10 top tips for incredible Vines on your Lumia

For those who weren’t aware, we’ve very recently launched our @Nokia_Connects Vine account. We’ve been busy creating some quirky short videos and you may have spotted our new friend Erica, who features every now and again to encourage you all to get involved. Here she is now:

We love Vine – it offers a chance to get really creative and make something that looks great without too much effort. One person who has taken the spirit of Vine to heart and produces incredible pieces is Damar Dhaval from India. Naturally he is also a #NokiaLumiaChallenge winner, winning our Vine challenge back in December. So we asked him to share his top 10 tips for creative stop motion Vines with your Lumia. Hopefully these tips will show just how inventive you can be and will inspire you to create your own! So without further ado – here’s Damar’s Top Ten tips for creating beautiful Vines (and some of his finest examples too).

• Understand Your Tools

First of all you need to understand all the tools available for Vine.  Here is short description about tools:

• Front Camera Tool which is used to shoot Vine using front camera.
• Grid Tool which shows a grid on the screen, the grid is very useful to align the shots.
• Focus Tool, this tool is useful to focus on a specific object or to focus when occasionally your scene is out of focus.
• Ghost Tool, is the main tool you need for shooting a great Vine.  By turning on this tool you will have semitransparent image of your last captured scene over the current camera view. This allows you to easily sync with the previous shot for a smooth video.
• Finally, there is a Draft tool which is used to save your current uncompleted Vines and it will let you work on the same one at a later date.

• Visualise & Make a Storyboard of your Final Output

Take a pencil and paper and roughly make a storyboard of the video you want to make. This will make your workflow easy and you will never forget any scene you want to shoot.  You can also manage the time period accordingly and it will help with collecting the props required for the video. Stop-motion animation is a great thing you can do with your Vine app, so start making your story!

It doesn’t have to be complex, but storyboarding can really help you produce better Vines.

• Make Sure Your Phone is Steady

The phone should be as steady as possible while shooting your Vine so that you do not get a glitch in your videos. You can use a tripod to make the phone stable or if you don’t have a tripod, just make a stand yourself! I made my own by stacking books, then, I fixed my phone on using a flexible mobile holder. Steady phones give the best results…

That’s a pretty cool make-shift stand Dhaval – nice work!

• Proper Lightning and Background

Natural light makes the best Vine shots.  Make sure you are filming in in an open room with many windows and doors so that there is a lot of daylight. You can use non-natural light but it will create more of a shadow, which sometimes looks a little odd. Likewise, use a plain background as this will draw attention to your main subject best.

• Use Ghost Tool and Focus tool a lot

You should turn on the Ghost tool every time you shoot a Vine. This will show you the next location of your subjects and it is very useful to realign the background. Sometimes, when shooting your Vine, your mobile screen may turn off, so the subject may be out of focus, so the focus tool is very useful at that time.

• Practice Fast Tapping

By practicing fast tapping you can shoot up to 45-50 frames (fast!) so, you can then divide your Vine in frames for the proper timing of the scene.

• Stop Recording at exact time

For fast moving Vines like changing your  T-shirt or any other “magic” video, like this:

The main thing to watch out for is stopping the recording at an exact time. By practicing and re-shooting a few times you will get the perfect pause for a “magic” video. After tapping at the perfect time, change the subject to whatever you like and turn on ghost tool. Then, match the background and complete the next shot. For better, smoother, results, stop the recording while your subject is moving; a steady shot creates a great pause effect in your video!

• Get Help from your  Friends

If you can – it’s great to get your friends involved with your Vine projects. They can shoot whilst you move the props, or vice versa. It will also speed up shooting. As with most things, it is always better  working in a group than on your own.

• Follow Other Viners for Inspiration

Browse and watch some great Vines. By doing this you can learn many great tricks. You should follow other Viners who make incredible Vines so you remain always inspired to make your own!

Here at Nokia Conversations – we suggest you start looking for inspiration with Dhaval because, well – see above.

• Make Lots of Vines

The last thing to do is to make lots and lots of Vines.  This will make you more and more of an expert.  After shooting a Vine, if you are not satisfied with your outcome, reshoot once again and it will definitely be much better than the previous one. Keep trying until you get your best Vine and keep Vining!

We think you’ll agree that these are some pretty great tips on how to get the most from your Lumia to create really fun, professional looking Vines. To see more from Dhaval, follow him on Vine here.  And of course, don’t forget to follow @Nokia_Connects and Nokia on Vine too.