Is It Actually Easy To DIY Content? (Don’t You Need Fancy Gear??)
Fun fact: You need exactly 3 things (that you probably already have) to film professional looking content for Social Media.
Most everyone telling you that you need super fancy (or super expensive) gear is usually either selling gear, or they don’t actually know how to just simply tell a story and think it is about having fancy gear.
Now, there are very specific industries where you might need a specialty camera. For example, if you do charter boat rides and you want to show all the fish and marine life in the water, you might need an underwater camera to capture that. If you’re someone who only works at night, outside, you might need special lights for that.
But that is only for very specific industries, and very specific needs.
Almost everyone else can create quality content to get started with posting on social media with just these three things:
A Cell Phone
Today's smartphone cameras are just as good if not better than a professional digital camera. You can make sure everything is set to “auto” and use the different zooms and lenses to capture different shots. Even using the different preset modes for lighting can help set the settings for you. For things like social media, you can absolutely use your cell phone as your camera for almost all video content you could need.
You can have a tripod or cell phone mount, but you also can just set the phone on a shelf or window ledge to get started.
When you’re just getting started, the goal is to make it as simple as possible!
A Quiet Space
For videos including a person speaking, it is important to be able to clearly hear them.
Again, some industries are very loud! If you work at a manufacturing plant, it probably isn’t quiet! Try to film when the machines are not running, or in a space far enough away that the sound isn’t overpowering, and is just a natural part of the space.
Another option for industries and businesses and brands which are just in loud spaces is to record a voice over (just the talking without video) and use that edited in with the video you filmed.
Clean audio can be recorded anywhere quiet, but some easy to DIY spaces include inside a parked car in a quiet area, or in a closet full of clothing in a house or apartment. Some of the biggest lines in many major motion picture movies were recorded on a cell phone - even in a Marvel movie! (Do you know one of the most famous ones…? Message us, we’ll tell you!)
For most places it is just a matter of turning off any music that might be playing in the background, turning off any TV’s that are playing (or muting the sound), being away from loud conversations or heavy traffic, and making sure loud fans or air conditioning are not running - things like that.
While over 75% of viewers watch videos without sound (which is also why captioning your videos is so important, but that is a topic for another day!), making sure that those who are watching can hear you, hear what you’re saying, and not have distracting noises overpowering your words is important!
Your cell phone microphone is all you need once you have a quiet space to record and film!
Visible Light
Given that video involves visual elements, being able to see you is important! You can buy something called a “ring light” (it is just a light in the shape of a big or small circle) and use that to light yourself if you want to, but you don’t need to. If you do get a ring light which has color settings to the light, and you have cooler toned skin use cooler toned (more blue) light, and if you have warmer colored skin use warmed toned (more orange) light.
Or, just open a window and let the sunlight in! Many people record in front of a window which is why the background for many social media videos is a whole room behind the person. That natural light can be perfect!
It is the most easy to access, and it’s free!
Having intentional brightness in what you’re filming, focusing light on where you want the viewers to focus their attention, all of that can help your video level up in visual quality. But for a basic start, we just need to be able to see you, and you should be lit clearly.
That’s it! You just need to be able to be seen, to be heard, and you need something to record the seeing and the hearing if speaking is part of the video.
For a more in-depth DIY consultation, please reach out. We’re always happy to help support people with creating their own content!
And as always, check out our services page to see how we can help, and drop us a line through the contact form below!
Here’s to you sharing your story with the world!