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How to Film a YouTube Video with Your Phone
4K views
May 19, 2024
Filming a YouTube video with your phone is convenient and can produce high-quality content with the right techniques. Start by selecting a quiet, well-lit location to ensure clear audio and good visuals. Use natural light or additional lighting sources to enhance your video's quality. Stabilize your phone using a tripod or other support to avoid shaky footage. Adjust your phone's camera settings for the best resolution and frame rate. Plan your shots and angles to keep the visuals engaging. Finally, use external microphones or earphones with built-in mics for better sound quality. With these tips, you can create professional-looking YouTube videos using just your phone.
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0:00
How to film a YouTube video with your cell phone
0:02
So I'm traveling right now. This is the Airbnb that I'm staying in. I did not bring a camera
0:06
so I thought I would take this opportunity to show you how you can record YouTube videos
0:10
with your phone. So the very first videos on this channel were actually recorded with my iPhone 6S
0:16
So I imagine the phone that you have in your pocket right now records better
0:20
than my old iPhone. They were recorded on that old phone, have thousands or even hundreds of thousands of views
0:25
So you can create phenomenal videos with your phone, no need for fancy camera gear
0:30
I'll walk you through everything that I'm currently using to record this video
0:35
We're gonna cover a lot of material in today's video. There are much longer videos on this channel
0:39
that go through a lot of the topics that we're gonna cover. So if you want more information
0:43
about anything we talk about today, check out the description below. Before you start filming your YouTube videos
0:48
you need to have a list of ideas. We recommend doing is coming up with a long list of video ideas
0:53
of things that your ideal audience would search for on YouTube. If you can create videos that show up
0:57
in search results on YouTube, day in and day out, you can get views on your videos
1:02
That video that I mentioned a while ago that has hundreds of thousands of views, shot with my old iPhone
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that video still shows up today, getting dozens of views years later
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We have a whole video walking through 13, I think, different video ideas
1:15
You can check that out after we get through today's video. Now that you have your list of video ideas
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it's time to choose one of those video ideas and write an outline. So we don't recommend writing out
1:23
a word for word script for your videos. There's a couple of issues with writing something out word for word
1:28
One, you probably don't write how you speak, so you're gonna write something out
1:32
and then realize when you try to say it that you don't speak that way and then you're gonna have to go and make edits
1:36
And it's a very long process versus writing out bullet points of the main ideas
1:40
Here's what the outline for this video looks like. You can see some things I write out
1:44
a bit more word for word. And a lot of times I don't actually say it exactly how it's written
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And there's some things like the background of your video that we're gonna talk about in a second, just one word and I have an idea of what I'm gonna say
1:55
And so just from that one word, I can make up whatever I want and have it sound like I'm talking to another human being
2:02
which if you're trying to read something, that can get a little bit complicated
2:05
After finishing your outline, it's time to figure out where you're gonna actually record your video. And there's a couple things to keep in mind
2:11
The first of which is the lighting. So I'm traveling, I don't have a bunch of lights with me
2:15
And so to record good videos, I am right in front of a window. It's kind of at 45 degrees
2:19
I can actually turn this around. So there's this little courtyard. And so I'm right in front of it
2:26
giving me the light that's coming here. And you see on this side of my face, there's more shadows
2:32
The thing is the other lights in this room are gonna be overhead that aren't gonna look as good
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This is fairly in front of me. But if we kind of just take a walk around here
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what you're gonna see is let's just turn on some of these lights
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and you're gonna see what I'm talking about. So if I were to sit on the couch
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and want to record videos, maybe. I guess this lamp kind of lights my face slightly
2:57
There's a light up overhead. So maybe I could do something like this
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So move around the room or rooms that you have as options
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So obviously just getting started on YouTube, you may not want to invest in lights
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We have a video that walks you through a very expensive lighting kit
3:14
that may be something worth checking out. But as you're getting started, natural sunlight works pretty well
3:19
And then I just have some of the other lights on that kind of makes it so the room
3:25
farther away from the window isn't super dark. One other thing, one other quick thing with lighting
3:30
and one of the disadvantages to a camera compared to say the Sony a6600 we normally use
3:35
is it's not quite as good in low light situations. So natural sunlight
3:39
this looks basically as good as the camera will. But if you're using kind of low light
3:43
how we normally shoot our videos, I don't really get my phone to turn out all that well
3:48
But if you have good lighting, your phone will work perfectly, no issues there
3:51
Also really cheap light solution that I obviously didn't bring with me are these paper lantern lights
3:56
So those were what I use to record when I use my old iPhone. So that's something you just get a cable
4:01
a light bulb, paper lantern, and you can have great artificial light
4:06
with a very low budget. So after figuring out the lighting, the next thing is the background
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So actually right over here, there was a TV that you were kind of gonna see the back of
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So I put that down on the floor so it wasn't in the shot. So figure out a place first, the lighting's good
4:24
then kind of clean up the background. So if my computer or if I had something
4:28
on the coffee table that looked messy or just something thrown on the couch
