Build a demo rig for shooting live interactions with your iPhone.
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Grab a sturdy table. We’re using a small commercial-grade folding table.
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Use a piece of white foamcore for the base to set your iPhone on. This will become the background of your video. Use another piece positioned vertically behind the top of the iPhone. This will work as a bounce card that will reflect light from our two lamps to even out the lighting in our video.
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Your iPhone goes in the center of the foamcore. I suggest using 3M Poster Tape to secure your phone to the surface so it won’t slide around while you’re trying to interact with it. This tape is removable, and in my experience, doesn't leave a residue.
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Use two lamps, one on either side of the foamcore-covered table. Here, we’re using two daylight-balanced compact fluorescent desk lamps.
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Adjust your tripod legs so that two of them are shorter and sit on the table, while the third extends to the floor. This allows you to get the camera very close to directly above the iPhone.
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Point your camera down at the iPhone, but not directly down. You want to angle it back just slightly so that the camera’s reflection doesn’t appear in the glossy iPhone screen, but not so far back that the reflection of the foamcore bounce card appears in the reflection.
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Don’t be afraid to turn your camera 90 degrees to better frame your iPhone in the video display. You can always rotate your video 90 degrees after you capture it on your Mac.
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After capture, you’ll want to color correct your video so the background is pure white. If you’re using Final Cut Pro, there is a good technical introduction to the 3-way Color Corrector filter here.
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If you want to see a demo of video that can be created with this rig, check out this video, or subscribe to the podcast.