I recently edited a video for a client who'd filmed the same event using three different cameras: an action camera, a mobile phone and a digital SLR.
On paper, that's a great setup. Multiple camera angles give you more options in the edit and can make a fairly straightforward piece of content much more engaging.
The problem was that all three cameras had recorded things slightly differently.
The colours didn't match. The resolutions were different. One camera had reasonable audio, while the others sounded noticeably worse.
And while two cameras had recorded long, fairly continuous videos, the handheld phone footage consisted of lots of little clips scattered throughout the event.
None of this made the job impossible. I was able to synchronise the footage using Adobe Premiere Pro's multi-camera tools and bring the different camera looks much closer together.
But what could have been a relatively straightforward edit became a much more time-consuming exercise.
It got me thinking about a few simple things businesses can do when filming their own content that make life much easier for whoever has to edit it.
1. Try to keep your cameras recording continuously
This is probably the biggest lesson from the job.
When you're filming something with multiple cameras, ideally you want them all recording the same event from beginning to end.
That gives the editor a continuous recording from each angle, making it much easier to synchronise everything and switch between cameras.
What makes things harder is having two cameras recording for an hour and a third camera producing 30 separate clips, each lasting a few seconds.
Every time the camera stops and starts, that's another piece of footage that potentially needs positioning and synchronising.
If continuous recording isn't practical, try to keep the number of stops and starts to a minimum, particularly during important sections.
A phone can be a perfectly good additional camera. Just treat it like a camera rather than something you're occasionally grabbing to capture a quick clip.
2. Give the cameras something obvious to synchronise
One of the most useful things you can do at the start of a multi-camera recording costs absolutely nothing.
Clap your hands.
Seriously.
Start all the cameras recording, stand somewhere they can see and hear you, and give one loud, deliberate clap.
That creates a recognisable sound spike in each recording, along with a visible moment that can be used to line the footage up.
A proper clapperboard is great, but for most small business video shoots, a hand clap will do the job.
Editing software can often synchronise cameras automatically by comparing their audio. The clearer and more consistent the sound, the better the chance of that working.
In my recent edit, the cameras had captured such different audio that automatic synchronisation wasn't always reliable.
A simple clap at the beginning would have provided a useful reference point.
If you stop and restart a camera, do another clap when you begin recording again, wherever practical.
3. Don't forget about sound
People often concentrate on the picture when they're filming, but audio can be just as important.
You don't necessarily need professional microphones on every camera, especially if the finished video will use audio from one main source.
But it's worth deciding which camera or microphone will capture the sound you're actually going to use.
If somebody is speaking, a microphone positioned reasonably close to them will generally give you a much better result than a camera microphone on the other side of the room.
Meanwhile, let the other cameras record their own audio as well, even if it won't appear in the finished video.
Those recordings can be extremely useful for synchronising the different camera angles.
And before the important bit begins, record a short test and listen to it. A few seconds spent checking the sound can save an awful lot of frustration.
4. Try to make the cameras look similar before you start
A modern phone, an action camera and a DSLR can all produce excellent video.
But put their footage next to each other and you might be surprised how different it looks.
One camera might produce a warm, saturated picture. Another might look cooler or flatter. The action camera might have a particularly wide angle and aggressive image processing.
In editing, we can use colour correction and grading to bring those images closer together.
But automatic colour matching isn't magic. It can provide a useful starting point, but there's often still a fair amount of adjustment needed by eye.
If possible, use similar colour settings on each camera, avoid dramatic filters and try to keep the white balance consistent.
It's also worth avoiding automatic settings that constantly change the colour or exposure as somebody moves around the scene.
You don't have to understand all the technical details. Just take a few seconds to look at what each camera is recording and ask: do these pictures look roughly alike?
5. Keep the lighting consistent
Lighting makes an enormous difference to how well footage from different cameras will match.
If one camera is pointing towards a bright window and another is looking into a dark corner, they'll have very different images to work with.
The same goes for mixing daylight with warm indoor lighting.
Where possible, keep the lighting reasonably even across the scene and avoid changing it halfway through the recording.
You don't need a professional lighting rig.
Sometimes moving a subject away from a window, switching off an awkward light or repositioning a camera is enough to make a significant improvement.
6. Agree on a resolution and frame rate
Another thing worth checking before filming is that the cameras are recording in reasonably compatible formats.
Ideally, decide whether the finished video will be 1080p or 4K, and try to record everything at the same frame rate.
In the UK, 25 frames per second is a common choice, but consistency matters more than choosing one particular number.
Mixing different resolutions and frame rates isn't necessarily a disaster. Modern editing software can accommodate it.
It just creates another opportunity for things to look different or require additional work.
One extra thing to watch with phones: some record using variable frame rates, which can occasionally complicate synchronisation in editing software.
7. Think about where the finished video will be used
If you're filming content for social media, it's worth thinking about the finished format before pressing record.
A widescreen interview might look great on a website or YouTube.
But if you also want vertical clips for Instagram Reels, TikTok or YouTube Shorts, you'll need to allow for that when framing your shots.
Try to keep important subjects reasonably central, with enough space around them to allow different crops later.
A little thought at this stage can make it much easier to create several useful pieces of content from one filming session.
Better footage doesn't necessarily mean more expensive equipment
I don't want this to sound like every business needs a professional video crew, matching cameras and expensive microphones before it can make a video.
Quite the opposite.
You can produce genuinely useful business content with equipment you probably already own.
The trick is to be a little more deliberate about how you use it.
Keep the cameras running. Record usable audio. Give everything a clear synchronisation point. Check the lighting. Keep your settings reasonably consistent.
None of those things requires a particularly big budget.
A little preparation can save real money
The reason I'm mentioning all this isn't because difficult footage can't be edited.
It can.
I managed to synchronise the different camera angles, correct the footage and bring everything together for my client.
But the extra work takes time.
And when you're paying somebody to edit your video, time is money.
If your footage arrives reasonably well organised, with consistent pictures and a clear way to synchronise the cameras, more of the editing budget can go towards making the actual video better.
That might mean more engaging cuts, better graphics, captions, music or additional versions for social media.
I'd much rather spend my time making your content look great than trying to work out where the eighth 12-second phone clip belongs in an hour-long recording.