The Best Value Smartphones for Creating ASMR Videos (March 2018)

As a new financial year approaches I've been assessing my needs for producing my YouTube videos using the AirNinja Movie Method with the added parameter of vlog style production.

With Sony releasing the Xperia XZ2 and XZ2 Compact (and currently shooting using the XZ1 Compact) I was pretty disappointed to see Sony drop the headphone jack and downgrade the front-facing selfie camera in the new releases. So they are scratched off the shortlist :(

The front-facing camera has become more important to me as often my videos are created with it and using the selfie camera for video allows a one-man-band to monitor the framing easily.

Losing the headphone jack means also losing the ability to plug in mics, including binaural mics from Sony themselves.

I noticed that the Samsung Galaxy S9 kept the headphone jack still, but no way my budget stretches to £700+ for an unknown binaural performer. Obviously the Sony binaural mics won't be compatible, but my Røde smartphone mics will be.

After reviewing a bunch of sample videos on YouTube I came to the conclusion that the S8 is as good as the S9 for my purposes.

Read on to see what attracted me to the S8 and other phones I would still consider top quality for creating ASMR content on a lesser budget. All these phones record decent stereo-audio video  using either back- or front- camera. Many many phones only record mono including every single iPhone ever produced to date, yes even the X.


1. Samsung Galaxy S8 (£500-ish)

THE GOOD
Decent front camera with autofocus and binaural-video recording.
Amazingly fast and reliable autofocus in 1080P.
Great 'Pro' mode to selectively lock ISO and White Balance.
Looks good with minimal bezels. 64GB onboard storage (which tends to be my sweetspot shooting 1080P as I do).
MicroSD card slot.
Price has been cut with the release of the S9 and it's pretty much the same phone :)

THE BAD - This thing is gonna crack into a million pieces when it's dropped on-set or even just casually falling out of your pocket day-to-day; best buy a case too.
Touchwiz and duplicate Samsung branded apps kinda annoying for your soul.

THE UGLY - wtf is that dedicated Bixby button lol


2. Sony Xperia XZS (£250-ish)

THE GOOD
Really low noise mics, great audio engineering all around, can plug in a set of Sony binaural mics. 64GB internal storage is worry-free for me when shooting 1080P although can be expanded using the microSD too.
Doesn't overheat (honestly on older Xperia this really was a major concern when shooting long video takes, the camera app would just shut down d'oh - not on this one though and not on the XZ below either).
Dedicated camera button is sweet. Really fast autofocus though maybe a tad slower and less reliable than the Galaxy S8 above.

THE BAD
The 960fps is a bit of a gimmick and doesn't record any sound anyway.

THE UGLY
Whilst the phone itself is not particularly ugly looking I did always find it a bit annoying to hold one handed. I have long fingers but small-ish-to-average hand size what ya gonna do.


3. Sony Xperia XZ (£150-ish)

THE GOOD
Great value for the results you will get from it, shares many features with the XZS above including the low noise mics and ability to plug in Sony binaural mics to the minijack.

THE BAD
It 'only' has 32GB internal storage which whilst usually enough if you dump your rushes every day, I would start to stress if I was shooting over several days without a rushes dump. Thankfully it does have a microSD expansion but, y'know, it's extra admin and another thing to remember.

THE UGLY
Whilst the XZ never crapped out on me it can still tend to get on the warm side and it's not a great choice if you want to film long takes at 4K resolution.

Selecting The Right Tripod For Your Smartphone

Everyone shoots photos and videos with their phone nowadays right? Who wants to carry a tripod around everywhere? If you do need a tripod which is best for you?

Here's one airninja's take on specific tripod requirements:

☴ ANALYSIS: iPhone 7 binaural videography

iPhone 7 not available in blue.

There's a saying in the film industry: "nobody gives a f5ck about sound". Although that's not strictly true, it is one of the first areas to be compromised in a tight spot during production.

Apple does give a f5ck about sound having employed the likes of Tom Holman to consult on audio direction.

Whilst I believe the iPhone 7 lack of headphone jack is no big deal considering a wired connection remains possible with an adapter, and everything else like dual lenses, stereo speakers, and fast f1.8 lenses is playing catch-up with Android and Windows 10 Mobile Lumia, there remains a glaring omission in the contemporary iPhone spec sheet.

