Master Mobile Filmmaking in 20 Minutes

Summary

This video script offers a comprehensive guide to mastering mobile filmmaking with smartphones. It covers essential aspects such as setting up the phone, exposure settings, and the importance of using manual camera apps for better control. The tutorial delves into frame rate, ISO, shutter speed, and white balance, providing practical tips for achieving cinematic results. It also recommends third-party gear like lenses and gimbals to enhance image quality, and emphasizes understanding smartphone limitations to avoid subpar footage. The goal is to transform smartphone videos from amateurish to professional-grade.

Takeaways

• 📱 Learn to master mobile filmmaking with a smartphone, which is powerful enough for professional-quality videos.
• 🕒 The video aims to give you confidence in smartphone videography within 20 minutes, covering setup, exposure, and gear recommendations.
• 🎥 Use a manual camera app for full control over settings instead of the native camera app to avoid automatic exposure changes.
• 📸 Understand the importance of frame rate, ISO, shutter speed, and white balance for achieving the correct exposure in smartphone videos.
• 🌞 Use an ND (Neutral Density) filter to control exposure in bright conditions without affecting shutter speed or ISO.
• 📚 Apply the '180 degree shutter speed rule' for natural motion blur by setting shutter speed to double the frame rate.
• 📈 Adjust white balance manually to avoid color inaccuracies and ensure consistent image color throughout the video.
• 🔍 Prioritize using the main lens on smartphones for the best image quality, avoiding ultra-wide and telephoto lenses.
• 🛠️ Invest in third-party gear like gimbals and professional lenses to enhance the quality of smartphone videos.
• 📐 Use a flat picture profile for shooting to provide more flexibility in post-production without losing detail.
• 🚫 Recognize and avoid the limitations of smartphone cameras, such as poor performance in low light and handling of blown-out highlights.

Q & A

What is the main purpose of the video?

The main purpose of the video is to teach viewers how to master mobile filmmaking using their smartphones, covering setup, exposure, settings, and recommended gear.

Why should someone avoid using the native camera app on their phone for filming?

The native camera app lacks manual control over camera settings and operates on auto mode, which can result in changing exposure and an amateurish look, unlike professional videos that maintain consistent exposure and color.

What are some recommended third-party camera apps for smartphones?

Some recommended third-party camera apps include Filmic Pro, DJI Beast Cam, and the Moment Pro camera app, which offer full control over camera settings.

What are the four major elements of getting the correct exposure with a smartphone?

The four major elements are frame rate, ISO, shutter speed, and white balance.

Why is the frame rate of 24 frames per second considered the industry standard?

24 frames per second is the industry standard because it is the most cinematic and provides the most natural-looking motion, which is what is used in Hollywood films today.

What is the recommended frame rate for shooting slow-motion videos?

For slow-motion videos, the recommended frame rate is 60 frames per second or higher, which allows for smooth slow-motion playback when the footage is slowed down.

What does ISO control in smartphone filming, and what is its downside?

ISO controls the brightness of the image digitally without adding physical lights. The downside of increasing ISO is that it can produce noise and grain in the image, similar to TV static, especially in video.

How does shutter speed affect the image in smartphone filming?

Shutter speed affects the exposure of the image and also influences motion blur. A slower shutter speed allows more light in, resulting in a brighter image with more motion blur, while a faster shutter speed results in a darker image with less motion blur.

What is the recommended rule of thumb for setting shutter speed in relation to frame rate for natural-looking motion blur?

The recommended rule of thumb is to set the shutter speed to double the frame rate for the most natural-looking motion blur.

Why is white balance important in smartphone filming, and how can it affect the image?

White balance is important because it tells the phone what is the color white in a scene. If not set correctly, all other colors can lean more orange or blue, affecting the overall color accuracy of the image.

What is the purpose of an ND (Neutral Density) filter in smartphone filming?

An ND filter helps to reduce the amount of light entering the camera without affecting the color or exposure settings, allowing for better control over exposure in bright situations and preventing the image from becoming jittery due to high shutter speeds.

What are some additional tips mentioned in the script to improve the quality of smartphone footage?

Additional tips include shooting in 4K quality with a high bitrate, turning off internal stabilizer, using a flat picture profile, using only the main lens for better quality, investing in professional lenses, using a gimbal for smooth movements, and understanding and avoiding the phone's limitations such as poor performance in low light or with blown-out highlights.

What is the significance of Steven Soderbergh's filmmaking approach mentioned in the script?

