TED talks are a visual medium - people all around the world enjoy watching great ideas being brought to life on the red spot in the form of short, powerful films. But you don’t necessarily need big, expensive cameras to make an impact.
We’re big fans of doing smart things with technology at TEDxBristol - so this year we went ‘paperless’ by running our speaker application process via an online portal, and creating a video element to the speaker search, with a little help from our partners at Sauce Video.
Sauce is a video collaboration platform, and via a few clicks, hundreds of amazing and inspiring people who wanted to speak at TEDxBristol had the chance to share their big idea with us in person. As our speaker selection team are all volunteers, the ability to watch videos remotely and at the click of a button has made their job a lot more straight forward!
You can see some of the videos people submitted and go behind the scenes to find out how we used them to select our speakers in this video.
Top Tips for SmartPhone Filming
These days it’s not unusual to be carrying around HD cameras and editing suites in our pockets, in the form of our smart-phones. So with a little know-how, anybody can create polished, eye-catching videos.
Whether you’re off on holiday and want to capture all your best bits, you want to stand out from the crowd for your next job application, or you want to create a cheap but professional video for your business, here’s the ultimate guide to shooting a great video from Sauce Video.
Get the right orientation
As a general rule of thumb it’s better to film in landscape (phone sideways), especially important if you want to show your video on YouTube or on a TV/laptop screen. However if you’re planning to share your video somewhere like Instagram stories or Facebook stories then portrait (phone vertical) is best. So before you film anything, have in mind where you want your video to shown, and use the right orientation for that platform.
Capture clear audio
If you want to capture audio try to film in a quiet place to avoid background noise.
Don’t stand too far away from your phone, and always speak towards your smartphone.
Check your lighting
Good lighting can be the difference between an average video and a great one. Film your subject in a well-lit area. Avoid filming with bright light behind the subject as they’ll appear dark.
Avoid shaky footage
We love buttery smooth footage! To reduce shaky footage hold your phone with two hands, rest it against an object, or use a stabiliser like a gimbal to turn your smartphone footage into a blockbuster!
Go for a variety of shots
Use different types of shots or various settings to make your video more interesting. Shoot the same scene from different angles, use slo-mo or film some b-roll (that’s the technical term for additional footage you can edit in afterwards, like a wide shot of a crowd or some scenery).
Choose the best settings
Smartphones these days have powerful cameras so take advantage of that HD! We recommend filming at 1080p and 30 fps (frames per second). Take a look at the settings on your smartphone app.
Happy filming!