When you’re doing video interviews on the road, what do you take with you?
With Cathy Vartuli of http://www.TheIntimacyDojo.com and Reid Mihalko from http://www.ReidAboutSex.com.
Reid: Hello. Sex geek, welcome back to Sex Geek’s School for Gifted Sex Geeks. SG3. Today we have a special guest. Ladies and gentlemen, Cathy Vartuli of The Intimacy Dojo, goes the crowd.
Cathy: Hi, everyone.
Reid: We have some meta stuff going on today. This video is all about shooting video and what Cathy and I do sometimes, not all the time. We shoot videos in lots of different ways. Some really super easy things and some cheap stuff that you can buy to augment and give yourself that professional video look.
Cathy: The nice thing is all of the stuff is relatively small so you can take it when you travel and it would make being in a hotel room or shooting by the pool somewhere a lot easier getting those interviews you want.
Reid: There’s nothing more romantic than rolling over in a hotel room and saying “Want to shoot some videos?”
Cathy: The right people will find it very hot.
Reid: Exactly. What do we have here Cathy Vartuli?
Cathy: This is a Vidpro Wired Lavalier Mic.
Reid: Okay, we’ve got them on http://Amazon.com. Ladies and gentlemen.
Cathy: Yes, you have to select the correct one for your phone and I always get the adapter because …
Reid: I lost the wind sock.
Cathy: No.
Reid: I got it. Here’s the microphone and there is, this is the wind sock. It’s the clown nose for your microphone ladies and gentlemen. Here is the lavalier.
Cathy: They have this and then it has an adapter for the particular phone you want.
Reid: Okay.
Cathy: You want to make sure that’s there. If you have that, it will plug directly into your phone which can be standing on a Gorilla…
Reid: A Gorilla, GorrillaPod video.
Cathy: Yeah. There’s different one for the iPhone versus the Droid.
Reid: Okay.
Cathy: On the top what’s holding it is.
Reid: That’s so cute. They have an old, they don’t make these anymore. I used to have one of these, that actually kind of video flipped.
Cathy: Flip.
Reid: The flip.
Cathy: On the top there is the JOBY. J-O-B-Y and will have all the things for these below.
Reid: Grip tight mounts.
Cathy: That’s holding the foam in here and it adjust so you can pan-angle that.
Reid: Okay. Bring it up closer here to our listening audience. We’ve got the cord in the phone and then we’ve got, this little flexi so you can attach it …
Cathy: They’re magnetic, it can wrap around stuff.
Reid: It’s magnetic too.
Cathy: Yeah.
Reid: That’s great. Okay. There’s a little adjustment pole. You can swing it around if you need too.
Cathy: The cord is 20 foot long. You can have your phone across, a ways from you and still get the picture.
Reid: Now, especially now with the iPhone 6s and the 6 Pluses, now this mount won’t work with the 6 Plus.
Cathy: They have a couple different sizes.
Reid: They have different sizes. The camera in your iPhone 6 now is probably better quality than the video camera on my computer because this computer is a little couple of years old. This plus the right little app, a lot of microphone, clip on.
Cathy: Right here, comes with it.
Reid: That this clipping it on with your phone and on your Android. Okay. If you have a Razr or a phone like a Nokia, I don’t know what to say.
Cathy: They have done …
Reid: Come to the future. Come to the future, get a smartphone. It is a studio, it is a film studio in your phone, ladies and gentlemen.
Cathy: Just this little bit here is really easy to packet and bag. You have your set up to do interviews. They did a whole multi-million dollar launch based on an iPhone videos last year just to prove it could be done, the quality was amazing.
Reid: That is the stuff that I recommend, this all cost about $60.
Cathy: $50 all together. The stand is 25 and this was 25, I believe.
Reid: That just slides out and there you go.
Cathy: Yeah. It folds pretty flat, you can put this all together, it doesn’t take up a ton of room.