Steven Soderbergh's significance is that he, as an Academy Award-winning director, has made multiple films using an iPhone, demonstrating the potential of smartphones for high-quality filmmaking and the importance of avoiding common pitfalls like filming in low light.

Outlines

00:00

🎥 Mastering Mobile Filmmaking Basics

This paragraph introduces the video's goal to teach viewers how to master mobile filmmaking in 20 minutes. It targets a broad audience, including YouTubers, social media influencers, travel vloggers, and aspiring filmmakers using smartphones. The video promises to cover setup, exposure, smartphone settings, gear recommendations, and real-world examples of achieving correct exposure. It references the success of high-profile filmmakers using smartphones, like Steven Soderbergh, and suggests that with the right knowledge, anyone can create professional-looking content with their phones.

05:02

📱 Understanding Smartphone Camera Settings

The paragraph emphasizes the importance of using manual camera apps for smartphone filmmaking instead of the native app to have full control over settings. It discusses the significance of frame rate, ISO, shutter speed, and white balance in achieving the correct exposure. The narrator warns against using the automatic settings and suggests third-party apps like Filmic Pro, DJI Beast Cam, or Moment Pro camera app for better control. The focus is on understanding how these settings work together to create high-quality videos.

10:03

🌞 Achieving Correct Exposure with Smartphones

This section delves deeper into the technical aspects of smartphone filmmaking, particularly the settings that affect exposure. It explains the role of ISO in brightness and noise, shutter speed in motion blur, and the importance of setting the correct white balance to avoid color inaccuracies. The paragraph also introduces the concept of using an ND (neutral density) filter to control exposure in bright conditions without affecting the desired shutter speed and frame rate relationship.

15:03

📹 Practical Exposure Techniques for Mobile Filmmakers

The paragraph provides practical advice on adjusting exposure settings for different lighting conditions, both indoors and outdoors. It demonstrates how to manually adjust ISO, shutter speed, and white balance to achieve the correct exposure and natural colors. The narrator also discusses the limitations of smartphone cameras in low-light situations and suggests avoiding blown-out highlights to maintain professional image quality.

20:04

🌟 Enhancing Smartphone Footage with Gear and Settings

This section offers tips for enhancing the quality of smartphone footage beyond the basic settings. It recommends using only the main lens for the best image quality, utilizing professional lenses for different focal lengths, and stabilizing footage with a gimbal. The paragraph also advises on specific settings within the camera app, such as shooting in 4K, adjusting bitrate, turning off internal stabilizer, and choosing a flat picture profile for post-production flexibility.

25:05

🎬 Advancing Mobile Filmmaking Skills

The final paragraph wraps up the video by summarizing the key points and encouraging viewers to continue learning about mobile filmmaking. It mentions an in-depth course available at Tomorrow's Filmmakers, covering various aspects of filmmaking, including business and production skills. The narrator highlights a special offer for a lifetime membership to their comprehensive online film course, positioning it as an invaluable resource for aspiring filmmakers.

Keywords

💡Mobile Filmmaking

Mobile filmmaking refers to the process of creating films or videos using smartphones instead of traditional cameras. It is the central theme of the video, which aims to educate viewers on how to master this modern technique. The script discusses various aspects of mobile filmmaking, such as using manual camera apps, adjusting exposure settings, and employing additional gear like lenses and gimbals.

💡Frame Rate

Frame rate is the number of frames displayed per second in a video. It is a key concept discussed in the script, as it affects the smoothness and motion representation in a film. The video emphasizes that 24 frames per second is the industry standard for a cinematic look, while higher frame rates like 60 frames per second are used for slow-motion effects.

💡ISO

ISO in the context of the video refers to the setting on a camera that adjusts the sensor's sensitivity to light. A higher ISO makes the image brighter but can introduce noise or grain, while a lower ISO produces a cleaner image in well-lit conditions. The script advises keeping ISO as low as possible to maintain image quality.

💡Shutter Speed

Shutter speed is the length of time the camera's sensor is exposed to light. It is crucial for controlling motion blur in a video. The script explains that a slower shutter speed can create a dreamlike effect with more motion blur, while a faster shutter speed results in less motion blur and a hyper-realistic look.

💡White Balance

White balance is a camera setting that adjusts the color temperature to ensure that white objects appear white in the video, regardless of the lighting conditions. The script mentions that incorrect white balance can cause colors to appear too warm or cool and emphasizes the importance of setting a custom Kelvin temperature for accurate colors.

