Tip 1: Make sure your phone is always accessible, the camera app is open and set to video. This way you’ll be ready to roll as soon as something worth documenting happens.

Tip 2: Give your lens a super quick wipe with your clothing – fingerprints make your lens look foggy!

Tip 3: Hold your phone sideways so you shoot a landscape video. Vertical videos are difficult to use on television, so think how the audience of iwonder’s documentary will watch your story. Landscape videos dramatically increase the usability of your video submission!

Tip 4: Tap and hold on your phone’s camera screen to expose and focus for your scene. Try not to have anything too bright in shot if you can avoid it.

Tip 5: Eliminate distracting background sounds in your video. Is there music playing or a television on? Turn off background sounds so iwonder can hear your dialogue nice and clear.

Tip 6: Try remember to film 5 seconds of video before and after the piece you want iwonder to use. That additional footage can be invaluable for their editors to enable the sound of different stores to mix together well.

Jason’s just published a fantastic Beginners Guide to filming on Smartphones, available both in made-for-iPhone and made-for-Android versions. If you’re keen to give your submission the best chance of meeting iwonder’s criteria, check out his course page here: https://treehouse-digital-learning-lab.teachable.com/ (The first 100 course registrants can use the code iWONDER to receive 50% off)

Even Jason is contributing his home-isolation story to Coronavirus & Me!