When I made my skit videos on TikTok, it was just me. Me filming… me. Playing both sides of the conversation, switching outfits, mouthing lines back and forth like a one-person improv group with no budget and not enough phone storage.
Filming alone has pretty much become second nature to me now, but it didn’t start that way. In the beginning, it was often tricky to navigate. I’d try to be the actor, director, camera operator, and writer all at once. I’d forget which side of the screen each character was on, lose track of the joke halfway through, and reposition my phone so it will stop falling over. But overtime, and after filming hundreds of skits, I started to figure out a rhythm that made the process easier and a lot more fun.
One thing that helped early on was assigning sides to my characters. Left side = one character. Right side = the other. It sounds simple, but it made a huge difference in keeping the conversation visually clear, especially when I wasn’t using split-screen effects. It also helped me remember who I was supposed to be at any given moment. Props and outfits helped too, even if it was just a backward hat or toss on a hoodie. I’m not trying to win an Oscar here, but a little visual cue makes a big difference when you’re switching between characters with zero time to reset.
I also learned that filming one character all the way through before switching to the other saves a ton of time (and sanity). Trying to bounce back and forth between roles in real-time is asking for confusion. Now, I’ll film every single line and reaction for one character first, then rewatch that footage before jumping into the other role. That way, I can match the timing, the reactions, and the energy, like I’m having a weird one-person conversation with myself that actually makes sense in the edit.
Since I don’t use real dialogue and rely on captions instead, I’ve had to get really good at mouthing lines and exaggerating facial expressions. People can’t hear me, so everything has to be clear through movement and timing. The delivery lives in how I raise an eyebrow, pause before a reaction, or stare into the camera while mouthing a line. If someone were to watch on mute, they should still get the full joke, captions, and all.
Now, let’s talk about my camera setup, or lack of one. I wish I could say I film with a tripod and ring light, but 90% of the time my phone is propped up on a stack of books or a cereal box. Stability is key, though. If the angle shifts between characters, it throws off the whole visual rhythm. A consistent frame helps keep the viewer grounded and the scene feeling fluid, even if it’s just you in three different outfits arguing with yourself in your bedroom.
Filming solo also means knowing when to take a break. It gets tiring running every part of the process on your own, writing, acting, filming, editing. Some days, I hit a wall after 20 minutes. Other times, I’ll shoot five skits in a row and crash immediately after. The important thing I’ve learned is to give myself grace. Breaks make the next take better.
At the end of the day, filming alone is a weirdly beautiful scenario. Yes, it’s a lot. Yes, it can feel ridiculous when you’re talking to no one while pretending to be a married couple in the middle of a divorce. But it works. It’s creative, efficient, and honestly, it’s fun once you get into the groove. You don’t need a team to make a skit come to life. All you need is yourself, a phone, and a funny idea.
And hey, who better to argue with on camera at 11PM in a wig and sunglasses than yourself?