Have you ever wanted to make a video of an epic sunrise? Well, you're in the right place because that's exactly what we're talking about today. My name's Dean Parman, you're watching Travel Vids and making smartphone videos is easy. Everybody loves a good sunrise. It's the symbol of a new beginning and new day. You can leave all yesterday's worries behind. So how do you do it? Let's go into the story. When it comes to sunrises, the most important part is location. Location is everything. People want to know where you are. Have you climbed up a mountain? Are you still in a club on the top of a building the next morning? Are you at home? Is this what you get to see from home? You've got to let people know where you are. So make sure to get all their shots showing where you are. And next up is who's with you? Have you gone alone? Are you with a group of friends? Are you with a famous person? Have you gone with a guide? Who's with you? Then it kind of goes without saying that you want to get the sunrise itself. Just as that light breeches over the horizon. It's the perfect time for that time lapse. It's a time lapse! Then also don't forget to tell your viewers what it's like. Share the experience. You can even give them some tips like what you should be doing. Like I'm about to do now in the next section, the technical side. The technical side of filming a sunrise with your smartphone is pretty simple because you only need two things. On the one side you're going to need some stability because you're doing time lapses. For a time lapse you obviously have to have locked off shots. And for that get yourself a little mini tripod, maybe a gorilla pod. This is a gorilla pod and with the gorilla pod don't forget your smartphone clamp. The second thing you're going to want to consider having is an additional phone. Maybe you've got an old phone that you want to bring with you. Even if the quality is not as good, it really doesn't matter. It's just to get that sort of additional reaction shot because while your phone, your main phone, is taking on the sunrise on the one side, it's important to sort of get your reaction shot. So use a friend's phone, use an old phone, use your mom's phone. Do whatever you have to do. And if you don't have a second phone, don't worry, then all you got to do is after you've got that sunrise, then you take your own phone and you turn it on yourself, you watch, and you just get that slight reaction. Even if it's already happened, it's just something that you can use afterwards as a reaction shot to put in. Extra tip, there you go. More extra tips in the technique section. Guys, this is a sunrise. It's a build up to a moment, to a crescendo, to a highlight. So make use of things like slow-moze to the build up point of that. Drag it out, make it dramatic because you want to put emphasis on that ultimate moment. You might also want to darken all the shots that happened before the sunrise. It just sort of sets the mood. And there's a bonus to this. When you darken the footage, you lose some of the grain. So it's kind of like a win-win situation. For those of you that don't know what grain is, it's this fuzzy area of the picture that happens when there's just not enough light. It's also referred to as noise. By darkening the picture, it reduces the noise a little bit. Not so much up in the light areas, but especially in the darker areas of the frame. And then of course, the other thing that you can use to help this sort of build up process is a good choice of music. You might find something that has that slow build up to that moment, that crescendo that drives the point home. And to plan and practice, all I can say with the sunrise is that you need to prepare with the right time. Remember, the sunrise changes every single day by a few minutes. You're going to need to figure out what time first light is, and then you're going to make sure that you're there before first light. I'm saying half an hour before, so that you can set up, find out where you're going to get your shots from. I've seen way too many people arrive at the sunrise location, just as it's happening, and they miss everything. Get there early, set up, take it easy. You're supposed to be enjoying this, remember? It's also quite important to know exactly where the sunrise is going to happen, so that you can point to your camera in the right direction. If you're in a location where you've never been before, maybe in a foreign country, then it's always best to ask one of the local people, just, you know, where does the sun really pop up, or somebody that's around you that knows the area better. And if you're completely alone and completely stuck with this, then just download one of the apps that's sort of a sun tracker app, and it'll show you exactly where that is. The film industry uses that type of thing all the time. So that's all the info you're going to need to make an epic sunrise video with your smartphone. I'm going to bed because I'm waking up super early. The sun rises here at about like five o'clock, so we're going to be leaving the house at four o'clock in the morning to get that sunrise shot early. You don't need to hear anymore from me. Just remember that making smartphone videos is easier than you think.