Live Streaming: From your phone to professional services
From a simple story on your phone to the live recording of a large scale event, explore the different ways and budgets Live Streaming can give you for your perfect live streaming recording!
Live streaming from your phone
Live streaming from your phone is a very easy and cheap way to start your live recording journey. With accessibility to all the streaming platforms in one convenient click, you can be live pretty much instantly from where you want and when you want. Most smartphones are now equipped with a good quality camera, which is important to keep a sense of professionalism in your stream. However, the audio is the tricky part as your phone is not equipped with a professional microphone, sometimes resulting in poor sound quality, contributing to the loss of your audience. To avoid this issue you can simply invest in a small microphone to connect to your phone and reduce any background noise that could make it difficult for your audience to hear your message. When it comes to lighting, natural light is prefered as it gives a more organic feel to your video. If natural light is not available where you are recording, use any other type of lights, however, avoid direct lights that will ultimately be too intense and put your project at a disadvantage.
As previously mentioned, most live streaming platforms have apps available on your phone, eg: YouTube live, Facebook lives, Twitch, Instagram story and Snapchat. These apps are very easy to use and do not require any preparation.
Streaming from your phone is a great way to give to your audience a view of the “Behind the scenes” and make them feel that they are taking part in your project. As you are not a professional filmmaker, embrace it and be real with your audience! That will give them a very personal insight into your world and make them feel close to you and your business!
To step up your game without professional help, use your laptop.
To raise the quality and features of your live streaming without the help of a professional you can use your laptop or computer.
From there you will have more possibility of access to better equipment and to manage your live streaming session in a more settled way.
First of all, as the screen of your laptop is bigger than your phone you can easily access different software and apps with more clarity. For example, you will have a clearer vision of a Zoom chat box which will make it easier to monitor and interact with your audience than from the screen of your phone.
Besides this, the quality of the material that you’ll be able to use will be higher than on your mobile. Regarding visuals, with a laptop you can connect to a webcam of the quality of your choice, or if you have access to a professional camera you can connect to your laptop your audience will notice an even more professional feel. If you need to use multiple cameras it becomes a bit more difficult to do it by yourself, however, you can do it through a multi-camera splinter. Regarding audio, which is (remember) probably the most important aspect of your live streaming, you will need to explore a more elaborate system, like a wireless microphone kit.
Software-wise, you will no doubt have access to Zoom, which is probably the most common one. You also can download the Open Broadcaster Software, which is free for basic use and will give to your audience an overall better feel.
Invest in professional services for great quality of delivery.