How to shoot terrific video on your mobile device

Thanks to people’s growing appetite for mobile and video, the technology in our phones, tablets and other mobile devices gets better and better.

Marketers and other content creators are turning to mobile devices to capture behind-the-scenes glimpses of their office, industry events and trade shows, and spur-of-the-moment videos for social media.

Although mobile devices make video storytelling easier, executing a high-quality video is not as simple as whipping out your smartphone, pointing it and shooting.

So, don’t press that record button so fast. Consider these tips to create polished video content on the go:

1. Orient yourself.

Although vertical video is becoming more widely accepted (given the popularity of video messaging app, Snapchat), content that lives elsewhere will most likely have to conform to a widescreen player and horizontal orientation.

Before you start shooting your video, decide where and how you’ll use it, and then orient your video recording device accordingly.

2. Hold your shots.

As a rule, you should hold each shot for at least 10 seconds. Then, when you reach the cutting room, you’ll have enough video to play with to create a scene. You can always trim the clip, but you can’t add what you didn’t shoot.