Gadgetory

hi welcome back to pocket filmmaker this week we're looking at moving pictures okay so we're looking at ways that we can utilize our pocket cameras to get nice fluid shots with a bit of motion to it so one of our big challenges with pocket filmmaking is we normally find people film with their devices in one of two ways they either stand there rigid like a statue and the shot never moves or they do this and they don't really care how they're holding the camera it's just jello and vibrating and just crazy pictures all over the place and once you blow that up a little bigger screen you'll find your audience just can't watch it but if one ban the digital zoom do not use it ever it is terrible all that's doing is its blowin up the pixels on the resolution of your smartphone camera it is not actually getting it closer to the picture in this example if I'm standing in the garden I'm just zooming in on something using my digital zoom look how boring that is I got to stand there and wait for that camera to go on in look at the subject pull back out again it's slow it's one steady pace and and boring whereas in this other example if I just move straight in on that item that same shot and I bring my camera closer to the subject and then I walk back out again everything in the frames changing it's far more interesting much more vibrant your audience will love you for it tip 2 is to introduce an active frame now you might say what's an active frame in this little example I'm about to show you I'm filming something quite static so I'm holding the smartphone right in front of me and I'm just not moving now if I just move and shift my weight from left leg to right leg just from side to side you see the background the foreground proportions changed just a little bit and it just keeps a picture nice and flowing and it looks great so that's called an active frame try it it's really easy to do and it just helps lift your pictures a lot tip three is a really really basic one but one that we all forget and that is to show a fresh perspective a new point of view so rather than just putting the camera eye level where we're all used to looking at the camera position it's somewhere else in frame up high down low show the audience something different from an angle they're not used to seen a very simple way of getting some motion of the shots when you're out and about is to look at the things that are moving around you such as lifts escalators travel adders they're all great platforms you can just stand on and shoot and get some nice motion happening in your footage closer to home have a look inside your house and see what you've got that you can utilize put your camera on to get a bit of motion happening such as a lazy susan most kitchens have got one of these and you can just pop your camera on top of that spin it around and get a fantastic point of view now if we want to get fancy there's a couple of great devices we can utilize to stabilize and get motion into our shots we've seen the Steadicam braces we can get through our pocket cameras well now there's other things such as this cam caddy these are great because you can a fix your camera to the base plate there and hold these really really low to the ground for nice tracking shots another fantastic product is a device called a slider you simply attach a smartphone camera and push it from left to right to give these beautiful gliding style shots I've got one of these laying around your garage a fantastic filmmaking tool stick your camera on top find a nice smooth surface take it for a spin you'll be surprised that sorts of shots you can get however step it up a notch and look at this it's called a pico Dali these are really really cool and this is my pick of the toolbox if you want to get something for Christmas these devices are amazing they've got a tripod screw mount on the top there you fix your camera you can lock the wheels in any one direction or another take it for a spin on a smooth surface and you've got beautiful dolly shots wherever you go super portable alright that's it for me it's time to start wrapping things up the inspiration of pocket film I'm gonna leave you with this week was called The Fixer I was all shot on an iPhone believe it or not it's very dark gruesome so every bit screamish give it a mess but if you want to check out some fantastic pocket cinematography The Fixer is it next time we catch up I'm gonna teach you everything I know about lighting for pocket filmmaking I think you're going to enjoy it see you then