Dollar-Store DIY Hacks to Use for Filmmaking

Filmmaking is usually an expensive hobby, but slowly over time, it’s become more affordable. Regular gear like cameras and lights are slightly cheaper, but there are plenty of ways to DIY regular items to use as film gear.

Making DIY film gear may not give you the same look as professional gear, but it could be a fun project and give you similar looks on a budget. In this article, let’s look at some dollar-store DIY hacks that you can use for filmmaking on a budget.

Tip 1. Add foreground elements to improve the frame of videos

Let’s start with something we can do to enhance your framing. Sometimes we want to direct our audience’s attention to a specific part of the frame. In this case, it’s the talent of placing an object in the shot’s foreground that can help us do that. While also making a more attractive frame. At the dollar store, try using something like these fake plants.

You can place it in front of your lens. Then focus on the talent behind it, giving a blurry foreground that perfectly frames the talent. Here’s how the shot looks with and without foreground elements.

Note: Remember, you can also use a different angle than simply approaching the object from the front. You can try and use different perspectives until you find the shot or footage you are looking for.

Tip 2. Adjust lights with poster boards

The shot below looks dark and boring because the background has no light. Here’s the shot with and without the lights.

A practical light is a light that shows up on screen rather than lighting talent from off-screen. For example, some dollar stores have small LED accent lights for around three dollars.

Others even have lights with adhesive backings that allow you to place them all over the room—creating great lighting accents with small eye-catching pockets of light.

On film sets, crews use a bounce to reflect light from one light source in another direction. At the dollar store, we can find something like this poster board to get a similar effect.

By reflecting the light onto the bounce, we get softer, more spread-out light when it’s reflected. Then you will get the result in a nicer look. Using poster boards, you can do multiple things with light.

• Use white to bounce light.
• Use black as a flag to shape or block light.

• You can also use green for a small green screen when filming a product video

You might have seen how big production companies create those alienated landscapes, such as in the movie Avatar and many more.

The concept is recording your object in front of a green screen behind it. Then, it’s much easier to add a separately filmed background to the final footage with a video editor like Filmora.

Tip 3. Smooth audio with felt pads or socks

Do you ever have audio pop while you are recording? It can get annoying. So, to fix the issues, we are now teaching you three practical ways.

1. Felt pads

Felt pads with adhesive backs can be stuck onto noisy props like a coffee mug. This way, we won’t hear the mug hitting the table when we’re recording sound.

2. Socks as pop filters

Professionals use what they call a pop filter because a pop filter can reduce the loud pops from their mouths. But what is pop? Pops usually occur when people say words that start with the letter P or B.

Then what is a pop filter? You might have seen in some YouTube videos, especially live streamers, where they use a microphone with a plate on its head; that’s called a pop filter. You can purchase pricey gear like a pop filter, or we can get a pack of cheap socks at the dollar store and place them over the mic.

It will make your voiceover slightly quieter, but it should also get rid of the popping. So keep adding socks until you hear no more pops in your voiceover.

Conclusion

See how easy it was! Keep in mind these dollar store hacks in your next video. And you can edit your footage like a pro with an easy-to-use video editor like Wondershare Filmora . Keep exploring different ideas and perspectives to record.

Free Download For Win 7 or later(64-bit)

Free Download For macOS 10.14 or later

Tip 2. Adjust lights with poster boards

The shot below looks dark and boring because the background has no light. Here’s the shot with and without the lights.

A practical light is a light that shows up on screen rather than lighting talent from off-screen. For example, some dollar stores have small LED accent lights for around three dollars.

Others even have lights with adhesive backings that allow you to place them all over the room—creating great lighting accents with small eye-catching pockets of light.

On film sets, crews use a bounce to reflect light from one light source in another direction. At the dollar store, we can find something like this poster board to get a similar effect.

By reflecting the light onto the bounce, we get softer, more spread-out light when it’s reflected. Then you will get the result in a nicer look. Using poster boards, you can do multiple things with light.

• Use white to bounce light.
• Use black as a flag to shape or block light.