After nearly 10 years the iPhone does not record binaural video (I say binaural video because saying stereo video could mean a stereoscopic 3D effect, but I mean the two-channel sound with video).

The iPhone certainly has enough microphones to have a binaural recording capability. From what I've seen of mic positioning there has been no major changes with iPhone 7 - it has three - one on the front, one on the back, and one on the bottom edge.

This is precisely the same mic positioning as the HTC 10 which does record binaural video. So this is a choice being made by Apple to not record binaural video, not a technical limitation.

Now it might be that Apple are waiting for another design iteration to "do it right" (the HTC mic positioning records mildly biased stereo because left and right channels are not capturing vibrating air molecules equally and it is applying algorithmic compensation and noise cancellation DSP which increases the noise floor with digital uglies in certain scenarios).

Tom Holman's initials form THX (Tom Holman Crossover).

But when? It's been almost 10 years since iPhone dropped and we are in a vibrantly sounding 21st century that would be lovely to capture binaurally with all that hosing of iPhone video.

Clearly, binaural video recording is not important to corporate Apple since Sony Xperia have been offering high end models with binaural video recording for years, and very good it is too. Again it is clearly a choice by Apple not to offer the function because they see it as not important enough to make their list of priorities.

But here's the thing. If you're someone who appreciates sound and making your own recordings, once you've experienced the depth and breadth of decent binaural recording you just don't want to go back to monaural.

There are third party mics that record stereo (the Shure MV88 comes to mind - very good it is too but ultimately creates a biased stage due to it being on the other end to the lens) but the Airninja Movie Method is about less - less to carry, less to remember, less technicalities, just record your damned movie and be assured of decent results by default with a device straight out-of-the-box.

I appreciate that the telephone is a monaural device but an iPhone is so much more than that. It's a pity that out-of-the-box iPhone only creates monaural content. Proof, if any were needed, that binaural sound remains a niche interest - and therefore, opportunity.

The iPhone 7 is also 'water resistant'. The top end Sony Xperia are essentially waterproof in freshwater shallows (IP68) as demonstrated in the following binaural video which ends up fully submerged underwater.




There's just zero reasons for current iPhone to be the airninja's first choice.

Smartphones Are Legit Production Tools

Just as pencils and the public's ability to write diminished the scribe's monopoly of skill, today's smartphones are media production power houses that the establishment do not ignore.

If you think smartphones are only good for making home movies, think again... #mojoconhttps://t.co/D50XSr2M7A

— RTÉ Mojocon (@MojoConIRL) April 2, 2016

Ungraded Movie Reveals Filmed on iPhone 4S

Yes shooting your feature film on an iPhone is old hat, but in 2012 nobody figured out that the Pompeywood paranormal frugalwave flick "GAIN" had been shot on a phone.

Here we are in 2016 and the truth has been revealed!



From the video description (at time of writing):

Feature film filmed on iPhone 4S, ungraded.
This version divides opinion - those who side with britmic believe no grading is necessary in order to preserve the laziness of reality.
Conversely, the final release was colour graded before Evil C would give it his approval since it was felt lazy reality was too harsh, particularly the scene in the supermarket.

iPhone SE - A Lot To Like

So the 4" screen iPhone SE is here, retailing in the UK for £439 with 64GB storage onboard.

The real kicker? It has the guts of the latest iPhone 6S inside in terms of A9 processor and 12MP iSight camera with focus pixels.

For an airninja like me that is very very tempting. Why? Apart from the fact it is simply light and powerful and strips away a lot of the flimflam.

Over the years my iPhone usage has matured, much like my iPad usage - which has fallen away completely. I'm old, I'm boring, I don't play games (at least, I have played my favourite genres to the point of boredom) - the idea of having an understated - yet powerful - iPhone appeals.

And I've had extensive use of all the public iPhone form factors at this point.

I started using big screen phones with the Dell Streak, believing that I would soon be able to get real meaty work done with the occasional attachment of a keyboard. It's never really happened though - my usage pattern has basically reverted to iPhone for comms/navigation/camcorder and any heavy lifting done on my 2013 13" MacBook Air - if that computer is tied up doing a heavy render I reach for a ChromeBook to do stuff.

I think this is a result of failed mobile UX paradigms as much as my own brain calcification. Which ever way you look at it, editing a video is fiddly on a small screen (I attach my 13" MBA to a 24" display for proper narrative video editing sessions - though I did edit my first feature film on the 12" screen of a PowerBook).

