How to use a smart phone for amazing videos

I would like to share with you, as I did with a guest post on the nomadi digitali website a short time ago, my personal experience as digital nomad and videographer. I’d especially like to give you practical advice on how to use your smartphone to produce professional videos and use them for your blog, or your YT channel, or on Tripfilms, without using expensive technology or complicated softweare for the editing.

I have an Iphone 4s, not the latest technology, but the important part is the applications I’ve downloaded in order to record videos in high definition.

The phone is amazing for the fact that doesn’t take much space and you can have it in your pocket. Plus, nowadays the cameras on smartphones have a really high quality of images.

RECORDING:

All the smartphones have a video app inside, but I prefer to use other apps, some of them are free, some you pay to have the maximum control on the images. One of them is FILMIC Pro: with this app you can record high quality video with the possibility of blocking the exposure and the focus, and as well several options to change the recording speed and the recording quality. The app is available on the app store for 4.99$, but I assure you that it gives nice results if use correctly.

COLOR CORRECTION:

Once I record a video, I start the second step: the color correction. I use MOVIE LOOK for this part.

Once you import your video you can choose between a lot of different effects, color corrections, contrast and brightness. It gives the video a better look with a nice chromatic effect, and it’s more catchy for the viewers.
This app is available on istore for 1,79 Euros.

EDITING:

Your video is now recorded and with a nice look, we just need to edit it.
For this part I choose to use one app called: CUTE CUT. A timeline on the phone allows you to iport different videos, photos, music and also to insert text on top. You can cut, mix and assemble it all together: one after another, images are ready on the timeline and with one button you can export everything ready for your post with music and text.
This app is available for free on the Istore.

TIMELAPSES:

Another app that I use a lot is called CAMERA TIME.
This app allows you to record single photos with an interval in between that you can choose from the main menu. The result is an amazing timelapse in HD quality. Imagine seeing what happens in 5 hours compressed in 10 seconds? Amazing, isn’t it? For this app I suggest the use of a tripod and a support for the phone to have a stable image. I’ve created a new support that also allows me to create a timelapse and rotate the phone at the same time. How? You can check this tutorial of a friend of mine and see how you can do it just with 5$. The effect at the end is really impressive.
This app is available on the istore for 2,99 $

I want to show you something I’ve realized during my travels across Europe with the same app, edited entirely on my iphone, using the apps I just wrote about.

UPLOAD:

Once you’re finished with shooting, color correction and editing you can upload the amazing video on your Youtube channel and share it with the entire world. The app that I use for this step is Youtube capture. A simple display that allows you to upload the video, add a title, a description and of course all the tags that will make your videos simple to find it in the web. This app is free on the App store.

Is it possible to create income from these videos?

The answer is yes. As I wrote in another article about micro stock, some of my income comes from these websites and several times I was able to upload some footage created just with the Iphone.

In this post, because I’m an Iphone user, I’m giving advice for apps available on the IOS system- but I’m pretty sure that you can find the same or similar developed for the Android systems and for other phones. So it doesn’t matter which phone you have, just start to download these app and get outside to create amazing footage for your videos.

I hope this post has helped you out and has given you inspiration to start creating amazing videos with your smartphone. If you need more clarification, please write a comment just below or just ask me!