• You can also use green for a small green screen when filming a product video

You might have seen how big production companies create those alienated landscapes, such as in the movie Avatar and many more.

The concept is recording your object in front of a green screen behind it. Then, it’s much easier to add a separately filmed background to the final footage with a video editor like Filmora.

Tip 3. Smooth audio with felt pads or socks

Do you ever have audio pop while you are recording? It can get annoying. So, to fix the issues, we are now teaching you three practical ways.

1. Felt pads

Felt pads with adhesive backs can be stuck onto noisy props like a coffee mug. This way, we won’t hear the mug hitting the table when we’re recording sound.

2. Socks as pop filters

Professionals use what they call a pop filter because a pop filter can reduce the loud pops from their mouths. But what is pop? Pops usually occur when people say words that start with the letter P or B.

Then what is a pop filter? You might have seen in some YouTube videos, especially live streamers, where they use a microphone with a plate on its head; that’s called a pop filter. You can purchase pricey gear like a pop filter, or we can get a pack of cheap socks at the dollar store and place them over the mic.

It will make your voiceover slightly quieter, but it should also get rid of the popping. So keep adding socks until you hear no more pops in your voiceover.

Conclusion

See how easy it was! Keep in mind these dollar store hacks in your next video. And you can edit your footage like a pro with an easy-to-use video editor like Wondershare Filmora . Keep exploring different ideas and perspectives to record.

Free Download For Win 7 or later(64-bit)

Free Download For macOS 10.14 or later

Quickly Turn Any Video Into a Paper Rip Effect

Video editors use different effects to add creative flair to their projects. These effects can also create a transition between clips, make text or images stand out, or add movement to a static image.

One of the most fantastic effects is the paper rip effect. It can add a unique look to videos and a touch of creativity to any project. We will discuss the best software and techniques to achieve this effect quickly. So, let’s get started!

Part 1. What Is a Paper Rip Effect?

You must be wondering what is a paper rip effect in videos. It is a visual effect in which a piece of paper or other material appears torn apart or ripped. It is often used for transitions between shots or scenes in a video. Or, you can make the effect for your thumbnail.

Now, as we have seen what a paper rip effect looks like, isn’t it cool? So let’s see which software we need to make the magic happen.

Part 2. How to Make a Paper Rip Effect

We here take Wondershare Filmora as our editing tool to make the paper rip effect. It has many practical features allow you to customize your video with special effects, transitions, and more.

Free Download For Win 7 or later(64-bit)

Free Download For macOS 10.14 or later

• Over 1,000 video effects, transitions, titles, etc., to spice up high-quality videos.
• Support speech-to-text that allows smooth conversion of voiceover to text.
• Over 2,000+ audio resources range from music and audio effects, and much more.
• The shortcut key saves you time while editing videos.

Stepwise Guide to Make the Paper Rip Effect

Step1 Download Wondershare Filmora from the official website. If you have already downloaded the Wondershare Filmora. Open it, and let’s start editing the video.

Step2 First, we need to find a photo of a white paper that you can easily download from the internet and two videos in which you want to add this effect. Then import these three files to the media gallery.

Step3 Drag and drop Clip 1 onto the timeline and move the playhead to the last frame of the clip.

Alt text: Paper rip effect.

Step4 Now right-click on Clip 1 to open the menu and select Add Freeze Frame.

Step5 After adding a freeze frame, cut here.

Step6 Drag and drop the paper photo onto the second video track of the timeline, and make sure it starts at the cut on the first video track.

Step7 Double-click the paper picture on the timeline to open the settings window and then open the Compositing menu. Then Change the Blending Mode from Normal to Multiply.

In the preview window, we can see that the freeze frame has the paper texture now!

Step8 Now you can use the new feature of Filmora to export this small portion of the video. First, click and drag the playhead to the start of the freeze frame and press “I” on the keyboard to set the IN POINT, then move the playhead to the end of this freeze frame and press “O” on the keyboard to set the OUT POINT.

Note: If you have the latest version, Filmora will automatically set the OUT POINT on the timeline.