There are a couple, and only a couple, of reasons I will resist pulling the trigger on a 64GB iPhone SE purchase:

1. My current 128GB iPhone 6S Plus has 61GB storage free - this tells me that 64GB max storage just isn't going to cut it for me without additional admin/habits.

2. The size of the iPhone 6(S) Plus means it has a huge battery relative to smaller models. I am just not concerned about shooting video all day whilst powering a microphone on the lightning port. Take that battery away and it becomes a choice of lightning microphone or an external battery pack - and, that's right, potentially a whole bunch of admin.

It's a case of iPhone SE at £439 (still a significant chunk of change) vs my iPhone 6S Plus at £789 though - and the airninja movie method has always been about grasping value propositions early on. For my actual usage, I suspect the iPhone SE with 64GB would do just fine (after all, I have made feature films using iPhone 4S - albeit with onboard mics and an external battery pack).

Remember, zig when they zag. Avoid the mushy middle. It is tempting.

Problem Solved: If Apple Ditch The Headphone Jack

The sky is falling as Apple is rumoured to be ditching the headphone jack in iPhone 7. Aside from the fact it is merely conjecture at this point, the entire planet seems to have forgotten that Apple are unlikely to ditch Bluetooth and, that being the case, instead of lining Apple's pockets you can buy a third party Bluetooth receiver to use with your old headphones.




Sure, this is not perfect - if you are able, use a cable - because of course the Bluetooth receiver costs money and is another battery to charge, another device to pair, another complication in your life (simplicity at Apple died with Steve Jobs?) - but it does make Apple's decision easier to deal with if they do indeed ditch the headphone jack and you really want to keep hold of your old headphones (I'm quite attached to my iGrado pair for example).

Actually, it's a TRRS jack, and I'm kind of more annoyed that it will render my Røde Smartlav+ microphone obsolete without some Lightning adapter or improved Bluetooth protocol inclusion.

There's always Android!

☴ Watchlist: HFR & ASMR

I've noticed an emerging trend amongst progressive filmmakers. Firstly they treat online as their primary global distribution platform (natch) but secondly I am seeing more and more content produced with HFR and ASMR.

HFR has largely been rejected by cinema going audiences, but I believe long-term it will become de-facto standard and 24fps will be regarded by my grandchildren as I regard the quirky looking 18fps footage of a hundred years ago incorrectly played back at 24fps.

Everyone can be a filmmaker using a single device.

It's ironic that as a young filmmaker stuck with 50Hz PAL video, I hated that horrible 'soap opera' look of 50i. I strived for that 'film look' just as some modern filmmakers strive for that 'VHS look'. Madness! I yearned for D1 720x576 but when it was finally affordable it was basically obsolete. I wish I'd discovered Laver's law in my twenties then it may have all made a lot more sense to me.

I remember reading, I forget where - other than in print in the early 90s - that when developing Star Tours the boffins got great reactions from audiences when subjected to HFR (60fps was trialled IIRC) - not interlaced like TV, but progressive, actual frames, like film. It wasn't to be though, probably due to reasons of expense and available bandwidth in existing technology. Wish I could remember what the article was and where I read it!

Reading that, it stuck with me to this day. So HFR came as no surprise to me. I believe more motion data is just as important as UHD and beyond. Kids growing up on console gaming just see a blur when they go to the cinema. In fact, so do I (and I don't even own a console).

Cinema may stick with 24fps (for that extra stop in low-light during acquisition), but it's doubtful if IMAX will. I firmly believe IMAX will supplant contemporary cinema as the 'narrative event experience' because home cinema is more comfortable (and a whole lot cheaper) than going out to the cinema. Audiences are split about 3D at the cinema but frankly that's a big fat red herring that gets rolled out every couple of decades. If you want 3D go see a stage play, they are awesome nowadays.

There's an argument that the dating scene will sustain modern cinema. I call bullshit on that, as Netflix & Chill has been marketed so successfully to the younger generation who have grown up with choice and abundance.

EXT. Star Tours.

No way home cinema will stick with 24fps, it will cater to the console kids who grew up gaming at 60fps and will demand their own normal when voting with their wallets (well, assuming the concept of a wallet survives ...)

HFR, especially at 60fps, solves a lot of problems for the progressive filmmaker.

