How to film and send footage for a real estate video edit

1. Set up your phone or camera

Five minutes of setup saves hours in the edit. Do this before you walk into the property.

• Film in 4K. It gives your editor room to crop, stabilize and cut a vertical reel from horizontal footage.
• Use 30 fps for normal clips and 60 fps for anything you want slowed down or speed ramped. Stay consistent within each room.
• On iPhone, turn off HDR video (Settings, Camera, Record Video). HDR clips look washed out once they're graded with normal footage.
• Lock exposure and focus: press and hold on the screen until AE/AF Lock appears, so the image doesn't pulse as you move from a dark hall to a bright window.
• Clean the lens, switch to airplane mode, and check you have at least 20 GB free.

2. Horizontal or vertical?

If you only need an Instagram or TikTok reel, filming vertically is fine. If you want both a reel and a listing film for YouTube, MLS or your website, film horizontally in 4K. Your editor can crop a vertical reel from horizontal footage, but not the other way around.

When filming horizontally for both formats, keep the main subject near the center of the frame, so the vertical crop doesn't cut it off.

3. Light the property

• Turn on every light, including lamps and under-cabinet lights, and open every blind.
• Film interiors in the middle of the day, when rooms are brightest and most even.
• Film exteriors and pools in the hour before sunset for warm, cinematic light, or at dusk with every interior light on.
• Avoid pointing straight at a bright window for long. Angle across it instead.

4. The shot list, room by room

Film in the order a buyer would walk through the property. It makes organizing and editing much faster.

1. 01Exterior: a slow walk toward the entrance, the front of the house, and the street or view.
2. 02Entrance and main living area: a slow reveal from the doorway, then a wide move across the room.
3. 03Kitchen: a wide move, then details such as the stone, fixtures and appliances.
4. 04Bedrooms: one wide move from the doorway per bedroom, plus the view from the window of the main bedroom.
5. 05Bathrooms: one wide move, then details such as the shower, bath and hardware.
6. 06Outdoor and amenities: pool, garden, balcony, gym, parking and anything that sells the lifestyle.
7. 07Details and extras: textures, décor, and three or four close-ups that make the property feel expensive.

5. Filming for speed ramps

A speed ramp is when a clip speeds up and then slows down, usually on the beat of the music. It's what makes a reel feel fast and cinematic. Editors can only create a good ramp if the clip has enough continuous movement.

• Film long continuous moves of 10 to 20 seconds instead of short 3-second clips.
• Hold still for 2 to 3 seconds at the start and end of every move. That's where the ramp slows down.
• Walk at a steady speed. Your editor controls the speed changes, so you don't need to.
• Film at 60 fps, so the slow parts of the ramp stay smooth.
• The best moves for ramps are walking through a doorway, pushing toward a window or view, and moving sideways past a feature.

6. Filming yourself on camera

• Use a clip-on microphone. Phone mics pick up room echo, and audio is the first thing viewers notice.
• Film in a quiet room with soft light on your face, and the property visible behind you.
• Look at the lens, not the screen.
• Record 10 seconds of silence in each room you talk in. Editors use it to smooth out cuts in the audio.
• Say each line twice. Small mistakes are fine; your editor will pick the best take.

7. Organize your footage before you send it

This is the step most people skip, and it's the one that saves the most time. Put your clips into numbered folders by area, in the order a buyer would walk through the property:

📁 123 Ocean Drive – Listing footage
   📁 01 Exterior
   📁 02 Entrance and living
   📁 03 Kitchen and dining
   📁 04 Bedrooms
   📁 05 Bathrooms
   📁 06 Outdoor and amenities
   📁 07 Details
   📁 08 Drone
   📁 09 Agent on camera
   📄 Brief and notes

• Delete the obvious mistakes, like clips of the floor or accidental recordings, but keep every usable take.
• Keep the original files. Don't trim or export them first.
• Put drone footage and agent-on-camera clips in their own folders, because they're edited differently.

8. What to send with your footage

A short brief means the first cut is close to what you want. Include:

• The listing name or address, and the price if you want it shown
• Where you'll post the video, and which formats you need: vertical, horizontal or both
• The length you want, for example 30 seconds for a reel or 90 seconds for a listing film
• The style: cinematic, speed ramp, trendy or agent on camera, plus a reference video you like
• The 3 features that must appear, such as the view, the kitchen or the pool
• Your branding: logo, colors, fonts and any intro or outro
• Music you like, or music you want to avoid
• Any text or captions, such as bedrooms, size and contact details

9. How to send it without losing quality

• Upload the whole folder to Google Drive, Dropbox or WeTransfer, and send one link.
• Set sharing to 'anyone with the link can view', so your editor isn't stuck waiting for access.
• Never send footage through WhatsApp, Instagram or email attachments. They compress the video and it can't be graded properly.
• Wait until the upload is 100% complete before sharing the link.