Tips for working with amateur crowd-sourced video?

[sgreszcz]

I've been asked to work on a documentary project, and due to the various events being geographically distributed and budget restrictions one of the suggestions was to use crowd-sourced mobile video.  In this case I would video the key events and interviews for the narrative, but would need to rely on amateur mobile video for b-roll and possibly event video/audio.  

Does anyone have any tips or suggestions for tackling this?  I'm going to put together a document and video of simple  "top tips" for recording better video and audio and perhaps including in the budget a mobile phone tripod/gimbal and an inexpensive hand audio recorder to get close to any speakers or for local the local teams to use.

Any other thoughts would be appreciated.

[Geoff CB]

21 minutes ago, sgreszcz said:

I've been asked to work on a documentary project, and due to the various events being geographically distributed and budget restrictions one of the suggestions was to use crowd-sourced mobile video.  In this case I would video the key events and interviews for the narrative, but would need to rely on amateur mobile video for b-roll and possibly event video/audio.  

Does anyone have any tips or suggestions for tackling this?  I'm going to put together a document and video of simple  "top tips" for recording better video and audio and perhaps including in the budget a mobile phone tripod/gimbal and an inexpensive hand audio recorder to get close to any speakers or for local the local teams to use.

Any other thoughts would be appreciated.

Make sure your not responsible if the client is upset with the quality of product you receive. Get them all good microphones like you said. Pray after that, make sure your getting paid well.

Are you editing it?

[sgreszcz]

43 minutes ago, Geoff CB said:

Make sure your not responsible if the client is upset with the quality of product you receive. Get them all good microphones like you said. Pray after that, make sure your getting paid well.

Are you editing it?

Yes, the client gets this - it is far from for cinema release (ha, ha).  I will also be doing most of the key events and interviews, and they've worked with me before so they know what to expect.  I will be editing it, so yeah I guess praying that what I get back from the remote parties is OK.  I'm going to have them upload the video as they complete sessions and events so I can give feedback and if needed, pivot...

Thanks for the response, it is appreciated!

[fuzzynormal]

If the footage quality is out of your hands and the client FULLY understands this, just roll with it.  I've done this before and have tried to send along a shot sheet/brief that would help folks get better shots.  For some people it works, for others it doesn't.  Don't get upset about this.  Again, it's out of your control.

[kaylee]

8 hours ago, sgreszcz said:

Does anyone have any tips or suggestions for tackling this?

id just put out a call to SHOOT HORIZONTAL with a lil diagram, assuming that asking ppl to do one single thing isnt one too many 😂

[IronFilm]

22 minutes ago, kaylee said:

SHOOT HORIZONTAL

I'd send EVERYONE this!

But even so, I'd be fully ready to accept that we're probably going to get back some videos in VERTICAL! Arrrgghhh

Keep your expectations low, very low. 

[kaylee]

1 hour ago, IronFilm said:

I'd send EVERYONE this!

Quote

“Vertical videos happen when you hold your camera the wrong way”

yes exactly 😂😂😂 i couldnt have said it better 😂

[sgreszcz]

Thanks everyone for the comments and suggestions, I'm putting together the proposal now, so this helps me get my thoughts together, especially for the "risks/expectations" section.

[kye]

17 hours ago, sgreszcz said:

I've been asked to work on a documentary project, and due to the various events being geographically distributed and budget restrictions one of the suggestions was to use crowd-sourced mobile video.  In this case I would video the key events and interviews for the narrative, but would need to rely on amateur mobile video for b-roll and possibly event video/audio.  

Does anyone have any tips or suggestions for tackling this?  I'm going to put together a document and video of simple  "top tips" for recording better video and audio and perhaps including in the budget a mobile phone tripod/gimbal and an inexpensive hand audio recorder to get close to any speakers or for local the local teams to use.

Any other thoughts would be appreciated.

Another tip is to tell people to hold the camera really still for 10s.  

I once gave a camera to some friends during an event to film and when I looked at the footage afterwards I realised that everyone waved it around like they were watering the lawn - I ended up pulling stills from it as the camera only settled onto anything for 3-4 frames.  I was mad until I remembered that I did that the first few times I filmed anything.  It seems to be a common thing when people hold a camera for the first time.

If you do get vertical video then you can use several shots side-by-side in a Sliding Doors kind of way, and I've deliberately shot vertically on my phone on a travel day for the express purpose of using this layout.  I used it to show the same location over time so showed the shots simultaneously instead of via jump-cuts, and I also did a bunch of shots out of the window of the moving train to show the diversity of the landscape.  This works for fancy b-roll, but if you get a speaking part then maybe put that one centre and use the audio from that one and have the ones on the sides as b-roll.

Definitely get people good mics.  I've used the Rode ones that plug into the microphone port on a smartphone and they're pretty good, but IIRC the cheap knock-offs are almost as good and much cheaper.

You can use the opportunity to get creative shots too..

The trick to take-away from this video (which is a bit of a one-trick video) is that the camera was mounted to something stable and had the subject in a consistent location in the frame without much movement.

I think you're in danger of each person taking footage that is all the same - one person might only take landscape shots from far away or another might only take close-ups.  Some advice about trying to get lots of different shots (far away, close up, from above, from down low, etc) and to make them interesting.  

I suspect that people will want to shoot good footage but won't know how.  Think of how many beginners say things like "I would never have thought of doing that".  It's also dangerous to give people too many instructions, so I'd suggest only giving them the top ones.  Maybe something like: hold your phone horizontally / point the microphone at the person talking / hold it steady and count to 5 before hitting stop / get lots of different shots / make them interesting.

Good luck!

If you're given enough footage you can make something useful, shooting ratios are a thing and b-roll doesn't have to be super related.

[kye]

oh, and to clean their lens before recording.

[Trek of Joy]

Holy shit, that Fireball cam is genius!

Having worked with a lot of people that aren't photographers/videographers - stability is such a huge deal that's almost always overlooked. As Kye mentioned people just wave phones around like they're directing traffic at an airport, its nauseating. I think it would help to have a short video demonstrating concepts like using a tripod or a gimbal, framing and so on. I did a webinar for a bunch of partner organizations demonstrating how I shoot phone video because I got so many questions about how to get good looking footage. One people saw what I was doing the lightbulb went off. A simple tripod or a gimbal works wonders. A shot list would probably be helpful too. Shoot 4k and stabilize/reframe in post is another, especially if its vertical and you don't want that. But vertical is better suited for things like IG stories - I shoot both.

Good luck.

Chris

[IronFilm]

6 hours ago, kye said:

Another tip is to tell people to hold the camera really still for 10s.  

THIS! If people have never edited before they don't always realize the big difference between stills (you only need less than a MOMENT) vs video. (you need longer segments, to tell a story)