Everything You Need to Film Yourself in Paris

I filmed myself in Paris every single day for the last 95 days, and I've only used four things, and none of them, none of this was involved. Hold on. I gotta put this down because my hands are very, very full. We'll talk about all four, but the first and most important are simply this and this. Phone first! This is the main tool that you're gonna need to film yourself when you're in Paris. And I think you probably already know this. Anybody trying to sell you big cameras, gimbals, tripods, all t

hat extra stuff, they're just trying to weigh you down and maybe make an affiliate fee on the side, which I have an affiliate link for you as well, but just one. And I'm trying to keep you as light and nimble as possible. I don't have one for the phone. You can just get whatever phone you want. I prefer my Galaxy S23 Ultra. I love this thing. There's the S24 that's out now. I'm filming myself right now with an iPhone. I've done both, gone back and forth over time, but the two reasons I've ended

up coming back to Samsung over the years has been the lenses and the color profile. Out of the box, Samsung footage just looks great. Like, iPhone footage can look amazing, especially if you want to do color correction later. But when I'm running and gunning around Paris like I have been lately, I don't have the time for color correction. Do you have the time for color correction? Maybe you do, but out of the box, the Samsung footage just looks more appealing to me and makes my life a little bit

easier. Also, when I'm talking about lenses, I mean, all these things right here, they can make a huge difference and give you a lot of options and flexibility in stylistic choices without carrying, like, actual big camera lenses. I mean, this is obviously how you manage to get some long shots in the metro, but you can make it even longer. Hold on. Watch this. This is why the lenses are so important and why, for me, it's always. Worth the extra money. It's like, you can get really nice long sho

ts like this. So on my phone, these are the lenses, and I'll show you the difference that they make. Wide, normal, or your main camera, 3X and then 10x, which is getting kind of extreme for this circumstance, like the way that I have this setup. But you get the idea. Telephoto. I love it. The 3x is also really nice for getting these kind of close up. Shots without having to have the camera right in front of you, like this. It gives you a little bit of. A flatter composition, including a little b

it more of the environment without the distortion of having it really close. And the wide angle in particular is really good for establishing shots like where am I going? Where am I right now? Giving you a broader picture. Yeah. This raises the question of how am I actually filming myself filming myself? And the answer is, Kenu X2? I freaking love this thing so much. This is the Kenu Stance+. Now this is the thing that I do have an affiliate link for below, but the video is not sponsored. I did

actually reach out to them and let them know I was making this video in case they wanted to sponsor it because this is basically going to turn into an ad for them for a moment here. But I really genuinely love this thing. While they didn't sponsor the video, they did send me a handful to give away for free. There's a giveaway going on on Instagram over the weekend. You could win a couple of these and you don't even have to come to Paris to get one. Having a phone is great, but it's not enough, o

bviously. You can only set it up in so many ways in so many places. And to get very few shots, you need a tripod of some sort. And I used to carry around like a variety of different Joby tripods, always scaling down until I found what was their tiniest little foldable tripod that fit in my pocket. Right with my wallet. I loved it, but they stopped making them and it's still an extra thing I have to carry. The Kenu stance plus is a device that all I have to do is take and stick to the back of my

phone and it slides right into my pocket. I don't have to think about it because it's always there. This thing is slim, sturdy, metallic and magnetic. So it can just kind of hang out here and then my phone can hang out on that, and then I can film myself in all kinds of crazy situations. I can hang it, I can stand it, I can stick it, I can put it almost anywhere and get almost any shot. It's not perfect. It is lacking a few elements of functionality as far as certain angles, certain places and t

imes. It obviously has its limits. But the fact that this thing doubles as both a hook and a magnet gives you a lot of options. Like for one, I can just stick. This to so many signs in the metro and if I have to, whoops. I can always like hook it as. Well, which makes it a lot easier to get shots, you know, entering and exiting the metro if you don't have. A Magsafe case, you can make your own Magsafe case with this tiny little magnetic ring that they include in the package. It's sticky on this