💡Aperture

Aperture, while not directly controllable on smartphones, is the opening in a camera lens that controls the amount of light entering. The script notes that aperture is relevant for dSLR cameras with interchangeable lenses but is not a concern for smartphone filmmaking.

💡ND Filter

An ND (Neutral Density) filter is an optical filter used to reduce the amount of light entering the camera without affecting the color. The script suggests using an ND filter when filming in bright conditions to maintain proper exposure and avoid increasing shutter speed to the point of creating a jittery effect.

💡Gimbals

Gimbals are devices used to stabilize a camera, providing smooth and professional-looking footage. The script recommends using gimbals with smartphones to improve the quality of the video and to avoid the amateurish look of handheld phone footage.

💡Bitrate

Bitrate in video recording refers to the number of bits processed per unit of time and is a measure of the quality of the video. The script advises setting the bitrate to the highest possible setting to achieve the best video quality when filming with a smartphone.

💡Internal Stabilizer

Internal stabilizer is a feature in smartphones that attempts to reduce the effects of camera shake. However, the script recommends turning off this feature, especially when using a gimbal, as it can sometimes result in unwanted warping effects and detract from the video quality.

💡Picture Profile

A picture profile refers to the preset configurations for color and contrast in a video. The script suggests using a flat picture profile when filming with a smartphone, as it provides a good balance between contrast and flexibility for post-production adjustments without losing detail.

Highlights

In just 20 minutes, you can master mobile filmmaking for various purposes including YouTube videos, social media content, travel vlogs, or starting a film business.

The video promises to instill confidence in using smartphones for professional-looking films by the end of the 20-minute guide.

Learn how to set up your phone correctly, achieve correct exposure, and understand essential settings for smartphone filmmaking.

Discover recommended gear such as lenses and gimbals to enhance smartphone filmmaking capabilities.

See real-world examples of achieving correct exposure in various shooting conditions, from interiors to exteriors.

A year-old video helped many master dSLR or mirrorless cameras, prompting a similar guide for mobile filmmaking due to smartphone popularity.

Academy Award-winning director Steven Soderbergh made a film on an iPhone that grossed $15 million, showcasing smartphone filmmaking potential.

An entire wedding was filmed on an iPhone 13, indistinguishable from professional equipment to filmmakers.

Understand the importance of using a manual camera app instead of the native app for full camera control.

Learn about the four major elements for correct exposure: frame rate, ISO, shutter speed, and white balance.

Frame rate affects the naturalness of motion in your videos; 24 fps is standard for cinematic look, while 60 fps is for slow motion.

ISO controls digital brightness but can introduce noise; keeping it low is recommended.

Shutter speed determines exposure duration and motion blur, with a rule of thumb being double the frame rate for natural motion.

White balance is crucial for color accuracy; auto white balance can lead to color fluctuations.

Use an ND filter to manage exposure in bright conditions without increasing shutter speed or ISO.

Settings like shooting in 4K, high bitrate, turning off internal stabilizer, and using a flat picture profile enhance video quality.

Avoid using smartphone's ultra-wide and telephoto lenses for optimal quality; stick to the standard lens.

Investing in professional third-party lenses like Moment lenses can significantly improve smartphone footage.

Using a gimbal for smooth movements is essential to avoid the amateur look of handheld smartphone filming.

Knowing your phone's limitations, such as poor performance in low light or with blown-out highlights, helps in avoiding subpar footage.

The video concludes with a course offer at Tomorrow's Filmmakers for in-depth mobile filmmaking and comprehensive filmmaking skills.

Transcripts

In just 20 minutes, we are going to show you how to

master mobile filmmaking.

This video will be for those of you wanting to create

YouTube videos, social media influencers, people

wanting to use their phones to film better travel

videos as a hobby, or even people wanting to start a

film business and are just wanting to get started

with what they have.

The point is, whenever this clock hits zero,

you will have full confidence and have mastered

your smartphone.

We're going to be talking about how to properly set

up your phone, how to get the correct exposure, all

the settings you need to know, things to avoid with

your smartphone, and even some of the gear we would

recommend, like lenses and gimbals and things like

that. Also, at the end you'll watch us get the

correct exposure in real world examples from

interior shots to exterior shots.

This will truly be the ultimate guide to master

smartphone filmmaking.

About a year ago, we made a video called Master Your

Camera in 20 minutes talking about how to properly

run your dSLR or mirrorless camera.

