(upbeat pop music)
- So recently we talked about how filmmaking
is more of a collaborative effort than a solo thing.
But what about those times
when you are just a solo filmmaker.
You're out traveling by yourself,
or you're downtown in the city by yourself.
What do you do then?
I struggle with this all the time.
I have some video idea that I want to film.
Some examples for a video,
and I have nobody to film except for myself.
And I always talk about telling story
through a subject, or character, a person in your video
and when you're by yourself
well you have to be that subject.
On Monday I posted that video where I just felt
like going out and filming just
for the heck of it, just for fun.
No rhyme or reason for it.
And it was kind of interesting just filming a whole bunch
of different B-roll all by myself as a solo shooter.
I was setting up the camera, making sure everything's good.
But also being the actual subject that was getting filmed.
And I think it turned out kinda cool.
I learned a bunch of stuff.
I just had fun and I got a cool little edit out of it,
and then I posted on Twitter,
and then Cody Wanner was like, "#solobroll challenge?"
And I thought that'd be kind of an interesting idea,
maybe this weekend you should go out
and film your own solo B-roll.
The video can be about anything you want.
The only rules are is that you have to be filing it
and you can't be filming somebody else.
So you have to film it,
and you have to be the subject in the video.
Now it's okay if there's some random people
in the background or whatever,
but you can't be filming your friend for this video.
Keep it under a minute.
Do not go over a minute.
I'm not gonna look at any of the videos
that are over a minute long.
Post it on Twitter using the hashtag #solobroll,
and then tag me in it @mattihaapoja
so I'll see your videos.
I'm gonna pick five to showcase,
but one winner, I don't actually know
what the winner's gonna get yet.
At worst you'll get a nice shout on my channel,
but maybe I'll try to send you some camera gear
or something like that.
A gimbal or a backpack, I don't know.
Let's see what I can come up with.
Also please try to use either Artlist,
Epidemic Sound, or Musicbed so that I can actually
show your video on my channel and play the music.
And if you're like I don't have the money for those,
well right now Musicbed and Epidemic Sound
are both doing free trials.
So I'll put the links down below.
Try to use one of those three places for your music.
Okay, so now that we've settled the rules
for the #solobroll challenge.
I'm gonna give you guys a little bit of a pep talk.
A little bit of a, a few tips
that you could use in your solo B-roll film.
First off just put your camera
on the ground, on a table,
whatever don't be scared to set up your camera
even though you're the subject and the filmmaker.
Set up your camera somewhere, obviously be cautious
you don't wanna get your camera stolen.
I usually don't put it too far away,
I always kind of have an eye on it
for the most part, be cautious.
But put the camera down on the ground,
walk through it, bike through it,
skateboard through it, whatever you need to do
to make it more interesting.
Don't feel like you just always have
to be holding the camera all the time.
Next focus a lot on the framing,
because even if you're walking through the frame
or whatever is kinda weird, as long as the framing
is really nice then you're guaranteed
to have some really cool B-roll
because just the overall frame looks really good.
So really put a lot of time into the framing of things.
Make sure that's good,
because you can't always have your movement
in the video be perfect because you're having
to do everything by yourself.
Next just use your arms.
You have these arms use them.
So I do a lot of funny stuff,
like for example when I was doing that video for Monday
I kinda just like did these dolly forwards.
I just held the camera in front of me,
and I just slowly moved it closer to my face.
And you can't really tell in the video
that I'm doing that, but you have these arms use
it to do really interesting things, creative things.
And then to make it even better,
you can use one of these guys
to kind of have an extension for your arms.
So a lot of the feet shot for example
in that video I kinda just held out the camera
with this GorillaPod and it kind of extends it
so you can get some really cool angles.
So use your arms and use an extender for your arms also.
And just try things.
Try anything like I did in that video,
I just tried a whole bunch of weird stuff.
Sometimes I just held the camera kind of
in front of me pointing up
and I was just walking around seeing what that looked like.
I was trying to do some spiny things,
trying to see if that looked cool.
I just tried anything and everything.
Be creative with it and don't worry
if it turns out crappy, who cares.
Nobody's gonna see that footage.
A lot of my shots looked terrible,
but then there were these moments
that looked really, really cool and it was just
because I was trying a whole bunch of different things.
And as your doing that, make sure to think about continuity.
For example, if you want a walking shot,
walk towards the camera and then just flip it around
and walk away from the camera.
Not only will this help to build your story a little bit
but it also gives you more interesting B-roll
that just link together really nicely.
So for example if you're making coffee,
don't just have one angle of you pouring the coffee.
Pour the coffee from one angle.
Then change the angle pour it again
and maybe walk off or something.
So you have a lot of these dynamic shots
and there's good continuity in the shots.
Solo B-roll does not mean
that you can only have one camera angle.
You can do whatever you want.
And then one of the big decisions
is whether to go auto focus or manual focus.
Neither works perfectly in ever single situation.
For example, when I was doing those dolly forward shots
to my face, I needed the auto focus.
I mean I guess I could've done it
in manual focus too it would've been
just a different look kind of coming into focus.
But then for some of the wide shots
where I don't want the focus to be changing
I just put it to manual focus,
and that's what worked best in those cases.
So make sure to think about whether you need auto focus
or manual focus for that shot.
And lastly don't care what people think about you
while you're filming your solo B-roll.
If your constantly thinking like,
oh what are those people, they're looking at me.
You're gonna get safe shots
and not necessarily the best shots.
So just don't care about the people.
Who cares what they're thinking.
I mean I'm sure I looked like an idiot running around
in a snowstorm when it was freezing outside.
Sliding around on the ice and stuff.
A grown man just filming his self,
but I didn't care, whatever.
I was gonna try different things just to see what kind
of cool stuff I could come up with.
So make sure you don't care
about what other people are thinking about,
because you want to get the best shots
and not just the safe shots
that don't make you look like an idiot.
Alright, so get out there film something
for fun, just for yourself, by yourself.
Remember to keep it under a minute long,
and post it on Twitter using the hashtag #solobroll
and then tag me @mattihaapoja on there just so I see it.
You have until Sunday to post it on Twitter.
I'm not gonna be super strict about the timeline,
but on Monday I'm gonna start watching them.
And yeah, go out there and have fun with it
I think that's the most important thing
about doing this challenge, just have fun with it.
Best of luck and I can't see what you guys come up with.
(upbeat pop music)