Shooting HIGH QUALITY VIDEO With Your SMARTPHONE (#MasterClass)

in masterclass •  8 years ago  (edited)

In today's video I discuss 3 things: The Andrarchists (an incubator/chat-group for new and unrecognized creative talent), Master Classes (an idea which came out of the Andrarchists, the member @razvanelulmarin specifically, for creating educational content tailored specifically to the aspirational content creator on Steemit), and finally the bulk of the video is dedicated to teaching anyone interested how to shoot high quality video content using only your smartphone and natural light.

All you need to start shooting high quality video content is your smartphone and this video contains almost everything you need to know to get quality which is good enough to not distract from your content. More than a few people have reached out to me requesting advice on how to start creating video content and this is my first attempt to address that demand. Hopefully not the last :)

Before getting to the video I just want to make two important points:

  1. For the first couple of minutes I hold my camera in my hand while talking to demonstrate just how distracting and frankly nauseating the experience can be for the viewer. My apologies for this experience, however, my intent was to drive that point home and I sincerely believe that if you hang in there and get through it there is a lot of high quality information in this video that frankly took me years to learn.
  2. One of my first tips may seem like an obvious one: always clean the lenses of your smartphones before shooting with them. In fact, this seems so obvious that I deliver this piece of advice with a bit of snark. That snark is really aimed at THIS GUY (@andrarchy). I can't tell you how many times I have shot something amazing only to realize that the video was blury or hazy. If some of the advice seems obvious, I hope you don't view it as patronizing but instead as an indication of my own incompetence :). Enjoy!

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  ·  8 years ago (edited)

Great series idea @razvanelulmarin

Some ideas off the top of my head:
-how to make gifs
-basics of photoshop and/or image/video editing process

The nice thing about a master class series is how many topics it can cover. For instance imagine a masterclass on cars, one video teaching how to change tires, one teaching how to change your oil, one teaching you what you need to know when buying a car, etc. Possibilities are endless.

But this specific video has the three most necessary pieces of info: make sure your audio is easy to hear, your lens is clean, and use a tripod to eliminate a moving camera.

Yes! Great points all around. And we certainly don't have a monopoly on the masterclass tag. Anyone can create their own masterclass and I hope that they do. You nailed the intent right on the nose :) A+ ;)

Yes, I picture it like opening old school subfolders in Windows with cross promotion to the main subfolder.
"Let's see what's in masterclass today"
opens masterclass substeemit, see's top trending article "How to Change a Tire" that's located in subclass cars of masterclass, further explores other instructional videos within subclass

One small issue with this so far is that older content seems to get buried really fast. I took a vacation from Thursday to Sunday of last week and I'll probably never find some of the gems that popped up on my feed from those days. Having a subfolder like tree with libraries of past popular posts and ability to bookmark and save them within the platform will be a huge step for this site.

Thank you for sharing that opportunity for others to contribute thru the hashtag

I noticed some selfishness regarding hashtags, lately

That's unfortunate. Not how I roll :)

Fantastic video and concept for a series.

Making videos good enough so as not to distract from the content is absolutely key.

I think the same applies for writing. You don't a great wordsmith. However the writing, grammer, flow, format etc., does need to be good enough so as not to distract from the message of the post.

Good job!

lol, did you do that on purpose? hahah

Using the rear facing camera - wow, never knew about this! Thanks!
Great idea; i have my thinking cap on for suggestions! upvoting and following

The functionality of smart phones is amazing; I understand there's a facility to make and receive "calls" too!!

  ·  8 years ago (edited)

Nice, This is great info for everyone considering making quality looking videos and content.

I use a selfie stick every once in a while and sometimes stick with handheld shots despite the shakiness... it kinda became a style on some of the skits I do.

Get a tripod tho.. I agree, Shaky footage is no bueno unless of course that's what your going for not recommended

If you are unsure of what or where to start.. CHECK THIS OUT
my 2 thumbs up of approval


btw, @andrarchy check out my blog and see if maybe there is anything I can help you guys out with.
or check out my youtube page to get an overall understanding of my experience and styles http://youtube.com/wcarranzajr

Ur words not mine u want to speak for me go ahead be my guest and have a good day

Helpful stuff. As a low tech suggestion, putting a mirror behind your phone when using the rear facing camera will let you check the angle of your shot more easily!

you know your home video production very well

You are right!

Thanks for tutorial @andrarchy !
Maybe in the future some masterclass covering smartphone videos on the go?
I don't do much videos, but try to when travelling. So maybe some tips how to make the best out of shooting under pressure e.g. off hand, low light?
Thanks!

Great initiative to crowd source education, you could say :) Also some nice tips on how to make the most of your smart phone camcorder, thanks.

