AMA Madison presentation on making videos with your smartphone. Includes tips on storytelling, video tips, and apps and hardware to use with your smartphone.

1. Making Quality Videos
with Your Smartphone
AMA Madison Signature Speaking Series
Chris Snider | Drake University | @chrissnider

2. HELLo. I’m Chris snider
• Associate professor in Drake University’s School
of Journalism and Mass Communication
• Teach classes on multimedia, social media, digital media,
visual communication, storytelling and web design
• I’m passionate about how businesses can use social
media and new technology to achieve goals
• Also teach a variety of classes on those topics in our
Online Master of Arts in Communication program

3. Raise your hand if you’ve NEVER
made a video

4. We’ve all made videos before
It’s 2019
That doesn’t mean
we’ve maDe good ones

5. In June 2013, Instagram launched videos.
I rushed out and shared this gem…

6. It didn’t do so well.

7. Instagram filters can save poorly exposed photos,
but they can’t save a bad video.

8. Today I’m going to teach you how to make great videos
using just your smartphone.
You won’t be left behind as social media
and marketing continues its pivot mostly to video/stories.
And your personal videos will get all the likes
on social media.

9. Today’s Plan
Do an exercise on video storytelling
Discuss how we can turn that content into a video
(with just a smartphone)
Discuss apps and hardware to make better videos

10. The problem with this and many videos
online is it does not tell a story.

11. information spreads
through stories.
Our brains become more active
when we’re hearing a story.

12. Research shows that
messages delivered as stories
can be up to 22 times more
memorable than just facts.

13. So what makes a great story?
(1) A sympathetic character wants something but
(2) has a problem to overcome.
That character (3) meets a guide (4) who gives them
a plan to overcome the problem.
The guide (5) calls them to action (6) that helps avoid
failure and (7) ends in success.

14. This framework
comes from
the book…

15. Character who wants something: Miguel wants to become a
musician like his great-great-grandfather Ernesto de la Cruz
Problem: His family doesn’t like musicians

16. Meets a guide: Hector
Gives him a plan: Take Hector’s photo back to the land
of the living and Hector will help Miguel find Ernesto.

17. Calls to action: Go to Ernesto’s party.
That avoids failure and ends in success.

18. Krochet Kids int’l: This is Empowerment

19. Sympathetic character who want something?
Problem to overcome?
Guide?
Gives them a plan to overcome the problem?
Calls them to action?
Helps avoid failure?
Ends in success?

20. Chubbies Shorts: Pants Problem

21. Sympathetic character who want something?
Problem to overcome?
Guide?
Gives them a plan to overcome the problem?
Calls them to action?
Helps avoid failure?
Ends in success?

22. Let’s Workshop

23. Let’s apply this to your company
In this story, you are going to be the guide.
Your customer is going to be the sympathetic
character.

24. ELEMENTS OF GREAT STORY
Sympathetic character who wants something: What do people come to your
brand for (ideally one thing)?
Problem to overcome: What problem does your brand solve?
Guide: Are you positioning yourself as a guide?
Gives them a plan to overcome the problem: Do you have a simple plan to
help your customers do business with you? Ideally a 3-step process.
Calls them to action: Do you have a clear call to action? BUY NOW
Helps avoid failure: What are the negative consequences of not doing business
with you?
Ends in success: What will their life look like after doing business with you?
Let’s workshop!

25. characteristics OF GREAT VIDEO
1. Action - movement works well on video
2. Emotion - makes us connect with the story
3. A quotable person
4. A process that can be illustrated
Which of those elements can you bring into your video?
More workshop!

26. Visuals OF great VIDEO
1. Videos
2. Photos
3. Audio
Which of those elements will you use in your videos?
4. Graphics
5. Map
6. Text
Even more workshop!

27. How do we use this?
• If you create your videos to show how your product
helped people overcome problems, you’ll be telling
a story
• Problem > Product/Solution > Result
• Start your video/post with… We all struggle with…
Such and such can sometimes be a challenge…
Nobody likes it when this happens.