And so many of you guys said how much you appreciated

that video and how much it helped you out.

And some of you said in that one single video you

learned more than you did at film school.

So with smartphones becoming more and more popular

and with people starting to use them more, we thought

we would do the exact same thing.

But with mobile filmmaking, because

it's no secret how popular smartphones have become.

Steven Soderbergh, who is an Academy Award winning

director, actually has made multiple films

on an iPhone, and one of them made about 15

million at the box office.

Yes, a movie made $15 million

that was filmed and what you have in your pocket.

And not just that, but an iPhone seven.

Okay, last year we filmed an entire wedding

on just an iPhone 13, and no filmmaker

that we showed it to could tell a difference.

This proves nothing more than just how powerful your

smartphone can really be.

All you have to do is know how to properly run your

camera, which we're going to show you in this video.

Now, of course, we're going to be talking all about

the basics of mobile filmmaking, but if you want to

learn even more, you can check out our full academy

at tomorrow's filmmakers.com.

With over 1200 training videos and over 120

hours of content on every single filmmaking

subject taught by leading professionals in the film

industry. All right, enough.

Introduction.

Start the clock now.

Whenever you switch your phone to video mode and

start filming, it might look kind of crappy.

And that's because you are not using a manual

camera app.

Do not use the native camera app on your

phone. You have no control of the camera settings and

everything is set to auto.

This will result in the exposure changing when you

look at something darker or brighter and immediately

look amateur and just look like a cell phone.

No professional video changes, exposure

or color while recording.

You want to be able to set your exposure and lock

it. Now, some of the newer phones have little more

settings and features built in like pro video

settings, but believe me, it will be much better if

you have a third party camera app that is 100%

devoted to giving you full controls of your camera

and no longer shooting in auto mode, we would

recommend Filmic Pro, DJI Beast Cam,

or the Moment Pro camera app.

Now, Filmic Pro is definitely the best app on the

market in terms of features and functions, but

unfortunately, they recently switched from a one time

payment of 15 bucks to a subscription

model of $40 a year or $3

a week. I honestly have no idea

why they did that, and a lot of people are actually

jumping ship because of that.

If that's something you'd still be interested in at

that price, go for it.

But we prefer the Moment Pro camera app, which is

only $6 to download forever.

But again, it doesn't matter what phone or camera app

you're using, it's the settings inside that are

universal that we're going to be talking about.

So get a camera app and let's move on.

The four major elements of getting the correct

exposure with your phone and properly using your

smartphone are frame rate, ISO,

shutter speed, and white balance.

You'd also have something called aperture, but you

only need to worry about that if you're shooting with

a dSLR that has a lens, so we don't

care about that one. If you have an iPhone, Android,

Google Pixel, or even a burner phone, whatever

it is, these four elements are used in all

phones. Some training videos I've seen only

focus on one of these settings, and never give you

the bigger picture of how all of these things work

together. So we're going to be going through every

single one, starting with frame Rate.

And if you've seen our other video called Master Your

Camera in 20 minutes, which is all about the

mirrorless camera and dSLR, as you'll be familiar

with a lot of what we're talking about in this

section, the term frame rate refers to how

many frames are in one second of your video.

If we shoot something at 30 frames per second, then

inside one second of footage there will be 30 frames

taken to equal one second.

Now, the reason we need to know this is because you

should shoot in certain frame rates and avoid

other frame rates.

Your smartphone will automatically be set to shooting

at 30 frames per second, but the.

Industry standard frame rate is 24 frames

per second. This is the most cinematic and is what

they use in Hollywood films today.

It will give you the most natural looking motion that

we're all used to seeing in the theater.

If you want to shoot in slow motion, you need to

shoot in 60 frames per second or higher.

But you don't just want to play it back at normal

speed, or everything will look like a soap opera,

because soap operas are shot at 60 frames per

second. To get slow motion, you would take that

60 frames per second clip and slow down

your footage and it would be buttery smooth.

This is how you achieve slow motion, by shooting

clips at a higher frame rate to allow more

information whenever you slow down.

The good thing is, it's very simple.

Just remember normal clips 24 frames

per second. Slow motion 60 to

120 frames per second.

So whenever you open your phone app, it might be

different depending on your app.

But locate the frame rate option, which in our case

is located at the top of our phone, and change that

to 24 frames per second.

