There are many smartphones on the market that journalists and others can use to record
edit and share material. In this video I am going to share with you a number of tips that could
help your recordings look and sound better. Here at the BBC many of our journalists
are using iPhones and while this film looks at those devices in particular, a lot of the
principles apply whichever smartphone you're using. So, whether you're using an Android, a Windows
phone or an iPhone, this first point is particularly important. Firstly, make sure your lens is
clean. Use your shirt or a tissue but often glasses cloth is best. You need to make sure your
phone is in airplane mode before you start recording. Going into airplane mode is really
important because it stops your device receiving a phone call. If it can get one while you're
filming, it will interrupt you and you may not get a second chance to record. Video files
can get very large very quickly so check in your settings how much space you have available.
Ideally, try to have at least half of your device's capacity spare. You can record more
if you can reduce the resolution of your video; on some devices, this is just a case of going
into your settings and dropping the resolution down. If your footage is for TV or online,
then you'll want to record it horizontally. Indeed for the BBC's newsgathering app PNG,
that's the only orientation it will support. But vertical framing is increasingly accepted
and acceptable on smartphones. But the resulting footage is not so useful for the BBC's purposes.
The phone will automatically adjust the focus and exposure, based on what's in the scene.
But you can get better results by taking control. Tap the screen to adjust the focus and exposure.
Press and hold to lock in those settings – you’ll see 'AE/AF LOCK' displayed to confirm this.
You can also move your finger up and down the screen to tweak the exposure even more precisely.
Most smartphones will give you the option to zoom while you're recording
your video but this will degrade the picture quality, so it's usually much better to get
closer to what you want to film, as long as it's safe to do so.
If necessary, you can turn the light on
when recording video, but be aware that this will drain your battery quite considerably.
If you're out and about shooting hand-held without a tripod, a good
way to ensure a stable shot is to bring your arms close in tight against your body.
Or if there's something suitable, lean against it to ensure that your shot is stable.
And once there, keep filming each shot for about 10 to 15 seconds. On some phones, you can
record video and take a photo at the same time: here, tap the white circle in the bottom
right-hand corner. If you ever need to record a piece-to-camera using the front-facing camera,
make sure you look at the lens and not the screen to ensure you have the correct eyeline.
Getting good audio is vital for your video and the in-built microphone on most smartphones
will be fine for ambient sound but the closer you get to a guest or an interviewee the better
the audio will be. If you can, go somewhere quieter or even ask the guest to speak a bit louder.
Outdoors, wind noise can also pose something of a challenge. You can overcome
many of these problems or challenges by using an external plug-in microphone or a clip microphone.
This will give you much better audio as long as you are using a mic with the right kind
of connector. A cheaper alternative or emergency standby could be to use the microphone on
your headphones that come supplied with most smartphones. Plug that in and then you can
use this microphone to get better audio and good framing. Bear in mind though that we
took something of a risk here by plugging the microphone in after we'd started recording.
It's usually far better to plug your microphone in first and then launch your video recording app.
Make sure you know where the microphone is that records audio when you are recording video.
On the iPhone it's between the lens and the light but whichever device you're using,
find out where it is but don’t cover it with your hands. You have another couple of
options when you're recording video: you can record slow-motion videos and also time-lapses.
If you're a BBC journalist, the preferred way to record, edit and send video is to use
the internal-only app, PNG - 'portable newsgathering'. Using PNG will ensure you have got the
correct frame rate for broadcast too. You can then save and file your recording directly
into the newsroom systems. To take a shorter clip from your video, use the trim controls
to isolate the area you want to keep and then 'save as a new clip'. The shorter the video,
the quicker it will be to send. When you're happy with your footage and ready to share or send
it, tap the box with a forwarding arrow to reveal the options available to you.
Email is a simple way to send short pieces of video direct to colleagues back in the newsroom.
Another option would be to upload your content straight to social networks, or onto a cloud service.
BBC journalists are currently using a number of third-party apps which can increase
the quality of their video recordings and other apps with which they can edit
fully-mixed packages. A smartphone has the potential to be a mobile newsgathering device in your pocket.
Explore, practise and get comfortable with many of these techniques and you'll soon
be able to record and share great material.