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As I mentioned in my blogpost "How to take awesome photos with your smartphone", smartphones have rapidly evolved in the past 5 years and now have the ability to capture incredible video content. Most phones are now capable of capturing video at a mind-boggling 4K resolution (this simply means that the size of the video is very big, thus the quality is better than ever because it can capture more detail in every frame). This recent technological breakthrough of having high-quality video built into smartphones has created a huge opportunity for aspiring filmmakers to use their devices to capture moments and tell their stories…without having to invest thousands of dollars to buy a professional cinema camera.
As a passionate filmmaker that is often on-the-go, I love capturing key moments on my iPhone X using the Filmic Pro app. This app allows me to have full manual control when shooting (an absolute must for proper filmmaking). To break things down into simple terms, manual control allows me to pick ideal settings for different situations; Filmic Pro unlocks your phone’s full potential by giving you control of the frame rate (real time vs slow motion), the lens (wide or zoom), stabilization, exposure, white balance, sound quality and many more.
Go to the app store and download the app called “Filmic Pro”, created by FiLMiC Inc. This app will unlock the true potential of your camera as it allows you to capture videos at a higher bitrate – a higher bitrate means that your video clip is captured in a way that retains more detail; this allows you to have much more detail in a video clip in comparison to a video clip that is captured using the regular camera app. *Note, a higher bitrate means that the file sizes will be much larger than those captured in the regular camera app; therefore it is important to capture your moments with efficiency (shoot only what is needed as you will run out of space on your phone).
Download the Filmic Pro app for iPhone here.
Step 2: Open Filmic Pro and adjust settings to maximize quality
- Locate and open the Filmic Pro app on your smartphone.
- Click on the settings button.
- Click on resolution button (set 4K 2160p and FiLMiC Extreme) *Note – Filmic extreme means that the bitrate is set to the highest possible setting ensuring that you are capturing the greatest amount of detail at a 4K resolution).
- Click on the audio button (set to iPhone Mic, AAC and 48.0 kHz)
- Turn on stabilization to eliminate shaky movements as a result of holding your phone while filming
- Click on the settings button
- Select camera and pick whether you want the wide angle or tele lens (zoom)
- Click on the frame rate button (set to 24fps for a real-time film look or 60fps for slow-motion)
- Exit the settings menu
- Choose your subject (What you would like to take a video of)
- Use the hollow circle button to select the correct exposure by clicking on the brightest part of your video to ensure that you are not overexposing your shot (then lock it by tapping it again so it is red)
- Use the hollow square button and click on the subject that you want in focus (then lock it by tapping it again so it is red)
- Click the white circle to start recording (stay as steady as possible or make smooth movements when filming to capture great shots)
- Once you are happy with your video clip, click the white circle again to end the recording
- Connect your smartphone to your computer
- Open the Music app
- Click on Sync Settings…
- Click on Files
- Click on the FiLMiC Pro dropdown menu
- Locate your video clips and drag them to a desired folder on your computer
The videos will now be available on your computer and are ready to be edited using the video editing software of your choice (I recommend using Adobe Premiere).
Now apply what you learned from this blog, get out there and go capture some awesome videos with your smartphone! Also, checkout my personal page to watch videos I shot using the Filmic Pro app on my iPhone.
For more inspiration, here are three cool videos that were entirely shot on smartphones using the Filmic Pro app: