Film great video content in just 7 steps!
Before your shoot day
Whilst there are many things to do before you begin filming here are the two most crucial.
1. Plan your video. A good plan goes a long way by ensuring you capture the right content you need for your video.
2. Prepare all camera gear. Whether this is your phone or camera kit, make sure everything is charged, there is storage space for filming and that you have all the gear you need to capture your video.
1. Choose a location
This is where we start! A good location needs to be both visually pleasing as well as allowing your audience understand the context to what your video is about.
A good location begins with these things:
Lots of natural light
Light is so important for your filming! If you don't have a suite of professional lights you want to choose a space that has lots of windows to light your subject as well as the ambient space around them. The better lit your room is the better (in most scenarios).
A room with no windows and only overhead doesn't make the best location to film in.
Quiet (if recording audio)
If you are recording audio you want to choose a location that is quiet and doesn't echo.
Clean & tidy
The background of your video says a lot about you and your brand so make sure the location you choose is clean and free from messy or distracting things.
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| Cluttered background | Clean background |
Big space
Big spaces almost always make better spaces to film than small ones. This is because you want to have as much depth behind your subject as possible. The further away things from your subject, the more out of focus or 'blurry' things will be. The closer the background is to your subject, the more in focus and sharp they will be.
Relevant to your video
Your background subtly gives context to your audience about your video so our goal is to choose a location that is relevant to our video.
eg. If we have a video about a local dog park, let's film in or near the dog park. If our video is a testimonial about a business, perhaps an office environment will suit best.
2. Light your subject
The goal of lighting is to have light on your subject. This means if windows are your primary source of light, you want to position your subject so they are facing windows.
If their back is to windows then either your subject will be too dark or the windows will just be a giant, glowing, white backdrop. Neither of these scenarios are optimal.
Whilst the background is an important part of a video, your talent is more important; so our goal is always to make them look as good as possible and not sacrificing good lighting for a cool view outside the windows.
3. Frame your subject
When framing our subject there are typically 3 different shot sizes to choose from.
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| Close up | Mid-shot | Wide angle |
Wide angles provide context to where your subject is and what is happening around them.
Mid-shots focus in closer to what is important for your audience. This is your go-to framing for people.
Close ups are for capturing all the details that are important to your video.
We can break shot composition up into 3 categories: Piece-to-cameras (talking heads), interviews, two people in frame.
Piece-to-camera
When framing your subject for a piece-to-camera, start at a mid-shot. Your goal is to have the top of frame just above their head and the bottom of frame around their waste height. Place your subject in the middle of the frame looking at camera. Ideally their hands should be in frame.
When framing, avoid leaving too much room above their head or cutting off the top of their head.
Interview
When framing for an interview the goal is to position your subject a little to the left or right of frame with and have them face inwards looking off camera to whoever is interviewing them behind camera.
Regardless of whether they are standing or sitting, the goal is to still try and maintain a mid-shot. If they are standing, frame them so there is a little room above their head whilst not cutting out their hands. When sitting, ensure they sit forwards and maintain good posture. Avoid all chairs that are too deep (extra comfy couches),
One tool that can be helpful for framing is having 'rule of third' grid lines on your camera. These are available on almost any camera or phone. For an interview, position your subject on either of the vertical lines facing towards the other.
If you are recording two camera angles, ensure the second is on the same side as your first camera and is a tighter framing. The goal is to have two very distinct looking frames rather than having both be too similar.
Two people on camera
When framing two people on camera, position them next to each other. It's important that they are nice and close. If you are using grid lines, position them on either vertical line. If there is a big height difference try sitting them down.
Keep your camera at eye level
One important rule to follow is to keep your camera roughly at your subjects eye level. If they're standing raise the camera up and if they're sitting lower the camera down. This will help create a more 'relatable' from your talent to your audience.
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Whilst there might be times where angling your camera up or down might be the best way to go, for most videos keeping your camera at eye level will both look the best and serve your message the most.
4. Capturing great audio
Audio is a key part of many videos. Here are 3 things to remember when capturing great audio for your video.