Step9 Then click Export and choose Create Video. Let’s name it freeze frame 1 and click on Export.

It will only export the selected part on the timeline. Once the exporting process is completed, Right-Click on the timeline and Cancel the selected range.

Step10 Import the Freeze Frame 1 to the media folder and replace the Freeze Frame + Paper Photo with this clip. Then adjust the length of this clip to 1 second.

Step11 Now let’s make the second part of the transition effect. You should drag and Drop Clip 2 onto the timeline and move the playhead to the clip’s first frame. Then Add a Freeze Frame; you can also do it by pressing the Alt+F keys. Now click and drag the playhead to the end of the freeze frame and make a Cut.

Step12 Drag and drop the paper photo onto the second video track of the timeline and make sure it starts at the beginning of the freeze frame on the first video track. And again, change the blending mode to Multiply as well.

Step13 Select the range you want to export by setting IN and OUT points as we did before. Press the I key on the keyboard to set the in point, drag the playhead to the out point, and press the O key.

Step14 This time use the shortcut Control + E to open the export window. Again, let’s name it freeze frame 2 and then export it.

Step15 You can use the keyboard shortcut Shift + X to cancel the selected range. Then import freeze frame 2 into the media folder and replace the freeze frame + paper photo. Adjust the length of this new clip to about 1 second.

Step16 Now you can add several Filmora transitions to finish the effect. Go to the Transitions window and find Evaporate 2.

Step17 Drag and drop it onto the cut between clip 1 and freeze frame 1 and the cut between clip 2 and freeze frame 2. You can also adjust the length of the transition.

Step18 Then, find Torned Paper Transition 4 in the Transitions window. Drag and drop it to the cut between freeze frame 1 and freeze frame 2. Then choose Prefix mode in the transition setting video. Adjust the length if needed.

Finally, it’s done. Let’s play the video and see how the paper effect and transitions enhanced the video.

Conclusion

We hope this post has helped you achieve the desired effect on your video. With Filmora’s intuitive user interface, you can customize your paper rip effect with text, images, and more to create a truly unique and eye-catching video. So get creative and start turning your videos into paper rip effects today!

Free Download For macOS 10.14 or later

• Over 1,000 video effects, transitions, titles, etc., to spice up high-quality videos.
• Support speech-to-text that allows smooth conversion of voiceover to text.
• Over 2,000+ audio resources range from music and audio effects, and much more.
• The shortcut key saves you time while editing videos.

Stepwise Guide to Make the Paper Rip Effect

Step1 Download Wondershare Filmora from the official website. If you have already downloaded the Wondershare Filmora. Open it, and let’s start editing the video.

Step2 First, we need to find a photo of a white paper that you can easily download from the internet and two videos in which you want to add this effect. Then import these three files to the media gallery.

Step3 Drag and drop Clip 1 onto the timeline and move the playhead to the last frame of the clip.

Alt text: Paper rip effect.

Step4 Now right-click on Clip 1 to open the menu and select Add Freeze Frame.

Step5 After adding a freeze frame, cut here.

Step6 Drag and drop the paper photo onto the second video track of the timeline, and make sure it starts at the cut on the first video track.

Step7 Double-click the paper picture on the timeline to open the settings window and then open the Compositing menu. Then Change the Blending Mode from Normal to Multiply.

In the preview window, we can see that the freeze frame has the paper texture now!

Step8 Now you can use the new feature of Filmora to export this small portion of the video. First, click and drag the playhead to the start of the freeze frame and press “I” on the keyboard to set the IN POINT, then move the playhead to the end of this freeze frame and press “O” on the keyboard to set the OUT POINT.

Note: If you have the latest version, Filmora will automatically set the OUT POINT on the timeline.

Step9 Then click Export and choose Create Video. Let’s name it freeze frame 1 and click on Export.

It will only export the selected part on the timeline. Once the exporting process is completed, Right-Click on the timeline and Cancel the selected range.

