Hotdog Puns last edit

PoBoy Shoulder Rig Version 3

In my quest for a hand held shoulder rig I think I have found a PoBoy solution.

How to embarrass your kid

Know when to fold

One day I hope to be able to apply what I have learned in a capacity that will earn me cash.  I am not a professional filmmaker and have never claimed to be one.  I do hope to be able one day to provide a service to people in exchange for consideration.  I would like to start my own small production company with some friends.  Nothing big maybe start out with some weddings and youtube commercials.  Just this week a friend and I were invited to meet with some potential clients to produce a 9 minute film for their organization.  The film was to be embedded into their webpage.  We were first informed that the shoot would be for a grand opening of a new office and would last 4 to 6 hours and that the film would use the footage from the one location.  Later at the meeting we learned that this would not be the case.  The clients wanted multiple shoots at different locations on different dates.  They also seemed to want to dictate the creative direction of the film and as the meeting went on we started to get the vibe that we may be out of our comfort level in reference to what their vision was and what we would be able to deliver.  So we decided to bow out gracefully.  I believe what they wanted was a professional crew on a novice budget.  My point to this post is trust your gut when it comes to negotiating a contract to produce a film or video.  Make sure that expectations are clear and that you can deliver what you promise.  Oh and if you don't get a good vibe at your face to face meeting there is probably a reason why.  Sometimes you have to know when to fold.

Props and DIY camera equipment

I want to say sorry for taking so long to post.  I have been working a lot and have had little time to post. I have however been working on perfecting my PoBoy Dolly/Slider.  I found many tutorials on how to build a camera dolly out of pvc and old inline skate wheels.  This was simple and has been around for awhile.  I made a cool discovery while trying to find a way to mount a set of tracks to a tripod.  I finally came to conclusion that everything would work better if I just had a flat platform to put everything on.  The drawback to this is that a table is heavy and cumbersome.  So while rummaging in the attic I found our old ironing board.  This made a great adjustable platform in which to operate the dolly.  Since I already had one it cost me nothing.  I have seen them at thrift stores for around $3.00 and new ones run anywhere from $10.00 and up.  What I really like about this setup is that it is light and ADJUSTABLE :)  Thats right the ironing board will adjust from 4 inches off the floor up to about 3.5 feet off the floor.  The whole setup cost under 20 dollars.  Check out the video below.

Telling A Story

Well in this day of high dollar software and effects packages it seems that now anything is possible for the novice filmmaker.  For those of us that can not afford the latest and greatest there is still the art of telling a story.  I believe that this is at the core of filmmaking.  I have watched movies in the past where I was caught up in the visual effects so much I didn't realize that the story was as weak as a soggy saltine cracker.  Now please don't misunderstand me I love awesome jaw dropping effects and I would love to have the latest version of Adobe Premier / After Effects to edit all my projects but alas I am just a Po Boy.  So I will dedicate my next projects to the story telling and see if I can do it without special effects. Until next time, It's your thang, do whatcha wanna do.

Mockumentary

Hey here is a fun way to make a video or film, make a mockumentary.  The mockumentary is like a documentary only mockumentaries are fake or spoof other documentaries.  These are simple to do because it does not require that your subject matter be real or that any of your information is factual.  The film itself does not need to have great cinematography in fact the less perfect it looks the more it has that documentary feel.  I found it best to just run and gun with the shots, film it quick and move on with it.  This is also a good way to get experience shooting things out of sequence.  My niece and nephew always ask me to make movies with them, this was a quick and easy way to do that and have a lot of fun in the process.  So don't wait go and make a Mockumentary!  Below is the Mockumentary I made with the kids, hope you enjoy it.

One man's JUNK

Sorry that it has been so long since I last posted.  I just wanted to talk a little about junk, yes junk.  Everyone has some. You probably have some pretty cool junk stored away somewhere right now.  I have found a great use for it, prop building. You would be surprised how many props you can find or make with just a little imagination.  Old cloths make great costumes, old bits and pieces of worn out electronics can be hot glued together to create some great scifi props. Here is a short video on my junk props.

Inspired

Sometimes I am inspired by the simplicity of objects for example a shoulder rig built from PVC.  I thought many times how nice it must be to have a high end shoulder rig with a matt box and follow focus attachment.  The cost of such a rig is however not within my budget.  I then finally came to the conclusion that it made no difference what I used to stabilize my camera as long as the camera was stable.  I then set out to build my own version of a shoulder rig inspired by the frugal filmmaker and knoptop.  I came up with a hybrid of their versions of PVC camera rigs to create my own rig. CHECK IT OUT!

