Resources ↗Filming on your phone
The camera is fine.
Fix the sound
and the framing.
Settings to change once, the four shots worth getting, and the mistakes that make footage unusable in the edit.
Set the phone up ↓ 
REC4K30fpsGrid onStabilisation
Why footage gets thrown away
Almost nothing is binned
for picture quality.
It is binned for sound.
A modern phone shoots footage good enough for any platform. What makes a clip unusable is wind across the microphone, a face in shadow, a vertical frame that cannot be cut horizontally, or a resolution that was never high enough to crop.
Change these once
Set it up before
you need it.
Change nowIn the camera settings.
- Record at 4K and 30fps as your default
- Turn on the highest stabilisation your phone offers
- Set a 60fps or 120fps mode you can switch to for on-track shots
- Turn the grid on, so horizons stay level
- Clear storage before you travel, not at the track
Leave aloneDecide these in the moment.
- Do not lock focus and exposure for a moving subject
- Do not use digital zoom. Walk closer instead
- Do not shoot through a visor or a fence if you can avoid it
- Do not apply filters or in-camera effects
- Do not film vertically if the clip may ever be used wide
Four shots
Get these
and the edit works.
01The explanation
A person talking.
HowPhone at chest height, arm’s length, driver filling the middle third.
Watch for- Wind. Stand with your back to it, or move indoors
- Running engines. Wait for the gap, it is worth the minute
- Backlight. Put the bright thing behind the camera, not the subject
Why it mattersThis is the clip the whole piece is built on. Everything else is cover for it.
02The detail
The thing being described.
HowClose, steady, three seconds longer than feels necessary.
Watch for- Focus hunting. Tap once on the detail and hold still
- Your own shadow falling across it
- Anything confidential in frame: screens, paperwork, setup sheets
Why it mattersWithout it the explanation is someone talking about something you cannot see.
03The setting
Where this is happening.
HowA slow pan or a held wide shot of the garage, pit lane or grid.
Watch for- Moving too fast to use. Count five seconds across the pan
- Filming people who have not agreed to be filmed
- Forgetting to get one with ambient sound in it
Why it mattersEstablishes the place in two seconds and covers every cut in the explanation.
04The car moving
Something happening.
HowHigh frame rate, panning with the car, from a permitted position.
Watch for- Standing somewhere you have not been cleared to stand
- Panning from too close, so the car crosses frame in a blur
- Only getting one angle of one lap
Why it mattersGives the piece energy and a way to end it. Shoot more of this than you need.
In the paddock.
Keep the phone warm and charged. Phones stop recording when they overheat in direct sun, usually in the middle of the one take that mattered. Keep it out of the sun and carry a battery.
Say what the clip is. Record one second of yourself saying "practice two, setup change" before the take. It takes a second and saves an hour of scrubbing through files later.
Do not delete anything at the track. The clip you think is ruined is often the one with the usable line in it. Review on a screen, not on a phone in sunlight.
Hand it over organised. Date, session and subject in the filename, biggest files first, and a note of anything that cannot be published. An editor guessing is an editor asking.