1. Use professional audio gear
If you are capturing someone speaking it is always important to use professional audio equipment to record them. For most videos, we find wireless audio systems like the Rode Wireless PRO and DJI Mic Mini some of the best examples of the gear you are looking for. If you have a Shootsta Kit or Mini Kit, there will be wireless audio gear inside.
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| DJI Mic Mini | Rode Wireless PRO |
2. Record correct audio levels
When plugging your mic into a camera, you might need to set your audio levels so your mic isn't too quiet or too loud (clipping). Whilst a phone might not display audio levels, on a camera they look like two green bars that move up and down when someone is speaking. Adjust them to ensure they are approximately -12db or about half way.
If you see your audio bars hit red, your audio is too loud (clipping) and will sound distorted. If you notice this, lower your audio levels.
Audio levels will differ from camera to camera but this principle should apply to most things.
3. Listen to the audio you're recording
It's so important to listen to what is being recorded. Most cameras will have a headphone jack. By listening with headphones, you can ensure you are happy with all the audio being recorded and prevent any audio mishaps or issues.
5. Focus on your subject
Focusing is a crucial step when creating videos. Your goal is to have your subject in focus (nice and sharp) and the background behind out of focus (blurry). Most cameras or phones will use autofocus to automatically find your subjects face or eye and focus on that throughout your video (face or eye AF). This is usually shown on screen with a white box around what is being focused on.
Some cameras and phones allow you to touch on the screen to focus the camera where you want it. Remember, you often need to cancel this or refocus if your subject moves or you change what you're filming (this can look different depending on the camera but sometimes is a X on screen with the icon of a finger next to it).
Some cameras will allow you to manual focus. This is where you switch the camera from autofocus to manual focus and turn the focus ring on your lens to choose focus yourself. This can be a great way focusing yourself instead of the camera though in most scenarios, autofocus is the easier and more efficient choice.
6. Capturing cutaways
Cutaways or b-roll are very important for a video! Video is a visual medium so we want to see what is being said. Cutaways are all the images, video clips, etc that come in to help show relevant things that help support your message. Cutaways are something you want to plan for so ask yourself when planning: "what other things should we film that will help convey our message?"
Example: "Step 1, set up your tripod. First, take out your tripod from the Kit. Next, open the latches to extend your tripod legs. Next, extend the tripod legs."
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When capturing cutaways, you want to get a variety of shots and shot sizes. The more variety you have, the more interesting your video will look. Look to grab close-ups, mid-shots and wide angles for all of your cutaways.
Below are some examples of different shot sizes.
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| Wide angle | Mid-shot | Close up |
7. Recording best practices
Recording is arguably the most important step. Without recording, you don't have a video! Here are three best practices to follow when recording.
1. Double check you're recording
This step is simple but often forgotten. When you press record, take a second to look on the back of your screen to ensure you are recording. With all the pressure that comes with filming, sometimes you can accidentally forget to press or double press the record button resulting in you not recording. It's a very easy tip to follow and one that will ensure you are recording what you want.
2. Record in takes
Every individual cutaway, every attempt at a script attempt and often at the end of every interview question, stop recording and then start again before beginning the next thing. This will help you be able to go through your footage at the end of your shoot when uploading it to your editing team and know what footage you want in your video and what you don't. It also means you can just upload what you want saving you time when uploading.
The exception to this would be if, during an interview for example, it becomes distracting for the person filming. If that happens, keep recording one longer take but stop recording in between breaks such as water breaks or if there is a break during questions.
3. Review before you leave the shoot
Before you let everyone leave the shoot, double check you have captured everything you need. This might include listening back to takes you recorded, going through all the cutaways you captured or even looking back at your video plan and ensuring you have captured everything you wanted. It's much easier to quickly capture anything you have missed whilst everyone is still together than it is to call people back for a reshoot or try and change your video idea to accommodate footage not captured.
That's it! Enjoy filming! Please reach out via live chat in the Shootsta Platform if you need any assistance.