improvized equipment

[placebo]

This is a favorite subject of mine. I've used alot of improv kit, mostly because of money restrictions. Some interesting ones include: Crane-Scale a building at 3AM and take some drawn out shots from different angles. Or attach a small DV camera to a length of static line on a weighted base, attach some parachute cord to the rig and walk the line. A pulley attached to said para-cord, strewn over a light pole, pull the opposite end and you have a rising crane shot without the crane. Of course, the improvised stabilizer made of the base from a tripod, some PVC, and a 2.5lb barbell at the base. Works amazingly well! Go the extra distance with it and make the tripod base rotate on ball bearings. I'll post more later...

[MinionZombie]

Aye, I use the old fold the tripod up and hold it like a really poor man's steadicam method quite a lot, works not badly, did it at a wedding once when the bride and groom entered the reception and had to do a fairly steady follow around. Also on a recent project (I Am Zombie Man), I held the tripod like a gun (think Mini Gun in Predator) at roughly waist height and it gave me the handheld documentary vibe I was looking for, but without the uncontrollable shake you get with just holding the camera on your hand, with your wrist all bent unnaturally... In the brainstorming stages for a film I want to do next year (which would actually have a budget, a first for me, ha!) and I might get one of those shoulder mount thingymajigs so you're propping the camera on both shoulders, with little arm/grip things hanging down below the camera which is sitting in front of your face a little to the right. It'd come in handy for some fo the scenes I'm thinking about. Might have to look up info on car mounts too actually...

[PJoseph]

In college, a buddy of mine had made the cheapest stedi-rig I had ever seen and I used it on one of my films. He basically had a long 2x4 with a duct tape handle in the center. On one end he had a pigeon mount for a Bolex and on the other end...a giant rock he had found that was the exact same weight of the camera for counterbalance. I used it at the Orange Bowl. We had our actor running across an aisle, and using the Nash Cam, we could have the camera following behind him, soaring over the seats. It was a really brief shot and we didn't overuse it, but it was pretty cool. pJ

[MinionZombie]

lol, now that is damn cheap ... but damn cool. The best filmmaking techniques often come from improvisation...or necessity. Like Jean Luc Godard's version of a dolly - sitting with the camera in a wheelchair pushed by someone!

[Danny]

once to get a stable tracking shot i tied a rope to the camera ,the other end to a brick and hung it over a branch cus A: no tipod, B: i was the only person there so i had to act for a bit and film. im pretty sure the nieghbour thought i was insane