How I filmed using an iPhone 5

If you motivate and push yourself a little further, you can achieve things you have never imagined you could.

I believe that we are built to learn, a biological learning machine that has the power to make a profound impact to the world through our creation.

Five years into news and TV production, I cannot say that I am done with learning. I am still learning. I find ways to do things differently in the industry that I am in.

With the support of my superior and team, I filmed 10 episodes worth of videos on an iPhone for a web-based content, within four days.

It was not my first time experimenting to film a video using a mobile device. Equipped only with an iPhone, in the past few years I have interviewed the Country Manager of Google Malaysia, the Director-General of Tourism Malaysia and a number of technologists for web-based content. Though the videos were simpler with minimal editing.

At one point, when I was at Google Street View launch in Malaysia, I went ahead to try filming add-on visuals of the event to overlay on top of the interviews (what we call as “cutaways” or “inserts” in the industry). I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the visuals. I am confident that if I were to film a “magazine-style” using a mobile device, it can be done too.

The opportunity came when I was assigned to produce a series of web content about GREAT 2014, a four-day festival that gathers Malaysian entrepreneurs, investors and tech enthusiasts. A quick discussion within the team came to the conclusion that the web content series will be filmed using an iPhone. Deep down I knew that this is a good chance for me to “test and push my limit” and produce a series of videos akin to a magazine program.

A rucksack for my editing machine — MacBook Pro and an iPhone in hand, I was ready to kick start my production.

A lot of the filming techniques that I have used were standard hand-held shots — I tried to emulate based on what I learned and observed from the cameramen that I have worked with for the past years.

The following playlist consists of six out of the ten episodes from the GREAT 2014 web series.

To be honest, the interviews were the easiest part of the production. The more time-consuming part was to film the additional visuals that will be used to overlay the interviews or as visual storytelling transition between content — followed by the video editing.

One of the best feedback I have received was from an expat working for Halal Tech Venture Builder where he said, “I saw you panning your phone from one end to the other, it is great to see that you are taking your filming seriously.” I guess what he meant to say was that filming via a mobile device is supposedly “less serious” compare to using a professional camera — and yet I showed professionalism in my work.

It is a state of mind, really. Globally, a lot of the digital content producers are already doing it -- Astro AWANI's Senior Digital Editor, Zan Azlee filmed and produced documentaries using an iPhone! Who says that filming using a mobile device cannot produce quality work? I say, storytelling techniques transcend tools and boundaries!