Step10 Import the Freeze Frame 1 to the media folder and replace the Freeze Frame + Paper Photo with this clip. Then adjust the length of this clip to 1 second.

Step11 Now let’s make the second part of the transition effect. You should drag and Drop Clip 2 onto the timeline and move the playhead to the clip’s first frame. Then Add a Freeze Frame; you can also do it by pressing the Alt+F keys. Now click and drag the playhead to the end of the freeze frame and make a Cut.

Step12 Drag and drop the paper photo onto the second video track of the timeline and make sure it starts at the beginning of the freeze frame on the first video track. And again, change the blending mode to Multiply as well.

Step13 Select the range you want to export by setting IN and OUT points as we did before. Press the I key on the keyboard to set the in point, drag the playhead to the out point, and press the O key.

Step14 This time use the shortcut Control + E to open the export window. Again, let’s name it freeze frame 2 and then export it.

Step15 You can use the keyboard shortcut Shift + X to cancel the selected range. Then import freeze frame 2 into the media folder and replace the freeze frame + paper photo. Adjust the length of this new clip to about 1 second.

Step16 Now you can add several Filmora transitions to finish the effect. Go to the Transitions window and find Evaporate 2.

Step17 Drag and drop it onto the cut between clip 1 and freeze frame 1 and the cut between clip 2 and freeze frame 2. You can also adjust the length of the transition.

Step18 Then, find Torned Paper Transition 4 in the Transitions window. Drag and drop it to the cut between freeze frame 1 and freeze frame 2. Then choose Prefix mode in the transition setting video. Adjust the length if needed.

Finally, it’s done. Let’s play the video and see how the paper effect and transitions enhanced the video.

Conclusion

We hope this post has helped you achieve the desired effect on your video. With Filmora’s intuitive user interface, you can customize your paper rip effect with text, images, and more to create a truly unique and eye-catching video. So get creative and start turning your videos into paper rip effects today!

Benefits of Live Streaming on YouTube

Maybe you already heard of the word live streaming people use in different social media platforms. Whether it is about something that you want your audiences to participate in, or whether you want to sell something, to discuss something or even to showcase something to the virtual world. If you’re a YouTuber like me, you can definitely go on live streaming on your YouTube Channel. But before we go ahead and broadcast ourselves on YouTube, let’s first discuss what is live streaming for you to have an idea beforehand.

Live streaming is a streaming media simultaneously recorded and broadcast in real-time over the internet. It is often referred to simply as streaming. Non-live media such as video-on-demand, vlogs and YouTube videos are technically are streamed, but not live streamed. Live stream services encompass a wide variety of topics, from social media to video games (e.g., overwatch) to professional sports. Platform such as YouTube, Facebook, Twitch, and Instagram can be one of your biggest choices to showcase any of your talent.

How to go on Live on YouTube?

• Go to your YouTube Channel.
• On the upper left corner of your Channel, click the video icon and you’ll see the word “Create”. Click it.

• Next is you’ll see a drop-down box, choose Go Live.

• And since I’m not using the live streaming a very long time ago, I was amazed that it has now options that you can choose from. Whether you want to go on live right away, or you can pick up the time where you’re most comfortable with.

• I chose the second one since we’re not going on live at this very moment. As you can see in the image below. There you have options to choose from. Whether to use the built-in webcam of your laptop or the computer you’re using or you can use a personal computer screen recorder like OBS Studio (Open Broadcaster Software). I already break down the whereabouts of this particular screen recorder on my previous article. But, let me just discuss you a little bit, maybe it’ll be helpful if you want to go on live with a more powerful and engaging live streaming.

What is OBS Studio?

Open Broadcaster Software or OBS Studio is s free, open-source and cross-platform screencasting and streaming app. It is available for windows, macOS, Linux distributions, and BSD. OBS Studio provides real-time capture, encoding and broadcasting for YouTube, Twitch, Facebook, Instagram and many other social media platforms. You can download the application itself for FREE.

• If you’re a rookie and you want to go on live for the very first time, YouTube provides the step-by-step process. But if you’re already a pro when it comes to live streaming, then you can always choose the use of a screen recorder software because it has many useful tools for you to offer. You just need to learn it firsthand.

