Mobile Device Video: Best Practices

Many of us find ourselves quarantined at home, and thrust into the job of producing audio and video for various forms of presentation:  work, church, social media, family birthday cards, you name it!  I keep seeing many of the same questions repeated, and many of them center around shooting self videos with mobile phones.  So, I thought I would share some best practices that I have discovered over the past couple of months. Enjoy and share!

• Film yourself in horizontal orientation.  This will fill the screen on most devices.  

• Go to Settings ---- Camera ---- Record Video --- set to “4K at 30 fps” on iPhones or the equivalent settings on other devices.  This will give you excellent video quality.

• Film yourself with the back camera.  This will require a little doing to get it set up and aimed at where you will be standing or sitting.  The selfie camera on the front of the phone usually produces lower quality video and may make things appear backwards in the video.

• Film yourself in bright light.  Images from phone cameras look great in brighter light, so set up near a window, or in a well lit room.

• Don’t set up with a bright window behind you!  This will backlight you, and you will just be a shadow of your former self on screen!  Set up facing the window, or with it to your side.

• Set up your phone about level with your face or neck.  Low-angle shots look a little odd, and an eye level camera appears more natural.

• Get close enough that you fill the screen.  People want to see YOU!  

• A small tripod helps.  There are many available on Amazon, search for “phone tripod” and see what comes up.  Manfrotto makes really nice ones and they are pretty affordable - go HERE to check it out!

• Beware your background.  Backgrounds truly can make or break a shot, so in general make sure it is uncluttered and that nothing appears to be sprouting from your head or shoulder.  

• For audio, find the quietest place you can… turn off your dishwasher, put the dog outside, turn off the TV nearby, etc.  

• You can sometimes get better audio by using the headphones with built-in microphone that plug in to your device.  Give it a try!  

I hope this helps, and good luck with you mobile phone video adventures!

Film horizontal, from the back camera, and keeping the phone at roughly eye level will help you make a more attractive and useable video.

Recommended Manfrotto mobile device tripod - see link above.

Brass Ensemble Recording in honor of Larry Rachleff

I had the awesome pleasure recently to make an audio and video recording of a large brass ensemble dedicated to honoring a fantastic conductor, mentor, and friend, named Larry Rachleff. Larry has touched so many young musicians’ lives with his conducting, his love of music, his ever demanding standards, and his everlasting support. Larry has had some health issues this year making life difficult, and these wonderful musicians saw fit to honor him in the best way they knew how! The group consisted solely of graduates of Rice University, people who have studied and played for Mr. Rachleff at Rice, and was a who’s who of DC-area musicians. Players from the National Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, Virginia Symphony, Richmond Symphony,, U.S. Army Band (Pershing’s Own), U.S. Navy Band, U.S. Air Force Band, U.S. Coast Guard Band, U.S. Naval Academy Band, and the U.S. Marine Band (The President’s Own) all convened in Alexandria, Virginia to record two works: Percy Granger’s “Horkstow Grange” from Lincolnshire Posy (arr. Tim Higgins), and “The Gathering of the Armies on the River Scheldt” by Richard Wagner. The conductor was Jerry Hou, direct from his current staff position at Rice University. All I can say is, WOW. The first time (and every time) they lit into the River Scheldt from Lohengrin, the hair on the back of my neck stood up. It is quite a testament to Rice University that there are so many fine brass players in the DC area alone! Just amazing! Enjoy the video!

Personnel is listed at the end of the video.