EXPERT TIPS ON MAKING SHORT VIDEOS
1. Filming
- Clean the lens: It sounds silly and simple, but this is always a great place to start.
- Landscape: video that’s shot in horizontal / landscape orientation is still generally the most pleasing to watch, but that doesn’t mean it’s the only way you should shoot. You can experiment with something different and film vertical.
- 4K vs Full HD: full HD is 1,920 x 1,080 pixels and 4K is 3,840 x 2,160 pixels resolution. Many premium smartphones can shoot for 4K nowadays but do you need 4K quality? Probably not. Most people don’t choose to watch (or even have the ability to watch, in some situations) 4K videos. You can select the resolution you want to film in the settings.
- Framing: fill the frame with your subject. You can also put him or her or it slightly off-center to create a more visually interesting scene. Just play around and see what looks best.
- Stabilise the smartphone: Smartphones, because of there size, are prone to shake. This will often make you video look amateurish. If you don’t have a tripod or stabiliser, remember to have your thumb and forefinger on either side of the Smartphone. Pull your elbows into your body and that will give you some stability. You can also lean your phone up against a heavy object on a flat surface without covering up the camera. Just keep in mind where the lens is.
- Zoom: don’t use the digital zoom of the smartphone. If you want a close up of your subject, get closer to it.
- Lighting: Smartphones are not great in low light and you can get noisy or grainy video without enough light. If you are inside, be aware of the strongest light source in the room and don’t be opposite to it. If you are outside early morning or early evening light is nearly always more flattering to your subject. Also do not be afraid to move a subject to a better spot if you need more light.
- Backlighting: avoid backlit settings. You may be able to see people and their faces when they’re backlit, but your smartphone camera usually can’t and will output footage with a bright light haloing a dark figure. That figure will also have no visible features, meaning you just missed whatever it was you were trying to capture.
- Storage: make sure you have enough free space in your smartphone to store the footage. Video files are usually heavy!
2. Editing
You can do light video editing in your smartphone’s own photos app, like trimming the length of the video, or maybe applying a few basic filters. To do anything more advanced, though, you’re going to have to try out some different video-editing apps.
Filming and video-editing Apps:
https://www.apple.com/imovie/ (IOS - Free)
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/adobe-premiere-rush-for-video/id1188753863 (IOS - Free)
https://www.filmicpro.com/ (IOS & Android - $14.99) (More advanced option for editing with more features)