How to Get the Handheld Look When Filming Yourself.

 Greetings, people of the internet! For those of you who don't know, I'm working on making, marketing and successfully releasing my first feature length film(I Know Your Browser History) entirely by myself. I'm the only cast member, I'm the only crew member and my equipment is a video camera and a tripod. However, I still want the film to look professional and appear to have been done by more people.

 Obviously, I cannot attempt any extreme angle camera pan sort of movement(without a few days of setting up a complex set of wires and ropes), so my solution is to give my movie the 'handheld look'. But how?

 Like I said before, all I have is a tripod and my camera. Still, I can make it look like there is somebody behind the camera. Here's how:

 Watch The Video?

 Low 'Dolly' shots

 This one might sound complicated when done by yourself. For example, a moving close up on somebody's feet. As hard as that sounds, this technique will make it look great.

 Simply place your camera on the tripod, then hold the tripod upside down, camera facing your feet. Now just walk and there you have it- a great looking shot that seems to have required a motorized dolly. You get a reversed shot which you can later rotate in your video editor(or even camera, if it has this function).

 You can use this technique at different angles and get a great chase scene. Still, you will need some far 'handheld' shots. How do you do these?

 Far Shots

 Inside Far Shots

 Again, you will mount your camera on your tripod and again turn it upside down(basically, all your edited shots will be the mirror of the actual locations(there is a way to fix this).

 This technique will also require some elastic rope and strong duct tape(like the one they use to tie up body bags).

 If it's an indoor shot, tie the base of the tripod with rope, then duct tape the rope to the ceiling. Now you have a tripod hanging upside down, with the camera at it's lowest point(you can also adjust the camera's height this way).

 When you're ready to act, turn on the camera and slightly pull down the tripod, then move away to your position.

 Outside Far Shots

 The same technique applies in case you find something to hang the tripod from. If not, you have two options.

 The first option is to get some wood and build a hanger for your tripod, then follow the same steps.

 If this one doesn't help, you can get a fitness ball and three plastic bottles instead. Open up your tripod and duct tape it's feet to the ball. Then duct tape the plastic bottle to the base of the fitness ball and fill them up with water. You get a bouncy tripod. Again, pull it down a little bit, then act your part.


 Thanks for reading! These are the techniques I've come up with so far. Subscribe or I kill you.

 Or check out my upcoming film 'I Know Your Browser History':

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