ASMR hasn't made it into cinemas, mainly because 'true' ASMR required the listener to be wearing headphones. It's unlikely that traditional production technique will ever cater to ASMR. However, again, I believe my grandchildren may be more au fait with it than the general public of today. Whilst it may never be mainstream, I believe its benefits will ripple out just as Hi-Fi has done over the last 40 years or so.

There's no doubt that ASMR is pseudoscience, however I have definitely experienced emotional and 'tingly' responses to sound and ASMR is a good an explanation as any.

Essentially ASMR boils down to two things, of which in my experience only one needs to be present (but both is better).

POV often neglects audio completely.

Firstly, perhaps most importantly, ASMR is positional stereo. This usually means recorded binaurally POV. Not practical for most narratives (great for first-person-shooters that the kids play on their consoles - are you detecting a theme yet?). However, I believe a good stereo sound stage reproduction will suffice (more practical for production of traditional narrative).

Secondly, frequency response. Not necessarily flat, but it needs to be 'clean' rather than 'muddy'. This is because the ear cannot discern the direction of bass frequencies but higher frequencies can be highly positional. Higher frequencies tend to lend more air, and thus feed into those ASMR tingles.

It's totally possible for ASMR to be mono, but it is far more effective in stereo. Stereo allows the ear to pick out positional details due to time differences in the sound wave hitting each ear.

This is why it annoys me that Apple's iPhone cannot record stereo with its three (count 'em!) onboard mics. In every other way, the onboard audio always amazes me except for this glaring omission. Sure, external mics are available (and very decent M/S mics they are too - see video embedded below) but sometimes the onboard mics are all you have - typical during the frugalwave. Onboard stereo mics on an iPhone would no doubt be thought about and positioned correctly in relation to the camera lens (or the corrective/adaptive DSP would be spot on).



So Apple has 800 engineers working on the iPhone's camera that they buy from Sony - so what about the audio-visual?


UPDATE: Yes, I should have mentioned the digital bits that represent latitude and all that good 4:4:4 stuff but I think something akin to Moore's "law" in CCD / CMOS / NEXT TLA will see better and better low-light performance over time - it's going to happen anyway.

Taking Stock

No, not some euphemism for my Little Shop work on Hayling Island, this is more to remind me what the Deer Studios production slate is at this moment.

Whilst the world must wait for the Provincial's chilling horror short Dark Is A Long Way (coming 2016 ... we hope!), the Airninja movie method has been persistently seeing acquisition and edits through to final production.



1. After successfully collaborating with Mark Handley for Pompey Princess, we are now discussing potential for a video for his Christmas single. If it happens it will happen fast and within a couple of weeks.

2. On the theme of Christmas, I shot the interview with Graham Stansfield (famous keyboardist of Rare Bird fame amongst other fascinating things) to support the upcoming release of his new Christmas album release.

3. Earlier this month we had the first production meeting for another Mark Handley video, this one called Bella Ballerina - expected to shoot Jan/Feb 2016. We have great talent and crew lined up, technically elevating the production away from pure airninja-ry but remaining true to the spirit!

4. The next short film by award winning director Chris Jupp. Currently in pre-prod/development. I expect to be recording production sound and edit producing on this show. Likely shooting Q1 2016.

5. A dementia related project, or two. I have one ambitious project in development and another more practical, smaller, project slated to shoot over-night some time this winter. The one may lead to the other.

6. Longer term, the making of a feature length documentary on the work of prolific low-budget film director Michael J. Murphy. I have gathered several new interviews to augment the FilmRaker interview with the late director. This is an ambitious project in terms of cataloguing the material and assembling it into a coherent, comprehensive narrative without alienating Murphy's fanbase - but also allowing it to be accessible to anyone else.

Below is a small tribute video assembled from this last ever recorded interview with Murphy, and screened at his funeral earlier in 2015:



7. Recently completed edit of found-footage for the video to Owen Troman's single Winter Child (presumably another Christmas release). I worked on Owen's previous single in a similar fashion - finding footage and mashing it up into something symbolic for the track.


There are many other side-projects I am involved with but I am on the periphery or only providing services on-demand. Two most notable are both for Trash Arts, schedules TBA.

A busy season!

Eating Humble Pie - Apple, Pie

So you may remember I was very disappointed with the direction Apple is taking lately, with its subscription model and general smugness. So I switched to a Sony Xperia Z3+ via a refurb Z2 (still a good value phone I reckon).