The next two things that we're going to focus on in

getting the correct exposure is ISO and shutter

speed. These are the two settings that you need to

know, and you need to set these before you ever press

record. Now, you might be tempted to just click on

what you want to expose for, because some apps will

give you the ability to do that, and it will

automatically change these two settings to expose for

what you clicked on. The problem is, these two

settings affect certain things about your image,

and so we need to set these manually.

The first setting and probably the easiest to

understand is just your ISO.

This stands for International Standards Organization.

And I have absolutely no idea why

they called it that.

It makes no sense because all it is is a way

to make your image brighter or darker

digitally, without adding any lights to your scene.

If we take our ISO right here and move it up and

down, you can see the image getting brighter or

darker depending on the ISO numbers.

Pretty simple to understand, but there is one

downside to ISO that we need to know about,

and that is that ISO will produce noise and

grain in your image.

So when you boost your ISO, it starts to look like

TV static on your image.

Now if you're taking a picture, it doesn't look that

bad because the noise isn't moving.

It looks like an old Polaroid image, but in video

the noise will actually move and genuinely

look like TV static, which will ruin your image.

And this isn't just with iPhones.

This even happens to expensive cameras too.

Every camera is different and gets noisier at

different levels. All phones are also different, but

I probably wouldn't go above 800 ISO

unless I absolutely had to.

So the biggest thing to understand is that ISO is

useful and should be used to adjust your exposure,

but you want to try and keep it as low as possible.

That is the number one rule.

Next is your shutter speed.

Now shutter speed can be a little confusing, so I'm

going to try to explain it in the best way I possibly

can. Your shutter speed on your camera is how long

your image is exposed to the world.

So let's take a typical dSLR camera.

The sensor inside the camera is what sees the world

and captures the image onto the SD card,

but there's a shutter in front of the sensor that

keeps it from seeing anything, just like the eyelid

of your camera. When the shutter opens, it allows the

sensor to see the world, and then whenever it closes,

that's one picture taken, and you've probably heard

the sound of a shutter opening and closing a thousand

times with photographers.

But depending on how fast the shutter will move up

and down will then determine your image being

brighter or darker.

So if your shutter opens up for 10s and just soaks

in all the light and then closes, that's going to

be a lot brighter than if your shutter opens for a

fraction of a second and sees the world for just a

moment. Well, with video, it's the exact

same thing, except it's all done digitally.

There's no physical shutter moving, so you're

basically affecting how long each of those 24

frames are exposed to the world.

If you have a really slow shutter speed with video,

it's going to act the same way and allow a lot of

light into the camera versus if we have a really fast

shutter speed, it's not going to allow as much light

into the camera. So a slower shutter speed is

a lower number and brighter image, a faster shutter

speed is a higher number with a darker image.

But just like with ISO, shutter speed doesn't only

change exposure, it also affects something else

and that is your motion blur.

So since there is a shutter opening and closing,

affecting the motion blur makes sense.

For example, if we're taking a picture of a car and

the shutter opens up, the car drives by

and then it closes.

The picture is going to be a car driving from one end

of the frame to the other, resulting in a giant

smear across the image.

But if the shutter opens and closes at a fraction of

a second, it's going to capture the car right

in its place.

Again, it's the same way with video.

If we're looking at a ceiling fan and have a very

slow shutter speed.

As you can see, there's kind of a lot of motion blur.

And if we look at the same ceiling fan with a very

fast shutter speed, it's almost looks jittery and

hyper realistic, and there's no motion blur.

And if. We paused both of these frames.

You can really see what one frame looks like versus

the other. On the left, you can see that there is a

blur happening in all. 24 of those frames look

like this. But on the right, with a high shutter

speed. All 24 of those frames look like this

with no motion blur.

The cool thing is, you can use this to your advantage

to communicate a message to the audience.

So if we turn our shutter speed really, really low,

you're going to start to get an image that looks like

this. It's very dreamlike and looks really strange

and is warping everywhere, and it's completely

unusable if you're just filming something normal like

an interview. But if you want to use this for like a

dream sequence, or maybe someone's about to pass out

and they can't see properly, all you have to do is

turn down your shutter speed.

The opposite is also true.

If you crank up your shutter speed to an extremely

high level, you will have no motion blur, and you

will have something that many people refer to as the

Saving Private Ryan effect.

If you notice in a lot of war movies, they have this

hyper realistic, jittery look, and that's because

they've simply cranked up their shutter speed

whenever they're just talking.

Before the battle starts, everything looks normal,

but right when the battle starts, everything is super

jittery and there's no motion blur.