side. Now I can hang my phone on. That metal bar in the middle of. My window, and voila. You can talk to my camera. One downside that I found to having this on the back of my Samsung in particular, though, is that the S pen doesn't work properly with a big magnet on the back of your phone. I didn't realize that was what was going on until the latest update, and then I got an alert from my phone. So just be aware of that. And you can just walk around filming yourself like a weirdo like me. Which

also raises the question, how can you even hear me right now? [giggle] Oh, my gosh. He's very excited. We're gonna walk a long ways away first. Sit. Stay. Okay. Come here. The magic of audio over distance right now is being carried out by this tiny little microphone in my hands. Wireless microphones, they're magic. I do have to sync this up later when I'm editing it. It's worth it. Let's say you get shots like this. DJI's wireless microphone set has been my favorite for a long time. I'm wearing

one of them right now, which is why there's a hole in here. But it comes with a receiver and two microphones, which you can then clip on to, like, clothing or whatever. And then it should also have a magnet. The one that I'm wearing right now is magneted to my shirt that I'm wearing under my sweatshirt. And the sweatshirt then acts as a wind buffer. They do come with little wind buffers. That's what that fuzzy thing on the end of the microphone is. If you've ever seen someone wearing one of thos

e, if you put it under a layer of clothing, it tends to do the same thing with just a little bit of a reduction in sound quality. This thing's a lifesaver. The case itself is actually a battery pack, which you can see is fully charged right now. And then you are able to use this USB-C or lightning adapter on the bottom of it to plug it directly into your phone and then record the audio on your phone. I never do that. It's like a step too far for me. Usually when I leave the house, I leave this t

hing behind and just wear the microphone out and about or put it in the coin pocket of my jeans. It's small enough to fit in there. Don't have to worry about anything. And I take it out, attach it to whatever, record it. You don't have to put it on your clothes either. You can attach it to your sunglasses, to your hat, you can hold it in your hand. There's so many things that you can do with it. So much fun you can have with it. You can put it in places where you wouldn't normally get sound and

then capture whatever it is you're looking for. In general, I would say it's a massive level up because most people don't recognize that 60% of your film, whatever you're making, is audio. Everybody focuses on camera, which you don't need to. You have a phone that's good enough. The microphones really free you up to get a lot of different kinds of shots and compositions that would be impossible with just the phone. If I turn this microphone off and just use that audio, this is what that sounds l

ike. It's me sitting here on a bench, long ways away. And maybe you never know what I said in the meantime. But the most important thing is that with this, I can go anywhere. And thanks to today's patron, producer Paul Gurule, and all my patrons, for supporting my channel and genuinely making this possible in a way that never would have been possible without you. Can't say thank you enough. I'm personally a huge fan of the DJI wireless audio set because it's smaller, it's very compact, and back

when I got it, Rode was struggling to have the same full feature set. But Rode's audio is better. I'm not sponsored by either of them. So this is a lot bigger and blockier and more obvious. And I like the subtlety of this little guy right here. Now, of course, if you're not filming for a TikTok or for reels, like you actually want to do a vlog or some other kind of video, you're probably going to need some editing software and maybe a rig to edit it on as well if you are going to edit on the roa

d. And this is something that's saved my life in numerous situations. On the metro, in coffee shops, in cars, on planes, wherever. If you're in the market for a new computer. I have been a pc guy for a very long time and I still have my pc. I leave it at home because it's big, it's clunky. I don't want to carry it anywhere. A MacBook Air will do you right. Like just this little 13 inch baseline MacBook Air costs like $1,000, can handle 4k footage with simple timelines and is actually genuinely a

lifesaver because it is light, it doesn't require massive hefty cables, and you can edit with breeze. I did have some issues with heat when I was in Thailand and some other circumstances it can bog down a little bit. And obviously because I shoot primarily on a Samsung phone, it does make the interface between Android and Apple a bit of a pain. It's a bit of a pain in the butt. But aside from that, this thing is a dream and I love it. I might have been converted to Apple because of the computer