Lights

I apologize that my post have not been more detailed and frequent.  My new camera has taken up a great deal of time with trying to learn how to use it.  There is something to be said for the convenience of the Flip Cam (just point and shoot). No focus, no iso, no Fps, and no adjusting for light. The T3i is a bit overwhelming for the novice (like myself) the first time you try to use it.  I suggest that you read the owners manual first before trying to take pictures or do any filming.  Next watch tutorials and there are plenty of them on YouTube.  The biggest challenge for me is going to be understanding light.  LIGHT can make all the difference in the world as to how your final product comes out.  Starting out I plan to keep it simple and cheap by using clamp lights with CFL bulbs.  Here is a big tip that I learned as I did my research. Whatever  CFL bulbs you decide to use try to make sure that they are all the same type of light for example I like to use the daylight type.  The best feature of these lights are the price and the low heat.  With some experimenting you should be able to find a combination of lights that will work for you.  In a later post I will put in some pics of the lights I have put together so until then, "LET THERE BE LIGHTS".

Well I think that I may have figured the three point lighting thing.  The camera settings took some time. Here is something that I did to test the settings.

NEW CAMERA

Wow! My awesome wife, daughter,  mother-in-law, and brother-in-law all pitched in together to get me a EOS Cannon Rebel T3i 600D for Christmas!  Now all I have to do is learn how to work this thing.  I will keep you posted on my progress.  Step 1 is to read owners manual cover to cover.

Audio with an iPhone 4s

So I have been experimenting with some different ways to record audio an found that my iPhone 4s with the iTalk app by Griffin captures audio quite well.  The app is free and easy to use.  I was able to record audio with the phone's built in mic and with an  ATR6550 Condenser Shotgun Microphone plugged into the headphone port of the phone.  The audio was easy to transfer from my phone to imovie and I was able to sync it with my video footage with a little effort.  I will be trying to perfect this in later projects.  Stay tunned.

Camera Crane

Work in progress

Sound Matters

One thing I think everyone already knows is that the audio/sound on your project can make the difference between an ok short film and a really cool short film.  I have tried to find a cheap solution for capturing audio and I have still been unsuccessful (sad).  It has also been difficult finding camcorders that have an auxiliary mic input.  It seems that is reserved for high end cameras which was not always the case in the past.  I remember this being a standard option on most cameras back in the day. ANYWAY!  I try to make sure that I get the camera as close as possible when filming dialog.  I also try to film in locations that will produce the least amount of echo.  There are some things that can be done in the editing phase that mask weird or unwanted sound.  In the following short I used audio effects to hide the fact that there was just not that much background sound.  The outdoor sounds were added during editing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=M0Yuzgwnfoo

Cheap can sometimes work quite well

Hey guys, as I was walking through a Family Dollar the other day I noticed a couple of mask on display for halloween.  They were 5 dollars a piece so I bought them.  I then proceded to put them to use in a tribute to Star Wars and Darth Vader.  The results came out pretty good. So proof again that you do not need to have the most expensive props to get the job done.  Have fun! https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=gSAH9_uNjPc

Prop Building

One of the things that I enjoy about my hobby is making the props for the films that I want to make.  You would be surprised at what you can build just from the junk in your garage.  Here are some images of a few things that I created from some imagination, scraps, and a little paint.

Predator costume all hand made.

Predator battle axe.

MY NEW ICON

GIVE A KID A CAMERA

I have the honor of being able to work in education and one thing that never stops amazing me is the excitement level of students when a video camera is incorporated into instruction.  Using video is a great way to get the student's attention, document activities, and bring focus to content.  Also! Let the students operate the camera especially those who may be reluctant to be in front of the camera.  If you don't feel comfortable with the idea of a camera in the classroom you may first want to try documenting activities in the classroom like a science experiment or the introduction of a new math rule.  However you decide to use it will increase student engagement and spark interest into your instruction. (NOTE: be sure to have all acceptable use policies and permission forms concerning student being filmed signed and filed.) So dont wait give a kid a camera!

Camera Stabilizer for hand held filming. I built this rig after watching a D.I.Y. project on youtube. I changed the design to fit my needs and it is surprisingly effective.