Reid: I could also just shoot, talking to myself on my phone if I wanted to, that’s a little bit wavy, it can be done. Getting better tools, professional tools create professional results, ladies and gentlemen. What else do we have Cathy, I feel like we’re in QBC right now.
Cathy: Yes.
Reid: Wait, that’s not all.
Cathy: If you’re a geek about moving around and you like to shoot things.
Reid: Really want to go nuts.
Cathy: Yes. This is a Swivl.
Reid: Now …
Cathy: They’ve come out with new ones, this is a little bit older version.
Reid: Basically what you do is you mount your phone in this. Now I have one of these because Cathy was really sweet and bought it. Which is the front? Is that the front?
Cathy: Yes. Points that way.
Reid: You put this in.
Cathy: Then you pop that down. The orange. Yeah.
Reid: Then it locks in so it holds it in tight.
Cathy: You put this on, whoever is speaking, it has a mic in it and you can actually push a button to start and stop.
Reid: Then what happens is I put this.
Cathy: It has a connector.
Reid: I can wear it or put it on my belt loop which won’t give you the best sound, you want to wear it, you want to have it up high.
Cathy: There’s actually a cable that goes from your phone to the back of the Swivl.
Reid: Okay, what happens is, I set this 30 feet away, it can go 60 feet.
Cathy: Yeah.
Reid: It’s got a good range. Wherever I move on stage, this will rotate to follow me.
Cathy: It also goes up and down.
Reid: It’ll go up and down, depending on if you push a button on this. This has a rubberized stand and it’ll sit or you can screw it into your tripod and it’ll sit. Then it will be like silently [inaudible 00:06:31] and follow you around. Super cool. Super nerdy. Not cheap.
Cathy: It’s like $200.
Reid: That’s the whole next part if you want. If you’re like a tango instructor or teaching some sort of yoga-based movement or doing …
Cathy: Wild sex.
Reid: Orgasmic dance.
Cathy: Dancing.
Reid: Really wild sex. This might be the thing for you. Again it’s all based on shooting off of your smartphone. Does that, do we know if this will comes with, is it Android-compatible?
Cathy: It is. It is now.
Reid: It’s Android-compatible now.
Cathy: It wasn’t when we first got that.
Reid: I just haven’t really geeked out and used that too much.
Cathy: Well, we got one of the earlier version, it was a little clunky but the new ones, if you go to http://www.swivl.com. S-W-I-V-L dot com. They will, they have all these really cool videos. People skateboarding and jumping up and down and the video is following them.
Reid: Yeah. This might be fun for me, I might pull this out and use it for a college lecture, so it’s following me around the stage. What else do we have Cathy Vartuli?
Cathy: Well, this is a Generay light source and I don’t have batteries in it so we don’t blind you right now but it’s a very bright LED source.
Reid: Yeah.
Cathy: It’s $22 on http://B&H.com.
Reid: Generay.
Cathy: Yeah.
Reid: Right there.
Cathy: Has a little stand that you can just stand it up on. When I travel, hotel rooms are notoriously dark. The lighting is really bad, it’s hard to get balance. I’ll typically, if I know I’m going to do some interviews. I’ll throw a three of those in the back and I can balance the light and at least make it so we’re not looking like we’re shooting something.
Reid: If you’re going for that [inaudible 00:08:18] effect. That works that great too. Way better and more useful that using a flashlight.
Cathy: Yes. I really like this Rode microscope or microphone. If you’re doing interviews off of your computer. This can plug in just to the side and you have two microphones.
Reid: We apologize that we decided to wear black shirts and then show a lot of dark products. That is a fail on our part. I wouldn’t recommend that if you’re going to be shooting video and showing a bunch of dark things. That’s a fail on our part and we will give ourselves the demerit points accordingly.
This is really, really useful. It’s Rode, who makes amazing sound gear. Then this is a double jack, it’s a triple jack isn’t it? Is it one for a headset?
