Thanks to the rapid developments in smartphone technology, capturing high quality video footage has never been so effortless.
According to Forbes, 91 percent of adults have their smartphone within arm's reach, meaning 91 percent of adults also have a powerful video camera within arm's reach too. And with a little bit of practice and understanding of some of the key settings anyone who owns a smartphone can start capturing great footage for vlogs, interviews or even documentaries.
Using your smartphones automatic camera settings will still result in grabbing some great looking footage, but delve down into some of the settings that are available and follow some key composition techniques and you will be able improve the video you capture even more.
Camera Orientation
Nothing ruins great content more than having two black vertical bars along the left and right hand sides of your video, so make it a habit to record video whilst holding your phone in a landscape format. Not only does this make your video more aesthetically pleasing to watch, but it will also provide you with some added stability to, because no one likes shaky video footage!
Framing
Capturing your video in a landscape orientation will help you incorporate more into the shot, but where should you place the object or person in your frame? Try not to put them dead in the centre, but instead have them focused slightly to the left or the right of the video. This simple trick instantly makes your video more pleasing to the viewer, as it allows you to fill in more of the shot with an interesting background, but also allows you to vary the shots of your subject or object if you are capturing more than one. Play around with this and see what works best for you.
Zoom
The zoom on your smartphone is most likely totally different to the zoom on your camcorder or digital camera. The former uses digital zoom, whereas the latter are more likely to use optical zoom. The difference between the two? The moment you start to zoom in using a smartphone, you are losing the precious pixels that make your video footage look crisp and clean as it simply cropping into the video. Optical zoom physically moves the lenses on the camera to capture a closer image, thus not sacrificing the pixels density. To put it simply, if you want zoom in to your subject on your smartphone, then you will have to move closer to your subject.
Flash
Most, if not all smartphones now have a built in flash for photos and videos, but they don't always work well for lighting up a dark composition. Smartphones come equipped with LED lights, which are often too bright, but also produce a vary stark white light which results in you losing the warmth of your video and in most cases, even with the light on, the video will still come up poorly lit in the ends. If you want to capture video in darker locations, find an alternative light source. Neon signs and colourful lights are great to bring the brightness up whilst also energising your video with colour.
Backlighting
Whether you are indoors or out, there will usually be some form of external light source active in your shot. It may be the day light coming in through the window of your office, or the early morning sun shining on you. Avoid placing your subject in front of the light source facing your camera. You may be able to see people and their faces when they are backlit, but your smartphone camera most likely can't and will provide you with footage of bright light, haloing around a silhouetted figure. Instead, when possible, get the light behind you and your smartphone facing in the general direction of the subject that you are capturing.
Have a go at implementing some of the tips and tricks that I have provided with you above. As always with capturing great video content, the key is to practice and trial different techniques and you will find methods that work for you.
If you need any support with you video content requirements, please do not hesitate to contact us on 01404 548405 or jack@cosmic.org.uk