The phone video playbook for local businesses

Step 1: Set up your phone once

A few settings, changed once, improve every clip:

• Clean the lens. Phones live in pockets and toolbags. A quick wipe fixes most "blurry" footage.
• Choose 1080p at 30 frames per second. It is sharp enough for every platform and keeps file sizes manageable.
• Turn on gridlines. They help keep horizons level and subjects framed.
• Lock exposure and focus by pressing and holding on the subject before recording, so the picture does not pulse as you move.
• Free up storage before the day starts. Running out mid-job is a common reason good moments are lost.

Optional but worth it: an inexpensive clip-on microphone for anyone talking to camera, and a small phone stand for hands-free shots.

Step 2: Learn the five-shot routine

Most good job clips are built from the same five shots. Teach them to everyone on your team and they become automatic.

1. The wide before. Three to five seconds showing the space or problem before you start. Hold the phone still.
2. The close detail. The specific thing being fixed, cleaned, painted or made: the stained grout, the worn hinge, the raw dough.
3. The work in motion. Hands and tools doing the job. Five to ten seconds is plenty.
4. The reveal. The same angle as the wide before, now finished. This is the shot people remember.
5. The tidy finish. The clean-up, the swept floor, the tools packed. It quietly says "we respect your home".

Five shots, perhaps a minute of raw footage in total, and you have enough for a polished 20-second clip.

Step 3: Get light and sound right

Light

Natural light is your friend. Face the subject towards a window rather than shooting into one. In dim parkades or storage rooms, a small LED work light angled off a wall gives softer light than pointing it straight at the subject.

On rainy corridor days, interiors can be dark by mid-afternoon. Film key shots earlier in the day when you can.

Sound

If nobody is speaking, sound matters less, because most people watch silently. If you are explaining something, get close to the phone or use a clip-on mic, turn off loud tools while talking, and step away from traffic noise on North Road or Lougheed Highway.

Step 4: Handle consent and privacy properly

This is the step that separates professional businesses from careless ones, and it matters a great deal in a neighbourhood where many people live close together in strata buildings.

Before you film in a home or suite

• Ask the customer first. Explain what you would like to film and where it might be posted. Accept "no" without argument.
• Keep personal items out of frame. Family photos, mail, documents, screens and anything with a name on it.
• Never show unit numbers, building names next to a door, or licence plates. Together with a neighbourhood name, those can identify someone's home.
• Film people only with their agreement. That includes the customer, their family, neighbours and other trades on site.

In common areas and buildings

Many strata buildings have their own rules about filming in lobbies, hallways, parkades and amenity rooms. Ask the building manager or strata council if you are unsure, and follow whatever they decide. When in doubt, film only inside the space you were hired to work in.

In shops, cafés and studios

If you run a public-facing business, let customers know when you are filming, avoid capturing faces without agreement, and give staff the option not to appear.

We are not lawyers, so this is practical guidance rather than legal advice. If you have specific privacy questions, ask a qualified professional.

Step 5: Keep editing simple

A good short clip needs only a few edits:

1. Trim to the strongest moments. Cut the fumbling at the start and end of each shot.
2. Order the shots: before, detail, work, reveal, tidy.
3. Add captions so the clip makes sense with the sound off. Burned-in captions are more reliable than relying on auto-captioning.
4. Add one line of text at the start that says what the viewer is about to see.
5. Export at the platform's recommended size.

Free editing apps on your phone are enough for this. Avoid heavy filters, flashy transitions and stock footage; they make honest work look like an advert.

Step 6: Turn one job into a week of posts

One well-filmed job can feed several posts across the week:

Adjust to the platforms your customers use. For most corridor businesses, the Google profile matters more than any social channel.

Step 7: Write captions that help

A caption should tell the viewer what they are looking at and why it matters. Name the general area where it is accurate and useful ("a newer suite near Burquitlam station"), but never the address.

A simple formula: what the problem was, what you did, one tip for the viewer.

For example: "Bathroom fan that stopped pulling moisture in a newer suite near Lougheed. Cleaned the duct and replaced the fan. Tip: if your mirror stays foggy for more than ten minutes after a shower, check the fan before mould starts."

Common mistakes

• Filming without asking. It damages trust far more than any clip can build it.
• Shaky, rushed shots. Hold still for three seconds at the start and end of every shot.
• Showing identifying details. Unit numbers, plates and personal documents.
• Chasing trends. Dances and memes rarely win local work. Clear, calm footage of good work does.
• Posting in bursts. Two or three clips a week, every week, beats twenty in one week and none for a month.

Where to go from here

To plan which jobs to film and when, use the corridor content calendar. To put clips on pages that answer real questions, read writing local pages that help. If you would like help with editing, captions and posting, see our short video and photo stories service.