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And then also I was playing around with some of the different lights here
4:37
So for example, to give you an idea, I thought this light on back here
4:45
so it was like too much light over here now, but do some test shots as I was doing yesterday
4:50
before recording this video. See, hey, if I have this light on, this light off
4:54
hey, where the shot is, can I see, what does the TV look like
4:58
All those different things to kind of clean up the background. One other thing besides the background
5:02
could be the foreground. So for some videos, you'll see someone on their computer
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their desk, something on their desk, their plant, or if you had a cooking channel
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you're gonna have the kitchen counter in front of the person. So I mean, if you imagine something like this, let's say
5:18
and I have my computer right here. So sometimes you're gonna have something
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in front of the shot, what's behind you, to figure out where you're going to record
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And the next thing, are you more comfortable sitting or standing? So I only had a small SwitchPod
5:34
so it's like a foot tall tripod. So I guess I could set it on the counter
5:39
and maybe speak something like this, and that could work. So I feel more comfortable being able
5:44
to move around and speak, as opposed to be sitting at the table
5:48
So the next thing to think about, you have the shot that you want, you want it to be stable
5:52
So I don't wanna be holding my phone like this, trying to have a 10 or 15 minute conversation with you
5:58
There are a couple of ways to do that, some which require a small investment, others do not
6:02
So I'm using this SwitchPod, it's about a foot tall that works on top of a table
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as well as it folds up, and I can kind of use it for vlogging
6:13
If you don't wanna invest in a tripod or anything else, is just find a stack of books
6:17
So I think in one of the other videos, I had two big boxes and put a mug behind it
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and my phone held up. At eye level, no investment needed, just finding things around the house
6:28
especially if you're gonna be standing up, or if you wanted the phone to be further away
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and kind of at eye level, you're going to need a tripod that is tall enough
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So this SwitchPod won't work. There are some fairly inexpensive tripods, especially if it only has to support
6:45
the weight of your cell phone. For another style of video, you may wanna think about a gimbal
6:52
So you can get gimbals for your cell phone. So I have a video about using the DJI Osmo 4
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I think it was. But so with the SwitchPod that I have, I can hold it fairly far away
7:04
kind of hold it stable, but not really. But with the gimbal
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it's something that's going to stabilize the shot for you. So if you're gonna be walking around a lot
7:13
or some of the other features of having it to be able to actually move around and track you, if you're gonna be over here
7:18
and then you're gonna be over there, and you want your camera or phone to follow you
7:22
then you're gonna wanna think about getting something like a gimbal to keep the shot steady
7:26
But just getting started, like I said, books, mug, whatever it is to hold the shot steady
7:32
Then moving on to what is probably the most important thing in your videos
7:36
which is the audio. So this is a $20 lab mic from Mobo
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and I just need the connector to the lightning adapter so that I can plug a microphone into my iPhone
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and good to go recording videos. And I don't even know if I mentioned earlier
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so I'm recording this with my iPhone 12 mini. So it's not the newest iPhone, not the best iPhone
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and the videos are pretty solid. Back to the audio. So the thing is, this is a $20 lab mic
8:02
I'm actually gonna pause this and show you the audio from the iPhone. Let's do that
8:06
Here is the audio just from my iPhone. So one of the things to keep in mind
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is I am basically exactly arm's length away from my phone right now
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The distance is the most important thing with a microphone. So this, if I were to plug this back in
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which I'm doing now, I can be further away from my phone and the microphone is still this close to my mouth
8:27
so it's gonna work well. So if you are going to have quite a bit of distance
8:31
between you and your phone camera, having a lab mic or a wireless mic is gonna work well
8:38
Another option is a shotgun mic like this one. This one's from Mobo. We like the Deity mics as well
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They're like 40 or 50 bucks. But the thing is with a microphone like this
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you're gonna wanna be, again, have it as close as possible. When we're in our office in Mexico City
8:56
or when I'm home in Michigan, we have something to boom the microphone
9:01
So it's like just out of the screen like this. So it's like less than a foot away from my mouth
9:06
and the sound is gonna be really, really good in this situation. But what we can do
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we can set this up and record with the shotgun mic to show you
9:20
Okay, so here is what the Mobo shotgun mic is gonna sound like. So again, I'm closer than arm's length away
9:26
It's a bit more directional than just recording with the microphone of my iPhone
9:32
but maybe not as solid as having the loud mic this close
9:36
There could be a little bit of echo in this room. So if you saw our audio video
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we talked about having sound blankets up and things that cut down on the echo. There's a thousand things you can do
9:46
to improve the audio of your videos. But the most important thing is having the microphone
9:51
just as close to you as possible. So now let's talk about actually recording your video. Everything's all set up
9:55
The audio is good. The shot's stable. Background's good. Now, what do you need to do
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So the thing is you can use the camera app on your phone. So I'm using the normal iPhone app right now
