This video displays basic tips for a person looking to start vlogging or capturing video to showcase their skills. It's aimed at beginners, although there are some great tips for the avid shooter too. How to create a dolly-like effect using only your body, and how long a shot should last to make it something the viewer can actually focus on and absorb is included. It's practical and the video is only two minutes long.
- Change the phone from vertical to horizontal. Now for me this is a tough claim because I want to shoot for the way the media will be watched. In other words, I shoot for the medium. If it's an Instagram or Snapchat story I might consider shooting it vertically. It's just one of the things I find annoying when watching these stories on my phone holding it vertically and then having to switch it to landscape when someone posts a video that way. But, I like the 16:9 ratio, and I'm all for upholding the tradition, so in this case, I shoot landscape for all my videos that won't go to stories on social media.
- Shoot at a faster frame rate to slow it down when you want to when editing. It stabilizes the shot, and it looks more dramatic. I'm not one to use 120fps much, but I like the off-speed of 50 or 60fps which almost looks real but with added intensity.
- Shoot from the hip. It creates a different, often more interesting angle and your arms are more stable when it's down at your core of your body instead of when you're holding up your phone to your face and eyes.
- Keep your shot stable for at least three seconds.
- Sway your hip from left to right while holding the phone at your core to get a dolly shot effect.
- Choose your time of day to shoot. In daylight you might get harsh shadows. At night you get noise. Shooting early in the morning gives footage a freshness, and shooting at sunset gets you golden hour light.
These tips are practical, and I'm certainly going to try lowering the phone down to my core to get more stable shots, and I'll also attempt adding the dolly-shot effect in my video.