Creating a DIY Promo Video using a Smartphone

By: James Minter
As part of my book marketing strategy, I took a lead from Joanna Penn's book, ‘How to Market a Book for Authors from an Author’, and opted to go down the video route. Acutely aware that writers are financial poor, time strapped and not necessarily very technical, I’ve put this blog post together to help cut through the video making minefield yet maintain quality. Nothing turns off prospective readers more than a poor quality video.

My experience is based around using an iPhone 4s and an iPad. The iPhone has two cameras. By using the front camera you capture the image and see yourself on the phone’s screen at the same time. That way, as you are working by yourself, you can see how well framed you are in the picture.

IPhone Setup:
Taking video is resource intensive. There are several things you need to do to your iPhone before your start to shoot video:
1) In Settings switch to Airplane mode
2) In Settings go to General, scroll down to Auto-Lock and set to Never.
3) In Setting go to General, then Usage and check how much available storage is on the iPhone. You’ll need a minimum of 1 gigabyte (GB).
4) Kill all other apps running on the iPhone in the background.
Your iPhone is now ready to go.

A stable shot is paramount. Wobble video will turn your viewer off very quickly. To enable you to take steady footage, you’ll need a mount for the iPhone so it can be fixed to a tripod. On any Amazon site, you’ll find a host of affordable mounts such as Photo Plus Mobile Phone Tripod Mount or the Big Bargain Universal Bracket Adapter Mount for a few dollars or pounds. They both attach to any existing tripod you may have. Remember, the camera lens needs to be at the same height as your eye line.

With iPhone mounted, you will want to get started, but alas there is more setup. First, is lighting: as the sensors in smartphone is small, they require good lighting to work efficiently. In low light your video will look gloomy, poor/flat colours and if playing on a big screen, grainy. Sitting near a window will help but if there’s bright sunshine streaming in you’ll have strong shadows on you face from your nose, around your eye sockets, and under your chin. Avoid all harsh lights. With the window you could hang a sheet over it to soften the glare. Reading lamps can be used: two are better set at 45 degrees left and right of you. Direct, straight on lights tend to flatten your features.

Second, sound: the internal microphone of the iPhone will record sound but does nothing to enhance your speaking voice. An external, affordable microphone found on Amazon will improve the sound significantly. The iRig Mic Handheld Microphone at $40/£26 is a good option or the Rode SMARTLAV Lavalier Microphone at $50/£35. However, both these plug into the mini-jack headphone socket of the iPhone rather than the 30 pin connector. The Samson Meteor USB Microphone at $75/£50 is very good but you need a USB to 30 pin converter, as well. With a good quality microphone, you can make audio samples of your books or complete audio books so spending $75/£50 on a microphone is a good investment.

Third: choosing what you wear, any make-up, the room location and what’s behind you impacts the “watchability” of the final video. On Google there are many tips on clothes, makeup and jewellery. The room you’re using needs to be quiet, away from traffic noise, family noise, TV/radio/computer games, and nature —no birds twittering or dogs barking. All these sounds will find their way into your video. Also keep children and pets out of the room, they are distracting to you and your viewers. Finally, locate yourself so over your shoulder is not too busy – you want simple lines, plain walls, no clutter. Because you are looking at the camera and cannot see what’s behind you it doesn’t mean the camera or your audience can’t.

Preparing to Read:
You are shooting a reading video so you need something to read. Reading from the actual book can be difficult because of page turning – noisy, distracting and the pages won’t behave by not wanting to lay flat but curl. The answer is to use an autocue or teleprompter like television news readers. There’s a free App for this: Teleprompter Pro Lite. Once you’ve installed it you will need to import your Word file of the scene you’ll be reading.

Tips on using the Teleprompter software:
• Set the speed control for the rolling text at 12 - you will need to practice
• Insert a countdown into your text i.e. type in 10, 9, 8, 7, etc. into the top of your file, one number per line. A countdown lets you press the record button on the camera and compose yourself before you start reading
• Limit the amount of text to around 1000 words or 5 minutes of reading
• Set the iPad on a table as close to the camera as possible but beneath the camera’s field of view. As you read, your eyes will naturally look at the teleprompter and not at the lens.

Framing yourself in shot is important. Make sure you mount the iPhone in landscape orientation with the home button on the left otherwise your image will be upside down. Position yourself according to the rule of thirds (checkout on Google). It makes your video more interesting and more importantly, it leaves space to the side of your head for a graphic object such as your book cover to be added in the editing process if desired.

Now go for a practice run: open the camera app, choose the front camera and lean back in your seat. Adjust the camera/your position for the best framing position, look for shadows, any speckles on your clothes, and check for glare reflecting from glasses if you wear them. Also, men thinning on top, reflect light – move yourself, move the light or apply some makeup until it’s no longer visible.

Before pressing the record button, there’s one last important setup action. The camera will want to automatically refocus as you move. Again moving will change the exposure (the amount of light coming into the lens) so the camera continually compensates. You need to set both, before turning these automatic functions off. To do this, sit where you will eventually be sat and stretch towards the iPhone screen (not the camera). Looking at your image, touch and hold the screen where you want the camera’s exposure/focus to be; usually your face. A yellow square is displayed which pulses after a second or two of holding. This tells you the camera has registered your preferences. Also, a small yellow banner appears on the bottom of the screen saying AE Lock.

Now press the record button (the big red blob) and the start button on your Teleprompter, sit back and compose yourself. Watch the countdown and wait to begin reading. Don’t start reading as the first line appears wait until its scrolled up a couple of lines otherwise you’ll run out of words to read. But this is a practice session, one of many I suggest until you get use to the setup and pace.

Reading aloud is different from reading in your head. It needs to be practiced, especially pacing, inflections and breathing. Now you’ve read your piece a dozen times you’re confident to go for a take.

The next stage is post production, but if you've got everything right there should be no need. So now you can upload your video straight from your IPhone to the YouTube account you created earlier. Now tell the world its there…