Create videos alone
I often train alone and then it can be difficult to see or feel how, for example, the positions are. Sometimes you have access to mirrors, but not always. Therefore, I film my sessions and 99% of the material is only for my own part, or for my and Exor's part rather. When I get home, I skim through the material and take what needs to be worked at with me to the next training and then I discard the videos. Sometimes, the material can be used in more ways and perhaps be published for more people to see.
One camera filmed at 4K and moved in post-production.
You can film yourself in several ways, of course, and the purpose can vary. For my own part, I like moving pictures. I think it's fun to watch videos where others share, for example, training. Although many videos only show the best, or funniest, or worst, they often provide inspiration. It is also fun to follow friends and their dogs and see their development and milestones on the way to their goals.
Here are some tips on how you can both follow up your training and create video clips for a larger audience at the same time.
Keep your video sequences short. Kill your darlings!
Film at high resolution so you can "move" the camera afterward.
Adjust your video to the channel it is to be shown on.
Re-positioned the camera during training and added some sound effects in post-production.
Edit your movies
I know what it's like when you come home and look through your material. There is so much that is good, so much you want to show, leading to the video soon becoming very long. The risk is then that you lose the interest of your viewers. Many do not see the video to the end. So if you do not put so much energy into your editing, you should at least cut your video to make it shorter. Set a limit and stick to it. Some good benchmarks can be Instagram and their limitations for videos in streams of 60 seconds or 15 seconds when it comes to Stories. Although you can add more in a row, be careful to add too many because you risk losing the viewers. This editing is relatively easy to do. It can either be done directly on the mobile or in a program on the computer or iPad. Keep in mind that viewers quickly understand and quickly lose interest. If you show heelwork, 3-5 seconds is enough to get the message across. Few find it exciting to see lap after lap of heelwork. Even if you are thrilled with the dog's endurance in several minutes. Tell it instead, in words or text, if it feels important to convey.
How to edit a video is a big subject and I can not cover everything in this text. There are lots of programs and apps that all work a little differently. But in almost everyone, there is a pair of scissors!
Resolution and rotating camera tripod
When we watch a video clip, we quickly get bored if the material is too static. That is often the case if you place a camera next to the training field, film and then publish it. Often you need to use wide-angle mode on your camera and set the camera quite far from what you are going to film. The reason is that you want to include the whole area and in some training, you move over a larger area.
To create a little more dynamic and get closer to what we want to see, the dog and its owner, we can use different aids. I have met several, often horse people who use camera tripods that can rotate. With an app on the phone, the camera can follow what you set it to track. The result is a more dynamic video. You get closer and see more details and expressions. The disadvantages can be that the apps sometimes lose focus on what they are supposed to follow.
What I usually do is to shot in as high a resolution as possible. Resolution in this case means FHD 1920x1080, 4K 3840x2160 and 8K 7680x4320 pixels. We do not need to know exactly what all this means except that most social channels such as Instagram and Facebook show videos in relatively low resolution. Common is 1920x1080 or lower.
If I then film in 4K, I can zoom into the image 100% and end up at the 1920x1080 that social channels use without losing quality. So I can film with a wide-angle and afterward get closer to what I am filming. Since I then have more film than what is shown, I can "move" the camera vertically and sideways to create the feeling that the camera moves and thus generate more important dynamics.
To use moving platforms is not wrong. It adds complexity but can make the video more dynamic.
View the material
It is enough to have the video on my mobile or on my computer for my own training. But if I want more people to see it, it usually needs to be uploaded to some kind of services such as Instagram, Facebook or YouTube. There are many more, but these are probably the most common in video and still images. Here are some things to keep in mind. The first is whether the image is portrait or landscape. If you will post your video as a Story on Instagram, it is best if the video is standing in portrait mode, in feeds, landscape mode is best.
You can, to some extent, edit this afterward, but it is best if you think about it when you film. Many people choose to only upload moving material as Stories, but it workes just as well in the flow. Just remember to click on the small expand/minimize button in the bottom left corner, so the entire video is visible in the feed.
Good luck!
