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How to take great videos

Basic principles

Videography follows many of the same principles as photography, but you might vary how you do it depending on what the video is being used for.

Audio is important - Try to get a quiet location or use headphones with a microphone to get better quality audio without a lot of background noise. This is especially important for live-streaming. Phones prioritise audio from the front-facing camera when live-streaming!

Video in landscape - again, this can be cropped by video editors if necessary and is almost always the best way to give maximum versatility - compilations with both portrait and landscape video look clumsy and unprofessional. Filming at a higher frame rate will mean you can slow videos down for dramatic effect - this will increase file size though.

Tiktok/Reels - TikTok is the world’s fastest-growing social media app and is almost entirely portrait (vertical) oriented. This is important to remember if making videos for Tiktok.

  • Filming to upload immediately? Film in Portrait.
  • Filming to edit for multiple platforms including TikTok? Film in landscape and crop for TikTok during editing.

Facebook/Instagram stories. These can handle both portrait and landscape videos but the screen will not rotate when viewing.

Camera movement

Camera movement is an essential part of filmmaking, but it does mean having additional technical things to combat. The majority of modern mobile phones now include camera stabilisation (to stop camera shake) but this is never flawless!

Settings

If you record video at a higher frame rate, you’ll be able to create a smoother effect by slowing the footage down during editing. This is not always possible - especially if you want to use live audio! You cannot slow standard footage (25/30fps) down as it will go jittery and will look awful.

Editing

iMovie is a free and intuitive editing tool on iPhone. You can add titles, music and cut videos to length using this app. Example video filmed and edited entirely on iPhone.

For computers and Android phones, Filmora is a good option.

YouTube is your friend - watch tutorials and learn how to get the best out of your device! It’s free!

Things to avoid

  • Transitions: These can make your videos look really dated. iMovie automatically adds these - please remove them.
  • Zoom: We can physically move the camera closer or further away, but zoom effects either on the device or during editing will look clumsy and reduce image quality!
  • Famous songs: Either filming or editing using songs that are not “royalty free” will mean your video is likely to be muted or even removed by social media platforms. It’s tempting to use Bowie’s “Rebel Rebel” - but don’t! iMovie does provide soundtracks that can be used AND it automatically edits these to fit the movement and length of the video - very clever.
  • If you can avoid using photos in videos, do. It’s not a crucial rule but current trends tend to avoid this.
  • Try not to add portrait clips into a landscape video. This totally throws the whole thing.
  • Use the XR fonts if you add text to your video.

The best advice is to practise! Just give it a go!

Resources

A short video to learn the basics of video-making.

A guide to make video content for XR (some of it is a bit outdated and will be reviewed).

Check this folder as it contains archives that can help you if you edit videos for XR.

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