I Love Using My Phone to Shoot Vacation Movies. Here Are My Top Tips

The iPhone 17 Pro's top-notch video skills have impressed me time and time again -- including when I tested it against a pro cinema camera on a real commercial shoot. It's so easy to get great-looking video footage from it, whether you're an experienced creator or completely new to filming video. Some of my favorite times to shoot short films for myself and my family are around the holidays or when on vacation. It's the perfect opportunity to get creative and I love putting together little films that document the time we spend together. Here's how you can do the same. Don't have an iPhone? Not to worry -- other phones such as the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra, Pixel 10 Pro or older iPhones and Android phones are also capable of capturing professional-looking video with very little effort on your part. But if you want to add some Hollywood flair to your videos, there's a lot you can do to take things to the next level. Read more: Best Camera Phones to Buy Right Now It takes more than just a good camera to create videos you'll want to watch again and again. You also need to know how to use that camera properly, how to capture the right moments and what makes for a good-looking shot. A creative eye and some planning will help, too, taking you from a simple home video into something more inspiring that you'll want to share with your family and watch again in years to come. Don't miss any of our unbiased tech content and lab-based reviews. Add CNET as a preferred Google source.Here are my top tips that you should keep in mind when making your own family movies, whether you're gathering for a holiday feast, journeying off to exotic lands on vacation or simply having some backyard drinks with friends. 1. Consider what you want your video to be Before you start, you should give a bit of thought to what you want your video to include. While it could just be a full film of everything that happens over the holidays, or your child's upcoming birthday, consider making it a bit more specific. Perhaps a video all about the games you play together, or them opening their presents. Having a more focused story to tell -- even a basic one -- will help you consider what shots you'll need to get, and it'll help you shoot and edit only what you need, rather than having endless hours of footage to sift through. A Christmas day movie can be more straightforward as you'll likely want to simply tell the story from the morning through to the drinking and games at the end of the day. Vacation videos can be easier as they tend to unfold in an expected way and you simply film the events as they happen. Even so, try and consider how you can be selective and tell an interesting story rather than just filming every minute of the days you have together. For my video, I made a list of shots I knew I needed, and also made a rough storyboard to help develop my ideas for angles. Andrew Hoyle/CNETFor my own festive-themed video (embedded above), I decided to show how I make my own hot mulled cider. By keeping it to a specific topic I was able to determine exactly the shots I needed and in what order, and even sketched out a storyboard of shots ahead of time. You don't have to go that far, but having a rough idea in mind will help a great deal. 2. Set up your phone properly Almost all recent smartphones can take great video, but it's worth checking out the settings to make sure you're ready to go. Your resolution settings are up to you, but full HD (1080p) is probably a good…

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