Just because you film your videos by yourself doesn't mean you can't get really cool B-roll shots.

So here are seven easy and cinematic B-roll clip ideas that you should include in your next YouTube video. All filmed just using your phone and some beginner-friendly minimalist gear.

And thanks to DJI for sponsoring today's video. Starting with number one, top down shots. I feel like I've been seeing this angle in more and more vlogs lately and it totally makes sense. It's a very unique perspective and it makes your videos stand out. Plus if you know what you're doing, it's really not that hard. So all you're going to need is a tripod and ideally some kind of tall surface, whether it's setting your tripod up on your countertop, on your kitchen table, or in this case, I'm just going to use a stool to get that extra height to kind of make it look like I have my camera hanging from the ceiling. So basically all I'm going to do is extend my tripod as tall as I can and adjust the base so it fits on my stool here and then set it on the stool. And now I am going to have a really nice high up top down shot. Now of course I'm not going to be able to see what my camera is seeing from up there.

So what I'm going to do is open up my camera app before I attach it to the tripod and I'm going to open up the camera app on my Apple watch as well. So that way even as I lift up the phone, I'll be able to see what my camera is seeing on my wrist. And then of course the most important step, I'm going to flip down the tripod so that the phone is facing pretty much straight down. Now of course if you are using this method you can't have it pointing directly straight down unless you want to crop it later. So I'm going to do a little bit more of like a you know in between sort of angle. So we still get the top down look but with a little less stool in the shot.

Another simple but really effective B-roll shot you can get is using the foreground to add more depth to your shot. Specifically by placing something between the camera and the subject aka you. This is especially effective when you keep your camera focused on the foreground and allow the subject to kind of get blurry in the background. This type of shot feels intentional and artistic because by default people's cameras will focus on the human in the frame. So if you're focused on the foreground instead it's because you meant to do it and it just tells a bit more of a story. To do this set your phone up close to your foreground. In the case for this shot it's going to be my notebook sitting on the table. I want to make sure the framing looks okay once I'm in it so I'll go ahead and sit on the couch behind my foreground here just to double check the framing on my watch. It's looking good so we're good to start recording.

Now from behind the camera I'm going to tap and hold on the foreground in this case it's the notebook until I see that "ae" "af lock" text pop up on screen. This basically lets me know that my camera's focus is going to be locked on that notebook. It's not going to switch over to my face once I'm in the frame because otherwise it would automatically shift to me. iPhone cameras are going to automatically focus on a human face if they see one. So once I've got my focus locked on my foreground I'll go ahead and press record and then act out my little scene here. And what I'm left with is this shot that has just a little bit more depth and intention than a simple auto focus clip. All right let's get some movement into this next shot. I'm going to be using DJI's new Osmo Mobile 7P to seamlessly track my movement without needing anybody else to film me. I'm just going to set it down on the counter here on the little tripod legs and then I can actually use the extension rod to get it to the height that I want.

And with the new multifunctional module I can actually track myself and use gestures to stop and start the recording all while just using the iPhone camera app. I don't even need to open up the DJI MIMA app. So I can just hold up my hand like this and I can see that the green light has turned on on the module. That means that now it is tracking me as I move around and to start recording I can just throw up a peace sign and I see that the yellow light blinks and then it turns green and now I know that it is filming me as well as tracking me. I love that it has this little indicator light because it means that I can film with the back cameras on my phone which is what I prefer to do but still have the confidence that it is in fact recording. So once it's recording and tracking me I'll just walk out of the scene and then walk back in to get a cinematic tracking shot no camera operator needed. Another cool shot you can get using the Osmo Mobile 7P is a motion time lapse. A time lapse can be a great way to show the passage of time in your story but visually it can be a little bit predictable. One way to spice it up is by adding movement. With the Osmo Mobile 7P you can create a motion lapse which means the gimbal will slowly move throughout the duration of your time lapse being captured leaving you with this cool dynamic motion lapse effect.

To do this just open up the DJI Mimo app and scroll over the options at the bottom to find time lapse. Tap on this down arrow up here to adjust the settings. We'll choose our duration so for this let's say five minutes. For interval I'm gonna go with every two seconds and finally for time lapse mode instead of just stationary we're gonna choose L to R which is left to right obviously. Then we just set it up, let it do its thing for the next five minutes and we're left with this cool motion time lapse shot.

The new Osmo Mobile 7P has a ton of really cool features and a lot of it comes down to this new multifunctional module I was just telling you about. In addition to all the tracking and gesture control features it also comes with this built-in light which is small but pretty powerful and you can adjust the brightness and the color temperature. Plus this little module also acts as a mic receiver all you have to do is plug it into your phone so you can pair your DJI mic minis to this module to get really awesome audio without having to plug in an additional receiver. Oh and the bonus feature that I think makes this the perfect vlogging setup especially for travel the gimbal has 10 hours of battery life and when it's turned off you can use it as an external battery bank for your phone so you can plug it in and charge up your phone while you're on the go.

