Read this first.

Do it.

Yes, you can shoot a decent video for work on your iPhone or iPad. Try these quick and easy pointers to get the best results.

Shoot in landscape mode

That means turning your iPhone or iPad sideways so that you’re not shooting in portrait mode. If you shoot in portrait mode, you’ll end up with way too much empty space on the left and right of your video when you upload or edit it.

This is landscape mode:

And, this is portrait mode, not your friend for shooting video:

Put the window behind the iPhone

If you’re shooting indoors, don’t put the window behind your subject otherwise they may come out silhouetted like below:

Instead, put the window behind the iPhone or iPad and use it to light the subject.

Beautiful.

Use a microphone.

If you’re filming an interview or someone speaking directly to camera, your iPhone or iPad will naturally be at some distance from that person. This means their audio may sound a bit echoey, distant or you’ll pick up all the other sounds around you just like that. Instead, use a li’l ol mic like this Rode one from digiDirect for $99.95. It’ll sound way better for your viewers, even though it’s meant to look real and not produced.

Use a tripod

This will avoid shaky cam. Even though it’s just a simple video, a lot of people don’t like watching shaky cam. You can grab one for the price of a few Big Mac Meals at Ted’s Cameras.

Happy shooting!

Ajit Singh is the Executive Producer at Sydney based video production company Rocket Productions. You’ll find more useful articles on video production on our blog.