Tips on How to Submit Mobile Films for Best Mobile Film Award 2014
Tips on How to Submit Mobile Films for Best Mobile Film Award 2014
It’s time to submit your mobile films for a chance to win at the Best Mobile Film Award 2014! The winners will be announced in June. But before then, here are 12 simple tips for the best mobile filming.
- Have ample material: Plan on recording way more footage than you will actually need, so you will have a variety of shots and clips to work with as you edit your video.
- Keep your story small: One character with a single question is going to fit more comfortably in a short running time than an epic with many characters. If you do include a group of characters, they probably share the same problem or circumstance, though they might have different perspectives on it.
- Keep the screen size in mind: Get the camera in closer to your actors. Fill the screen with the most important elements of the image. That’s not to say you can’t include long shots but we have to know that the long shot is a showing person not a tiny fly in the distance. The same goes for titles. Make the font big enough to read on a small screen.
- Sound: To enhance the sound, figure out what sort of audio-inputs your camera has and research some options for an external microphone.
- Editing: Don’t own higher-end video editing software? Don’t worry, there are other options. People have edited entire films with a video camera and the free video editing software that comes with their home computer. Even if you don’t have a computer, you can still make a film. There is a technique known as “editing in-camera.” That basically means you shoot your film in the same sequence as the story/script unfolds. There is no editing! Every time a scene ends, you stop recording and don’t’ start recording again until the next scene is ready to begin. It’s a tricky technique because if a scene doesn’t work, you can’t do it a second time. The entire film has to be shot successfully in one go so it’s complete and intact on the tape. But it means you work fast and you don’t have to do any editing after the fact. For a 3 minute short you could probably run through the story several times in a day this way, and simply upload the version that worked best!
- Low-budget production gear: To add those moving shots to your film, don’t forget you can use anything with wheels, as long as you can fit on it. A garden wagon. A wheelchair. A skateboard. Get creative. Raid your closets for costumes. Sometimes a piece of clothing can inspire ideas for a scene, and add color and production design for pennies on the dollar.
- Airplane Mode: Make sure you either remove the SIM card or turn on the airplane mode of your phone. You do not want an incoming call in the middle of a shoot.
- Orientation: Never use a smartphone in portrait mode. Always shoot in the horizontal mode as it not only gives you a better grip on the device but also aligns the video orientation for viewing on the PC or TV. In vertical mode, the video has to be rotated while editing, which leaves some black bars on the side, popularly known as pillar boxing.
- Ambience and lighting: Proper lighting is vital for any video shoot. Just like a good story, the most interesting lighting has contrast. So, generally, you want to be sure that your actors’ faces are lit brightly enough to stand out from the rest of the scene, without over-exposing your image. That is why experts say you should always shoot in bright light. But this doesn’t mean you can only shooting around noon when the contrast can be harsh. If this is unavoidable, shoot from an elevated angle so that the sky is mostly out of the frame. Alternatively, you can choose to shoot on a cloudy day; under shade; or even during early morning or evening hours. The sensors used in camera phones are not able to capture drastic variations in light in a single frame. While you can manage good shots outdoors, shooting indoors is trickier, as both low light and high light can be a bit of a spoiler. Gaurav Sabharwal, Executive Director, Prem Studio, suggests that without burning too much money, you can use black cutters (sheet or piece of cloth) to avoid reflections off an object. Similarly, while shooting outdoors, especially in bright light, these white sheets/cloth can be used as diffusers to control the lighting. They are an easy option for home filmmakers.
- Battery: Another issue that crops up while shooting videos is the battery. Always ensure that the phone has a full charge or carry a portable charger that you can plug in on the go to power-up your smartphone.
By Ondi Madete
