Additional equipment for MoJO

1. Content licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial
4.0 International License
Additional equipment for a
mobile journalist
In this module you will learn what kind of additional
equipment you can use to help you in filming process
Module length: 30 minutes

2. 1. Stabilize your smartphone
Having a tripod is essential if you want to create high quality videos.
Since a smartphone weight is small, you can use virtually any photo
or video tripod, even a small tabletop tripod. If you are filming
handheld shots, small grip will help you to minimize shaky shots.
To find more about tripods for smartphones:
http://iphonephotographyschool.com/iphone-tripod/

3. 2. Get good quality audio
Your footage is not much of a worth if your audio is bad. So follow this guide and find out
how to make audio as best as possible.
Locate a microphone on your smartphone
On most Android smartphones microphone is located
at the bottom. Please be sure that you don’t cover
microphone hole with your hand while filming.

4. 2. Get good quality audio
If you don’t have external microphone,
stand close to the subject you are filming
to get better quality interviews.
Smartphone microphones are generally
good within 1 meter.

5. 2. Get good quality audio
External microphone will give you much better quality audio,
but which one to choose and how to connect them ?

6. 2. Get good quality audio
Microphone with XLR output - Dynamic
These microphones are usually
used for interviewing. In order
to use them with a smartphone
you need to have an
XLR-smartphone adapter, such
as iRig or SmartRig. There are
also microphones which can be
connected without adapters.
iRig Pre
SmartRig
iRig Mic

7. 2. Get good quality audio
Microphone with XLR output - Directional
These microphones are great
when you want to record sound
which are bit further from your
smartphone. They are
directional, so they will capture
sound from direction you’ve
pointed them to. If they have
XLR output you will need an
adapter.

8. 2. Get good quality audio
Clip (personal) microphone
This is great microphone for
making interviews. It is small,
so you will have no troubles
with framing microphone out
of shot.
Downsides of this microphone
are that it takes a bit of time to
put it on a person, and that it’s
not totally windproof.
This is also the cheapest option
to make audio in your
interviews better.

9. 2. Get good quality audio
Hadsfree kit
With most smartphones today
you will get a handsfree kit.
Since they have a microphone,
you can use it as an emergency
external microphone which will
get you better quality audio.
MIC

10. 2. Get good quality audio
Headphones
There is no point to record
audio and not listen to it while
it’s recorded, so wear your
headphones every time you are
filming interviews or important
audio bits.
!

11. 3. Go wider or closer using additional lens
You can attach wide angle lens to your smartphone to get wider perspective in your shot, or
use a teleconverter lens to bring action closer to you. Or you can just use your legs instead.
Downside of this attachments is that they are degrading picture quality depending on lens
optical quality and price range.

12. 4. Power and memory
You will quickly realize that filming with smartphone consumes lot of battery
power as well as memory in your phone. Equip yourself with generous
amount of memory (look at 32GB of memory as a minimum). As well, get
yourself an external battery to charge your phone when it runs out of
battery. If you are using iPhone (which is not capable of upgrading memory)
you can use flash drives (such as iXpand) to free up space on your device.

13. Full MoJo kit (HRT)
9.
2.
1.
4.
5.
6.
8.
7.
3.
7.
7.
10.
11.
1. Smartphone
2. Tripod
3. Tabletop tripod
4. Tripod mount
5. Flexible tabletop stand
6. Headphones
7. Wireless audio kit
8. XLR to smartphone adapter
9. External battery
10. External memory drive
11. Charging/sync cable
7.