Phone, 4K, 30 fps, horizontal unless the rule says vertical.
Rule of thirds.Eyes on the top line, face on a side line, never dead centre. It reads as a film, not a video call.
Eye level.Lens at the owner's eye height, sitting. Looking up makes them small, looking down makes them a suspect.
Face the window, not the bay door.Light behind the phone, on the owner's face. Light behind the owner is a silhouette the phone cannot fix.
Lock exposure and focus.Tap and hold on the face until the lock shows. A car passing the door makes an unlocked phone pump brighter and darker mid-answer.
Horizontal for long form, a vertical pass for shorts.The interview is horizontal 4K: a medium shot crops to vertical with room to spare. B-roll gets one horizontal take, then one vertical.
Three-second holds.Dead still for 3 seconds at the start and the end of every shot. Those still frames are the photos. A moving frame is a blurred photo.
Never zoom. Walk.Zoom stays at 1x. Want closer? Step closer. Phone zoom is a crop and it turns to mush.
Ten seconds per B-roll shot, minimum.Count it. The edit needs 3 to 5 clean seconds from the middle, and the first and last seconds are always a wobble.
Record room tone.Thirty seconds of silence in the interview spot, phone rolling, nobody moving. The edit needs it to hide every cut.
Back up before the car park.Copy to the SSD or laptop, open two files, watch them play. Two copies or it did not happen.
The camera split, one Sony plus phones: the Sony takes the interview seat on the tripod with the monitor, LARK receiver in its mic jack. The phone on the second tripod films the owner vertical for the whole interview, then does the B-roll, the team photo and the testimonial. Same rules on both.
One-hour shop (Rancho Express, Strictly German): arrive 5, set up 10, interview 25 with questions 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, pick-ups 3, B-roll 8 with shots 3, 5, 6, 8, 12, team photo and testimonial 4, pack 5. Set-up is ten minutes only because it was rehearsed at the hotel.
Interview set-up
Top-down. Distances are starting points, not law.
Reference image 1
How the two-chair interview should look: bay blurred behind, light from one side.
Reference image 2
The 45-degree light on the owner, medium shot, eyes on the upper third.
Owner and WaheedTwo chairs turned 45 degrees to each other, 1.2 m apart. They look at each other, never at the camera.
Camera (the Sony)1.5 to 2 m from the owner, lens at eye level, medium shot: chest up, air above the head. Owner on one third, looking across the frame to Waheed. The phone on tripod two sits beside it, vertical, tighter on the face.
Key lightThe first umbrella light, 45 degrees off the owner's face, on the side away from the bays, about 1 m away. A window in the same spot does the same job. The light is the owner's. Waheed can be darker.
FillThe second umbrella on the other side, 2 m away, half power, so the shadow side of the face keeps detail. Or behind the owner's far shoulder, on the hair, as a rim.
BackgroundThe bays, 3 m or more behind, so they soften. A car on a lift over the owner's shoulder is the shot. Nothing growing out of their head: move the chair, not the pole.
MicA LARK M2 transmitter on each of them, clipped at the second button, within 30 cm of the mouth. Receiver in the Sony's mic jack, level set so a loud laugh does not clip. LARK fails: the phone on the owner's lap in the voice memo app, synced in the edit.
No time for both umbrellas. One umbrella light only, at 45 degrees. Softer and bigger beats brighter. Overhead fluorescents above the chairs off if the switch is near.
Loud bay. Shut the roller door. Ask for the impact gun to rest for 45 minutes. If it cannot, both chairs into the office with one tool cart as the background. Room tone recorded there.
Always. Airplane mode. Lens wiped. Watch and chair legs out of frame. No big other-brand logo on the owner's shirt. Slate before question one: name, spelled, shop, city, job.
Shot list
Every shot 10 seconds minimum, 3-second still at each end, horizontal first. Tap to tick. "For" says what it feeds.
1 · Sign and front. Across the car park, sign in the top third, a car in frame. All
2 · Slow push on the sign. Walk towards it 10 seconds, steady, phone at chest. Long form · Photo
3 · Bays wide. From the roller door, every lift in frame, hip height. All
4 · Team walking in. From the bay towards the door as the crew comes in, or restaged. All
5 · Owner at work. Under a car or at a screen, not looking at the phone, 20 seconds. All
6 · Hands on a job. Close on hands and the part, 40 cm away, hold still. Short · Photo
7 · Tool close-ups. Three tools, 10 seconds each, phone still, hands enter the frame. Short
8 · The lift going up. Low, wide, the whole car rising. Ask for it. All
9 · Counter and greeting. Over the customer's shoulder at the front desk, restaged with a tech if quiet. Long form · Photo
10 · Screens or software. Booking screen or inspection tablet, close, no customer names. Long form
11 · Waiting room. Wide from the door, then one detail: coffee, the kids' chair, reviews on the wall. Photo · Long form
12 · A car leaving. From inside the bay looking out as a finished car drives off, 15 seconds. All
Reference image 3
Shot 6, hands on a job.
