About

Story First

Smartphone Shooter Has Journalistic Storytelling at Its Heart.

 

Who? What? When? Why? and How?

Smartphone Shooter was set up by me, Toby Sadler.

I am a broadcast journalist with nearly 20 years experience. Most recently I’ve been an on air reporter with the likes of Sky News, ITV News and Channel 5 News.

That’s relevant because TV reporters are essentially video storytellers. We are experts in taking often complex ideas and telling them to people in the shortest most engaging way.

This journalistic approach to storytelling is central to my smartphone training.

It is also a crucial mindset when making content for digital platforms where attention spans are even shorter.

I began training people to shoot their own stories in 2015 – starting Smartphone Shooter in 2016.

You Need Video

Don’t just take my word for it.

Tech giant Cisco predicts that 82% of internet traffic will be video by 2022.

It was 75% in 2017.

Follow the data on your own posts and you’ll see video drives engagement like nothing else.

Why smartphone video?

I can shoot and edit a report for TV on my smartphone and no one would know.

For social media the phone can also deliver all the graphics and effects that used to take an editor hours to produce.

For day-to-day video creation you needn’t go further than your smartphone.

It’s a top quality video camera and editing suite in your pocket.

For more details about the training please click here.

 

  • This was the most valuable two days of hands-on training I’ve done. If we even produce one film in-house that would have been done externally, we will have saved money.

    Dan Barley – Schroders

  • I feel totally empowered to go and make great films. Absolutely great, fun, learning, inspiration – what’s not to like?

    Richard Crabb – Tesco

  • “Toby is absolutely at the top of his game and our go-to person for smartphone video training. We trust him to train ambassadors, military personnel, and most importantly our own staff. I cannot recommend him highly enough”

    Adam Waters – BFBS Creative

  • Toby was great; he is exceptionally personable and made the 2 days training a lot of fun. I highly recommend Smartphone Shooter – this training was one of the best sessions I have had in my career.

    Susan Diemer – Direct Line Group

  • Very valuable, learned a lot about filming, lighting and editing…Toby was very helpful and patient. He made the two day experience very enjoyable.

    Sofia Mumtaz – Cazenove Capital

  • Extremely valuable. I feel much more confident to go and film. Thank you Toby! You’re a great teacher.

    Bryan Carter – Euronews NBC

  • This is a well delivered course, useful tips and feedback throughout. Good selection of equipment available to allow for experimentation.

    Alex Chrysandreas – Tesco

  • Fantastic training session. Loved being hands on filming and editing. Toby was great! Very helpful

    Lucy Hay – AECOM

  • Thanks to the team at Smartphone Shooter for two really excellent and stimulating sessions. The training was exactly what we were after. Everyone who took part found it extremely helpful.

    Alistair Smith – The Stage

  • Really valuable. I am very happy, it covered everything I needed to know. Toby was great.

    Nicole Carey – Schroders

  • Very valuable. I came in with only a very basic knowledge of filming and no editing experience. I now feel confident in putting a video together. Thank you!

    Jessica Shaffner – Tesco

  • AECOM

    Engineering firm Aecom wanted to train up staff from its internal and external comms departments as well as marketing and events teams. Smartphone Shooter provided a series of one-day courses teaching all the fundamental elements of filmmaking on a smartphone.

  • Tesco

    Tesco made a few bookings with Smartphone Shooter. For example one project was to train up the brand team to show off their work to the rest of the company. They were taught how to shoot on the phone then edit on the Mac. Another training session was focused on the technology team. This was another internal comms job. The team learnt how to shoot and edit on their phones – allowing them to educate Tesco employees about their role and the projects they were doing.

  • Schroders

    Schroders have been a regular client of Smartphone Shooter. Repeat bookings have resulted in training for press, PR and marketing teams as well as events and internal comms. These two-day courses allowed in depth training on the technicalities of filmmaking but also video storytelling for a digital audience.

  • Direct Line Group

    This training focused on NIG which is the commercial insurance arm of the Direct Line Group. Smartphone Shooter taught a two day Android based shoot / edit course so the team there could make engaging video for both internal and external audiences.

  • Euronews NBC

    Smartphone Shooter trained Euronews NBC journalists to shoot and edit broadcast quality video on their smartphones. Sessions were carried out both in London and Brussels. The station was relaunching and made a commitment to using iPhones as their primary newsgathering camera where possible. This meant shooting for both recorded and live reports.

  • Cazenove Capital

    Wealth management company Cazenove Capital wanted a mix of people trained from the content to the charities team, plus some internal comms people. I was able to tailor a course that met everyone’s needs. They all came away with practical video skills they could use right away.

  • NIG

    NIG is the commercial insurance arm of the Direct Line Group. Smartphone Shooter taught a two day Android based shoot / edit course so the team there could make engaging video for both internal and external audiences.

  • Fitzroy

    Fitzroy is a fantastic charity who support people with learning difficulties. Their marketing team were trained to shoot and edit video on their phones. This allowed them to increase engagement on social media with planned campaigns. It also meant they could capture spontaneous moments with people they help. Smartphone shooter was also rehired to train new members of staff and also to shoot three corporate films for the charity.

  • Bfbs Creative

    BFBS has been working with Smartphone Shooter for several years. Brought in to provide specialist training under the BFBS name. Clients have included the British Army, Royal Air Force and Royal Navy. Regular training has also been given to the Ministry of Defence along with sessions for The Foreign Office and Department for Exiting the European Union.

  • Cardiff University

    Smartphone Shooter was hired by Hard Truth media to collaborate on this training. We helped train cancer research scientists to make films about their work so they could get more charitable donations to support future research projects. It was a huge success and one of the more humbling projects to work on.

  • City University

    Smartphone Shooter founder Toby Sadler was invited to be a guest lecturer to the post graduate Broadcast Journalism Students at City University in London. This is one of the best courses of its type in the country. The lectures focused on emerging trends in mobile journalism as well as practical training in smartphone filmmaking.

  • F1000

    F1000 is an Open Research publishing platform for scientists, scholars and clinicians offering rapid publication of articles and other research outputs without editorial bias. We trained their marketing and comms team to better tell the story of the organisation with self-shot smartphone video.

  • The Stage

    The Stage magazine wanted to bring video to their digital storytelling. Smartphone Shooter taught their journalists how to shoot video on their phones in the often challenging environment of the red carpet. This training like so many also focuses on what good storytelling with video looks like.

  • WAFA

    This was such an exciting project. Smartphone Shooter taught this fitness start-up company how to shoot and edit on the phone and tell their story with video. The films WAFA now makes help drive business through Facebook advertising. This is a company on the up.

  • BJTC

    The Broadcast Journalism Council accredits the leading higher eduction courses in the field. Smartphone Shooter founder Toby Sadler was invited as a guest speaker to talk to the heads of these courses at the BJTC’s annual conference. This was an expert view on which broadcasters are embracing mobile journalism and how that is shaping the industry.

  • Sherlock

    Sherlock are a retail and graphic design agency in Brighton. This training came about through their association with Tesco. The course not only gave their team the skills to shoot and edit video with a smartphone, but also acted as a team building away day.

  • Wolff Olins

    Wolff Olins is a brand agency that works with the likes of Tesco, TikTok and Uber. They wanted to be able to tell the behind the scenes stories of some of those relationships using smartphone video. This course taught those filmmaking skills plus desktop editing.

Contact

Phone: +44 208 243 8860

Email: info@smartphoneshooter.com

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