Smartphone video presentations of food

[helenjp]

The thread on youtube plagiarism brought up comments on the power of video, reminding me that *you* people are just the people to ask about smartphone video. Smartphone photos of food, the lighting of, the composition of, is one thing, but video brings audio into play. I am really curious - if you felt comfortable videoing on a smartphone, would you prefer video to still photos and text? And why don't we make more self-playing "presentations" that allow us to text, narration, video clips, and stills?

I have been thinking  hardest about 1) lighting for interview videos, 2) audio-recording for interview or narration videos, and 3) processing. I'm still trying to figure out the simplest way to get good audio, and I'm especially interested in things that people can jump right into, so I've been looking at the WeVideo app for editing.

 

Apple or droid, I don't mind, let me know what you like to see, what you want to make, and what you think!

[natasha1270]

One of the cake artists I follow on Instagram (sugargeekshow) recently posted a little peek at her updated livestream setup. She uses Arkon Mounts. One for her smartphone and one for her iPad.

 

[helenjp]

Thanks! That looks similar to the DJI Osmo Mobile mount, which has an app that can automatically track the presenter.

What amazes me is the tendency for food videos to NOT have dialog or narration - just video to a BGM track with occasional labels displayed.To me, this seems to make video very passive. I know it's a hassle to add narration - do you think it's worth it, or is the image really more important for food videos than for other types of video?

Video from Strictly Dumpling 
This is a "traveling" video that shows a variety of foods in different locations. It's fairly long, but I think the way he mixes visual media is good, and his narration is great! 

Sugargeekshow no narration BGM

Video and BGM, no narration. Edited to pace the video. But without narration, it's hard to grasp the purpose of the video?

Trailer for SugarGeekShow 
This must be a model for 1" video - mix-up of talking head and food video, seamlessly stitched together with the continuous narration.

Unedited video of restaurant visit with BGM
And just for contrast, a really simple short video, using the DJI Osmo mobile mount, no narration. There is a very short exterior shot to set location, but no real sense of context or purpose. Not intending to dis the person who made this video, it is just very interesting to see what a difference experience makes.