If you are filming, here is how.
Filming is optional. Your ads can start with static images and nobody has to be on camera. If you would like to appear in them, this page shows you how to set up, frame and film on your phone. Six to eight clips take about fifteen minutes.
How it works
- We write the scripts, word for word, and send them to you once your offer is approved.
- You approve them and film the approved version on your phone, following this page.
- We do the rest: we edit, add captions and branding, sequence the clips and run them as ads.
What you need
Three things. No studio, no ring light, no videographer.
- A phone from the last four years, on a stand, a tripod or a stack of books.
- A clip-on microphone (any lavalier that plugs into your phone). This is the one piece of kit that matters. Phone audio from a metre away is not usable.
- A window in front of you, for the light.
Set up in five minutes
Your phone
- Wipe the lens with your shirt. Most bad footage starts with a smudged lens.
- Use the back camera, not the selfie camera.
- On iPhone, open Settings → Camera → Record Video and pick 4K at 30 fps. Then Settings → Camera → Grid ON.
- On Android, open the camera settings and choose the highest resolution at 30 fps.
- Film vertical (9:16), not landscape.
- Turn on airplane mode, so no calls or notifications interrupt you.
- Put the phone at eye level, never below your chin.
Your microphone
- Clip it a hand's width below your chin and tuck the cable inside your shirt.
- Record ten seconds and play it back with headphones. Crisp and close means go.
Your light
Face the window, with the phone between you and it. Do not sit with your back to it.
Do this
Not this
- Film in the daytime, when the light through the window is soft and steady. A cloudy day is even better.
- Keep direct sunlight off your face. It makes you squint and leaves harsh shadows.
- Turn off yellow or fluorescent ceiling lights. They fight the daylight and spoil the colour.
Frame the shot in two minutes
- Head and shoulders in the frame, with your eyes on the upper line of the grid.
- Leave a small gap above your head.
- Pick a tidy background: a plain wall, a bookshelf, a neat corner of your office or workplace. Not a messy kitchen, not your bed.
- Nothing growing out of your head: no lamp, plant or picture frame directly behind you.
Film the approved scripts
Once your offer is approved, we send you the scripts to approve. Film only the approved version. Then, for each script:
- Read it out loud three times before you press record, to get the rhythm.
- Look straight into the lens, not at the screen.
- Say it like you are explaining it to one client across a desk. Ten percent slower and twenty percent louder than feels natural.
- Press record and keep rolling for the whole script. If you fumble a line, pause for two seconds and start that sentence again. Do not stop and delete. We cut it.
- Stop after each script. One clip per script, one script per file. Do not film all the scripts in one long recording.
Film the whole batch in one sitting: six to eight clips of 30 to 45 seconds each takes about fifteen minutes. Same shirt, same spot, all the way through.
Send it to us
- Open the shared Google Drive folder we sent you by email and upload there, not to your own Drive.
- Upload the original files. No trimming, no editing, no compression, no zip, and never WhatsApp.
- Name each file by script number if you can, for example
Script-01-Take-1.mov. If you cannot rename on the phone, leave the names and tell us the order in your email. - When every file shows in the folder, reply to our email with the number of clips and the date you filmed.
The first cuts land in your inbox within five working days of the footage arriving in the folder. More on this, including what to do if Drive will not work for you, is in sending us footage and photos.
Before you press record
- Lens clean
- Vertical, back camera, highest resolution at 30 fps
- Phone at eye level, grid on
- Airplane mode on
- Mic clipped, cable hidden, sound tested
- Window in front of you
- Background tidy
- Approved script read three times
- Water nearby
- A quiet fifteen minutes, door closed
What matters most
Good sound beats good video. Daylight beats expensive lights. A real person beats a polished performance. We do not need perfection, we need clear sound and a real person.
Need something else?
- A shoot day with our videographer
- Your VSL, the one longer founder video
- Sending us footage and photos
- How edits are approved
Stuck? Email stephen@thegrowthbully.com with one test clip and we tell you what to change.