This isn't Hollywood - your team does not expect your content to look like it belongs to Michael Bay! However, here are some tips that may assist you in creating your own killer content.
Filming content can be not only the easiest way to quickly communicate something company-wide but also the most engaging for the team as well. In a world filled with Tik Tok, Reels, Facebook, and more, today's learners tend to prefer video training material and are more likely to retain the key takeaways.
Here are some tips and tricks to record video content right from your mobile device!
Video Tips
Lighting and Camera Placement
• Always make sure there’s more light in front of your subject than behind them.
• Try as much as possible to shoot your video in brightly lit areas.
• Try not to point the camera directly at bright light sources.
• Hold phone vertically when filming informative, discussion-type videos.
• Hold the phone horizontally when filming a demonstrational video to ensure you capture a larger filming angle.
Stabilizing the Video:
• Move the camera slowly.
• Keep two hands on your smartphone.
• Avoid zooming in the video! You can always physically move closer to your subject in order to get the best shot.
• Stabilizers and tripods allow you to keep your smartphone or mobile device still when taking a video with it.
• If a smartphone tripod or stabilizer is a little too costly, you can rest your phone on other physical supports like tables, chairs, desks, shelves, etc.
Audio Tips
• If you’re using the built-in microphone for dialogue, get up close and personal.
• Shoot your video in a quiet place, preferably indoors when possible with less ambient noise.
• You can try to get an external microphone that will work with your smartphone.
Prepping for Shoot
• Before you begin recording your videos, make sure that you have the gear, speaking points, contributors and shooting locations ready to go.
• Make sure your phone has enough storage space (available memory) to store the footage.
Storage
• The simplest option is plugging your phone into your computer with your USB charger. Or if you have an android device, take out your memory card and use a card reader that is hooked up to your computer.
The other solution is “cloud” sharing options:
• Dropbox works on all devices and you are given 2GBs for free to get
started.
• Google Drive gives you 15GB for free to get started and it is compatible on
all mobile devices as well.
• Apple’s iCloud offers 5GB of storage for free to get started and works
basically the same as the other two.
• WeTransfer can be used to send video files up to 2 GB to different people
via email.
Other
• Clean the lens. A dirty camera lens will produce blurry videos every time.
It’s crucial that you clean your phone’s camera lens before shooting a clip.
Only use a microfiber cloth, though, to avoid scratching the lens.
Key Takeaways
- Video content is preferred by most teams and can be shot right from your phone!
- Preparing for the video shoot will go in a long way... jotting down speaking points for each video could be the difference in recording 3 videos in a day vs. 5+
- A dirty camera will always produce blurry footage