Advocacy Video Series: Part 10

[@RootedinRights]

Transcript of "Advocacy Video Series Part 10" produced by Rooted in Rights Alright, Part 10: More tips for filming! We talked about setting up your phone on the backend technically to get it ready to film. Now, physically, how do we want to set it up? A tripod is great for stability. My phone right now is on a tripod, so I can stand in front of it - it's not moving. If you don't have a tripod, that's totally fine. Stack up some books, lean a phone against the wall; just find a way for your phone to be nice and steady. But experiment, see what you like. When you are filming the hosting like I am right now, it's really, really important to have good lighting. When I bring my glasses down here, you can see the ring light that I have right in front of my face that's making me brighter than the background. And that's something you always, always want to do. Whatever the focus of the shot is - if you're hosting, it's usually the person - you want them to be the brightest thing in the shot. So you don't want to film with a bright light source behind you, because then whatever your focus is will be backlit. So don't film in front of a window or with the sun right behind you, unless you're trying to make a silhouette. But if you're not trying to do that, nice, bright light on the subject is really, really important. Use a ring light. Use the sun. Grab a lamp. Just make sure it's nice and bright, and you can see your face when you are presenting your hosting and telling your story. Another thing to consider when filming is what you're wearing or what the person onscreen is wearing. You want to make sure your clothes don't make a lot of noise that could be distracting from what you're saying. It's always great to ask for filming assistance. Filming is much easier when it's not just you by yourself. You can, of course, make it work like I am, right now, filming on my own. But it's always great to have someone come help you set up the camera, give you feedback on how the shot looks, and also give you feedback on your script delivery. When you're filming the hosting, we do recommend that you go beat by beat, which is why we broke it up that way in scripting. So you can go line by line, you can pause after every line. You don't have to say it all at once; you can put it all together in editing. So for hosting, just remember it doesn't have to be perfect. It should just feel authentic to you. And you can stop and start as often as you need. End of transcript.