Glide Track - The portable dolly system

This is a handy blog for all you videographers out there who are looking to make a movie with your smart phone but are not sure what you need. Smart phones have the great ability to allow you to do almost anything, from capturing your footage to postproduction special effects.

BBC Click created a fantastic ‘How to make a movie on a smart phone’ video, detailing step by step which pieces of equipment and apps you need to create a mobile masterpiece.

Which phone to choose?

Currently most postproduction apps and external hardware attachments are made for the iPhone. Although the iPhone may not capture the best footage, it will give you more options when it comes to deciding which attachments to use to maximise the quality of footage captured and which apps to pick for editing and applying postproduction effects.

So now you have your weapon of choice, you are ready to begin shooting. Smart phones are as they say – ‘Smart’, and try to be as helpful as possible but this is not always handy when trying to capture video footage. While you are filming, your phone will automatically change the exposure and focus, which can leave you with unprofessional looking shots. To combat this, try out the Filmic Pro app – this clever little app allows you to choose your exposure and focus mode then lock this, so you capture smooth footage.

How do you want your film to look?

There are many lens attachments that you can buy to help you capture a range of shots. To create a professional look, try out a telephoto lens like the vTec iPhone 4 x12 Telephoto Lens. To ensure the footage captured, BBC Click decided to use our famed mobislyder – the world’s first portable camera slider specifically designed for small video enabled devices. The mobislyder allows you to capture smooth-tracking shots while gently gliding your phone across the dolly.

If you are looking to capture footage while moving, try out the Steadicam Smoothee. This stabiliser will counteract the shake of your movement, giving you a smooth shot as you move with your smart phone.

But what about the audio?

In-phone microphones don’t pick up good quality audio but by plugging in the iRig Mic you can capture professional audio recordings anywhere with your iOS device.

Now if you are creating a sci-fi film, like BBC Click were, then you will want to use the free Action Movie FX app. Action Movie allows you to add in Hollywood FX to your footage to create explosions, missile attacks and car crashes.

One of the main issues with shooting a film on your smart phone is the huge amount battery power required, so make sure you have something similar to the Eix Power Case which plugs into you iPhone and charges your phone while you are on the go.

BBC Click also discovered that the huge amount of memory needed for the film shots ate up the iPhone memory, and found themselves periodically dumping the film footage onto a laptop to free up the iPhone memory.

Now your footage is captured with good quality audio, it’s time to take your footage into postproduction. To apply a video filter across raw footage, try out Movie Looks HD -this handy app applies a colour grading to you footage. For any shots that require a different video effect, try out the CinemaFX for video app to apply filters such as ‘Night vision’.

Now to stitch your mobile masterpiece together! If you fancy editing the footage on your iPhone you can try out iMovie, or if you can’t face editing you footage on such a small screen, then YouTube offers a simple editing function.

Et voila, you will have a film fully captured and edited on your smart phone!

Watch BBC Click’s full sci-fi thriller created on a smart phone.