Presented and compiled by Mark Suszko
| Welcome to the greatest hits of Mark's Cheap Tricks. These
are tips
that I, and other Vidpro members have shared over the past years. They
are the inventive products of necessity, desperation, and stingy
budgets.
They come not from camera stores, but home and hardware centers,
adapted
for our uses. If you are reading this, you, as I, derive a perverse
pleasure
from doing more with less, from making something out of nothing. For
you,
we have collected some winning ideas, mostly proven, though none are
guaranteed.
As the lawyers say, "here there be dragons" - we accept no
responsibility
for whatever you do with this information. We will add to this document
over time, so please, email your own great ideas and suggestions to
vidpro at vidpro.orgj,
and we'll include them here for all the stressed-out, low-budget,
imaginative
people to enjoy.
Best Wishes, Mark Suszko. Scroll the page or go directly to:
SOFTBOX LIGHT HOW-TO(stolen over several generations from lighting master Bill Holshevnikof) Okay, this assumes you're using an open-face light with barndoors on it, and want to convert it to a bigger, softer source for tabletop or portrait type work. You need: foamcore sheet, Xacto or sharp carpet knife, gaffer tape. Sheet of tough spun or similar. Bulldog type paper clips. Extra credit: use 2-piece Velcro tape instead of gaffer's... I begin by plugging the light in and placing it on it's side on the concrete studio floor, barndoors open. I turn it on, and if there is a wide/narrow adjustment, I flood that out maximum width. You should now have a shiny cone projecting along the floor. Trace this with a crayon or similar...actually, just marking the angle & width at the near end is enough for me. This is the KEY step: your actual box must have a slightly WIDER angle than the cone of light emanating from the unit. This above all else is why the foam-core stays cool, instead of turning to stinky slag. The greatest portion of the light is not touching the core material, but only impinging on the diffusion material at the open face. So, to tell it a third way, if the cone of light has an angle of, say 45 degrees, the trapezoidal sides of the box must have an angle of at least 50 degrees. Don't crowd the light! We do this step twice; once to measure the sides, once to measure the top & bottom. You end up with two pairs of matching trapezoidal shapes, one set (Top & Bottom) wider than the other, in aspect ratio. When you want to light a vertical, turn it, and reattach. I assemble the box with white gaffer tape on the corners, inside and out. Do the inside edges first, dummy:-) The small end of the box will attach to the barndoors with tape or clips. Personally, I taped bulldog clips to the foamcore, so I can pop the whole thing off and use the light the other way if needed. Also, using the clips like this, and slitting one joint with a razor blade, lets you fold the whole schmeer down flat for storage or transport. Or if you're Bill, you pitch it when done, since you can make a new one on the spot in minutes.:-) (Also, I make sure there is an air gap at the narrow end of at least an inch. When you put the diffusion over the front, (I use push pins) a little gap on the sides helps too.) A paranoid could line the inside with foil, but I think it's a waste. Yes, our chief engineer was skeptical. In my best "Fire Marshall Bill", I said "Lemmmeeeshowyasumpthinnnn!!!" So, I turned it on and let it cook for 4 hours. The foamcore was barely warm to the touch, inside OR out. He was impressed. Especially, since the cheapest version I could find to BUY was between 50-100 bucks. This ain't no Chimera, but the price is right. In my case, the scrap foamcore was free. It measured 8 high x 9 wide, on the narrow end, and 16x30 at the open end. My guess is a single 4-foot panel could "just" make one for your 1K if you're careful in layout and cutting. Your version will vary. Enjoy! Mark Suszko, Mr. Cheap Tricks
"Anybody can illuminate something, but fewer can LIGHT it"Other made-to-order softlights: go to Pier One Imports, try out the Japanese paper Lampshades as a soft omni source. Be careful, as the paper is flammable. Mark sez: A tightly wound bundle of white, Italian style Christmas tree lights creates a very soft, omni-directional, unusual yet pleasing effect in many close-up applications. Color temp nicer/warmer than flo. Large string(s), can do AC power. Small string can go DC 6-12-volt power. No blinkies!:-) In a car interior, you can tightly wad up the bundle with tie wraps and stuff it into the dashboard area, or up against the headliner, out of shot. Add dingle balls and go low-ridin' :-) You can get extra folding flex-fills in the auto supplies dept., where they are sold as car window shades. Snip, snip, two small flex-fills. Usually these are made of aluminized Tyvek, so you can't get them as close to a light as the Real Thing. They'd melt. In the garden supplies section, find plant hangers that let you hang plants from dropped-ceiling grids. When you don't have a $40 Lowell scissor-clip, you can hang lights from these with a short piece of chain. Watch the weight!
