Tropfest winner Jason van Genderen shares his top tips on pocket filmmaking.
He’s that guy who made that lovely little film, Mankind is No Island, with nothing but his iPhone and some imagination. It went onto win the best Short at Tropfest NY 2008 and came runner up at Tropfest Australia 2011.
Check out his hot tips for pocket filmmaking below. Entries for the 2012 Tropfest awards have just closed but maybe you can brush up your skills and come up with something amazing for next year!
Jason van Genderen’s hot tips-
1 • Screen Orientation. Make sure your turn your phone around the right way! Filming in portrait mode will mean you’ll end up with big black areas to the left & right of your video when downloaded to your computer or tv, so remember to shoot landscape.
2 • Shakey hands? Here’s a tip to give you smooth, steady shots first time, everytime. Don’t outstretch your arm fully when filming with a pocket camera. Remember, the lighter the camera, the more it will pick up vibrations and movement from your arm, it’ll act like a giant lever! If you stand with your elbows bent, closer to your body, and hold your camera with BOTH hands, you’ll end up with a naturally stabilised picture.
3 • Ban the zoom! One of the fastest way to send audiences to sleep is falling into the trap of using your inbuilt digital zoom. If you want to show something closer-up, move in with your camera and get closer to the action or subject… it’ll look much more interesting than a boring slow zoom in & out. Remember, digital zooms only enlarge the picture’s pixels, they don’t make for a better picture – in fact they create a lower resolution shot.
4 • Vary your shots. Whether you’re filming your family at Christmas, a holiday adventure or the unwrapping of a special gift… keep the camera moving and remember to ‘show’ us different things to keep our attention. Think of the camera lens like your eye, when you watch something your focus shifts from the big, wide scene to smaller, particular details. When filming, start with a wide shot to establish the scene or introduce the event, then move in and show us some smaller details, people’s expressions, hands unwrapping, a pile of paper on the floor, a snoozing uncle in the corner – use your imagination!
5 • Keep talking. One of the reasons family films fall flat is we tend to film a scene but not explain the relevance or reason. When you’re filming, your face should be nice and close to your mobile phone so you’re at a perfect distance to narrate a personal live commentary! It’ll mean you can sit back and enjoy the film in future without having the need to jump in and keep talking over it when screening to family & friends… because when you narrate as you record you’re capturing the moment once and for all.
6 • Fear of editing? Pretty much everyone can film but not everyone has the time or confidence to edit their creations. In this case, try and plan your little film to be a great ‘one-shot-wonder’ by filming it as a complete video in one take, remembering to vary the shots as mentioned in Tip (4) above and narrate as covered in Tip (5). If you’re keen to give editing a quick try, you should download a free iPhone App called ‘Videolicious’. It guides you through linking some of your video clips, photos and narration seamlessly with your chosen music track and BAM… within minutes it’ll render a beautifully edited little movie that you can share with anyone right there & then!
Photo: Hailey Bartholomew
Tags: Film, filmmaking, Jason van Genderen, Mankind is No Island, tropfest