They don't add any special filters or expensive

lenses. All they do is simply crank up their

shutter speed, which you can do inside your

smartphone. Now, before you start messing with your

shutter speed, there is a rule of thumb to get the

most natural looking motion blur with whatever frame

rate you're shooting in, and that is, you want your

shutter speed to be double the frame rate.

This will look the most natural, so shutter

speeds will go up and down in increments of ten,

sometimes five, but most of the time ten, 20,

30, 40, 50 all the way up to crazy high numbers.

So if you're shooting at 24 frames per second,

doubling that would be 48.

Some cameras can do 48, but since most of them just

go up in increments of ten, you just want to pick the

closest one, which would be 50.

So if you're shooting at 24 frames per second to get

the most natural looking motion blur, you would want

your shutter speed to be at 48.

If you're shooting at 60 frames per second, you would

want your shutter speed to be at 120, which would be

doubling your frame rate.

So ISO affects the exposure, but can cause noise

and grain if it's too high, and shutter speed affects

the exposure as well, but will also affect your

motion blur. So understanding both of these things

and what they affect will really determine how

you get the correct exposure and what settings you

change with your iPhone.

And like I said at the beginning, aperture is also

something you need to know about, but only if you're

using mirrorless cameras because it affects the lens

itself, but it does not apply if you're using

a smartphone. So now that we know the two settings

you need to know to be aware of, there is another

setting that will make your image look like a cell

phone if you don't change it.

And that is your white balance.

White balance basically tells your phone what is

the color white.

If this setting is off, all other colors in your

shot will lean more orange or blue.

I bet you've noticed that sometimes when you press

record, your image looks more orange than it did last

time, and that's because of your white balance

setting is off or it's on auto.

If you're dealing with orange light, you need to tell

your camera that you're dealing with orange light so

it can compensate and make your whites look pure

white on a smartphone.

Your white balance will automatically be set for you

unless you change it.

And that can be really dangerous because it will

change colors when you look at different things.

This shot here was set to auto white balance, and the

iPhone was automatically making the image look really

warm and orange.

When I realized it was set to auto, I set the white

balance properly and it looks a thousand times better

and accurate to how that actual shot looked

when we were there.

Now, on a dSLR, you can create custom white balances

by using a gray card and holding it up and taking

pictures of it and all that kind of stuff.

But unfortunately, smartphones don't have that kind

of option. I would suggest using a custom

Kelvin temperature.

The lower the number, the bluer the image and the

higher the number, the warmer.

So if you're dealing with a warm light, you set your

white balance to compensate for the warm light.

And then you have perfect colors.

If you want to, you could just kind of eyeball it and

move the bar up and down until the image looks good.

But if you know the Kelvin temperature of what you're

shooting in, then you simply set it to that number.

These right here are all the Kelvin temperatures you

need to know about in all situations.

But in reality, there's only really two that you're

going to be using most of the time.

And that is 3200 for inside and 5600

for outside. Now listen, you can get really,

really in-depth with white balance, but I don't want

this to be confusing for you because it doesn't have

to be. Simply set the temperature to what

environment you are in.

Or again, just move it until it looks right.

The point is to control your white balance

and lock it.

You don't want the color of your image to be

fluctuating during your shoot, simple as

that. And there's one more thing I want to talk about

before we go out in the field and show you how to get

the correct exposure.

And that is something that everyone should get.

And that is an Indy filter.

Now, this isn't necessary to start filming,

but it. Really does help.

It's essentially sunglasses for your camera

in some really, really bright situations.

If you need to turn down the exposure, you bring

your ISO all the way down, but you don't want to

crank up your shutter speed to 3000, because then

you'll get that kind of jittery look.

So the Indy filter allows you to put those sunglasses

on front of your iPhone so you can have the shutter

speed, double the frame rate, and still have the

correct exposure.

All right. We have a lot more to talk about.

And I want to share some things with you that took my

iPhone footage to an entirely new level, like

certain settings to have lenses, all that kind of

stuff. But since we just talked about all of these

settings, you need to know to get the correct

exposure. I'm going to take you guys with me outside.

I'm going to show you in real time how to get the

correct exposure. And then we will come back and I

will share some more stuff with you.

So in this first scenario, even though the image

might look properly exposed, we notice that all

of our settings are way off.

So we start by first bringing our ISO down

from 600 to as low as it can go.

And we notice the image is really dark because our

shutter speed is still crazy high.