Now I know some of you might be wondering why should I get this gimbal for my phone instead of just getting DJI's Osmo Pocket 3. This retails for about $150 US while this little guy is like $520.

So this is a really great starting point for being able to get smooth footage and all of the tracking features that people love in the Osmo Pocket 3 but at a much more affordable price tag.

Honestly this is my preferred setup because I like filming with my phone sometimes on the gimbal and sometimes off. When you have a mobile gimbal like this you still have the option to sometimes just film with your phone handheld. So that's why for me a mobile gimbal is actually my preference but you can let me know what you think in the comments. I'm planning on making a full review video of the Osmo Pocket 3 coming up so let me know if you'd like to see that in the comments below.

Our next B-roll clip is a POV shot but not from your point of view, your coffee's point of view.

All you need to do for this is take your phone and cover up the camera with some plastic wrap.

Then you can just sprinkle something on top. Alternatively if you want to pour a liquid onto your phone camera you could take a small clear glass and set it on top of the lenses too.

Just depending on if what you want to show is a liquid or a solid I guess. For this particular shot I'm going to use this plastic wrap to give the impression that the phone is inside of this portafilter. So now that I've got the plastic wrap on my phone I'm going to slowly sprinkle the coffee grounds on top until the lenses are covered. With that clip filmed I want to further sell the idea that we're looking out from the bottom of the portafilter and since we know they're round we expect the view to kind of be round as well. So all I'm going to do is pull my clip into the timeline in DaVinci Resolve here and then I'm just going to pull up the vignette effect and click and drag that onto my clip. You can see we're already getting that rounded effect that I'm going for but I'm just going to play around with the size and shape of the vignette a little bit until I'm happy with how it looks. Make the edges a little less soft, make it a bit more spherical and make it bigger. Now we sort of get the impression that we're like seeing the sides of the portafilter as we look out from the bottom and that's how I've created my portafilter filling up with coffee POV shot.

For this shot we're going to once again use the Osmo Mobile 7P to get some smooth movement as our espresso shot is being pulled. Before we do that though I'm going to make sure that I am filming in 60 frames per second because I want to be able to put this in slow-mo later. Just open up your settings app, scroll down to find camera, tap on record video and select 4k at 60 frames per second.

High efficiency. If you've watched my videos before in the past you'll know that I'm typically more of a most compatible format fan. However I am willing to make the sacrifice for the sake of 60 frames per second at 4k. The most compatible thing tends to come into play when you're filming a lot of longer clips so it should be all right for this.

Then I'll make sure that my gimbal is in tilt lock mode.

I'll do that just by pressing the M button to cycle between modes. I don't want this particular shot to tilt up and down. I kind of want it to just stay steady as I make the motion pulling back.

So in tilt lock mode that'll make sure that I don't have any forward and backward motion.

And now we're ready to film. So I'm just going to press start on the espresso machine and start recording on my phone and then as the espresso shot is being pulled I'm just going to slowly move back to get a nice steady pullback shot. Now to really make this clip shine we're going to put it into slow motion. I'm just going to pull it into my DaVinci Resolve timeline here and select it and all I have to do is hit command R on my keyboard and it'll bring up my keyboard and it'll bring up this menu to change the clip speed. I'm just going to type in 50% since we filmed it at 60 frames per second and this is a 30 frames per second timeline.

This next shot type is underrated. Truly so simple yet so effective and that is getting atmospheric detail shots. These are the type of clips that are truly just there for the vibe but they tell the viewer more about the setting, the character, which often would be you and sets the tone for the overall story. But these clips don't necessarily relate directly to the action of the story at the moment. They're kind of like close-up establishing shots if I was going to come up with another name for them. Especially helpful for like the beginning of a vlog when you're trying to set up like what is the feeling of this video going to be. So you're going to want to try to get a variety of angles for this. Get some wides, medium, and close-up shots to establish your setting and your character. Maybe in the case of your vlog that's just your house and by showing the little details of it we can get a more in-depth look at your character. Like I feel like we can tell so much about somebody by the little knickknacks around their house or what their decor looks like. That's the kind of introduction to yourself that you're giving through these like aesthetic detail shots.

You don't always have to think about establishing shots as these big sweeping landscape or like drone clips. It can also just be these tiny little details that help to set up what we can expect from the rest of your video. With these b-roll shot ideas on hand I know your vlogs are never going to be boring again. Remember to check out the new DJI Osmo Mobile 7 and 7p if you want to get some more dynamic movement in your shots. And if you're looking for some advice on how to edit all of this lovely b-roll together you should check out this tutorial that I made. It's a beginner guide to all things editing b-roll so make sure you watch that next. As always I hope you're having adventures and following your dreams and I will see you in the next video. Bye!