How To Take Better CONCERT Videos
Here’s the thing - everything that you learn here - you can use IN REAL LIFE. Please do me a huge favor and apply ALL of these to your every day phone videos!
Yes, I was at opening night of Taylor Swift’s Era’s tour in Glendale (unofficially renamed Swift City, Erazona). Yes, it was everything - magical, incredible, amazing. My best friend and I originally got lucky in the Ticketmaster sale and purchased $50 nosebleed, view obstructed seats. And let me tell you - we were PSYCHED. However, a week before the concert she decided those weren’t good enough. Lucky for me, girlfriend doesn’t do anything halfway. We ended up being 14 rows back on the floor. It was insane. There is definitely something to be said for seeing this show from up high though - the visuals are stunning and the first thing I did when I got home was go onto social media to see views from other spots.
That being said - I have a LOT of advice to share for concert videos. Because let’s face it - like it or not people are going to take videos at concerts. And as long as they aren’t obstructing your view - who cares! I’ve seen far too many people complaining about how people enjoy concerts. If recording bits of it brings them joy - let. it. go.
And if you’re recording - please be mindful of those behind you! Moderation is key to making sure everyone has the best time available to them.
It really is so easy to get decent concert videos on your phone - no matter where you sit! So here it is - your round up of tutorials I’ve created. Feel free to let me know what I’m missing by sending an email here!
1. Tap to Focus
You likely know this one, but I’m starting us all at a baseline. No shame if you didn’t know this one.
2. Video Settings:
The numbers you see on the top right corner of your camera when filming video can seem scary. Here’s the most important things you need to know with those.
4K (or 8K for new Androids) is unnecessary for most things. Unless you’re filming something from very far away and you want to crop in (see tip below!) I do not recommend this setting. The file sizes are huge and 99% of the time you won’t notice a difference. Filming in HD is perfect for almost everything you need.
FPS = Frames per second. The higher the number the better slow motion video you’ll get. So - 60 FPS is unnecessary unless you know you want to slow down that footage later. Leave your camera in 30 FPS and change only if you need to.
3. Nail Exposure:
Concert lighting is all over the place and your phone has a mind of its own on how it should be captured. Likely it will try and fix how dark it is by making your video WAY too bright. A simple tap & drag either before you hit record or while recording will fix this.
On Apple phones you’ll drag up to make your video (OR photo!) brighter, and down to make it darker.
On Android phones it will be a drag to the left or right.
4. Take a Photo WHILE taking a Video
This is one of my favorite features, and is available on both Apple and Android phones. I use this feature ALL the time.
Think about when it’s your kiddo’s birthday. You want a video of people singing happy birthday to them, and then them blowing out their birthday candles. But you also want that one shot of them cutely mid-breath. You can have both! Here’s how.
5. Take 4K horizontal video
The only time I recommend using the 4K setting is if you want to get the whole stage scene and you’ll be cropping in later. Here I cropped from a horizontal orientation to a vertical one for sharing on social and the video quality of the new, vertical video is pretty dang good still!
No matter how you choose to enjoy a concert, I hope you find these helpful in your real life! And when you’re ready to do something with all the amazing videos in your camera roll - go ahead and treat yourself to a Films of Life film. You will never (ever) regret it.
xo,