Next step, you just need to click the “Allow” button and you’re ready to the next step.

• You just need to simplify what is your live stream all about. Make a catchy title so that your audiences will be curious and will wait for you to be on live. Be specific with your description and find a topic that will be helpful to others. You know, everyone’s time is gold. We need to make the most out of it.

• I changed the Title and the Description as an example and the thumbnail as well. You can edit it when you continue to scroll down. You’ll choose what kind of category it fits in. If you want, you can also add it to your Playlist and you’ll choose your audience, if it’s suitable for kids or not.

• And since my YouTube Channel was already monetized, I have the options to monetize the live streaming too.

• As what it says, you need to customize the live stream according to your preference.

• And the final step before you can actually go on live, you will choose the visibility of your live broadcast. Usually, most of the people choose Public located at the bottom area of the options listed in the image below.

• The image below shows how it looks like after you click the “DONE” button. And the only thing that you need is to click the “GO LIVE” button and everyone can participate on your live streaming.

And here’s an actual example of a Live streaming that I’ve already done before on my YouTube Channel. I used OBS Studio in presenting the information that I needed, to convey the message to the audiences that are interested in learning Hebrew language to be exact.

During the live streaming, you can see people interacting with you on live and that’s totally awesome!

Live streaming is essential for your YouTube Channel success for two main reasons:

1. You can minimize the part of editing a raw vlog and that is time consuming, you can just click the “Go Live” button and follow all the required steps and you can share all your ideas through everyone who will watch your live streaming. You can exchange thoughts, interact with them right away. You can also enhance your speaking skills in front of the camera. A very much needed ability if you want to be a YouTuber like us.
2. If you’re a newbie in vlogging, YouTube set its requirements for you to be their YouTube Partner; which includes 1000 subscribers and 4000 watch hours (240,000 minutes). So, if you want to get pass above it as fast as you could, YouTube livestreaming could be the best key to achieve it. Imagine you’re going to be on live for about 3 hours in a row, so that’s 180 minutes already.

To sum it up, if you’re someone who wants to share your ability to the virtual world out there; then YouTube platform can be one of your go-to-stage. You can also choose Facebook if you want to target large audiences. Although YouTube is the second largest search engine next to Google, I think Facebook are a way ahead when it comes to reaching potential viewers or audiences because Facebook statistics show that more than two billion users have an account, 65 million businesses have Facebook pages and advertisers are crazy about it. Most of our friends and relatives are on Facebook. And that’s freaking insane. So, what are you waiting for, choose your social platform and GO ON LIVE!

Free Download For Win 7 or later(64-bit)

Free Download For macOS 10.14 or later

Free Download For macOS 10.14 or later

How to Put a Filter on a Video in iMovie

There are times when you record a video and find out that the light and color in the video have been up to the mark. The light could be too bright or too dark while there could be some color overlays in certain portion as well as the entire frame of the video. Thanks to the video editing apps, you can correct any lighting and coloration issues with different filters available to apply to your video.

If you are using iPhone or Mac, you can use Apple’s iMovie app easily. Therefore, you should know how to add filters on iMovie to get the desired output. iMovie app is available for both iPhone and iPad users as well as Mac users. You do not need prior experience in video editing to add filter to your videos to enhance and improve them. We will illustrate the steps on how to add filters in iMovie as well as suggest a better iMovie alternative.

Part 1. How to add filters on iMovie iPhone

If you have an iPhone, you are more likely to record a video with your iPhone. This is because the camera quality of iPhones is extremely good and there are various modes available for capturing different types of videos like slow-motion and time-lapse. Once you capture a video with your iPhone, you can edit the video and add filters to enhance the video quality using iMovie app available for iPhone.

You have to install iMovie app from App Store as it does not come pre-install. If you already have it installed, make sure you update it to the latest version to get all the filters. Here are the steps how to put a filter on a video in iMovie app.

Step1 Open iMovie app on your iPhone. Tap on Create Project option and tap on Movie on the next screen.

