Filmmaking Tips Use a Gimbal

Our Filmmaking Tips Use a Gimbal will level up your film production by showcasing truly professional shots and we are going to show you just how to use a Gimbal to stabilize your footage, whether you are filming with a GoPro or iPhone. Using your iPhone as your primary filming camera is a great idea. It has a sharp camera, is lightweight and offers some solid tech.

Gimbals are stabilizing devices that enable you to get a smooth shot, even while the camera is moving. From far away, it looks like you are simply attaching your smartphone to a stick. Look closer, though, and you will discover a sophisticated technology that links up with your phone to deliver smooth shots. This will be especially helpful in replacing a dolly. It may sound crazy to get a smooth tracking shot by hand, but for a few hundred dollars, it is now very realistic.

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Using a Selfie Stick

While you will not get the smoothness of a proper gimbal, the selfie stick still serves several purposes. It helps you get a more stable shot than just filming by hand. It can provide you with high and low angle shots that would be impossible without it. And it help you still an awesome crew photo at the end of your shoot! While the fact that this selfie stick has a bluetooth remote control is cool, it unfortunately only works for photos and not video. That aside, this is an excellent tool to make your production look more professional for a nominal amount of money.

Filmmaking Tips Use a Gimbal

For less than $150, your shots will go from shaky to stable. Using the Osmo’s ActiveTrack feature, built-in sensors and a brushless motor assist to provide a smooth shot. The Osmo has features to help you shoot great time lapses. And it goes even further, with MotionLapse. This lets you move with the camera while creating equally smooth video.

With just one hand on the Osmo handle, you can also get great zoom shots. This is achieved using the built-in zoom slider, providing you with a more fluid zoom shot.

While there are a lot of options out there to help smooth out your smartphone shots, both of the above choices will vastly improve the quality of the video you will be shooting. Either start small with a selfie stick, or get the best out of your iPhone with the DJI Osmo. Regardless, your production will be miles better than simply filming by hand with your smartphone.

Create Cinematic Movements with a Gimbal

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About the Author

Sam Klein is a writer, producer, and director based in Los Angeles, CA. He is a member of the Producers Guild of America, has written and directed shorts that have been in festivals around the country, wrote the ‘Hipsters” series for Youtube star Anna Akana, directed internationally distributed commercials for Dunlop, and is a staff producer for Tennis Channel’s original content department.

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