Smartphone Video Excellence: How to Film Like a Pro

Do you record videos with your smartphone?

Want to make them look really professional?

To talk about how to do video like a pro from your smartphone, I interview Justin Brown.
More About This Show
The Social Media Marketing podcast is an on-demand talk radio show from Social Media Examiner. It's designed to help busy marketers and business owners discover what works with social media marketing.

In this episode, I interview Justin Brown, a video professional who specializes in helping marketers look great on camera. He's been a coach, producer, and cameraman for 25 years, specializing in extreme sports. You can find him at PrimalVideo.com.

Justin explores how to use your smartphone to create excellent recorded and live video.

You'll discover what tools you need to make your videos look professional.

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Here are some of the things you'll discover in this show:
Smartphone Video Excellence
Justin's story

When Justin was little, he recalls, his dad was always filming the family. As kids, they would grab the camera, make up mock TV shows, and watch them. His interest progressed and Justin eventually started editing video with the early versions of Windows Movie Maker and with Adobe Premiere.

Later in life, while Justin was a lifeguard at his local beach, he became heavily interested in motorboat racing. He began to create highlight videos from the footage of boats flipping, people falling out, and other exciting occurrences, and found that he enjoyed editing high-paced action video. From there, Justin pivoted into doing underground mine training videos.

Justin broke into extreme sports through an interview with professional big wave surfer Mark Visser. Justin ended up working closely with Mark and producing his documentary TV series: Justin filmed Mark surfing JAWS in Hawaii at 2 AM, solo skydiving, and throwing jet skis out of a plane to surf remote locations. It was full-on action sports video.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jfM1Vsl70k

Somewhere along the line, Justin found that he was more interested in teaching people to create their own video content, rather than shooting the video for them. The goal at Primal Video, which launched last year, is to help people get up to speed with video, allowing them to magnify their results by removing any barriers or excuses they have around creating videos for themselves.

Listen to the show to hear more about Justin's career transition.

Lighting

Justin says there are a few simple elements that will help you create a professional-looking video using your smartphone. Proper lighting, he says, will dramatically increase the quality and professionalism of your video, no matter the situation.

There are a couple options for lighting when capturing videos with your smartphone. One is to to use a rig mount with a light on it to illuminate your subject in the same way you would with a DSLR camera. Another option is to use a desk lamp or the lighting in your office or studio.

The key is to use whatever you have to light up the person presenting the content (maybe that's you); make sure that person is lit well, and if you have the time and the ability, you can also light up the background.

The goal is to have an even light across your entire face, so people can connect with you. Some shadow is good, because it creates depth on the face and you can see some details, but harsh shadows aren't ideal. If bright light is coming in through a window that's in your shot, do your best to reduce it by closing the curtains, shutting the doors, or lighting up the other side of your face to balance that light.

When you film with a smartphone, you typically have three scenarios: selfie-style with you holding the phone yourself, someone using their phone to film you,