So let's bring that down to double our frame rate,

which would be 48.

And again, if your app only allows you to bring it

down to like 50, that's perfectly fine.

Next we would change our white balance and lock

it. And right now we're in sort of an indoor outdoor

shady area. So we're just going to move our white

balance around until we find something that looks the

best, which in this case is right around 4600

Kelvin. And we now have the proper exposure

and proper white balance without

changing any of the settings.

We move to an outdoor sunny area and you can see that

the image is really bright.

Now, unfortunately, the ISO is already as low

as it will go and the shutter speed is double the

frame rate. So in this situation, there's really only

two things that we can do.

One is to use that ND filter that we talked

about. If we add an indie filter, which again is

sunglasses to your phone, we can bring down

the exposure of our image, but still keeping the

ISO as low as possible and the shutter speed double

the frame rate. But if you don't have an indie

filter, the only thing that you can really do in this

situation is to crank up the shutter speed until

you have the correct exposure, which yes, might

give the image a little bit of that jittery look.

But if this is the situation you're in, it's pretty

much the only way to get the correct exposure at this

point. And personally, there have been many times

where I have not had an Indy filter and I just have

to crank up the shutter speed.

Next we will change the white balance and being

outside in the sun, we will set our white balance to

around 5400 to 5600 Kelvin,

which is going to give us the most natural looking

color. And now we have the proper exposure with

the correct settings.

And finally, without changing any settings, we come

inside in. The image is really dark.

Now in this situation I would probably add some

lights to this scene, but if you're unable to do

that, the first thing we see is that the shutter

speed is really high.

So we're going to make that double the frame rate.

Now the image is still a little bit too dark.

So we're going to bump up the ISO a little bit to

about 500.

But being careful not to go over 800, which

will introduce a lot of noise and grain in our image.

And lastly we change the white balance.

Now it's currently set to 5600 Kelvin for

outside. But since we're inside we're going to set it

between 3200 and 3600 Kelvin,

giving us the most natural looking colors.

So as you guys can see, you have to juggle all of

these settings to get the correct exposure and color.

The ISO, the shutter speed and the white balance all

need to be changed for each situation that you're in

to get the most cinematic image out of your

smartphone. All right. Great.

You guys know how to get the correct exposure with

your iPhone, but there are still a few more things

that you need to know about. And we're running out of

time. So I'm trying to go really quick.

But there are some things you need to know about to

take your iPhone footage to the next level.

First are the settings.

The first thing we would do is, of course, change

your shooting quality to 4K to get the

highest quality.

Also, in your settings, change your bitrate to as

high as it will allow you to go, and if your bitrate

is set to standard or low, just go ahead and set

that to high. Next, turn off the

internal stabilizer.

Many times, especially in older phones, the internal

stabilizer just looks like bad warp stabilizer

and made the image look like it was just warping and

terrible. Also, if you're using a gimbal, the

internal stabilizer will actually fight against that

and make your image start to warp even if it's on a

gimbal. The best thing to do is just completely turn

that off and rely on your gimbal for stabilization.

And finally, we would suggest shooting in a flat

picture profile.

So most apps will give you the option of shooting in

a standard profile, a flat profile and

a log profile, with the image being super flat.

Now, since most smartphones only shoot in eight bit,

there's only so much you can do with the colors in

your camera. And with the test we have done, we have

found that the standard adds too much contrast,

while the log is a little too flat and starts to lose

detail, so we would recommend shooting in the middle

with a flat picture profile.

This will. Give you plenty of room to work with in

post, while also not being too flat that you start to

lose information.

All right, before you guys go. There are a couple

more things I really want to talk about to improve

the quality of your projects when you're using a

smartphone, and if you implement these few tips, you

will immediately see drastic improvements.

One is to only use your main lens.

Now, most smartphones today have a few cameras built

into them like this one.

We've got an ultra wide lens, a standard lens, and

then a telephoto lens.

Now, unfortunately, even though the ultra wide lens

might look cool, they both should be avoided.

Phone companies prioritize the standard lens

that you're going to be using the most, and that

means the highest quality glass and the highest

quality lens is going to be that standard lens,

which is about 26mm.

So if there's a shot that you need to show something

really wide, move the phone farther away

and don't use your ultra wide lens.

Which leads me to probably the best thing you can do

to improve your phone quality.

And that is third party gear or more importantly,

lenses. Now, is buying gear for an iPhone

necessary? No.

