The Ultimate Guide to Film Yourself for Social Media

If you’re a lil camera shy, this is your moment to FINALLY get over your fear and the awkwardness of recording yourself. 

Want to know how to do that? I have three words for you…

ACCEPT THE CRINGE  

Let’s be honest here, talking to a camera alone in your house (or filming yourself out in public) can feel a little silly.

That’s because it is! Have fun with it, and don’t overthink it. 

We’ve actually been limiting the number of our full management clients this year and have been honing in on and LOVING our video editing packages! 

We have several incredible video editors on our team whose full-time job is video editing–and let me tell you, their work does NOT disappoint. 

Have a certain style or aesthetic you’re trying to get? We’ve got you.

See what a huge difference professional video editing makes.  Time for your close-up!

HOW TO FILM YOURSELF

One of the most common questions I get from my clients is: “How do I film myself?”

I’m here to hype you up, cause the camera is about to start rolling!

Here are some quick and easy tips to get started: 

→ Just start! Yes, sometimes actually hitting the record button is the hardest part. YOU GOT THIS!

→ Take a look at what’s behind you in the frame and clean up your background area. Whether that’s your office or living room, make the aesthetic you want to present in your video!

→ Before you start filming, clean your lens! The last thing you want is a blurry video after you get the perfect take that you can’t even use. 

→ Check your video quality setting! I recommend shooting in 4K 30fps (or 1080 to save memory), with your format being “most compatible”, and turn HDR off! You want your videos to stand out and look crisp on your feed. 

→ Create a plan BEFORE you start filming on what you want to say and what your post will be about. 

→ Do a practice run or two first! Make sure the audio is working, and the camera/phone is a good distance from you.

Once you have your raw footage, send it over to our video editing pros for custom short-form vids! Or just send your broll and we’ll make some magic.

LAZY MODE ACTIVATED

We know that creating content is time-consuming, and if you have a busy week, it can easily fall to the bottom of your to-do list. 

IT’S OKAY to not want to constantly create new content.

Personally, I have to be in a creative mood to make content I love.

When you’re feeling unmotivated or lazy, these tips will help:

• Repurpose!! Make a carousel into a reel or vice versa, especially if it was a post that previously did really well.
• Go through your camera roll, find some b-roll from your last vacation or day out, and add some text onto it for a Reel.
• Take a look at your tagged section of Instagram and share some user-generated content from your followers.
• Find an interesting or helpful article, blog post, podcast, etc., that you can share with your audience and create a conversation around.
• Record yourself working on the time-lapse setting and add some music over it with some text overlay.

The idea here is to batch your content when you feel creative (and take a break when you don’t feel up to it!)

Now are you ready for the ultimate lazy solution? Get daily content prompts, fill-in-the-blank captions, and story prompts with the Impact Content Calendar!