by Collin Boyles – Bemidji State, Assistant Director of Athletic Media Relations; collin.boyles@bemidjistate.edu
Member, CoSIDA New Media Committee
Creating great video on the go is now feasible thanks to one of the most valuable tools a small SID department has to utilize: A smartphone.
When you’re on the go and want to find the easiest way to shoot and edit video, doing it straight from your phone is as easy as it gets. The most up-to-date phones’ cameras allow for so many options of recording, including high definition, 4K, super slow motion, hyperlapse, time-lapse and GIF creators, among others.
There are three main areas to look at when planning to record video with the help of a smartphone: equipment, apps and content.
Equipment
The first thing you will need is a smartphone with a camera. Personally, I use a Samsung Galaxy S8 which has a 12 mega pixel camera and captures 1080p HD video at 60 frames per second. Most mobile phones these days have similar or better camera specifications, including iPhone, Google Pixel and LG.
Controlling the phone when recording video can result in shaky video if done by hand. We invested in a smartphone gimbal which helps the video tremendously to look smooth and professional. We currently use the
DJI Osmo Mobile 2, which allows the use of recording in portrait and landscape mode. With what different social media platforms offer for video presentation, this is a great feature to take advantage of with Instagram stories, IG TV, or to just post portrait mode videos to any platform.
Some of the gimbals that you purchase may have apps that come with them to control from the handle or something similar, but I personally just use the camera app on my phone. Mainly, to access the slow-motion feature is why I use the built-in camera app from my phone and not from the gimbal’s app. Trying to edit a normally recorded video into slow-motion from an external app can create a choppy effect. If slow-motion video is not something you focus on, though, the gimbal apps are fairly easy to use and provide some special features of their own.
There are many different options to use for gimbals, which range in price up to several hundred dollars.
If you are looking to get any kind of still interview, tripods are available for mobile phones that are inexpensive. What I like to do with interview videos is to shoot in portrait mode, allowing for easy editing and posting to Instagram (stories and IGTV), while cropping into landscape when editing for Twitter and Facebook feeds.
Another tool to use to make sure audio is clear and distinguishable is a lavalier microphone for your smartphone. We do not currently use one, but I am strongly considering purchasing one to push our video quality even further. The microphones on the phone are good enough to capture an intimate interview, but would be tough to work if surrounded by background noise.
There are wired or wireless
lavalier mics available in case your subject is on the move.
Apps
Adobe Clip
You are able to import video, photos and music from your phone and either allow the app to automatically create a video or customize your video with editing features. The app allows for easy editing and the ability to add titles, transitions and slo-mo effects. The Adobe Clip app also allows you to send a video project to Premiere Pro on your desktop if you want to fine tune some things.
When the video is finished, there are no watermarks that are forced to be on the video, which eliminates external branding.
Quik
For the majority of my videos, I use the Quik app on my mobile phone. The app is from GoPro and also allows you to import video, photos and music. Again, this app is very easy to use and has options for automatic or custom editing as well as the option for titles, slo-mo, filters, video duration and has a music library to choose from.
Quik adds many options for transitions and also allows you to edit the video in landscape, portrait or square for even more customization for different social media platforms. When I plan to edit with Quik, I tend to shoot video in portrait mode to allow the option of a more natural editing for Instagram stories. I find this is a great technique as you are also able to crop the video and edit in landscape mode for Twitter, Facebook, etc.
These two apps are the only two I use but there are also other options that can be used for free or for purchase through the App Store or Google Play.
Content
The best content to get when recording and editing with mobile is up-close and personal. Since the zoom is obviously not as good as a video camera or DSLR, the closer the subject, the better. Pregame/pre-event, practice or press conferences are great places to get content to post for your social media accounts. Highlights are a little tougher to get for certain sports, but for others works well such as basketball, tennis, volleyball, and track and field.
The content is pretty much up to what you can imagine. I’ve included a few examples of the content I’ve produced using our gimbal and the Quik app.
Pregame Footage –
Example 1 |
Example 2
Highlights –
Example 1 |
Example 2
Practice –
Example 1 |
Example 2 |
Example 3
Press conferences/Interviews –
Example Landscape |
Example Portrait