Cathy: One’s for headset.
Reid: Okay. Yeah. There’s a little headset icon and then a microphone, then a microphone, so you can put in two mics.
Cathy: Yup.
Reid: You can put in the headsets so you can hear, make sure the sound sounds good.
Cathy: Yeah. It has two, both of these have clips, so you can clip them on side by side and we both sound good.
Reid: Yeah. You have your little lavalier mics again, click them on.
Cathy: Just don’t forget you’re wearing it and walk off, and pull off the computer or strangle your partner.
Reid: This one is missing its wind sock which we’ll find eventually, but that’s the microphone. The reason you want to get it with the clip is so you can put it on your shirt or your lapel. You don’t want it to be two far like …
Cathy: L for lavalier from your mouth.
Reid: L for lavalier.
Cathy: From your mouth to the, that’s where you do and clip it.
Reid: It’s like here, don’t like clip it to your ears or something like that. You can totally put it on your collar if you want. Be careful with you, if somebody is like, oh my God, and you’re like hit yourself a lot because you’ll smack the mic.
Cathy: Some people wire them up inside the shirts so they don’t show on the camera so much.
Reid: That’s the one with the wind sock. Naked and fully-clothed. This one is in drag, it’s in wind sock drag. The wind sock will help you from obviously from wind or when you’re talking that it’ll deadened some of that wind sound that happens. Especially when you’re up close to a mic but these ones are a little bit different. Still put the wind sock on if you can.
Cathy: The first things we showed you are what really, if you want just the basic setup that’s great. Some of these other things were upgrades. We also right now are using a Samson Go Mic.
Reid: Yup.
Cathy: Do you want to show them?
Reid: I’m going to show them. This is a USB mic that is plugged into my laptop. We are filming right off of my year old or two year old laptop using Photobooth which comes with all Apples. This is the Samson Go Mic, okay. It folds up and you can clip it and it has a little case for it but I’m not going to clip it and show you because that’ll make a huge sound in your ear.
It has a setting on the side, get the lighting right. Which basically tells the mic to use both sides of the mic or just one side of the mic. When we do videoing, I usually use both sides because right behind my laptop Cathy has a computer screen, big screen so our sound is bouncing off that, it just catches.
It gets better sound when I have it on both. Your mileage may vary, you want to sound check it.
Cathy: Yes.
Reid: The other thing is it has a little hole here, hello, I can see you. You could clip it on your computer.
Cathy: Over the video.
Reid: Over the camera but that’s a little awkward. There you go. You can have it right over the camera depending on how your computer is. I just clip it to the side and then we’re good to go. Now we have the laptop opened up, we’re shooting video on Photoboot. We also have a stand that I’m going to show you in a second. The reason we use the mic is because as the computer sits there …
Cathy: It’s hot.
Reid: Working over time because it’s processing all this video. The fan on your computer will often come on.
Cathy: It’s a really annoying high pitch noise on the video.
Reid: If you’re filming off of the on-board mic. The laptop mic, you will be able to hear the fan come on, this will help us have less fan noise and one of the hacks that will sometimes help is you have a little stand that allows it to breath so it’s not just laying flat on your…
Cathy: You’d like to adjust the height and the angle better too.
Reid: Yup. It’s not just laying flat on your computer desk or whatever so there’s less breathing room. The other thing that we will do sometimes, it works sometimes, it doesn’t work other times. We will now show you here.
Cathy: [inaudible 00:13:24]
Reid: Yup. We have a dish towel. Okay and Cathy is going to do some [inaudible 00:13:31] with a little ice pack wrapped underneath.
Cathy: A cutting board just to hold it.
Reid: Just to hold it there. That will help the computer get stay cooler.
Cathy: Do you want to show them the stand?
Reid: Yeah. I want to show them the stand. That’s the SHARKK.
Cathy: It’s Sharkk with two Ks.
Reid: With two Ks.
