10 Tips for Beginners for More Cinematic Videos

If you're like many stills shooters who are just getting into video, you're probably finding out it's its own world. If you're wondering how to give your footage a more cinematic and polished, professional look, this great video will give you 10 quick tips to get you up and running.

Coming to you from Mathieu Stern, this helpful tutorial will help you get started producing more cinematic video work. Of all the tips, I personally think the most important is buying a decent gimbal. Aside from intentionally shaky footage used for some effect, I'm sure you've noticed that professional movie footage is always very smooth, and as a result of that association in your audience's mind, making your own own shots smoother will instantly vault your work into a higher realm in their perception. And as he mentions, color grading is a very important step, but don't forget to shoot in a relatively flat profile such as LOG to give yourself the necessary file latitude to grade your footage as you see fit. Lastly, while he does mention shallow depth of field, remember that just like stills work, not everything needs to be wide open. Experiment with different apertures and find what's appropriate for each subject and situation. These tips are not hard and fast rules, so use them as guidelines to get started!

Alex Cooke's picture

Alex Cooke is a Cleveland-based portrait, events, and landscape photographer. He holds an M.S. in Applied Mathematics and a doctorate in Music Composition. He is also an avid equestrian.

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1 Comment

"Use Cinematic Fonts"? That is a bit of a stretch. Haha.

Let us all remember how fonts are used in a true cinematic context.