iPhone Filmmaking for Beginners

Today we're looking at 10 steps that we can use to achieve cinematic looking video using our iPhones and that starts right now Hey guys, it's Ryan with the Piedmont Motion Picture Company Thank you so much for joining me today If this is your first time finding us this channel is all about learning and growing as a filmmaker So if you find this video helpful before you leave Please give it a thumbs up. And please consider subscribing if you haven't already and let's become better filmmakers toge

ther You know, I've been making iPhone filmmaking videos on this channel for a while now And I wanted to take a step back and make a video dedicated to people who may just be getting started With the medium a video for someone who wants to tell stories Someone who wants to make their first film and most importantly someone who wants to capture it all using their iPhone hopefully these 10 tips that I'm about to share with you will help get you started in the right direction and Ultimately help yo

u make a better looking film with your mobile phones Now some of these tips are applicable to making a film with any kind of camera So some of what you learn today can be carried over into the DSLR world when you're ready to make that transition Alright, let's get started My first tip and this may be a no-brainer for some is to shoot with your phone horizontally Shooting vertical video is going to give you a very amateurish look and should only be used in special cases as in if you are trying to

illustrate a handheld video recording with a phone within your film or If you are creating something for a social platform such as Instagram stories Otherwise always shoot horizontally with your phone When we are trying to create a film look we want that widescreen aspect ratio that shooting horizontally helps accommodate My next tip is to get yourself a dedicated video app for shooting video on your phone There are many available such as Mavis Pro moment and filmic Pro But from my test, I've h

ad the most success and ease of use with filmic Pro It's not a free app and some of the Pro features require an additional cost to unlock But if you are serious about making films with your iPhone, it will be money. Well spent if you'd like an in-depth tutorial on how to get the most out of filmic pro a Link to that video can be found in the description below you are going to want to set up a flat color profile and set your white balance before you start shooting a color profile defines the colo

rs we capture with our cameras and see on our displays if You plan to color grade your footage later to get a really unique Look, it may be best to use a flatter color profile before shooting This will allow us more flexibility when we are trying to fine-tune the image Giving us more flexibility with how much we can adjust the highlights and shadows within that image however If you just want to go with a more natural look or don't want to spend a lot of time color grading You can just settle wit

h your video apps more natural color profile. Also, be sure to set the appropriate white balance before shooting white balance is going to affect the color temperature and tint of our images and Having it set incorrectly can lead to unnatural skin tones or an image. That is either too blue cool or two orange warm than we'd like if You are using an app like filmic Pro you can usually adjust this setting manually or choose an auto adjustment the auto adjustment works Well sometimes but more often

than not we are going to want to set it manually and then be sure to lock it in place That way the white balance isn't shifting and changing while we are shooting up next we need to make sure we are using an appropriate aspect ratio and that we have our Resolution set to something that is going to produce the highest quality possible-- for our device the aspect ratio of an image describes the proportional relationship between its width and its height if You are using a dedicated video camera app

like filmic Pro you should be able to set your aspect ratio to a HD standard like 16:9 or to a wide cinematic standard like 239 Depending on your device try to set your resolution and bitrate as high as you can for instance in Filmic Pro if you are shooting with an iPhone, 6s or higher You can set your video resolution to 4k and use the filmic Xtreme codec which will give you the highest bitrate Be aware that this will make the files you record very large and it may take up a lot of memory spac

e on your device Frame rate determines the frequency at which frames and the image are displayed 24 FPS or frames per second is Considered the film standard and is used because it gives our images a nice motion blur Be sure to set your camera to 24 fps in your video app of choice Another tip here is to make sure and cut off all the automatic adjustments within your video app never rely on autofocus when trying to make a film or allow for exposure or white balance adjustments to Automatically shi

ft while you are filming Lock all of these settings down if you can or turn them to manual so you can have complete control over your images we don't want our shot ruined by the focus or the settings on our camera to be shifting in and out while we're trying to Film it looks very unprofessional The more time we take to plan out our shots Angles and Composition the better chance we have of making a compelling and interesting video image Don't just shoot your scene without any thought take your ti

me to look at your surroundings The background the lighting and your subjects depth from the camera to the background This will help you put together an image that is visually stimulating and interesting Once you have your footage shot and transfer it over to your PC Mac iPad or wherever else you're choosing to edit your footage Be sure to set up your project so that it accommodates the footage that you shot For instance if you are using Adobe Premiere Pro Be sure to set your project up so that

it works with 24 FPS footage and a 1080p timeline or a 4k timeline Depending on how you want to edit when I'm making YouTube videos like this one I usually work in a 1080p timeline along with my 4k footage The resulting footage looks really great and I can use my large video files scaled down to frame things in the way I want in post But if you're wanting the high quality 4k video exported as is be sure to set up your timeline for 4k footage also, be sure to setup the correct aspect ratio during

this step as well if you chose to shoot your footage in a flat or Log color profile like we discussed earlier. You're probably going to need some kind of color correction and color grading Color correcting is usually done first This is the process of going through and making sure your shots are the right color temperature the exposure is adjusted properly and that the shadows and highlights are properly adjusted if Your footage is really flat or in log. It can be kind of tough to tell how you'r

e affecting the footage during the step So you may want to apply a base color grade just to get your image at a good starting point color correct each shot and then apply an overall color grade at the end when you have all of your shots looking great to give It a really unique look and finally there is a ton of different accessories and gear that you can use along with your mobile.phone help improve your shots, but the only things that I think are truly necessary are a tripod a Decent audio and

mic setup and perhaps a few lights To take things to the next level you can invest in accessories like moment lenses Nd filters especially made for mobile phones like the ones from polar Pro or stabilizers like the DJI Osmo mobile. I Don't think that you need this stuff to create a wonderful film using your mobile phone but if you're serious about making the best possible mobile film that you can you can check out links to the gear I Recommend in the description below Ok, so how about a quick re

cap number one always film horizontally to use a dedicated video app like filmic pro Number three be sure to set up a flat color profile or a log color profile and be sure to adjust your white balance accordingly Number four be sure to use a cinematic aspect ratio and be sure to use the highest resolution settings available for your device Number five be sure to use a frame rate of 24 FPS for that cinematic Look number six don't use automatic settings Be sure to set everything up for manual adju

stments number seven Be sure to plan out all of your shots ahead of time number eight. Be sure to set up your project settings accordingly Number nine if you used a flat or log color profile to film your images be sure to color correct and color grade your footage in post and number ten you can use specialized gear and accessories for getting video with your phone like lenses nd filters tripods and stabilizers to help improve your images Ok guys with these tips. Hopefully you'll be well on your

way to creating your first mobile field. Get out there and get it done Question of the day. What is your biggest hurdle when trying to create a video project with your mobile phone? Is there something holding you back? Let us know in the comments below if you would like to help support this channel and keep us going there are many ways you Can do that check out our digital store for awesome filmmaking resources like our filmic Pro LUT pack, of course You can greatly help this channel out by shar

ing this video with your friends and family on social media giving it a thumbs up and subscribing if you Having already and last but not least a big shout-out to our patrons who support this channel month after month becoming a patron gets you exclusive perks free resources early looks at our films and your name featured in episodes of the show just like these guys Big thanks and much. Love to all of our patrons Links to everything that I just mentioned can of course be found in the description

below Thanks for coming along this filmmaking journey with me. I am Ryan and I will see you on the next Piedmont motion-picture show. Bye. Bye