Cathy: It’s really nice when you’re traveling because you can fold it up and it just press it so you can change the angles.
Reid: I’m going to hold this for us.
Cathy: Okay. This is the stand and yeah, it’s about [inaudible 00:14:06] it folds up really small so you can travel with it. Depending on where you are, if you’re on a hotel, you don’t always have books and things to stack under your computer to get …
Reid: This will help you get it to a better height and give it some breathing room.
Cathy: Yeah.
Reid: If the ice pack trick isn’t what you need.
Cathy: We don’t always have ice packs or our own towels but the SHARKK stand works really well.
Reid: We can set the stand up and now it’s got all kinds of air circulation under it and around it which will help it from the fan coming up.
Cathy: Yup.
Reid: Then voila, we’re shooting video.
Cathy: Yay.
Reid: Anything else we want to show them in this video?
Cathy: I think that was all the goodies we had laying around nearby.
Reid: Yeah. Now there’s lots of different products out there.
Cathy: Show them the umbrellas there.
Reid: Stuff like that. Yeah. Might as well show you the lighting. This is lighting that Cathy has. Remember we had these little lights. This is in her office. I’m going to do this slowly so I don’t make you sea sick. She’s got two lights on either side of her desk with a regular fluorescent light bulbs in there and those light umbrellas, reflector umbrellas, they come with two bull stands.
Then you got that off of where?
Cathy: I got that off from Amazon Cowboy and Lighting.
Reid: Cowboy Lighting on Amazon.
Cathy: Yeah. It was $89 for the two lights.
Reid: For the two lights.
Cathy: Umbrellas.
Reid: She has the luxury of just being able to have that whole thing setup all the time in her office.
Cathy: I don’t have small children or …
Reid: Yeah. Don’t have small children.
Cathy: I have been asked many times if I shoot porn on my office.
Reid: I guess you could.
Cathy: I could.
Reid: These are nice chairs. Yeah. Now we’re talking. Your mileage may vary right around whether you need lights like this but this allows Cathy and I to shoot with a lot more even lighting. Whether it’s day or night.
Cathy: Whether it’s day or night.
Reid: Then she’s able to have them just set up and they’re pretty, they’re super light, everything is great. For the $90, that might be worth it to you, then you have your system setup and then when you’re ready to shoot video, you’re, you don’t have to have a huge conundrum of setting everything up and having it ready.
Cathy: When I had to do that, I tend to not shooting a lot of video. Now that I have it setup, I’d shoot a lot more, I just sit down and shoot.
Reid: Again, the reason we’re showing you this. These are just really good recommendation for things.
Cathy: There’s other things that work.
Reid: There are other things that will work but these ones are the ones that we use, these are …
Cathy: After trial and error.
Reid: Yeah. These are high quality instruments that are not super expensive. These are the things that I would recommend if you have the budget to invest in so that then you, the Gorilla stand helps a lot. That then you can just leap into action and do things really quickly and easily. Once you get the hang of it, you can upgrade to more geeky gear and more expensive gear if that’s what you need.
For most of you shooting YouTube videos, shooting training videos even, shooting your sales videos, this stuff works great. Again shooting videos is one of those main things that I’m going to tell you to lean into as a means of connecting with and building your audience.
Cathy: Yeah. If you’re worried that they’re not going to be good enough, go watch some of our early videos and you can have a good laugh and …
Reid: Yeah. Why don’t we… on this video, why don’t we post the first video we put together underneath.
Cathy: Yes.
Reid: Then you’ll know. How much we’ve improved.
Cathy: Hopefully.
Reid: How much we sucked [inaudible 00:18:02] all right. Thank you. You’re awesome for watching this stuff. Links are below. Leave comments. Let us know what was useful, what was not and ladies and gentlemen, just give a round of applause, Cathy Vartuli. Cathy Vartuli. Bye.
Cathy: Good luck.
More articles about business advice:
