Best practice for Smart Phone video

[JackWolcott]

More and more often we’re seeing video that has been shot using a Smart Phone. Recently a customer brought me three hours of video to edit, footage that had been shot while on African safari using a Smart Phone.

Only about 25% of the footage had been shot in the landscape orientation — that is, with the long axis of the phone held horizontally. The rest had been shot with the long axis held vertically. Not only did all of the vertical footage have to be rotated 90%, but once rotated there are now black bars on either side of the image. Cutting from full screen (horizontal) to half-screen with black bars (vertical) creates an aesthetically unpleasant mess! Sometimes judicious cropping can be used to fill the screen with the vertical shots, but more often than not even HD resolution won’t allow the resultant picture to hold up well.

No question that Smart Phones produce stunning images, but like any tool the phone needs to be used properly to produce best results.

[rs170a]

VVS (Vertical Video Syndrome) can be cured but the patient has to want to be cured 🙂

Mike

[craigdehut]

VVS is a common condition that we see in Indy as well. 😛 Trying hard to bring a cure to the masses, mostly by sharing the same video you mentioned Mike, as well as offering some hands on “Crash Courses” to offer tips and tricks for SmartPhone video.

My buddy and I have also covered this topic in the first episode of our web series “Crossing the Vector Line,” and have brought it up several times since then.

Do you guys have any recommendations for equipment or accessories to use with your smartphone cameras?

[JackWolcott]

Right on, Mike! The problem is that most “patients” don’t know they’re infected.

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