How can I make my own silent unboxing videos?

October 10, 2013 12:49 PM

I discovered ASMR on Metafilter and now am a devoted fan. What equipment and techniques would I need to make silent unboxing videos like this one? Talk to me like I'm a five year old. I know nothing about video and sound recording.
posted by Wordwoman to Media & Arts (10 answers total)

By "silent" do you mean "not silent"? That video is full of crinkling plastic noises. It's a pretty simple video. You can make one like it by propping up your cell phone somewhere next to some grocery bags and setting the camera to video mode.
posted by tylerkaraszewski at 12:57 PM on October 10, 2013

Response by poster: Silent unboxing videos are unboxing videos without narration.
posted by Wordwoman at 1:00 PM on October 10, 2013

Well, to make a video with no narration, you simply don't talk while you record it, which makes it seem like you're not asking about any specific technique, but rather how to record a video *at all*? Do you have a relatively modern smart phone or digital camera? If so, it most likely has a video mode. Figure out how to turn it on and you're halfway there. You may want a tripod at some point, but you can literally tape your phone to a stick and prop it up somewhere too, if you like, especially to start.
posted by tylerkaraszewski at 1:12 PM on October 10, 2013

Based on the angle, that video may have been made by someone had a small camera such as a GoPro strapped to their head and used stabilizing software (now built into YouTube's upload, I think) to keep the video from being shaky.

Now that I think about it, though, it's more likely that they had a small camera on a stand -- this could be as easy as stacking a bunch of books and resting your smartphone on them upright -- wrapped their arms around that, and just did the hand-motions acting as if the camera was their face.

The audio seems pretty good so there's an off-chance they're using an external mic.

If you're just starting out though? Grab a smartphone, stack up some books, lean it against them, unpack stuff in front of the camera, and depending on your results upgrade your hardware (a dedicated camera, an actual camera stand, an external mic) from there.
posted by griphus at 1:40 PM on October 10, 2013

A diagram.
posted by griphus at 1:46 PM on October 10, 2013 [1 favorite]

Have you tried asking the person who made the video?
posted by Aleyn at 3:35 PM on October 10, 2013

I don't get the ASMR thing, but I'm aware of it. From what I can tell, the audio quality is pretty important, so you should probably look into an external microphone. Search youtube for "ASMR 3D" for examples.
posted by Diag at 4:18 PM on October 10, 2013

Yeah, the populars ones use binaural microphones and high quality video cameras. I'm guessing they do a lot of trial and error setups to figure it out.
posted by otherwordlyglow at 5:47 PM on October 10, 2013

I think there's a very active area on Reddit that quite a few ASMRists hang out in. I've never checked it out but it sounds like that would be a good place to ask questions.
posted by otherwordlyglow at 7:07 PM on October 10, 2013

Seriously, hop by http://www.reddit.com/r/asmr and make a post there. It's a very active and friendly bunch of people, you will definitely get what you want.
posted by internet!Hannah at 3:11 AM on October 11, 2013 [1 favorite]