Best way to Video(film) and Edit Smartphone Screen

kraz wrote on 9/28/2012, 8:33 AM

Hi,

Probably other forums for this - but this Vegas Video is my "home" forum so I thought I'd try here first.

I need to video a Smartphone screen and various apps running on it
I have a Canon HF10 HD camera. and do not have any special lights etc.

(there is no "video out" on the phone to save screen directly.

My attempts so far I have been trying to avoid reflections and Glare. but also the actual text is hard to see, there is also banding and weird effects and sometimes I get a great reflection of the ceiling ... I have played with angles and diff lights in rooms (office environment - so either Natural light and florescents)

I have a tri-pod and 2 lenses - zoom and wide
What distance should I use. I treid shooting down - then I stuck the phone on a wall ...

Time of Day? yes sun no sun?

Also anything I can do to the video after I import it to Vegas to make it better.

Any suggestions (including cheap easy lighting devices) would be appreciated.

[and since no post can be made this week without a comment on Vegas 12 - this is actually the first time that a new version has come out and I have not already switched to the previous - I paid for 11 - but never switched to it - wold have loved a special upgrade for those of us who paid for but never felt 11 was stable enough :) ]

Thanks
Allen

Comments

Guy S. wrote on 9/28/2012, 1:21 PM

Taking a pic of a reflective can really give you fits. I've had to shoot operating screens as a regular part of my job for the past 14+ years and I've used these strategies to get the results I've needed:

First and foremost, keep this one rule in mind and you will always be able to figure out a solution: Angle of incidence = angle of reflection (picture a ball bouncing off the side of a pool table). If a light is placed at a 45 degree angle to your subject, for example, you will see a direct (glare) reflection at 45 degrees on the opposite side. So...

Back up and zoom in, this narrows the field of view so that the camera doesn't see the reflection.

If possible, start with a darkened room and carefully add light as needed to illuminate the phone's body - keep the light(s) at a low angle so that the lens can't see the reflection and control the directionality of the light so that it doesn't scatter everywhere and cause unwanted reflections (think flashlight vs. bare bulb).

If you can't control the lighting, block light coming from an angle that the lens can see - one way is to shoot through a large black card (available at any art supply store) with a hole cut out for the lens.

Since you don't have any lighting I'm going to assume that you're on a budget, so here's a lighting setup that will cost you next to nothing: Buy a couple of $10 clip-on work lights from your local hardware store and buy some black wrap (heavy duty black aluminum foil) from any lighting supply store. You'll use the black wrap as makeshift barn doors to help control the light. Resources below.

http://douglashorn.com/wordpress/filmmaking/film-gear-blackwrap/
http://www.filmandvideolighting.com/blstforo12.html

Logan5 wrote on 9/28/2012, 2:06 PM

I've used emulators to get clear shots. Then, I added the shots to a phone still or 2D/3D model in AE.

Baron Oz wrote on 9/28/2012, 5:51 PM

Yep. Use markers on the corners of the phone display, then go to AE and/or Mocha and track motion. Shoot the screens separately and composite. Much cleaner, fewer headaches and more control over the finished product.

kraz wrote on 9/29/2012, 2:31 PM

Thanks for the advice guys - since this is running specific software only on the real handsetI am not sure I can go the emulator route ..