5 Tips for Live Streaming when Grilling
Late Summer and early Fall are still prime for grilling. With trends in educational selling and meal ideas moving to digital engagement, live streaming a demo or cook-along at the grill can inspire your shoppers and followers to make this cooking method a part of their healthy living routine in the months ahead, especially when amazing options like grilled mango are part of the plan. But lighting, audio and angles add a whole new dimension to live feeds. Consider these five tips when filming at the grill.
Tip #1: Manage bandwidth. To prevent freezing frames or complete shutdowns when filming, ensure you have a strong network connection. If possible, hard wire to your home WiFi. All it takes is a long enough cable (many options are very reasonably priced) to run from your router to your grill location. Alternatively, consider using a mobile hot spot.
Tip #2: Find a production assistant. Given the added variables of cooking at a grill, it’s best to have someone filming for you. This allows easy visual movement between you while you’re speaking and visually showing culinary techniques, such as the ideal grill marks when making a recipe like Honey Grilled Fruit with Lime Mint Vinaigrette or using skewers such as in Grilled Mango Barbecue Sauce.
Tip #3: Keep sound source close. If grilling outdoors, there’s the potential outdoor elements (think birds chirping, cars passing by) may impact the sound quality. It’s best not to rely on your phone audio when live streaming. Use a wired lavalier microphone to ensure your story, such as tips for grilling fruit like mango, is the one heard.
Tip #4: Check the weather. While it’s likely you’re planning and promoting a live feed well in advance of its date, consider the weather forecast. As the date draws near, continue to check the weather. If rain is anticipated, use portable tenting over your grilling and equipment areas. There are two issues on windy days – the noise can be picked up by your microphone and wind can impact your appearance. To manage, set up filming so your body blocks the wind, with your back to it, or use a physical barrier if possible. Duct taping your lavalier mic it to the inside front of your shirt will also help block wind noise. If you have long hair, style it so it won’t be blowing against your face during the shoot. It’s essential to have a plan B, such as filming indoors using a portable grill as Albertson’s Molly Tevis, RD did for this video featuring the versatility of mangos as well as how to prepare them on the grill.
Tip #5: Manage lighting. When scheduling your grilling live stream, avoid midday as it’s the equivalent of having overhead lighting on Zoom, shadowing everything oddly. Diffused lighting, when the sun is going through trees or the day is cloudy, is ideal. A shady location works as long as the shade doesn’t create shapes on you or your food. Remember to check typical lighting at the time of day when you are planning to film, not when you are setting up your shoot; the sun moves in mere minutes, causing lighting to shift.
The National Mango Board has a variety of mango tips and recipes perfect for grilling demos and cook-alongs available here.
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