Everything You Need to Shoot Beautiful Video on Your IPhone

If you have an iPhone, you already have everything you need to create professional looking videos. Whether you’re just a hobbyist or a video master, you can shoot videos so beautiful that people won’t believe you were using your phone. Here’s how.

You probably already know that the iPhone (or any smartphone for that matter) is capable of shooting amazing videos, but I’m wondering if you really understand how awesome that is . Take a moment here to watch the trailer for Tangerine , an 87-minute feature-length film that premiered at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival.

Looks great, right? It was shot entirely on an iPhone 5S. Tangerine is proof that you don’t need a big Hollywood budget to create a quality cinematic experience. However, one cannot fail to note the creativity and skill of the filmmakers. While you can use any smartphone to shoot great video, the advanced features and functions we’re going to discuss are primarily for the iPhone.

Learn the basics of filmmaking and the features of your iPhone

Even the most advanced equipment is still only as good as the person who uses it. It is imperative to learn basic filmmaking techniques, including the principles ofcamera angle, motion capture, and lighting .

Lighting, in particular, is important for creating mood and highlighting certain details. Videos from your iPhone look best in good natural light. If your budget allows, you should purchase andlearn to use a good lighting kit such as this one from StudioPRO . Plus, you canmake your own for less than $ 100 . Here are some more tips to look out for:

• Always shoot in landscape mode. This is the simplest tip, as portrait mode gives you those ugly black borders in your last video clip.
• Clean the camera lens regularly. Removing dust or grease with a microfiber cloth takes literally 10 seconds and won’t hurt.
• Do not use the zoom function. The zoom on your iPhone is digital zoom, not optical zoom, which has a bad effect on detail or image quality. Using it will most likely make your video grainy. However, if you have an iPhone 7 Plus, its dual camera allows you to zoom in without sacrificing quality.
• Use exposure lock. The iPhone automatically focuses on your subject and adjusts to the amount of light the camera is “letting in,” or exposure. If you’re shooting video while someone is talking, the constant auto adjustments can make your footage choppy. Use the AE / AF lock function by touching and holding the screen until the AE / AF field appears. Once this happens, focus is locked and you can adjust the exposure by swiping your finger up or down. Both of them make the video consistently sharp.
• Put your phone in airplane mode. This is to avoid unnecessary interruptions and notifications during shooting. You can do this in settings or by swiping up the screen to open the Control Center and clicking on the airplane icon.
• Mix this with the lens attachments. Many third-party companies make lenses that you can physically attach to your iPhone to distort the look of your photo or video . For example, you can purchase a fisheye lens or a wide angle lens for added flair. You don’t need them , but they add creative and stylistic possibilities. You can try something like a multi lens kit like olloclip .
• Take advantage of time-lapse and slow motion video. In addition to regular video, you can capture time lapses and slow motion sequences that are built into the iPhone camera app. When you open the camera, scroll to the left to find these options. When you’re recording time-lapse or slow – motion video, it’s important to keep your camera steady on a tripod (or thisphone holder made from empty toilet paper rolls ) to avoid intermittent sequences.

The beauty of the iPhone lies in its combination of power and simplicity. It’s good for professional-looking videos, and its easy-to-use interface allows you to spend more time learning the basics.

Use a gimbal or tripod to keep your iPhone stable

Professional cameramen usually use sophisticated devices such as gimbals and gimbals to keep the camera stable and to make the footage flawless. The latest iPhone comes with optical image stabilization, which automatically tries to compensate for any shake, but nothing beats having something like a tripod to keep your phone steady .

Steadicams and gimbals are perfect if you want to shoot video on the go or really want to do your best, but they’re just more expensive than a simple tripod. I am using the JOBY GripTight GorillaPod ($ 19.95), which works well in a variety of landscapes and environments and is easy to install.

If you do need to hold your phone, you can make it more stable by holding it with both hands as close to your body as possible and / or by resting your elbows on something or something.

Give your video quality sound with a microphone upgrade

Unfortunately, the iPhone’s built-in microphone isn’t great, especially if you’re filming in noisy environments or want to focus on certain sounds (like your voice, not birds chirping or cars passing behind you). either a lavalier mic or a shotgun mic (some people get both) to get a nice, solid, directional sound. If you had to pick one, consider what type of video you want to shoot. Are you doing interviews or explaining? Or are you filming a travel video? Depending on your video, each has its own pros and cons:

• Lavalier microphone: You’ve probably seen lavalier microphones on TV news programs and in interviews. They are omnidirectional, and while a wired microphone is a cheap option, it is difficult to hide it from viewers. You can attach a microphone to your shirt collar and run a wire under your shirt, but if you fidget too much, you will hear an annoying noise from the shirt rubbing against the microphone. Some people turn around this by wrapping moleskin around the microphone head, but lava mics work best when people are sitting or standing still. The Giant Squid Audio Lab microphone is a good starting point if you want a quality microphone.
• Shotgun Microphone : The shotgun microphone makes the sound more natural. It’s a directional microphone, and because you point a shotgun microphone in the direction of the sound you want to pick up, it’s best for recording anything in front of it. It’s also great to block out sounds on the sides while remaining invisible to the camera. If you’re shooting outdoors, you’ll need some sort of wind blocker to deal with the harsh sounds from the slightest wind. RODE VideoMic Me and Mighty Mic are miniature shotgun microphones that connect to your phone.

Ideally, you want to be as close to the sound source as possible. This can be tricky if you want a specific shot, but you also need great sounding sound. You can work around this by using a different iPhone just for audio playback, or by using an external microphone or audio recording device like the Zoom H1 , popular with both podcasts and journalists.

Be sure to test your microphone before filming. It sucks to reshoot something because you missed a simple hardware check. And here’s a tip from a pro: Clap your hands loudly to establish a reference point when editing audio tracks later. This will make it easier to sync multiple audio tracks later.

Use a better video shooting app than the default camera

While you can simply press record in the camera application to start shooting applications such as filmic Pro (available for iOS, so for All Android ), give you more precise control over the look of your video, from the focus to the white balance and frame rate, and then a little. It also gives you control over some audio parameters and is compatible with external microphones like the RODE VideoMic GO. This is what allowed the creators of Tangerine to achieve their highly stylized look, and there are other examples of amazing videos made with it here .

For $ 10, however, the app is expensive, especially if you’re just starting out, and beware: FiLMic Pro is so full of settings and features that it takes a while to learn it.

It’s easy to get started shooting really great videos on your iPhone or any smartphone without breaking the bank. Best of all, when you have everything you need, your rig is portable and you can shoot just about anywhere. Just make sure you have enough space for your movie projects and back up your data regularly . Partly to save your videos and make room for others, but also so you don’t lose anything.

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