Photo by Mael BALLAND on Unsplash
A few weeks ago, I wrote a quick tutorial on how to shoot better videos with an iPhone.
In that article, I talked about the importance of not using the iPhone’s zoom, getting an external microphone, and using the right apps to edit the final video.
This go ‘round, I have more tips that will help you create awesome-looking videos with your phone.
Let’s get started!
How to Shoot Better Video: Plan Your Shots
Photo by Sergio Alejandro Ortiz on Unsplash
When you take a still photo, if you plan and prepare for it, the chances are good that you’ll end up with a better shot than if you just wing it.
The same is true for shooting video. In fact, planning and preparation are perhaps even more important for videography.
That’s because you aren’t just shooting single frames. Instead, you have to plan out sequences that might be seconds or minutes long. Then you have to figure out how all the different sequences you shoot fit together in the final video.
When planning your sequences, keep the following in mind to help you get the highest-quality video:
- What is the story you’re trying to tell? It needs an introduction, a climax, and a conclusion - even if it’s just a one-minute video!
- What is the end-goal of the video? Identify its purpose so you can build the video to achieve that purpose.
- Identify your target audience. This will drive everything from the story you tell to how you shoot the video to how you distribute it.
- Try to trigger an emotional response from viewers. Be that happiness, sadness, or something in between, if you can touch people on an emotional level, your video will have more success.
Another planning tip that you might find helpful is to keep your video sequences short. The shorter the segments, the easier it will be to reshoot one if things don’t go quite right.
Learn More:
- How to Create Professional-Looking Videos (Without Being a Pro)
- Avoid These Common Beginner Videography Mistakes
How to Improve Your Videos: Get a Cinematic Feel With Natural Lighting
Just like with still photography, in videography, natural light is king. And when you look for good lighting, Golden Hour cannot be beaten.
Golden Hour light is beautifully soft and warm and gives videos a cinematic and dramatic feel. What’s more, because the light is so soft, there won’t be any harsh shadows in your videos to distract the viewers’ eyes.
Photo by Thomas Russell on Unsplash
When timing your video shoots for Golden Hour, get there early - at least 30 minutes before sunrise and about one-and-a-half hours before sunset, that way you have time to get everything in place to take advantage of the hour or so of magnificent light.
Quick Tip: If you can’t shoot during Golden Hour, a cloudy day will work well too. You won’t have the advantage of soft, warm light, but under overcast skies, the light will be soft with a slightly blue tone.
How to Shoot High-Quality Video on Your iPhone
Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash
Of course, the process of producing a video doesn’t end with shooting your sequences. You need to put them all together in a final eye-catching product.
You don’t need expensive computer programs to do that, either…
I’ve mentioned Kizoa before, but I feel like it’s worth mentioning again.
Kizoa is a cloud-based video editor that has all the tools you could ever need to create incredible videos.
Even better, they have a free iOS app that makes video-making quick and easy.
For example, with just a few taps of your iPhone screen, you can generate a complete video in just a few minutes. It doesn’t get much easier than that!
And don’t think that because it makes quick work of making a video that the end-result looks bad. Kizoa lets you add as many video sequences and photos to your final product as you want!
Better still, you can create videos in a number of different formats, including landscape, portrait, or square.
Regardless of the format you choose, you can apply all sorts of different effects, including slides, sound effects, different fonts and text effects, fades, 3D effects, and more.
Add in pre-made templates that help you get started, and you have the makings of an awesome video-maker that has everything you need to make beautiful videos!
And like I mentioned earlier, Kizoa also has a cloud-based editor you can access on your computer, and with premium plans starting under $30, you can get lifetime access to all the tools you need to make jaw-dropping videos.