It's not that Android is bad. Indeed, I am completely won over by Google services once more and thanks to Google Music I am actively listening and rediscovering my music library once more.

Google Inbox has matured to a point where it just seems normal to me, I've always used my email as a to-do list, so it's perfect(ing). I've been centralising my schedule with (Microsoft's) Sunrise Calendar and not looked back. And Google Keep has since been released for iOS.

So the software that sits on Android is not bad.

It's the ...

Well.

Those that know me know that I have virtually zero tolerance for a product flake out in critical working situation.

You guessed it.

The Xperia video camera let me down. More than once.

I can workaround the native camera not recording 1080P video for more than 30 minutes, but some things I can't comes to term with:

1. Camera lag. From activation delay to a delay after pressing record, it is not acceptable to me when one of my primary uses for bothering with a smartphone is to have a reliable and robust video camera on me at all times. The Xperia hardware may be robust and reliable but the software has proven to me over the last couple of months that it is neither robust nor reliable.

2. Fixing the exposure. I mean, c'mon. I want to set an exposure and keep it there, please. I didn't realise how important that feature had become to me on iPhone.

3. Third party camera apps that are a bit flakey. Likely because of that F word.

I just don't have time for this shit. I need something that "just works", shit here I am on my knees begging for iPhone to take me back because in my experience it "just works".

So I guess I've learned a lesson here. I love recording live stereo sound, I really love it. However, moreso I love a reliable and robust video camera that records mono. And there always the Shure MV88 and my credit rating before I bankrupt myself with another round of Apple gear and Lightning cables.

Like I say though, Google services have won me over. Android hardware flakiness is to Apple network services flakiness in my experience - frustrating and somewhat second-rate; mediocre.

My next iteration airninja mojo core kit looks like being a previous generation Apple phone running current generation Google services. Win win, right?

The Switch From iPhone 6 Plus to Sony Xperia Z3+ (iOS to Android)

The airninja switch is complete. As I'm sure you know I am platform agnostic, being primarily interested in the best tools for a given job.

For the last five years I've been an iPhone user, upgrading most years with unlocked devices and running on Three UK PAYG (great unlimited data plans).

Each year I've been waiting for Apple to release an iPhone that is capable of recording stereo sound using its onboard mics when taking video (modern iPhone has three mics). Whilst iPhone mono recordings do sound good, I've always preferred the 'reality' of a stereo sound-stage - and I don't always carry a stereo microphone with me because extra gear is not the way of the airninja.

For various reasons (job redundancy being a huge one) I have been re-evaluating the "things" in my life and when Apple came under the microscope it just didn't hold up. The competition promised to deliver far more value into my life (including the stereo audio video recording).

I bought a refurbished Sony Xperia Z2 for a shade over £200 to see how I'd get on. This phone model is about a year old, records 4K video, has 3GB RAM, expandable storage to 128GB and is made by the company and culture that Steve Jobs himself had great admiration for.

An Apple designer, Shin Nishibori, was asked to create “Sony-like” concepts of phones that carried the name “SONY” and “JONY”. The pictures were created around a year before the iPhone first appeared.

Based on my success with the Z2 (and the release of the Z5) I upgraded to the Z3+ which has an improved camera over the Z2 and a reduced price due to the release of the Z5. They all record stereo audio video and have 4K capability.


I did wonder if Apple's iPhone 6S might offer stereo audio recoding with video, but as far as I know it does not (the iPhone 6 which I owned definitely did not). So, for my airninja purposes, it looks like I made a good choice with the Z3+

Now if you google anything about the Z3+ you'll probably come across reports of how this phone runs hot and overheats. In my experience this is not accurate on the current firmware. Although when taking video it does run warmer than the iPhone ever did. I think it's fair to say that whatever problems may have existed with the Z3+ original firmware has been addressed by Sony in recent updates. HOWEVER a mild annoyance remains with the Z3+ in that the native camera app will report "overheating" and shutdown to cool off. It only does this on looong takes (30 minutes or more continuous) which most normal people rarely do. The workaround is to use an alternative app, such as Google's own camera app (also shoots video).

BTW, I have no compelling reason to ditch OS X or FCPX so I remain an Apple customer.

Competition between vendors is a good thing in general, and who knows I may return to a future iPhone iteration. Yesterday's Apple keynote only confirmed my thoughts on the direction Apple is now taking, and it's not a direction I want to travel when Sony already provides the sufficient destination today.

Contemplating a Switch from iOS to Android

More specifically, iPhone 6 Plus to Sony Xperia Z2.

How did this happen? Doesn't Android lead me to a world of false hope and disappointment every time?

Well ... perhaps not. I've always wanted to see if Cyanogenmod is a good fit for me but I've never owned an Android phone with official support so that was also a lesson in false hope and disappointments (generally waiting for OS updates from Samsung that never come).

It seems the Z2 has official Cyanogen support so I can take any frustrations out on the stock firmware by reflashing it bloatware-less.

Why the Z2?

A few days ago a good friend posted some video taken under water in a swimming pool. I know he's an Android guy, I guessed he had a waterproof housing.

Nope. Sony Xperia Z3. Caseless Underwater.

As someone who often gets creative with iPhone video, and knowing a lot of the iPhone sensors and camera parts are from Sony anyway, my interested perked a bit.

So at time of writing the Z3 is 9 months old, the Z2 is 15 months old. Almost pre-historic by smartphone terms. But both a great value proposition when compared to my (or future) iPhones.

Anyway, the argument for or against the hardware and features isn't what I'm writing about today (I may still yet be crushingly disappointed when my good-as-new refurb Z2 arrives). Although I will mention the Xperia Z2 has a microSD slot for up to 128GB expansion - again, another good value proposition for something I care about (storage for video rushes).

What about the apps? I've spent a good few years in the iOS eco-system (dabbling with Android here and there on the way). What equivalents are there?

Well here's my essentials and most-used apps on iPhone with what I expect to replace them with on Android (the handset is due to arrive soon - please don't disappoint me Sony!)

In order on my iPhone homescreen:

Settings
On Android there are OS settings and Google settings and I dare say manufacturer settings. Already I'm questioning if I made a good decision!

App Store
Google Play Store

Photos
Google Photos - though I dare say I will miss Apple Photostream

Shazam

Shazam

Phone
Phone

Skype
Skype

FaceTime
Skype

Messages
Skype

Facebook Messenger
Facebook Messenger

Reminders
Google Now

Calendar
Calendar

Health
Not sure on this one - however I am past counting my steps, and only really take data points on my weight - which I can put in Evernote or whatever. I do like the trend graphs Apple Health creates but hey ho.

Hours Keeper
Evernote probably. Although Hours Keeper also generates an invoice. I'm sure I'll figure it out, I don't do a high number of transactions per month so shouldn't be an issue.

Notes
Evernote

Words with Friends
Words with Friends

Boggle
Boggle

MULE Returns
Not available :-(

Carmageddon
Carmageddon

Jetpack Joyride
Jetpack Joyride

Zite
Zite

Tweetbot
Twitter

Kinomatic
Cinema FV-5

Mail
GMail

Safari
Chrome

Camera
Camera (at a guess)

Periscope
Periscope


There are others of course but that's about it for my most used apps.

Apart from iMovie which I use intermittently but when I do use it I'm really glad it's there. The closest app on Android seems to be something called Kinemaster which looks okay except for a godawful subscription model to remove the watermark.

You'll note I haven't listed Apple's Music app. I think that app is singlehandedly responsible for me listening to less music due to the fact the app is a naff experience. I have been keeping my music in parallel with Google Play Music (free account) and find that a much easier experience to just listen to some goddam music rather than navigate the bizarre Apple Music interface.

Google Play Music also makes it possible to import music into your cloud library using only your phone. No sodding iTunes and Mac/PC sync malarky needed.

I have a real psychological problem with subscriptions because - you guessed it - it  makes it more difficult for me to be brand disloyal and fully independent. I've always bought my phones outright for this very reason and the fact the entire IT industry is heading toward a cloud subscription model fills me with dread. But that's to think about another day.

After I cancel my subscriptions to iTunes Match and iCloud Storage.

Refurb Sony Xperia Z2 via Argos on eBay: £220 with 1 year warranty.

Airninja Finds MoJo

MoJo is a fairly new phenomena in the context of mobile smartphones (the phrase MoJo - Mobile Journalist - apparently originates from 2005 mobile video) - but it seems one that shares core values with the Airninja Movie Method. Certainly in my own filmmaking lately I have gravitated to video journalism methods on the FilmRaker series (ongoing).

The first MoJoCon was held this year, 27th March 2015.


So - finally - intelligent people who aren't afraid of change embracing modern technology to tell stories. MoJo. I'm not one for labelling things, but categories sure can help with describing what you do.

One thing established MoJos seem to say is how they are now in control and self-sufficient. Whilst I'm sure not everyone is comfortable taking their own lead, for the lone wolf wanting to tell stories I can't think of any better way today.

When you are in full control of your own work you inherit authenticity and accountability that cannot easily be manufactured or teflon-shouldered. The shocking result being that you may get more deposits in your Bank Of Trust.

FilmRaker meet the Hill Valley Preservation Society.

There's a display of Back To The Future props, vintage items and replicas on at the Portsmouth City Museum. I had to take a look, natch!

Mad For Flexible Foam Tripods

They are bendy and grip tighter than Gorillapods and that class of beaded leg derivatives. They are pretty tough (with a couple of exceptions - will post about that another time). They are highly versatile. Total airninja.







Best bit is, they are pretty cheap and can be had for a tenner or less if you look around. You can even buy in bulk from Alibaba.

Great for firmly attaching lightweight cameras to things - who needs a quick release?!

Firmly holds this type of Aputure LED lighting and has its own ball head for fine positioning.

All the models listed (Kitvision, Camlink, SilverCrest, Mudder) are around 27cm tall so not regular boring trialpods, but easy to stow and light as a feather. There's even some around rebranded as Polaroid.

In the right context on the right jobs they are just awesome so far.

Chris Jupp talks about his new short Scissor Happy

Fat Finger Films are working with Deer Studios (amongst others) to bring Scissor Happy to screen. This interview was produced completely using the Airninja Movie Method.

What's This? I am totally sold on Rotolight RL48-B

It seems like only yesterday I was using a featherweight LED panel for my iPhone reportage. Then I saw a recommendation for this thing called a Rotolight, looks like a ringlight, what's the big deal? Ringlights are hefty juice-sucking encumbrances when you are running-and-gunning, right? Er, wrong. In fact I couldn't find anyone with a bad word to say about this particular Rotolight product. Well ... where to start.

How about starting by showing you the contents of the ~£100 package I bought from Amazon (reduced from £170):



And what's this? They are a British company?! Yaaaay!

My opinion based on a day's play?

THE GOOD
It's lightweight. Not featherweight but definitely no heavyweight. Mere grams.
It takes AA batteries. A boon if you are like me and keep zillions of the things around.
It only takes three AA batteries.
It's rated last for three hours continuous use on common alkaline, or four hours Energiser Lithium.
It's surprising bright (I'm not really sure why this would be a surprise, perhaps I was skeptical of all the positive reviews).
The kit includes basic filters and a bunch of other creative filters (gels).
The filters are stored in the light housing. Genius!
The filters are Lee filters. Hurrah!
I think I read somewhere it's weatherproof. There's certainly a decent seal, I would easily take this out  in the Great British weather without thinking twice about it.
Decent build quality.
High quality LED, you can tell they are the pricier type just by looking (without it switched on).
The kit comes with a carry pouch that is actually useful and well considered. Hurrah!
It's highly mobile and versatile, it's just what I have been looking for.

THE BAD
There's no electronic dimmer, so that is accomplished by adding in the included ND. Can't help thinking if only it had a dimmer then those AA batteries might chug along for an hour or two longer at dimmer settings. It's not really 'bad' and it does keep things simple and presumably reliable. I just have to complain about something, right?!
Adding in the gels is a bit faffy. Though I expect to get better at this the more I use it. So this is more a reflection on me rather than the Rotolight, hmmmm.

THE UGLY
There is just nothing ugly about this light. I've loved ringlights forever (since I first had to hold one up for Spidercom on an early music video - D:REAM was it, I forget?!) - this is the first one I've owned. Which is rather capitalist. Is capitalism ugly? Maybe. You can tell I'm struggling to find fault here.


Really looking forward to using this on a forthcoming Tagsta (working title) shoot.



Click the Amazon link above, save £70 while stocks last.

Quick Review of Manfrotto ML360 video light Midi LED panel

This light approximates a 16:9 screen horizontally and the basic ML360 is a 36 LED panel and ships without any additional filters. You do get a cold shoe adapter.

Here's what's in the box:


It's rated at 420 LUX up to 1 metre and reckons it will pick out your subject at up to 3 metres. I'm inclined to agree after my initial testing. Easily.

THE GOOD
This thing is as light as a feather.
It's small and should easily fit in a coat pocket or inside jacket pocket.
At the maximum brightness it's pretty darned bright, enough for fill at a relatively good MCU to mid-shot distance, or closer.
Dimmer built in.
Takes 4x AAA batteries you can find them anywhere.
I got a continual usage of three+ hours on Asda own-brand AAA alkaline batteries using 50% brightness (easily enough for MCU fill on a talking head for example).
Includes a ribbon in the battery compartment to allow easy and quick removal of dead batteries.

THE BAD
Only lasts around one hour at full power.
Takes AAA batteries that you will have to go and find if you are anything like me and have a bias for AA.
Doesn't ship with filter/diffuser and you don't appear to be able to buy these separately.
At lower brightnesses then at wide angles you will likely notice some vignetting. But hey, if you're doing lomography that will actually be a GOOD!

THE UGLY
The filter/diffuser you make yourself will be pig ugly clipped to this thing.
Quite plastic-y build quality, and the battery compartment is difficult to replace so it is flush with the body.
Expensive (approx £60 from Amazon at time of writing).


Despite its flaws, the killer features for me are its featherweight, small size, and 4x AAA batteries as a power source (though I would prefer if it ran from AA cells). Sure there are better lights out there but when running-and-gunning with minimal kit,

I will definitely be using this LED panel as part of my doco and reportage acquisition.

#DIALW Wind Reel And Print - It's a WRAP!

So technically we wrapped production on Saturday and proceeded to discuss future film projects over a great curry.

It's been a fun week and I look forward to turning in the first finer-cut edit to the director, Seb Hunter. But Monday is a day off, I'll tackle that tomorrow.

The film is already loosely cut and clocks in at around 28 minutes sans titles. But too loose to show anyone, just yet.

Floor 6, Chesil Street MSCP. Park by phone.

So let me reflect on what I've learned on this production -

1. To park by the statue of King Alfred on Broadway in Winchester requires 'coins'.

2. In freezing muddy conditions you can do a lot worse than Vivobarefoot Tracker hiking shoes.

3. In freezing muddy conditions at night you can do a lot worse than Nitecore TM26 at 150 lumens with a runtime of approx 41 hours.

4. If the production unit is highly mobile with added agility then kit choice needs to reflect this. Mobile means why not use mobile. Thus, airninja movie method is validated.

5. Even though we are not using production audio from the iPhone 6 Plus, if we had planned for it, we could have. Audio perspective matches the fixed lens, MEMS microphone DSP helps noise reduction (although it didn't reduce the noise of overhead aviation, it won't do miracles nor should you expect it to).

6. All I want from a video camera app is simple - fix the white balance to a preset, fix the exposure, but leave autofocus roaming (AF with focus pixels works very well in iPhone 6 Plus). Currently the native app can't do this, so the closest I have found to my needs is Kinomatic.

7. Parkas are in fashion this season.

8. I didn't need touch sensitive gloves to operate the iPhone - just a naked hand and a spare pocket to keep it in between takes.

9. I used the ShoulderPod S1 + Manfrotto PIXI with wrist lanyard 95% of the time. The other 5% was on a Manfrotto Compact Action tripod.

10. Digital zoom, you guessed it, sucks. Which means all next wave rebellion against airninja must use digital zoom.


Look out for the final cut of Dark Is A Long Way playing in Winchester cinemas with live musical accompaniment from the Provincials - ETA Easter 2015.

#DIALW Day Seven - trinkets, traders and black art

Polly directed by Seb in a small hut at Spinney Hollow.

The last day of principal production at Spinney Hollow completed just before dark yesterday, as planned. Evil C had to deal with probably the most challenging lighting setup of the whole production as we shot from inside a small hut as a bunch of gang-raping merchants pop their heads around the door, in dusky backlight.

The somewhat plump rough edit now clocks in at around 28 minutes. Once trimmed and with a sprinkling of cross-fades I anticipate a movie around 20 - 25 minutes.

As we wind down production (very last day of shooting is a 2nd unit setup with an aquarium full of water) I'm very mindful that the journey through post-production and to market is only just beginning ...