Today we’re going to take you through a few DIY phone filming hacks for those moments when you don’t have access to any fancy equipment.
1. Stocking Diffusion
First up is stocking diffusion. If you want to get that old school Hollywood glamour, try covering your phone with a sheer or fishnet stocking to soften the lines in your image. Try out different levels of thickness or patterns to achieve different levels of diffusion.
2. Coloured Tape Filters
Next is a homemade coloured filter for your phone. Just colour some tape and put it over the lens on your phone and voila, you can play around with different colour filters. If you’re in a too bright space and you’re worried your footage will come out overexposed, try putting sunglasses over the lens to dim that brightness.
3. Stick It, Tape It, Clip It
One of the biggest advantages of filming with a phone is that they are light and compact so you can use them pretty much anywhere. You can stick them, with tape or sticky tack, this can be really hand if you want to create a timelapse. Don’t forget to turn on your camera before you tape it up, or you could get one of these bendable mobile tripods, we really like the magnetic one from Joby,
4. DIY Dolly
Most of us don’t have access to an actual dolly, but you likely have access to something else with wheels. You can use anything from an office chair to roller skates to create a seamless dolly shot. If you have a really smooth surface, you could even use a cardboard box!
5. Flashlight Lens Flare
Last up, lens flares. Now you can create these in post, but I personally like to do as much as I can practically, meaning without computer-generated effects, so here’s an easy way to create those atmospheric flares when you don’t have a natural source of light available. Simply shine a flashlight or another phone into your lens and play around until you get the effect you want!
