Yesterday I really wanted to do a knitting video. To shoot knitting properly to be able to show how its done, you really need to shoot from behind or above, so you can see what the hands are doing in the same orientation you would see if you were knitting.

Only problem is, I don’t have a mount for my camera or my phone that allows for shooting overhead.

I’m a pretty crafty person, so I thought I could cobble something together. While my solution does have its limitations (including that it’s not really overhead, and in fact not even a foot tall) my DIY mount for overhead videos filmed with a phone was super simple to put together from things that were already in my office or the craft room next door. It’s no a permanent solution but it worked for what I needed.

What You’ll Need

• four thin but sturdy items to use as your frame (I used metal bookends)
• four wooden skewers
• at least four clothespins or other strong clips

How to Make a DIY Mount for Overhead Videos

Spread out your bookends or other frame parts so they are as far apart as the skewers will allow.

Use two clips on each side to hold the skewers to the bookends.

Place skewers going the other direction to hold the phone. Clip or tape these down if desired. I like to live on the edge, I guess, so I didn’t bother.

Place the phone on top of these two skewers. The easiest way to do it is to put the screen face up so you can still see what’s being filmed and the image isn’t flipped in any way.

Again, this is not a perfect solution because there’s not a lot of space to work under the camera, but it was enough for me to do a knitting demo. I’ll probably continue to use this setup for a while but I’d love to know if you have an overhead camera/phone mount that you love to use for videos.

Have you ever MacGyvered an essential piece of equipment for blogging or crafting? I’d love to hear about it.