GoPro Tips
Jun 15, 2020

Welcome! You are now tuned into the GoPro Creator Series. This unfiltered series gives an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at how our favorite GoPro Family members are creating content. Grab your notepads, because the following is chock-full of how-to tips + best practices that you’ll want to tap into the next time you charge up your GoPro. 

Amelyn Beverly and Dan Ng picked up their first GoPro on a trip to Uzbekistan. It was a HERO6 Black and it won them over for all the right reasons—great image quality, pocketable size and compatibility with an amazing array of mounts. Today, as they explore more of their home base in Singapore, they’re hooked on the latest flagship HERO8 Black for all the same reasons, especially when it comes to shooting video.

 

Here are Amelyn & Dan’s Top 5 Tips + Tricks for making the best GoPro videos.

 

Before we get started, we can’t stress enough how important it is to have the right mounts with you while filming on a GoPro. The Bite Mount is our ultimate favorite and most used mount. Since we are a couple, our content includes a lot of POV shots from Dan’s perspective. We like to include both his hands in the shot, where he is either following me or holding my hands.

Our second favorite is the MAX Grip + Tripod. We use it for both the HERO8 and the MAX; mostly for taking selfies or when we are capturing moments when we are free diving or roller blading. I also really like The Shorty, which is almost like a miniature version of the MAX Grip. I use it mostly for vlogging. It’s the perfect handgrip and tripod for every day use.

Lastly, we like using the Jaws Flex Clamp for capturing time lapses and TimeWarps. We love that we are able to clamp it anywhere!

Now for the tips! As creators, we want to capture as many moments as we can to tell our stories to our viewers in the best way possible. Over time, we realized that we always use the following five tips when filming videos on GoPro.

1. Establish a Strong Lead-In

Establish the scene by following your subject to reveal the location. It’s a good way introduce both your character and the setting of your story. This technique works well as an introductory shot, or any other point in the story, actually.

2. Use Slow-Mo

Be sure to set the right frame rate on HERO8 Black to get the perfect slow-mo shot. 60fps usually gives you 2x slow-mo, which is good enough for most occasions. But if you want epic moments to be even more sensational, you’ll have to bump it up to 120fps or 240fps.

  • Mode: Video
  • Resolution: 2.7K 120fps
  • Lens: Wide
  • Bit Rate: High
  • Shutter: Auto
  • EV Comp: 0
  • ISO Min: 100
  • ISO Max: 400 – 800
  • Sharpness: Medium
  • Color: GoPro

PRO TIP: Make sure HyperSmooth is ON.

3. Focus on Good Lighting

Lighting can alter your perception, so it is important to know how to use lighting to your advantage. Different lighting, be it darker or brighter, evokes different emotions from your audience. 

PRO TIP: Sunrises and sunsets are the best time to capture your moments, especially when you are exploring a new place.

4. Storyboard Match Cuts

A match cut is a really simple and interesting way to connect your scenes. To execute, you’ll need a tiny bit of planning. Keep track of the visuals at the end of your first shot, and then, match those actions or scenes to the beginning of the next shot. In post, you place the two shots back-to-back in your video editing timeline.

5. Plan Transitions

Similar to match cuts, always start the next scene similarly to how you ended the prior scene—that’s the fundamentals to making in-camera transitions. Experiment and learn the basic transitions, and then, start getting creative on how you can execute them differently. Some of our favorite simple transitions are: the swipe, the cover and panning.You can also combine them together for an interesting effect. But most importantly, all these transitions you’re using should fit into the role of how your story is being told. 

 

Head over to the GoPro Tips YouTube channel for more Creator Series inspiration.