
After you've finished your last word, sit there, pause,
don't move, smile, and wait before you get up
and reach and press the stop button.
One of the quickest ways to make your videos look
unprofessional is,
after your last word, reach up and press the stop button
so that the last thing the viewer sees is
you're half in motion to stopping your video,
instead of just sitting there, waiting for a couple
of seconds, and finishing your video professionally.
The other thing to be aware of when you're recording
is of any lighting changes.
So if this cloud's going over, or if there's lights
that are changing in the environment that you're filming,
just be aware that it will be noticeable in your shot,
especially if you've got jump cuts cutting between
one section and another section.
If there's any light changing, just be aware of them,
and if you can work around it somehow by moving to a
controlled environment with no windows,
then that will be ideal.
If not, maybe pause and wait for the clouds to clear,
until you're back to where you were
to keep the background and the lighting consistent.
So there you have it, that's the complete guide
to filming with your iPhone.
Leave any comments and questions below.
If you head over to videoeditingcoach.com,
and the link will be in the description below,
we'll have a PDF available with all the details,
all the descriptions from this video,
everything you need to know to film with your iPhone.
Also, while you're there, make sure you subscribe.
See you soon.
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