Step2 Select the video from your iPhone that you want to edit and add filters. After your selection, tap on Create Movie option located at the bottom.

Step3 Your selected video will now be available on the Timeline where you can edit your video. Tap on Filters icon located at the bottom-right corner.

Step4 You will see all the different filters available on iMovie app. You can also find a slider above each selected filter. You can adjust the filter to increase or decrease the filter intensity.

Step5 Tap on Play icon to check how the filter is looking on your video. Once you are satisfied, tap on Done option located at the top-left corner.

Step6 Tap on Share icon at the bottom and then tap on Save Video option to save the modified video on your iPhone.

Part 2. How to add filters on Mac iMovie

If you are someone who regularly makes videos for social media account or video streaming channel, you are more likely to record your video using a video camera and transfer the recorded video to you Mac for editing purposes. iMovie comes pre-installed on Mac, and therefore, once you have transferred the video, you can get started with editing and adding filters immediately. Here are the steps on how to add filters to iMovie on your Mac.

Step1 Launch iMovie from Applications folder. Click on Create New option to start a new Project.

Step2 Drag and drop the target video from Photos app to Desktop. Thereafter, drag and drop the video file from Desktop to the Timeline of iMovie project.

Step3 Click on the video clip on the Timeline and click on Crop Filter and Audio Effects icon above the Viewer.

Step4 Click on Clip Filter option and you will see different filters in a window to the left. Place the mouse pointer over the filters, and you will see the filter in the Viewer.

Step5 Once you are satisfied with a filter, click on that filter to apply it to the video clip.

Part 3. iMovie Alternative to add filters on Computer

There are several reasons iMovie filters may not always serve your purpose. For example, there is no way on how to add face filters on iMovie. The collection of filters is rather limited. If you are not satisfied with the filters available on iMovie, there are several iMovie alternatives available. We recommend Wondershare Filmora due to its vast collection of filters of all categories to enhance your video to the next level. Here are steps on how to add filters to your video using Filmora on your computer.

Free Download For Win 7 or later(64-bit)

Free Download For macOS 10.14 or later

Step1 Download and install Wondershare Filmora and it is available for Mac as well as Windows users. Open Filmora and click New Project.

Step2 Drag and drop video clips under Project Media folder. Thereafter, drag and drop video clips to Timeline.

Step3 Go to Effects from the top panel and click on Filters from the left panel. You will see all the different categories of filters.

Step4 Select any filter and drag and drop it on Timeline. You can stretch the duration of the filter as per your requirements.

You can also check Overlay> Utility option from the left panel to add face filters to your video in the same manner. If you want to save the modified video, click on Export button.

Conclusion

If you are an iPhone user or a Mac user, you can add filters to your video using iMovie app. You have to install iMovie app on your iPhone, but iMovie comes pre-installed on Mac. But there are limited filters available on iMovie and there is a lack of face filters which are trending in today’s viral videos. That is why we recommend Wondershare Filmora where there is a wide range of filters available to apply to your video conveniently as per your requirements.

Free Download For macOS 10.14 or later

Step1 Download and install Wondershare Filmora and it is available for Mac as well as Windows users. Open Filmora and click New Project.

Step2 Drag and drop video clips under Project Media folder. Thereafter, drag and drop video clips to Timeline.

Step3 Go to Effects from the top panel and click on Filters from the left panel. You will see all the different categories of filters.

Step4 Select any filter and drag and drop it on Timeline. You can stretch the duration of the filter as per your requirements.

You can also check Overlay> Utility option from the left panel to add face filters to your video in the same manner. If you want to save the modified video, click on Export button.

Conclusion

If you are an iPhone user or a Mac user, you can add filters to your video using iMovie app. You have to install iMovie app on your iPhone, but iMovie comes pre-installed on Mac. But there are limited filters available on iMovie and there is a lack of face filters which are trending in today’s viral videos. That is why we recommend Wondershare Filmora where there is a wide range of filters available to apply to your video conveniently as per your requirements.

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