If you want to capture a low-flying UFO on your phone, artful moviemaking tips aren’t that important. Just hold the camera steady, and frame the action in the wide (landscape) orientation. Then keep shooting until the UFO disappears…or vaporizes you. But in just about all other cases, a few simple but powerful techniques can greatly improve your videos. We’ve written about many of them here, such as using close-ups, lighting from the side, and proving voice-over narration.

Now, we’re distilling these ideas into a series of brief Instagram posts. The moviemaking  tips—running about 100 words—are illustrated with one or a few frames from mobile movies featured on this site. You certainly don’t need to employ all the tips. But because the presentation is concise,  you can quickly survey the possibilities.

A new tip will appear on Instagram every day @MobileMovieMaking. If you find them useful, we’d appreciate your liking them and–better–leaving comments. Here are the tips to date:

1. Get Close
2. Frame Your Subject Within an Onscreen Frame
3. Shoot Low
4. Look for Surprising Locations
5. Create “Two Shots”
6. Shoot Silhouettes
7. Light from the Side
8. Make It Unreal
9. Move in for Emphasis
10. Use Extreme Close-ups to Astonish Viewers
11. Shoot Subjects on the Slant
12. Let the Light Shine (Practical Lights)
13. Start with a Close-up
14. Show What the Subject Sees
15. Reuse Visuals
16. Dress Up Your Subjects (Costumes)
17. Give Your Project a Title
18. Make Eye Contact in an Interview
19. Capture Action Shot by Shot
20. Use Color Creatively
21. Narrate Your Movie
22. Play with Mirrors
23. Get Wet
24. Shoot Wide
25. Tilt Up to Capture Height
26. Have Subjects Enter and Exit the Frame
27. Split the Screen
28. Storyboard Action Scenes
29. Shoot From Behind
30. Write a Shot List
31. Use a Crowd to Focus Attention on Your Subject