The Secret to Getting BUTTERY SMOOTH Gimbal Shots (Ninja Walk Tutorial)

In today's video, you will learn how to master the ninja walk and to prove to you that anyone can learn this. I'm here with Christina today who's never done it before. I'm excited. Let's get started. So ninja walking is super easy. Here are the five steps to mastering the ninja walk. Number one is you want to plan your flight path. Number two is you want to set up your exposure for a photo finish. Number three is you want to bend your knees. You don't want to be too stiff. You want to bend your knees. Number four, you want to hunch over, right? You shouldn't look cool. You should be hunched over when you're doing it. And number five is you want to vibe out. If you want to master it, you've got to be playing music when you're doing the ninja walk. You'll see. Let's get to the instructions. So the first thing that you want to do in order to master the ninja walk is, of course, plan your flight path. What happens is videographers that are new, they just start shooting like, oh, this would be a good shot. Okay. And this is a good shot. And this is a good shot. You see what I'm saying? Like they're wild and out. If you want to master the ninja walk, the first thing you have to do is plan your flight path. So let's go ahead and do that right now. So the first shot that you guys saw is we're going to go over here. I'm not even setting up the exposure right now. I'm just getting the shot. So right here, I'm starting wide because we talk about meat, photo, meat. You want to make sure you give yourself some meat to work with, right? You want to be able to push into that. You got to have that footage. And then you'll have a photo finish, which is where it looks good. And then it goes back to meat. So here we go. First thing I'll do is I'll start back here. I'm not even worried about my exposure right now. I'm just going to go ahead and make sure I nail the look. So right here, this is where I'll start. And then I'm going to start to curve a little bit when I get into here. And then boom, that's where I'm going to finish. So I now know that this is the look that I'm going for. I have a flight path. This will help me stay focused and make sure the shot looks good. So now that I know my flight path, the next thing I'm going to do is I'm going to set up my exposure. So let's go ahead and set up the exposure. So because I know this is my flight path right here, I want to make sure my exposure is around 1.7. And actually right here, it's at 1.7 or 2, so we're good to go. What you don't want is you don't want to get to your photo finish and have it too dark. For example, that would be too dark. What you don't want is you don't want to get in here and now it's too bright. Okay, that's going to be too bright. You want to make sure you're just right. So I'll go to 1.7. You see how good that looks now? 1.7 right there. And as long as the sun doesn't change too much, everything's going to be exposed. You'll notice that right here is exposed nicely. Right here, ceiling's not too dark. It's all evenly balanced. So let's go ahead and have some fun. All right, so here's how it's going to work. So we have the flight path and now we have the exposure. The next thing you want to do is you want to bend your knees, right? Most people, this is how they roll. Do you see how that could be a problem? Like, they're way too stiff. They're just like this. You know what I'm saying? Like, that doesn't work. So you want to make sure you simply bend your knees. You see that right there? Boom. Do it backwards. Boom. Do it forwards. First thing you want to do is you want to bend your knees like this so that there's nice, smooth motion to it. And not only do you want to bend your knees, but you want to hunch over because it should never look cool. So like, you shouldn't look like this, right? Even that probably doesn't look cool. You literally just want to throw your back out like this. Not that dramatic, but right here, it's like that. You should be smooth legs, smooth knees, smooth feet, but also hunching over your gimbal. If you look cool doing it, then it's not looking good. If someone gets a behind-the-scenes shot of you and they can see, wow, your back looks crazy, I hate to say it, but that's how you master it. So now that you've got all those things out of the way, the next thing you want to do is you want to vibe out. What it means is you've got to play some good music. If you're not playing good music, you're not going to win this. What I like to do is I like to put my phone in my pocket, I play some good tunes, and we start shooting. So let's go ahead and get to the shot. Okay, so now that you guys know how to do the ninja walk, Christina wasn't in the room as we were teaching it, so she's going to be fresh with this information. So you're going to see Christina give it her first shot, and then we're going to take a look at the shot, and then we'll critique it, figure out what can be made better, and then we'll go ahead and make sure it's perfect before... I mean, she's going to literally learn it in like less than 10 minutes, so let's go ahead and go for it. All right, so Christina, go ahead and get your first shot ever. All right, okay. So Christina, it was your very first take ever. We're going to compare this shot to your final shot. In 10 minutes, you're going to have mastered it, so take a look at this shot. Now, this is probably already better than how I started, but take a look. So right here, we're starting back here, and I want to quickly walk you through the tips into mastering the ninja walk. The first thing you want to do is you want to plan your flight path. So when you got into this, you didn't give yourself enough motion to roll with, so you want to make sure you give yourself some more space to roll with, so that way you can speed ramp into it. So the first thing you want to do is you want to plan your flight path, and then also you want to figure out what is your final frame. So right here, your final frame kind of finished over here, but you want it to finish and it look like a photo. So like imagine you're doing like an MLS photo, you want it to look like a photo. So the first thing you want to do is you want to plan your flight path, and you'll notice right here in the video, you don't really start that far out. Now, this shot is looking nice. However, let's take a look. Right here, it kind of finishes in a spot that doesn't really have a main focus point. You can kind of see