Almost all major social media platforms in 2024 allow you to post short vertical videos: shorts on YouTube, reels on Instagram, and so on. In summer, being a filmmaker is especially nice because the weather outside is great. But how to make the picture better and the videos more interesting? And what accessories will help when shooting?You can look for inspiration anywhere: in books, movies, TV series, games at the Hellspin Casino, among other reels, and, of course, in life around you.
How to Prepare for a Shoot
Create a Cool Idea
This is the main element of any video. If it comes to your mind at the most unexpected moment, don’t forget to write it down The video should tell a story or convey an emotion, then it will be memorable to the viewer.
Find Similar Videos
The harsh truth is that everything has already been invented for us. But this is exactly what will help. Before shooting your video, look for similar ones; such references will help you better understand the style and approach. Don’t be afraid to look up some ideas. The main thing is to put something of yourself into the video: mood, worldview, thoughts. This will help your video to become unique.
Prepare a Script
Before shooting, it’s important to spell out what you plan to show. If it’s impossible to describe everything in detail, you should at least decide on a plan. This way you will know exactly what and what goes after what. In the script and spell out the locations for shooting. Shooting in the room, against the wall, on the bed or at the table? Wouldn’t it be better to shoot outside in bright sunlight to make the video livelier? The choice of location depends on your idea: the location should help convey the essence of the story.
Which Smartphone to Use for Filming
Professional bloggers shoot reels and shorts on expensive cameras. But an interesting video can also be shot on a smartphone. Most of them have pretty good cameras, and that’s enough. After all, your content will be watched on your phone on social media, not in a movie theater.
Do you need a flagship camera phone? Of course not. The best tech is the tech you already have. Flagship smartphones usually have high-quality optics, better sensors and powerful hardware. All this affects the quality of the picture, but not fundamentally. Of course, new chips also primarily appear in expensive flagship phones; you can experiment with them to make the video more interesting visually, but this isn’t the most important thing. For example, with the 13th series, the iPhone added a “cinematic effect,” which allows you to change the depth of field of the video by artificial blurring and transfer the focus from the object in the background to the foreground (and vice versa).
This is an interesting feature, but it’s only useful if you want to add drama to a situation or shift attention from one subject to another. But you can do it in other ways: by panning, that is, by moving the camera, or by adding a close-up.
If your smartphone has a camera, then you’re ready to shoot video. But for a good picture, it’s worth checking out a few features:
- Support for shooting in 4K. This resolution will be needed if you want to enlarge the picture for more dynamic editing or to trim the excess in the frame without losing quality.
- Autofocus on the front camera. If you regularly shoot with the front camera, it’s worth checking if it has autofocus. This feature will help the phone to notice the object in the frame faster and keep the picture sharp.
- Optical (OIS) and Electronic (EIS) stabilization. Optical means that there is a special mechanism inside the camera that tilts the lens in the opposite direction of the smartphone’s movement. This helps smooth out the picture. Usually, optical stabilization is found in the more expensive versions of the smartphone. Electronic does the same thing, but artificially, due to the work of the processor, enlargement of the frame or its completion by neural networks. In flagship smartphone models, these two types of stabilization work together to create a smoother picture.
- Manual video recording settings. Basic settings like white balance (warm or cool picture) or exposure (bright or dark) can be found inside the main Camera app on your phone. You can also customize the number of frames per second: the more, the smoother the picture. In “slow motion” mode, the phone usually shoots 120 or 240 frames per second: then the smoothness of the picture isn’t lost when slowing down.
What Other Devices Are Useful for Filming
Short videos can be very different. For different scenarios, you may need some additional equipment. Usually, these smartphone accessories aren’t expensive, but they will help you improve the quality of your video.
Tripod
A tripod may be necessary if you need to shoot a static picture for a long time. For example, expert bloggers in short videos often talk about something right in the frame. Of course, you can take an assistant to the shooting and ask him to hold the smartphone, but then the picture will still be a little shaky. It’s better to use a tripod.
Light
If you plan to shoot indoors, it’s worth thinking about light. After all, ordinary lighting may not be enough for a quality picture. For starters, a classic circular lamp will do. You need it to light up your face. This gadget is suitable for those who talk a lot on video.
Microphone
Video makers often say that the sound in the video is more important than the picture. Because if the picture is bad, it can be somehow stylized during editing: make color correction, apply filters, age it. Bad sound is much harder to fix. Of course, if you are going to impose on the filmed video music, you don’t need a microphone. But if there will be conversations in the video, you should think about buying additional equipment.