Stability and movement

Heavy shake instantly says "shot on the run", and it's harder for the viewer to believe you prepared. A little hand movement in a lively video is fine; a jittery frame is worth reshooting. A steady picture costs almost nothing: a habit, and something to rest the phone on.

Why a steady frame

The eye is used to steady images: films, TV, photos. It reads shake as an accident. When the video is for a brand, a steady frame is one of the first things they check when reviewing.

Tripods and what to use instead

If you're buying one piece of gear for filming, buy a small tripod with a phone holder. It's cheap and solves half the problems in this course, including filming yourself alone.

No tripod? Anything that doesn't move will do. A stack of books on the table: adjust the height, lean the phone against the top book. A shelf at eye level. A large binder clip as a stand: the phone sits in the clip, the clip sits on the table. A mug, or a glass of rice you can push the phone into at any angle, is handy for low shots, like a product on the table.

Two requirements. Camera at eye level, from the framing lesson, so a phone on the table while you're sitting is usually too low: add books. And the phone standing level, not tilted up or down, or your face gets distorted. Put an eraser or a bit of tape under the bottom edge so it doesn't slide.

How to hold the phone

Sometimes you have to shoot handheld: showing a product, walking, filming something other than yourself. The rules:

Two hands, not one. Elbows tucked into your body, not floating. The phone about 20–30 centimetres from your chest, not at arm's length: the longer the lever, the bigger the shake. Feet shoulder-width apart. Breathe normally, don't hold your breath, that only makes it worse.

If you need to move, move like you're in slow motion: soft steps, heel to toe, knees slightly bent. Your body acts as the shock absorber.

Tip. Lean on something. Shoulder against a door frame, elbows on a table, back against a wall. Any support removes half the shake.

Stabilisation in the phone and in the editor

The camera settings have a stabilisation option, often on by default. Some phones stabilise optically, and that doesn't crop the frame. But for video it's usually the software kind, and that works by cropping: the phone trims the edges to keep a margin for correction. The picture is slightly tighter than what you see on screen. Keep that in mind when framing.

Stabilisation in the editor does the same thing, only harder: it crops more and sometimes adds a jelly effect where straight lines wobble. It's a rescue tool, not a replacement for steady filming. The steadier you shoot, the less gets cropped.

"Action" mode or "super steady" crops even more and struggles in low light. Fine for walking, unnecessary for talking at a desk.

When the camera is allowed to move

Camera movement should mean something. A slow push in on a product: "look at this". A walk through the room: "here's where I am". A turn from yourself to an object: "this is what I'm talking about". If the movement says nothing, it's just in the way.

For a talking video, a static frame is almost always better. You'll add energy in the edit: shot size changes, cutaways, text. That's covered in the editing course.

Filming yourself alone

Put the phone on a tripod or a substitute. Frame the shot with a test take, as in the settings lesson. Lock exposure and focus on your spot, as in the exposure lesson. Hit record, walk into frame, sit down, breathe out, start talking. You'll trim the pause at the start and the end later.

To save the running back and forth, set a 10-second timer if your phone has one in video mode: on some phones it's photo-only. If not, buy a Bluetooth remote shutter, they cost almost nothing, or just hit record and leave a pause. Mark your spot on the floor with a bit of tape so the frame doesn't drift between takes.

Before the real take, shoot a ten-second test and check it: light, exposure, eyes on the top third. And listen to the sound: there's a separate course on it, but you can hear echo or a humming fridge without one. It saves you a reshoot.

Do this now

• Build a tripod substitute from what you have at home and get the phone to eye level.
• Film ten seconds handheld at arm's length, then ten seconds with elbows tucked and leaning on a table. Compare.
• Film yourself alone with the timer: walk into frame, say three sentences, check the take.