, which brings us to software. I'm an Adobe guy. I've been editing on Adobe premiere for 22-23 years at this point? That's insane. So I'm probably not going to change anytime soon. That said, if you don't want to get into the professional grade editing software, like you don't want to be an editor, if you have Apple, iMovie is good enough. If you are on a Windows machine, it's a little bit harder to find something that's that simple and straightforward. However, DaVinci Resolve is free and profe

ssional grade, and a lot of people are switching to it, particularly for the color grading abilities within it. So if you are somebody who is using Apple log and you want to do a lot of color grading, that could be a very good option for you. And again, for full disclosure, DaVinci Resolve is not sponsoring me to say that, but they are my go to free professional grade software recommendation all the time, even though I don't use them, which is why I turned them down when they asked if they could

sponsor my channel, which is probably one of the biggest humble brags. As somebody who's edited video for a very long time, that's a compliment. So thanks if your team ever sees this, thanks. DaVinci resolve. And if you guys are like, who are you? Well. The only reason that you should need a bag in this entire setup is if you are bringing your laptop with you, which I don't recommend, especially if you're on vacation in Paris. But if you're on the go and you're editing who knows where. The nice

thing about the MacBook Air is that it fits inside even a smaller camera bag like this thing goes almost anywhere a tablet will go. Makes it very easy to carry around. So whenever you see me carrying this bag, there's a good chance that I'm actually doing my editing on the go. And if you do have big cameras, and if you've been around on the Internet for a while, this is a Peak Design bag. You're familiar with peak design at this point because it's pretty obvious. The final piece is actually som

ething that Paul brought up when we were having coffee just a minute ago. And that was like, how do you not give a f? It's probably the biggest piece in filming yourself when you're out. And about the only piece of advice. That I can really give is just do it. It's one of those things that comes from repetition and just putting yourself in a situation where you give it a try, see how it goes. And ultimately you come to realize that, like, nobody really cares. As long as you're not getting in the

way, you're not being a pain in the butt. Like, I'm not speaking too loudly right now. Nobody even notices that I'm talking to myself. And even in situations when you are very obviously talking to yourself, you're in. The metro, you're setting your camera up somewhere where it is kind of getting in the way just a little bit. You'll never see those people again, for starters. And also, it's worth it. A little bit of social awkwardness leads to nice shots that you couldn't get any other way. And

again, as long as you're not being a jerk, the only way to get over the nerves and the weirdness of it is to practice. You survived it last time, you'll survive it this time. It's actually kind of fun. And sometimes the attention can be nice. And sometimes, you know, you'll wish you picked a different angle in a different shot and a different time in a different place. At the end of the day, all you really need is a good story, good sound, and, like, half decent video. Just take the pressure off

a little bit. And don't buy way too much equipment. Start with something simple. Start with just your phone. And if you get to the point where you want to do stuff that you can't do anymore with your phone, you know, expand from there. But like I said, I've been doing. This for three months now. Most of you probably didn't notice that I never used anything but my phone. The only exceptions for that have been a few drone shots when I've been traveling and like, one or two action cam shots. But 9

9.99% of all the shots in all the last 95 or 96 videos have been just with this phone right here. It's all you really need. There are obviously benefits to having real cameras. I'm not saying that there aren't, but I'm just saying for most of us, probably fine with just this. Anyway, that's what I've been using to film myself for the last few months. I'm gonna take a pause from the daily vlogging now, but I thought I'd make a point. Like, I love walking around with just a phone in my pocket, cre

ating on the go, and not having to worry about, like, all the gear. And if you're looking for a little bit of freedom, hopefully this does it for you too. And if you're coming to Paris, be sure to check out parisinmypocket.com. Grab my guide, all the best tips to Paris, and I'll include some more tips on great spots for photos and all that in the very near future. We have a lot of fun stuff coming. Just gotta get, I gotta get... angle more of my time back towards that. And if Cooper's gonna give

you any tip, it's make sure to eat grass while you're here, because apparently it's delicious. [Cooper licks mic] Gross.