How to film yourself alone with just your phone
To film yourself alone, put your phone on a tripod with the lens at your eye height, face a window so daylight falls on your face, and stand about an arm and a half from the lens for a chest-up shot. Lock focus and exposure on your face, use the back camera if you can, and film every shot from one position before moving the tripod. That last rule saves more time than any gadget.
What you need (and what you don't)
| Item | Need it? | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Phone | Yes | Any recent phone films good enough video for TikTok, Reels and Shorts. |
| Tripod with phone clamp | Yes | Gets the lens to eye height and keeps it still. A stack of books works on day one. |
| A window | Yes | The best free light you will ever have. |
| Clip-on microphone | Soon | Viewers forgive soft pictures more readily than echoey sound. The phone's own mic is fine close up in a quiet room. |
| Ring light or LED panel | Later | For filming after dark. Daylight first. |
| Bluetooth remote | Nice to have | Saves walking back to press record. The phone's voice control or a timer works too. |
Step 1: Pick the spot
Look for three things: light in front of you, depth behind you, and quiet.
- Light in front. Face the window, or stand side-on to it so the light falls across your face. Never put the window behind you: the phone will expose for the bright window and turn you into a silhouette.
- Depth behind. Stand a metre or more from the wall behind you. It separates you from the background and stops your shadow landing on it. A corner of the room usually gives the most depth.
- Quiet. Soft furnishings soak up echo. A bedroom with curtains and a bed sounds far better than a bare kitchen.
Check the background through the lens, not with your eyes. Laundry, a bin or a bright lamp in shot will pull the viewer's eye from you.
Step 2: Set the phone at eye height
Put the centre of the lens level with your eyes, wherever you will be sitting or standing. Below eye level looks up your nose and feels imposing; well above it makes you look small. For a chest-up shot (a "medium close-up", the standard framing for talking to camera), the phone usually sits about an arm and a half away. For waist-up, move it back to two arms or so.
Film vertically (9:16) for TikTok, Reels and Shorts. Leave a little space above your head, and keep your eyes roughly a third of the way down the frame. Remember the bottom and right side of the screen get covered by captions, buttons and the account name on most apps, so keep your face and any held-up object away from those edges.
Step 3: Mark where you stand
The hardest part of filming alone is being in the right place when you can't see the screen. Fix it once:
- Switch to the selfie camera and get into position until the framing looks right.
- Put a small piece of tape on the floor between your feet (or note where your chair legs sit).
- Switch back to the back camera. Stand on the tape every time.
If your phone supports it, use a mirrored screen, a smartwatch camera remote or a second device as a monitor to check the frame from where you stand.
Step 4: Lock focus and exposure
Phones refocus and re-expose all the time, which makes the picture pulse when you move your hands or lean in. Stand on your mark (or put an object at head height there), tap your face on screen, and hold your finger down until the phone shows that focus and exposure are locked. On most phones you can then slide brightness down slightly so your skin doesn't look washed out. Our phone camera settings guide covers the menu settings to change before you start.
Step 5: Sort the sound
Get the microphone close. A clip-on mic 20 cm from your mouth beats an expensive phone mic two metres away. If you only have the phone's mic, move the phone closer and frame tighter, turn off fans and noisy appliances, and record a 5-second test to listen back with headphones before you film the whole thing.
Step 6: Shoot in set-up order, not story order
A video's shots go in the edit in story order: hook, set-up, points, payoff. But you don't have to film them in that order. Group every shot that uses the same camera position and film them back to back, then move the tripod once. For a typical talking video that might be:
| Set-up | Camera | Shots filmed here |
|---|---|---|
| A | Close-up, eye level | Hook, payoff |
| B | Medium close-up, eye level | Set-up, point 1, point 3, call to action |
| C | Insert on the table | Hands shots and props for every point |
Three moves instead of eight. Our free shot list generator gives you the framing for every shot so you can group them like this before you start.
Step 7: Do two takes, not twenty
- Clap or count in. Leave a second of silence after pressing record so you can trim cleanly.
- Look at the lens. Not the screen. The lens is where the viewer's eyes are.
- Change one thing per take. If the first take was flat, make the next one more energetic. Don't change the words, the energy and the position all at once.
- Keep going after a fluff. Pause, then say the line again from the start of the sentence. You can cut the mistake out later; restarting the whole video wears out your energy.
- Watch one back before you move the tripod, with sound. Checking takes ten seconds; reshooting a whole set-up takes ten minutes.
Common mistakes
- Window behind you, so your face is dark.
- Phone propped low on a desk, so the camera looks up at you.
- Standing against the wall, so the background is flat and your shadow shows.
- Letting the phone refocus on the background when you lean out of frame.
- Filming in story order and moving the tripod between every shot.
Questions
What is the cheapest way to film yourself alone?
A phone, a small tripod with a phone clamp, and a window. Use the back camera for quality, face the window so the light falls on your face, and sit or stand far enough back for the framing you want.
Should I use the front or back camera?
The back camera usually gives a sharper, cleaner picture, but you can't see yourself. The selfie camera lets you check your framing as you go. A good compromise is to frame with the selfie camera, then switch to the back camera and use a marker on the floor so you stand in the same place.
How do I stop the phone focusing on the background?
Tap your face on screen to focus, then hold your finger down to lock focus and exposure. Stand where you will be before you lock it, using a stand-in object at your head height if you need to.
How do I make eye contact when filming alone?
Look at the lens, not the screen. The lens is the small circle; the screen shows you looking slightly away. Put a small sticker next to the lens as a target if it helps.
Related
- The best phone camera settings for TikTok, Reels and Shorts in the UK
Resolution, frame rate, stopping flicker under UK lights, and locking focus, exposure and white balance on iPhone and Android.
- Hook and shot list generator for TikTok, Reels and Shorts
Type your topic and get eight hook options and a timed shot list with framing, word budgets and a CSV download.
- How many words in a 60-second video script (and 15, 30, 90)?
Word counts for 15, 30, 60 and 90-second scripts at real speaking paces, and how to split them into beats.