10 Tips to Better Filming on a SmartPhone

Want to tell your story through video. Have something creative to share but don't want to buy an expensive camera. Do it with your smartphone, but do it right, cell phones are not perfect. Here are 10 helpful tips for filming with a smartphone.



To be honest, I am putting this post together because I have been editing some footage from my brother and thought some of these tips would be good for him to know while filming. These are tips that I use when filming and editing on my smartphone. Usually, I film Running videos like my brother, but I also use my phone to film and edit family videos.

10 Tips to Better Filming on a SmartPhone

1. Think about the story you're telling
Capture shots that tell the story. The story may change as you film, thats just the part of the story. Remember to try to tell a story with a Beginning, Middle and End. Think of your audience and what they will see, is this interesting to the veiwer.

2. People/Places/Experiences are interesting
Make sure you know what the subject of the story is. Capture your subject experiencing the story. Film yourself, your facial expressions and your feelings. Show what is important to the story. Sometimes you are not the subject, sometimes its the environment or inanimate object

3. Capture the story in order
This makes for easier editing, especially on mobile devices. If you have captured all your clips in order, when editing it makes it easier to trim clips and put them in your editing timeline.

4. Keep your Clips short and specific
3 to 5-second clips are good. Often with long clips I will only use 1-2 seconds of it in an edit. This makes for a tighter story and edit. It also makes the editing process faster and easier. Capture only what you know you will use. You can show more story with more clips and with less information.

5. Keep the footage Steady
Practice holding your phone steady. Use something to steady the camera, like a strap, or a tripod. Get your hands away from the camera, the farther away from the center mass the more steady the shot will be. Use a mix of handheld shots and mounted shots.

6. Keep filming techniques consistent
There are lots of ways to move the camera to capture a shot. Tripod/mounted, pans left and right, push-ins and pull-outs, selfie mode. Each scene should have a beginning middle and end. Show the subject from different angles and keep them consistent. Allow the audience to know where they as the camera from shot to shot. (this is probably one of the hardest things to get right, especially when moving fast like I do on hikes and runs, especially when I put the camera down to film myself, and have to backtrack to pick back up my phone.)

7. When Talking to the Camera
Be brief when talking and stay on topic. Avoid using words or sounds like Ums, Stutters, and Pauses. Talking takes practice, I will sometimes record a piece of dialogue a second time to clean it up. When talking think about what you want to say before filming. Practice talking on the record, listen to the clip afterward and see where you can adapt your speech and talking skill.

8. Pictures are nice, but Video is Nicer (for videos)
I capture pictures but I rarely add them to my videos. They are nice to post as pictures. Whenever I see something I want to take a picture of, I'll also video it to put in my edit. Don't make a slideshow when you can capture a little more movement and interest in a video clip.

9. Know the limits of your Smartphone
Most Phones do not film well in low light. Phones do not zoom except for digitally, which will make footage grainy. Get closer to your subject. phones do have fairly good mics, but they also can pick up all sounds including wind and other ambient sounds.

10. Go out and film what interests you today
The ability to film intriguing videos with decent quality is so much more available today than it has been in the past. Everyone has a camera if they have a phone. Tell stories now and improve techniques and abilities as you do it.

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I have been capturing a lot of video on my phone this past summer (2019). I have been wanting to film and tell some running stories. I have a nice cannon DSLR and have used GoPro action cameras in the past, but I wanted something a little more accessible and easy to use. I thought about getting an action camera for myself but didn't want to have to go through a larger editing workflow like I do with my DLSR. On my phone, I can capture, edit and post, all in one place.

Here is my current setup and process that I use with my smartphone

I have a Galaxy S9. I use a trekking pole with a clamp to ball joint to phone mount to hold my phone and get steady shots. There are a few main shots I get with it.

Extended selfie
Low selfie
Steady shot
Monopod Ground Steak shot

I film in the order that I want to clip the edit together. Then I just have to drag and drop without reordering clips in editing. I currently use Viva Video Pro to edit. This is a great android app however no 1080p export, only 720. I'll have to look into what other video editing Apps are good.

The Mic that I have for my camera can also be used on my phone, however, I haven't been able to use it yet with my setup. Often on long journeys, my phone will not have enough charge. For this, I use a small emergency car jumping battery. This also has a big flashlight that I have been able to use on occasion.

I will adapt what I bring and use depending on the situation, however, these are the basics.


Watch my Brothers Video That inspired me to make this post: