Recording prep — phone B-roll for reels
Read this once before your first shoot. It's the difference between footage I can use vs footage I have to fix.
The format
- Vertical, always. Hold the phone in portrait (tall). Instagram Reels are 9:16. Horizontal footage gets letterboxed or cropped badly.
- 10-30 seconds per clip. Lots of short clips beat one long take. I cut + recombine. Don't try to make a finished reel — just give me raw moments.
- 1080p or 4K. Default iPhone settings are fine. Don't worry about resolution; the phone already nails this.
Lighting — golden rule
If you're outdoors: golden hour (the hour after sunrise + the hour before sunset) makes anything look cinematic. Midday sun is harsh and washes color out — schedule beach + outdoor shoots for early morning or late afternoon if you can.
If you're indoors: face a window, don't have it behind you. The LED panel from the gear shipment helps when natural light isn't enough. Avoid overhead fluorescents — they make skin look green.
Audio — when it matters
- Pure B-roll (no voice in the clip): phone's built-in mic is fine. Wind protection helps — turn slightly away from the breeze if there's wind.
- You speaking on-camera: use the DJI Mic 2 from the gear shipment. Clip the transmitter to your collar, pair the receiver to your phone via the included cable or Bluetooth. Test record 10 seconds first to make sure audio is recording cleanly.
- Voiceover-only sessions (no camera): use the Shure MV7+. Sit somewhere quiet, the boom arm holds it 4-6 inches from your mouth. Record in a closed room with soft surfaces (bedroom > kitchen) for the cleanest sound.
What to film — the "B-roll shopping list" per recording day
For each city or neighborhood, try to grab these types of clips:
Establishing shots (wides)
- The skyline or main road. Helps the viewer know where they are.
- A pan across the area (slow — count to 5 as you move the phone).
Detail shots (mediums + close-ups)
- A specific landmark — a sign, a building, a notable thing only locals recognize.
- Texture shots — palm fronds against sky, water lapping a dock, a coffee at a downtown café.
Life shots (people from a distance)
- The vibe — a stroller path, kids playing, a busy farmers market, an empty beach at dawn.
- Stay distant enough that individuals aren't identifiable. Crowds + ambient activity, not portraits of strangers.
You-in-the-scene (when you want to)
- Walking shots — phone held in front of you, talking to camera, 10-20 seconds.
- "Behind-me" shots — phone held out, you in foreground, the place behind you. The classic realtor framing.
What to AVOID
Identifiable kids' faces. Yours or anyone else's. Either keep kids out of frame or shoot from behind. This is non-negotiable for safety + the brand.
License plates. Don't film them; if they're in frame I have to blur them in post. Easier to just not shoot them.
Other realtors' signs in front of a house you're shooting near. Especially their yard signs on listings — that's their brand on your footage. Frame around them.
Don't shoot inside someone else's house without permission. Including listings that aren't yours.
Stabilization — how to not look shaky
- The gimbal (DJI Osmo Mobile 6 from the gear shipment) — auto-stabilizes any phone footage. Use it for walking shots + slow pans. Worth the setup.
- Without gimbal: tuck elbows against your body, hold breath during the shot, move very slowly. iPhone's built-in stabilization handles the rest.
Workflow after recording
- Open the file-drop page:
https://amy-files.pages.dev/
- Click the right city folder under B-Roll Footage.
- Upload clips from your phone (or Photos → Share → Save to Drive).
- Filename doesn't matter — I'll rename when I edit. But if you want to be helpful:
2026-05-20-viera-towncenter-pan.mp4 kind of pattern.
- Drop a note in #amy-workbench: "6 clips uploaded for Viera, mostly town center + a couple at Manatee Elementary." So I know to grab them.
Voiceover sessions (separate from B-roll filming)
I'll send you written voiceover scripts in your workbench channel. To record:
- Sit somewhere quiet with the Shure MV7+ set up on the boom arm.
- Open Voice Memos on your phone OR record straight to your laptop via the mic's USB-C cable.
- Read the script. Pause between paragraphs (gives me cut points).
- Don't worry about getting it perfect in one take — leave the mistakes in, just pause and re-read the line. I cut out the bad takes.
- Save the file to the Voiceover Recordings folder in the file-drop.
How often + how much
Goal for the first month: one shooting day per week, plus one voiceover session per week. Each ~1-2 hours. Together they produce roughly the cadence we'll need.
If you have a free hour and want to grab some lifestyle B-roll (you walking the dog on the beach, the sun coming up over the river), do it — even unscripted moments are gold for the Cross-City + Lifestyle folder.