Sing the song two or three times, and move the phone between takes —
close up, wide, from the side. Every take is a new "camera". Put them together and it
looks like a multi-camera shoot, because it is one: the cameras just took turns.
A reel camrip made from two takes of a song, and the same reel in the editor: one row per take, the lit tile is the take on screen.
Why one phone is enough
A multi-camera video is not about owning several cameras. It is about the viewer seeing
the same moment from different places. If you perform the song the same way each time,
three takes from three spots give you three angles of one performance.
That is how camrip started. We had one phone and a chorus we wanted to post. So we
sang it twice — once close, once from further back — and then spent an evening in a video
editor sliding the clips around until the lips matched the words again. Every reel, the
same evening. camrip exists because we did not want to do that part by hand any more.
Why it looks better than a single shot
It holds attention. A change of angle every few seconds gives the eye
something new, the way a real music video does. One static shot for a whole song is hard
to watch to the end.
It shows more of you. The close-up carries the emotion, the wide shot
shows the place and the movement, the side angle adds depth.
It forgives. If one take has a weak moment — a blink, a wobble, a
passer-by — the cut can be on another take right there.
How to film it
One phone, moved between takes. Every take is a new angle.
Play the backing track out loud, from a speaker near the phone, in
every take. The takes are lined up by that shared sound. With headphones on, each take
only hears your voice, and two sung takes never match to the millisecond.
Pick two or three spots: one close-up at eye level, one wide that
shows where you are, one from the side or slightly below.
Keep everything else the same: outfit, light, the same tempo. If the
sun moves between takes, the cuts will show it.
Sing the whole song every time, not just your favourite part. The more
of the song each take covers, the more choice every cut has.
Start recording a few seconds before the music and stop a few seconds
after.
Putting the takes together
You can do it by hand in any editor: stack the takes, line them up by the waveform, cut
between them, then check every cut for lip-sync. Or add the takes to
camrip: it lines them up by their sound to the millisecond, picks the
best shot for every cut, cuts on the beat, and hands you a vertical reel. Every cut can
still be changed by hand.