10:06
I do like FiLMiC Pro and Pro Take, and I think Moment has a good video app
10:12
The normal app with the iPhone, for example, doesn't give you a ton of ability to customize
10:16
Also, one of the things that's really helpful is to be able to see the audio level
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So you can see, is this too quiet? Is this too loud? Is it reaching all the way to the point
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where the audio is gonna be distorted? Those things you can't see right now
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with the normal iPhone app. The other thing is adjusting the exposure
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So the thing is if you select, if I select me and then I pull down
10:36
I can darken or lighten the shot, and then you can lock it so that it's not gonna be moving
10:42
throughout the video. So there's a bunch of things you can do like that. So for example, the shot is gonna change a lot
10:47
if potentially I leave the shot, and then it's gonna focus behind me
10:52
And then what is it gonna look like when I get back? So for example, if I fix the exposure
10:56
so if I just hold down and then you'll see A, E, A, F, lock
11:01
then you know that things aren't gonna change when you are on screen or when you aren't
11:05
The next thing to think about is ideally you will record with the rear facing camera
11:11
I'm doing everything poorly right now and using the front facing camera, it's a little bit easier
11:16
and I wanted to make a point to you as we go through this video
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So I'm just gonna turn this around really quick and you can see if there's a difference
11:23
if I use the other camera. Okay, so I don't have a mirror right now. Hopefully I'm in shot right now
11:27
but so this is the rear facing camera, the normal lens for the iPhone
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So this should have a higher quality image than what we just saw a second ago
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The other thing to think about is a lot of phones now have several different lenses
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So depending on the shot that you're looking for, you can find the lens on the back of the phone
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Again, all of those in most cases are better than the front facing camera
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And so let's just show you really quick the wide angle lens that I have on this iPhone 12 mini
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Okay, so this is the wide angle lens for the iPhone. Again, I don't have a mirror, I have anything
12:03
I'm just shooting this on the very first take, but you can probably see a lot more of the shot right now
12:07
And so the thing is with using a wide angle lens is that you could potentially be much closer to your camera
12:13
So the closer you are to your phone, you could potentially just use the microphone
12:18
that you have on your cell phone as opposed to an external mic
12:21
If you do say it is easier to use the front facing camera of your phone
12:26
one thing that's really, really important is to look at the lens of the camera and not at yourself
12:33
So the thing is you're trying to make eye contact with the audience, not make eye contact with yourself
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One thing to think about is how do you actually wanna record it. Camera in most cases for me is further
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than arm length away. And so I hit record and then I just talk for a half hour
12:46
and then whatever point that I need to, I can look down at my notes, study it
12:49
look back at the camera, speak again. If you have the camera fairly close like I do right now
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I could easily reach it. Is what I could do is deliver point one, stop it
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look down at my notes, then record again, deliver point number two, stop
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And so I'm gonna have a bunch of small clips versus one really long clip
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So the thing to keep in mind in both cases is to pause here before going here
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So the thing is if you're talking, trying to deliver a point and then you look down at your notes
13:20
what's gonna happen is you're gonna cut here and then all of a sudden you're gonna be here again
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and it's not gonna look as good where if you deliver your point, pause for a half a second
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remember your hands like this, what are you doing? And then come study and then come back to that point
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And that way when there's cuts in the video, it's not quite as drastic as from this to this to this
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Just think through that of deliver your point, pause, look at your notes
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If you're stopping the video or not, it'll make the videos turn out better
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The next thing to think about is taking the one video clip
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or all the video clips and throwing it into a video editor. You may be nervous about recording videos for YouTube
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but the fact that you can cut out all the mistakes, all the pauses, and you're gonna be pleasantly surprised
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on how the videos turn out. There've been plenty of videos that I've finished recording
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send it to Diego or Elena who edit the videos. I think to myself, that video didn't turn out all that well
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And then I see the edited version and I'm like, pleasantly surprised how it turned out
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given that we cut out all the bad parts, spliced the good together, and you have a phenomenal video for your YouTube channel
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You can edit your YouTube videos with your phone. Here's a tutorial for that if you'd like to
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but if you're recording videos that are five, 10, 15, 20 minutes long, it will go so much faster
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if you edit videos on your computer for tutorials on that. Check out the playlist down below
14:42
Hope to see you in those and future videos. Bye
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