How to shoot great video from your pocket

Posted by Chris Coates on 11th February 2020

At Capital B Media, we have the latest camera equipment to shoot videos in 4K (super high definition). But we don’t always take the Lumix camera with us on video shoots – sometimes it can all be done on a phone.

Shooting on a mobile is especially useful if you are sharing content from an event and you don’t have the time or resources to edit on a laptop. Using a phone, you can film short clips quickly and easily, and especially if the video is for social media, an expensive 4K camera is not a necessity.

When taking photos and filming video, most of us use our phone’s built-in camera app, leave all the settings on automatic and let the app do its thing. But there are a few things you can do to make sure you’re getting a high-quality shot.

Firstly, I would always recommend using a tripod when shooting on a phone. Some smartphones have an anti-shake function built into the app, but nothing will beat the security of having a tripod. You can buy small tripods online very cheaply, but I’d recommend spending a little more to get a full-size one so you can do stand-up interviews with your phone.

Secondly, you can easily adjust the brightness of a shot. On the majority of smartphones, if you tap your finger on the screen when the camera app is open, a yellow box will appear, along with a sun icon and a sliding bar. You can use this to adjust the brightness of the shot (effectively the lens is adjusting the amount of light it is allowing in). If you’re working in an area where the lighting is poor, this feature is really useful.

Next, make sure the camera focuses on the subject throughout the interview. If you leave the focus on auto and the person moves their head, the camera might unintentionally focus on something else in the shot, especially if you have framed the shot in a traditional TV interview style with the subject on one side of the frame. To avoid this problem, when you set up the shot, hold your finger on the subject’s face. This will ‘lock’ the focus on them so they will always remain in focus even if they move around during the shoot.

My final tip is to think about how you’re going to get good quality sound. If you’re in a quiet place with no background noise and make sure the phone is close to the subject, you can get satisfactory sound quality from the phone’s in-built microphone. But it’s likely that at some point you’ll have to film in louder places with a lot of background sound and even if you’ve followed all the tips I’ve mentioned, a well-shot phone video can easily be ruined by poor sound.

The solution is to invest in a lapel microphone which attaches to the subject’s collar. The mic will plug into the phone’s earphone slot and work out the right volume level automatically, so they’re very easy to use. Using one enables you to film in a variety of locations and is the final piece of the jigsaw for good mobile phone videos.

In his next blog, Chris will cover how you can edit using your phone too.