right here, this is what they're seeing. Like on the camera, they're kind of seeing that, and ideally what you want is you want to have this area be the finish spot. So right here, you want to plan your flight path. You want to set up your exposure. The exposure looked good, and then you also want to bend your knees. So bending your knees is going to make a big difference, and I know it was your first time, but it looks like this. Okay, bending your knees, it's like a little bit softer on the knees, and then you want to hunch over, like it should never look cool. You'll hunch over, and then lastly, you want to vibe out. If you play music, if you notice that when Edgar was shooting, or when I'm shooting, it's always like, there's a vibe going on. I can promise you, it's the little things that make a big difference. By playing a song that you can imagine the edit being to, changes everything. Right, makes sense. So what you want to do differently this time is, so take a look at this. Let's go ahead and click record, is you'll want the video to finish like right over here. So take a look like that. This is like the photo finish. You see how the exposure looks good, we're at plus 1.7. Yes. And then you also want to reach over the couch, so that way you can speed ramp out of it. Okay. Right, you may or may not use that, but you want to finish here. So how you do that, is you figure out where do I have to be to finish in a good spot. So you're going to finish right here, like that, and then you want to make sure that when you're going into it, that you have yourself enough room to go into it, and also because you'll start back further, you'll already be in flow. Right, once you're on your second or third stride, you're already going to be in flow, so go ahead give this a shot, and let's go ahead and start from the top. So now we're over here, we're going to plan the flight path. So you already know how it's going to finish, and you already know where you should start. This part won't make it into the video, you can see it's overexposed, it's just going to speed ramp past it. But it's good to have those frames to work with. Get into a flow. Exactly, and then you're going to bend your knees. So before you were kind of standing up straight, bending your knees will look kind of like this, like that, like soft heel to toe, heel to toe, and then you do want to like kind of hunch over. You should never look cool, right? Yeah, you want to kind of posture, you want, it's not, no, it's not good posture here. The best tip, always put your phone in your pocket, vibe out everywhere you go. All right, so when this, I really mean this, you want to start when the song gets you going. Like when you're going, like imagine you're editing the video live, like you don't want to start when the song's at a low point. You want to start when the vibe at a beat drop, at a beat drop, at a beat drop. Yeah, get yourself straightened up, the vibe drop, you know, the vibe's about to happen. Bend your knees, yeah, right there, and then let it rip. All right, yep, let yourself flow into it. Okay, yes, curving into it, yes, curving into it, and then stretch, boom, closer. Let's take a look. All right, so your second take, you're looking smoother, looking smoother, looking smoother. Wow, okay, so right here, you did nail the exposure, right, and you did nail the twist. However, you want to be a little bit more gentle with your mechanics of your body. Right here, also, even with the wrists, as you're turning, you want to just turn easy, right? You almost use your wrist to turn it. It's your body, it's your legs, it's a little bit of the wrist that will cause that to spin a little bit better, but for sure, you already have better composition, so you've mastered the flight path. The exposure looks good. Now, you want to just be a little bit more easy with the body. I always say that the best gimbal work, the best shooters, they're one with the gimbal. The gimbal's not a separate piece of them. It's like they flow like water, so you want to be a little bit more smooth with the hands, a little bit more smooth with the legs, but so far, you've already nailed the first two. You're vibing out now. Now, it's time to just walk a little bit smoother. Got it. Yeah. Sounds good. And a little bit more easy on the wrist. Let's go ahead and do a third take. All right. Okay, Christina, so third time's a charm. What you want to do to really nail this time is remember your ending composition. Also, remember to be easy on the knees, and you want to move a little bit more speed and be able to drift. You're not so much turning, it's like you're drifting a car, but like the most elegant drift in the world, so go ahead and give it another shot. All right. Okay. Shoot recording. All right, so right here. Nice. See how smooth that is? Now, you're drifting, you're drifting, you're drifting, you're drifting, you're drifting. There's your MLS photo finish, and you push right beyond it, and just like that, you've mastered the ninja walk. Awesome. It looks great. It looks great. Hey, guys, sorry to interrupt the video, but if you're watching this and you haven't subscribed, please hit subscribe right now. And if you have any questions about how to grow your business, my phone number is right here. If you text me, I will personally respond to you within 24 hours. And if you're watching this, you're thinking, is Christina a paid actress or is this real? She's really starting her journey right now in video. You can follow her, her Instagram's right below. Let's get back to the video. Okay, Christina, so now that you've mastered the ninja walk, everything's looking super smooth, the first shot you're going to want to get is the front of the house. Push into the front of the house and then shoot everything else. All right, let's get to it. Flight path, check. Exposure, check. Bend the knees, hunch, and vibes, check. All right. So what was the most helpful piece of advice? I would say the vibes, for sure. How do you think the video turned out? Honestly, I think I did amazing. So that is how you master the ninja walk. You just saw Christina master it in about 10 minutes. It's honestly so, so easy. If you have any questions, you can text me below. My phone number is right here. I will personally reply to you. And make sure you hit subscribe. So the hunch, will that come with any long-term health concerns? You know, it's possible, but your videos will be bangers and you make more money and then you hire a chiropractor.