Smartphone Video Course - 5 Fundamentals of Filming on a Smartphone

Welcome to our Smartphone Video Course with everything beginners need to start filming with their iPhone or any other device. Take a look through our five fundamentals of filming on a smartphone to create professional looking videos!

Location

The first fundamental step to shooting a video on your smartphone is choosing where you will shoot the video. Creating or using an interesting background can make all the difference in your video looking professional. 

Aurelie, our Head of Product says that using a coloured or textured background is the best way to add contrast and create visual interest from your viewers. When in doubt about where you should choose, our top tip is that outdoors is always the best bet. Go out and find a background, there are thousands out there to try out!

Lighting 

One of the most important factors in any film shoot is the lighting. This is especially true when shooting videos of yourself or videos containing others speaking directly to the camera. We would always suggest avoiding the use of overhead lighting which can create facial shadowing. 

Our top tip would be to create lighting behind the camera to illuminate the face and provide better focus and a more professional appearance. This can be done with standard lighting or there are a range of low-cost professional lighting tools which can be attached to the back of a smartphone. Remember, natural lighting can often work just as well if not better! 

Sound 

In order to be heard in your video, sound is also an important consideration, especially background noise. Select a quiet place to limit the background noise, and that will reduce the chance of having to film retakes due to interruption. 

Our top tip for limiting background noise and boosting your voice in your videos is to loosely cover the microphone of your phone using your hand. This way you can direct the sound of your voice into the microphone and shield any other noise from entering. 

Framing 

CEO and Founder of Seenit, Emily Forbes’ best tip is to work on the framing of your videos. Aligning yourself to the left or right of your frame will make your videos look more professional and align better with your viewer to the message you are trying to get across. 

Be Yourself

Finally, our biggest tip for overall professionalism in smartphone video making is to be yourself. Remain as natural as possible and speak beyond the camera, as though you are speaking to another person. Remember to take a deep breath, smile and chat to your audience as though they are there with you. 

Seenit Academy

For more helpful tips on smartphone video recording and other areas of making professional looking clips take a look at our other lessons in the Film School.

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