Reference image 4
Shot 8, the lift going up, low and wide.
Reference image 5
Shot 1, sign and front from across the car park.
Reference image 6
The team photo line-up under the sign.
Interview coverage
Main take on the Sony: the owner's medium shot, whole interview. The phone on tripod two: vertical on the owner's face the whole way, so the shorts need no crop. After the last question: wide two-shot 60 seconds, Waheed close 60 seconds, the three best questions re-asked on Waheed.
Vertical takes
Shots 1, 3, 5, 6, 8 and 12 get a second vertical take. The rest are cropped from 4K.
Where the ten photos come from
The 3-second holds of shots 1, 3, 5, 6, 8, 9, 11 and 12, plus the team photo and the three stills. Ten is the floor.
The interview
Let silence sit three seconds after every answer: the best line comes after the pause. Ask them to put the question in the answer ("The biggest mistake I made was..."). Story stops early? "And then what happened?" Never finish their sentence.
Orange numbers stand alone as a short. Before question one, the slate: "Say and spell your name, the shop, the city, your job."
Origin
1
How did you end up owning a shop? What was day one like?
2
What did the shop look like then: how many bays, how many people, how many cars a week?
The turning point
3
What was the moment you knew you had to run it differently?
Short
4
What did you change first, and what happened in the three months after?
The numbers they are proud of
5
What number are you proudest of today? Bays, cars a week, team size, whatever you track.
Short
6
Walk me through a good week now, Monday to Friday.
The mistakes
7
What is the most expensive mistake you made as an owner?
Short
8
What do you say no to now that you used to say yes to?
Advice to another owner
9
An owner with two bays and no time asks you how to grow. What do you tell them?
Short
10
What do most shop owners get wrong about getting customers?
Working with New Limits (last, short)
11
What was the marketing like before you worked with us, and what changed?
Short
12
What would you say to an owner thinking about working with us?
Twelve questions at 4 to 5 minutes each is the 55-minute block. Owner short on words: go deeper on 2, 6 and 10. Owner long: drop 8 and 10.
The kit
Phone plus window light is enough. Everything below makes it easier. Nothing below is a reason not to shoot.
Must-have
Phone100 GB free, charged. One shop is about 20 to 30 GB of phone footage at 4K 30.
Lav mic, or a wired mic into the phoneThe interview audio. The phone's own mic from 2 m is a bad room.
Small tripod or clampThe interview and every still shot. Hands shake, tripods do not.
One LED panel, or a windowThe owner's face. One is enough.
Power bank and cableTwo hours of 4K eats a battery.
2 TB SSD or the laptopThe back-up before leaving.
Lens clothA smudge is a haze on every shot.
Gaffer tapeCables down, lav cable flat, a chair marked on the floor.
EarphonesTo hear the audio test. Without them a dead lav is found at home.
Nice-to-have
Second phoneVertical on the owner through the whole interview. Shorts need no crop.
Second LEDFill from the other side at half power, or a rim light on the hair.
Reflector, or white foam boardBounces the window back into the shadow side of the face.
Spare lav battery, or a second lav for Waheed
The actual kitFrom the Equipment tab of the US visitors list sheet, November 5, 2026. One camera, plus the phones.
Sony DSLR, 128 GB cardThe interview, on a tripod with the monitor. 128 GB is about 2.8 hours of 4K at 100 Mbps: two shops a day fits, offload every night.
External monitorAndre watches the frame and the audio bars here, not on the camera's back screen.
Hollyland LARK M2Two clip-on transmitters, one receiver. Owner wears one, Waheed the other. Receiver into the Sony's mic jack. Charge the case nightly.
2 shoot-through umbrellas with lightsOne is the key at 45 degrees. The other is fill from the far side at half power, or a rim behind the owner's shoulder.
2 DSLR tripodsOne under the Sony. One holds the phone vertical on the owner for the whole interview.
1 iPhone tripodThe B-roll still shots and the testimonial.
Still to addNot on the sheet yet.
Spare Sony batteriesOne battery is about an hour of 4K. Two shops a day needs three.
Second 128 GB card, or laptop plus SSDThe nightly offload. Without it day two has no room.
Power bank, lens cloth, gaffer tape, earphonesPhone, haze, cables, the audio test.
3.5 mm cable for the LARK receiverReceiver to the Sony mic jack.
Heat test at the hotelRecord 60 minutes continuous 4K before the first shop. Some Sony bodies stop from heat.