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Watch: Five topics broken down to help you film yourself outside on location

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When you start vlogging, one of the most difficult things to get used to is actually filming yourself. It’s a little ironic as it’s kind of the whole point but it presents unique challenges that you don’t usually think about when filming or photographing somebody else. Or rather, you think more about them when you’re filming somebody else but you’re on autopilot. When you’re filming yourself, you just forget they’re a thing.

It’s easy to figure out why, though. It’s an unusual workflow and those autopilot processes just don’t enter your mind. We’ve got too much on our minds without having to worry about all that stuff. But it’s stuff you need to worry about. So, here’s Jeven Dovey breaking down the five main topics you’ll want to think about when filming yourself on location.

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Judas Priest’s Rob Halford goes full metal, kicks phone out of fan’s hand during concert

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You’d think with the number of artists and groups calling out or banning the use of cellphones at concerts that people would get the message by now. Apparently not. During a recent Judas Priest concert, the band were performing their song Judas Rising at the Rosemont Theatre in Illinois last Saturday when frontman Rob Halford noticed somebody in the front row with their phone out filming the concert.

Sure, he could’ve stopped the show and made everybody wait while people put their phones away, but why punish others for the stupidity of a few? So, rather than make everybody else suffer for one person’s ignorance, he simply walked up to the person mid-performance and kicked the phone out of his hand, sending it flying.

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Learn to edit before you shoot to tell a better story

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If you’ve been making films or videos for any length of time, you quickly figure out how important it is to plan in advance. But for things like run & gun style documentary shooting or vlogs, that can be difficult. Even if you have a rough idea of what the day may entail, you never really know for sure until it happens. You’re often just shooting what you see, then trying to figure out how to tell the story in the edit.

But it’s still possible to think on your feet and come up with a story while you’re shooting. As Jordy Vandeput explains in this video, the trick is to figure out what’s going on, and how you want edit it to before you even hit record. Then let this edit in your head guide your shooting.

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These 10 go-to shots will save you when your mind goes blank on set

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When shooting a video, you don’t always know how it will be edited, especially when shooting a documentary. Sometimes, the action happens only once, and you don’t have too much time to think. And when you need to cover an action or a scene, it can happen that your mind can simply go blank. Does it sound familiar? Sareesh Sudhakaran from Wolfcrow shares ten go-to shots he can always rely on when his mind goes blank while shooting. These won’t only help you get the shots you need, but also help you get focused and get back on track.

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These are some methods for creating fake long takes in your movies

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Long takes in movies (whether they’re real or fake) add a feeling of tension and get us involved. In this educative video essay from Fandor, you’ll learn some of the ways how the artificial long takes are created. For all you aspiring filmmakers, this could be a helpful source of ideas. And all of you who simply enjoy watching movies – this shows the “magic” behind those long-lasting scenes that seem to be filmed in one breath.

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Did you know what parfocal and varifocal lenses are?

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Maybe you know that varifocal lenses are designed for stills and SLR cameras, and parfocal are designed for cinema and broadcast. But why would you want a parfocal zoom lens if you can use a varifocal even for the videos? What are the differences, and why does it matter anyway? This video by Vistek gives a great illustration of all this. It doesn’t only tell what the differences between the lenses are, but it gives examples that will make it much clearer to understand.

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Watch a sea lion trying to check what a cameraman tastes like

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Being a photographer or videographer is not easy, as you need to deal with all sorts of challenges and all kinds of people. But animal photographers are among those I admire most. It’s difficult to capture animals and make them do what you want. With them, you almost never know what they will do. Sometimes even the wild animals are sweet, and they come for a cuddle. And other times, they want to see what you taste like. And this is exactly what happened to this cameraman while filming sea lions under water.

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RHCP guitarist annoyed by audience filming with phones, stops playing and films them

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Josh Klinghoffer, the guitar player of Red Hot Chili Peppers, got fed up with the audience filming the concert with their phones. Instead of playing the solo in “Californication”, he grabs his own smartphone and starts filming the crowd to make a statement.

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5 creative ways to use monopod and improve your videos

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Do you use a monopod? It’ definitely a useful tool for photographers and filmmakers, and it comes in handy when we can’t use a tripod. Jordy Vandeput from Cinecom gives you a few tips how to make the use of monopod creative in the videos. In his brief tutorial, you will see five ideas to maximize the use of your monopod and make it useful in different kinds of situations.

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The importance of B-roll: how to use B-roll and raise your videos on a new level

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How much do you use video in your work? Do you use B-rolls? They make the video work more complete, more dynamic and add interest. And if you are still relatively new to making and implementing B-roll into your videos, Peter McKinnon will help you make the best of it.

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