This is fantastic. Very high density of useful information in that video (especially if you're playing back it at 2x speed, hey time is a precious resource!). I can imagine this will help lots of people.

exceptional shooting video via smartphone looks very cool

YES, great teacher

Takes practice, trial and error... but good quality is very achievable

Love the idea of the master class. I'm currently using a Canon Rebel T3i for video and I get great source files but I'm now into experimenting with all the effects/transitions in Final Cut Pro X. So, if I had a suggestion for a class....I would suggest an intermediate-advanced level class since I already know the basics in showing different methods used with effects & transitions (doesn't have to be in Final Cut Pro X). Great video.

You'd be surprised what little things you might learn from the beginner level that you either.. never considered or always overlooked but I do agree.. bring on the advanced classes as well.

That's a good suggestion. Personally I believe in using very few effects. I use mainly hard cuts. Too much other stuff can be distracting. But good suggestion, I'll give it thought.

Hard cuts are absolutely the best transitions or lack of one....but, I guess that I prefer a bit of the artsy transitions offered by companies like pixel film studios.

It's about how desperate and creative you are enough to tell a story...
My steemit Time-Lapse sunrise on the Beach

My Bootleg Tripod for the shot


My setup in Action

Think outside the box

another thing I haven't heard yet.. STILL WATCHING is the app your using to film with. There are several apps with several different benefits but it all comes down to the hardware in the phone and what it's capable of doing.
When it comes to post, I have about 10 different apps I use for different shots, filters, color correction.. now mind you this is ONLY when I'm editing on the fly thru my phone. something I've been limited to as of late I'd rather be doing my work on my computer.

Good point. I'm using the native iPhone camera app

I'm curious.. is the iphone capabble of 4k?

I use my old note3 and galaxy s7 which is really stepping up on quality

I think the 6s might be able to? But the 6 Plus cannot. I think there's an app that may enable it, but I wasn't impressed with it. At the time I believe it was not able to use Apple's image stabilization. For people starting out I couldn't recommend more using Apple's camera app and iMovie to edit their video. Keep it simple. Make great content.

o yea, I agree.. great advice

@andrarchy is right - 4K on iPhone began with the 6s and 6s Plus.

Great post and good info for new users. To hide the lapel mic a black t-shirt works well:)

Nice informative tutorial. Keep it coming can't wait for more of your content. All the best.

Great information. I want more of this !

I like the tip about the rear-facing camera. Thanks for posting

Simple but important right? Thanks!

@andrarchy , I don't know why I'm not already following you, so considering that problem fixed, first of all.
Secondly, great tips here. If you know what settings to look for in a good video app, you can get some amazing results that are a joy to work with.
As far as your comment on the GoPro, that's actually what I use for my daily workout videos which I've been posting - a Session, actually.
I've also been very interested in some products for all of my cameras (dSLR, iPhone 6 Plus, and GoPro Session) from iKan. These guys make some amazing 3-axis gimbal stabilizers.

Great cause for newbies. It'll definitely be a helpful thing not just for newbies alone but for Steemit as well. Thank you for such contribution in making this platform really great. I didn't think you were using your phone for your still videos. I don't know if you are but if that is the case, then that's some good quality work. Great job :)

sophisticated smartphone and nice.

Thanks for sharing, look forward to more...

Nice tutorial!
I'm also shooting the videos for my youtube channel (and now for steemit),
but I have one question to you, @andrarchy :
how do you think, is there a big difference in quality (not loudness, this can be fixed in post-production) between the iphone mic and cheap lavalier? If so, which lavaliers has acceptable quality?
Because I was searching for some, and price starts from 1$, but I don't think it worth buying.

very amazing idea , keep it up :)

I noticed that the standard mic on the iphone sounded better than the one you clipped to your shirt.

hi andrarchy I follow u in YouTube since ur first video u made till now. but I don't follow u here because I don't like the idea of just up voting and following others just for the money, as I already follow u on YouTube, sine we are talking about ideas I thought might just contribute, so here is my idea why don't we create to places where we can all view each other's post and we can also send posts here is mine #steemitreview

Thanks for nothing?

why u say that? Just being honest I am one of ur original supports and still follow and love some of ur videos not all. Lol I only chose to follow no voice here, but I love ur new ideas and projects hopeful from now on I will follow if it will help those like me and expect my comments on ur YouTube channels

lol, dude... what kind of love are you showing now?

@cryptosteem, you don't sound like an original supporter/fan of his work at all.

Thank you for ur reply as for original I don't need to judged myself to u. Nor do I follow anyone for money. I support and follow the no voice like me, and will continue to do so, the only Dolphins I follow are two both on YouTube mainly.

Your telling somebody who is sharing good advice with you for FREE, "Fuck your advice and everything I've learned from you since day 1... look at me, look at me looking at you... That is all"

Great post!

keep it up

Great stuff @andrarchy

Cool

  ·  8 years ago Reveal Comment