6 tips for filming worship with a smartphone

Churches are increasingly filming worship services to broadcast them live on the Internet via platforms such as Youtube or Facebook, or for video editing.
We often see lives or streaming on the Internet with high quality renderings and sometimes results that can damage the image of the church.
The budget for professional media equipment can sometimes be to be heavy. However, it is possible to film with your smartphone and get better results. Here are some important tips to keep in mind when shooting with a smartphone.

1) The light

When it comes to video, light is extremely important. Always seek to maximize the light exposure of the elements you are filming whether through spotlights or the positioning of the elements and natural light.

Warning: always remember to avoid backlighting.

2) Stabilize the phone

Filming while holding the phone in your hand allows for more mobility and is sometimes unavoidable (for example, if you want to film the assembly while on the move).

But this has the downside of making the camera shake all the time; even standing still, you will not be able to remain perfectly stable.

So prefer to put your device on a support.

3) Pay close attention to the sound

Keep in mind that sound is at least as important as picture: if the audio in a video is unpleasant or inaudible, even the most incredible special effects won't stop viewers from leaving.

When shooting with a smartphone, the sound is captured by the camera's built-in microphone. These mics are pretty good these days these days - you usually get a clean sound, free of crackle and quite audible, if not perfect.

However, their range leaves something to be desired: try recording your voice standing 5 meters from your phone and you will be able to see it for yourself.

Be sure to stay near your device to be clearly audible, and favor quiet places indoors to record in order to avoid parasitic noises (wind, vehicles, etc.)

For better sound, you can plug in a microphone suitable for smartphones or simply pick up the sound directly from your mixer for a mixed and clean sound. To do this, first check the accounts of your table as well as the connection to the smartphone.

4) Take care of the framing

Of course, depending on the type of video you're shooting, framing will require a greater or lesser amount of attention and work.

So let's take the most classic case: a preaching video. here the attention should be on the speaker, which means that he or she should occupy a good part of the frame (and that the focus should be on him or her).

Nevertheless, do not neglect your background which should also help define the mood, the tone of the video.

5) Avoid zooming

Zoom is an effect that can quickly become preposterous (and it's not for nothing that it's hardly used in the cinema anymore).

This is especially the case with smartphones, which for the most part have digital zoom (not optical zoom like the camcorders of yesteryear). This type of zoom has the particularity of pixelating the image and creating an "illusion" of magnification which is not very pleasing to the eye.

As we mentioned above, always position the camera as close as possible to the subject to be filmed rather than using the zoom.

6) Use editing software

You won't be able to escape it: you are going to need to do a little editing to get a good quality video

Editing has different interests:

• It allows you to cut missed or unnecessary sequences that you don't want to keep;
• To add transitions and interstices;
• But also to give rhythm to your video.

There are actually some great apps for editing video directly from your smartphone, like Adobe Premiere Clip.

With these 6 tips, dare to film worship with basic equipment for quality rendering; because through the media we can also spread the good news and touch lives.