28. Five tips
for shooting better videos
Now that you have a story…

29. 1. Keep the visuals changing

30. SHOOT IN SHOTS
• Don’t shoot in one continuous movement or hold one
shot for too long
• Shoot a series of unique shots and put them together
to tell the story
• This is a terrible video (with millions of views)…

32. If things get static,
the story dies.

33. Move, point, shoot, stop.
Move, point, shoot, stop.
Move, point, shoot, stop.
• Frame your shot, then press record until it gets boring.
• Then stop and move on to the next one.
• Shoot more than you think you’ll need (you don’t have
to use it all)

34. Use Pattern interrupts
Pattern Interrupts are elements in your video that are different than the rest
of your video (they literally "interrupt" the “pattern"). Pattern Interrupts can be:
• On-screen graphics
• Animations
• New background or setting
• B roll shots
• Different camera angles
• Sound effects

36. 2. ComposE your shots

37. COMPOSE
YOUR SHOTS
• Take charge and
properly set up the
shot.
• Pay attention to
backgrounds.
• Don’t be afraid to
rearrange the furniture
(in non-documentary
situations).

38. RULE OF THIRDS
Source: http://ecvphoto.weebly.com/the-art-of-composition.html

39. FRAMING
Source: http://ecvphoto.weebly.com/the-art-of-composition.html

40. LEADING LINES
Source: http://ecvphoto.weebly.com/the-art-of-composition.html

41. FOREGROUND/BACKGROUND
Image by Georgie Pauwels. Used with Creative Commons Attribution.

42. 3. Shoot wide, medium & Close-Up

43. wide,
medium
and cLose
For close-up
shots, look
for hands
and faces

44. <— Wide
Medium —>
<— Close-up —>

45. <— Framing
<— Rule of thirds
Foreground/Background —>

46. 4. Get quality audio

47. • A video that is difficult to hear will turn off viewers.
• Avoid locations with bad acoustics.
• Avoid distracting background noises (busy areas, heavy
machinery, lawnmowers, etc.)
• Use an external microphone for quality audio.

48. 5. Plan before you shoot

49. STORYBOARDING
• It’s important to think through all of your shots ahead of
time.
• Easiest way is to storyboard what you will shoot.

50. Phone-specific tips
• Lock the focus
• Use an external microphone
• Invest in a tripod and phone
holder
• Consider a better app
• Explore options like slow-mo,
timelapse

51. THESE exercises comes from
a couple of my classes:
Multimedia communication
& Content marketing

52. Apps
FOR BETTER VIDEO

53. A BETTER VIDEO APP: FILMICPRO
• $15 for iOS and Android
• Professional video tools such as smooth zooming,
lock focus, lock exposure, sound monitoring.

54. Creative videos: Quik
• Free for both Android and iOS
• Quickly make videos, add text and music

55. I created this in less than 60 seconds with Quik app.

56. SIMPLE IPHONE EDITING: SPLICE
• Free & quickly turns multiple clips into one video

57. SIMPLE ANDROID EDITING: VIDEOSHOP
• Free & quickly turns multiple clips into one video

58. IPHONE EDITING: IMOVIE
• Free
• Includes many of the same features as the desktop version

59. ANDROID/iphone EDITING: KINEMASTER
• $5/month or $40/year
• Full-featured professional video editor

60. MUST-HAVE:
GooGle Photos
• Free for iOS and
Android
• Edit and backup
your videos

61. PRO editing: LUMAFUSION
• $20 for iOS
• Powerful multi-track video editor

62. Mojo
High-quality motion graphics
templates. $40/yr for pro.
Unfold
100+ templates for Stories
photos. 25 for free.
InShot
Convert shape of videos
and add text.
Tools for creating Stories

63. MORE VIDEO APPS TO TRY
• YouStar - add special effects to videos
• Jumprope - create step-by-step how-to videos
• Action Movie FX - add Hollywood special effects
• Adobe Rush - shoot, edit and share videos
• Cinamaker - shoot videos with multiple phones

64. Hardware
FOR BETTER smartphone VIDEO

65. Smartphone video has
three main weaknesses
Hard to keep phone stable
Lack of quality audio
Not great in low-light situations

66. <— Stability
<— Audio
Light ☀

67. Promaster tripod - $70
Manfrotto tabletop
tripod - $20
DJI Osmo Mobile - $130

68. Joby Griptight - $20
Shoulderpod - $30
Square Jellyfish - $20
Ulanzi smartphone rig - $13
Vastar tripod
mount - $6

69. iRig Mic - $60
Rode
Reporter
mic and
i-XLR -
$280
iRig +
XLR cable
+ mic -
$70-170
Generic
lavalier -
$12
Sennheiser
ClipMic
digital
- $200

70. Two for $80

71. QUESTIONS?
Follow Chris:
@chrissnider
chrissniderdesign.com