You can start using it exactly like it is, but

it does greatly improve the overall quality.

The biggest piece of gear that we would recommend

would definitely be lenses.

And we aren't talking cheap clip on lenses that you

can buy on Amazon for 10 or 15 bucks.

But professional lenses made specifically for

your phone, the number one brand we would recommend

would be moment lenses.

And they aren't sponsoring this video or anything,

but we have just found their lenses to be some of the

best for smartphones.

They're somewhat expensive at a little over 100

bucks apiece. But what these allow you to do

is to get different focal lengths, but still

use that highest quality standard lens on your

phone. They have macro lenses which allow you to get

super close and detailed, and even anamorphic

lenses. We probably wouldn't use some of the crazy

lenses too often, but the fact that you can get this

image from an iPhone is amazing.

We have all the links to these in the description

below, and a link to our cinematic smartphone kit

that has all the third party gear that we would

recommend. Next would be smooth movements.

Nothing screams iPhone video more than someone

holding their cell phone and clicking a record.

It immediately looks like some mom filming their kids

at a park. If you want to immediately improve the

quality of your smartphone footage, buy a gimbal.

Are we out of time? Okay, we're out of time.

Okay. We're out of time.

The clock is at zero, but I just have a few more

minutes, I promise. Just a couple more minutes, and

then you'll still be an expert, but more like 23

minutes. Master your iPhone, like, 23

minutes, and then we'll continue.

You can always purchase a really expensive one, like

a DJI RS2 or three, but you can also

buy cheap gimbals that are specifically for a phone

like the DJI Osmo.

That works great. The point is, if you want your

footage to immediately improve, don't hold

your cell phone when you hold a mirrorless camera.

It looks more artistic, but when you hold a cell

phone, it looks like you're holding a cell phone

because you got all these little hand jitters.

Trust me. Stabilize your footage.

And finally, the biggest thing is simply to know

your phone's limitations and then just avoid

those situations. It's as simple as that.

If we know what the iPhone sucks at, don't

film it. For example, iPhones and

all cell phones really are terrible in low

light, which means don't film in low

light. If it's a bright, sunny day and you're filming

outside. People might not even be able to tell it was

shot on a smartphone.

But if you shoot at night time, everyone's like, oh

yeah, that's that's terrible.

That looks awful. Remember at the beginning I talked

about Steven Soderbergh filming a feature film on

an iPhone? It was critically praised and made 15

million at the box office.

Well, there's an entire scene that takes place at

night time. And if you look at the behind the scenes,

they shot it during the day and then tinted the color

blue to look like it was nighttime.

Even an Oscar winning director knows that smart

phones suck in low light, so avoid

those situations with your smartphone.

Also, avoid blown out highlights.

An expensive camera can see details in the dark area

and bright areas at the same time, but unfortunately,

cell phones don't have good dynamic range, and you

kind of have to choose what you want to expose for

the shadows or the highlights.

When you point at a direction and see a window that

is just pure white and super bright, it automatically

looks amateur and looks like you're filming with a

cell phone. Simply avoid blown out highlights

in areas with a lot of contrast, and if you do this,

the quality will skyrocket.

You see, by understanding the limitations of your

phone, you're able to then create higher quality

shots by avoiding places that phone sensors

just can't handle.

So there you have it, guys. In just 20 minutes, I

showed you everything you really need to know in

order to start using your smartphone properly.

You can always press record and start filming, but if

you follow these steps, you will take what looks like

home video that you filmed on vacation and turn

it into a cinematic video that even professional

filmmakers. Won't be able to tell was filmed on a

smartphone. Now again, the tips and tricks I share

with you are just the beginning.

If you'd like to learn more about shooting with a

smartphone inside our full academy, we have over 100

plus episode mobile filmmaking cinema

course on everything you need to know to get

cinematic footage with your cell phone.

You can learn more about them inside our full course

at tomorrow's filmmakers.com.

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If you'd like to get into the business side with

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And the best part is, right now we are running an

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go from a beginner all the way to an expert.

So click the link below to learn more.

So guys, I hope this video has really helped you guys

out. And now you have full confidence in taking your

smartphone, going out in the field and even doing

like we did in film an entire wedding.

And all we did was use all of these points,

apply it to our cell phone, and we made a video

that even seasoned filmmakers didn't know

was filmed with a cell phone.

So hope that you guys enjoyed this video!

Head on over to tomorrow's filmmakers.com to learn

more.