
The possibilities for cinematic- style storytelling using a phone are now higher than ever before. Though the makers, directors and creators of this generation may not have huge budgets, or fancy cameras the phones do come in handy. There are also a lot of little things you can do to make sure the video you shoot with your smartphone is something worth watching. Our third Kafunda Klinik was all about video editing hacks for your mobile phone. We hosted Arnold Mugasha, an African photographer and graphic designer based in Kampala, Uganda with over 6 years’ experience in the creative industry. He specializes in landscape, architectural and aerial photography. Arnold has been recognized for his unique perspectives on local subjects and maintained recognition of international photography standards. These are some of the major Take-a ways from the Klinik; Most people think it’s hard to edit video using your mobile phone but Arnold starts the klinik by illustrating how he shot and edited a video from last year’s Nyege Nyege Festival using an app called In shot. In shot gives you options to select a few clips and add them to your timeline where you can zoom in or zoom out depending on the specific length you want. You can also adjust the color of your video and add a variety of filters, effects, titles, texts, music and water marks. Things to look out for: Some people completely ignore variations in their shots. Make sure you have a wide, medium and a close up shot that clearly shows the details of each. Switch things up a bit. No one wants to see the same thing for a long time. It becomes monotonous. Look out for good composition. Compositions will take your video to the next level. Make sure you look out for different perspectives as you shoot. Keep your video very stable. Hold your phone with both hands as you shoot and make slow movements. Look for where the light is. Sit behind the light source not in front of it. For noise cancellations, buy microphones you can plug into your phone to cut out background noise or first get your shots and then record a voice over after. Come up with a separate voice over then use it as the overlay for your video. You can also get ambient sounds online incase what you get in the field is ruined. Arnold draws inspiration from Creatives like MKBHD , Peter Mackinnon, Pangea, Brandon Heath and Daniel Shipper. He recommends that creators look out for and follow hashtags like #videophotography to learn from different people.