CHEAP SET MATERIALSFew of these things are over thirty dollars to try. Cheap cycs: Buy a remnant of plain vinyl kitchen sheet flooring, nail a 2x4 to one end, which you'll use to hang the thing using light stands or rope from an overhead grid. The brilliant part: use the plain, flat, back side of the vinyl, and apply your chromakey paint. When hung, the sheet vinyl takes on a natural catenary curve. If needed, you could roll it up and store it in a small space, though you might have to re-paint it later. Nice for a cheap insert stage. And speaking of paint; real chromakey paint is expensive, but we've had good results taking a chip of the real thing to Ace hardware for matching with the buck-a-gallon stuff. You will have to use a good white primer underneath this, though. In a pinch, your local party supply store has plastic table cloths in chroma blue (or close to it), which you can drape over furniture, etc, to create instant "virtual set" objects. Contact shelf paper comes in a keyable blue or green, as well. One thing I've always wanted to try was to buy foot-square dirt-cheap linoleum tiles, and paint one side gray, the other chroma blue, so you have a choice of floor. Or one wild checkerboard set:-) Magic materials: These are extremely cheap, even disposable, but have many applications. First, the humble "sonotube" concrete form. This is a tough cardboard tube used for forming pilings and such. It comes in various sizes and lengths, at home centers or concrete form companies. Painted with a spatter or granitizing technique, or wrapped with marble-patterned contact shelf paper or fabric, they make excellent scene props, podiums, table supports (they hold up a $25 hollow-core door well), and even set walls. The portable set consists of two long vertical tubes with cloth stapled to them, scroll-fashion. By winding the tubes in opposition, the cloth goes under tension, and you have a self-supporting "wall" set, that can be torn down and stored/ transported quickly. To extend tube length seamlessly, cut a few inches off one tube, slit this, then slip it inside the original tube to make an internal coupler. You could cut the tubes into very short lengths and link these rings to make a wall of circular pigeon holes, which only pass back-light from directly behind. Sonotubes also make cheap holders for light stands, gels, tripods, etc. "Pro-Vent" is a plastic product you may find in the home center roofing section. The panels are supposed to be used to create ventilation channels inside your attic roof insulation, but I made three very tech-y looking three-sided and four-sided podiums and a desk for a technology game show piece out of them, using double-sided carpet tape or the office stapler to attach the panels to each other. If they are to hold something up, I stiffen them internally with a sonotube. At a buck or so a sheet, they're a great buy. They look like metallic structural panels with x-braces embossed into them. They even fit perfectly into overhead ceiling grids, if you want a total "batcave" look. 16x4 and 24x4, from $1.28 to $1.68 at Menards, near contractor/roofing supplies.1-800-666-8191 is the factory number. Ceiling panels can also be used as wall panels over cheap chipboard backing. Armstrong makes a plank that looks like wood, but is easier to work, and extremely uniform, unlike real wood "car siding" lumber. It takes paint or stain equally well, and it's already fireproof. You don't nail it, you glue it. You can cut lengths with a utility knife instead of a saw. There is a huge variety of looks available in these panels, from high-tech/abstract to classical/conservative. While at the home center, check out the fiberglass panels they use for porch and carport roofs. They come in various colors and textures, one of which looks kinda like stone. These are flexible enough that two of them can be rolled on long axis into a convincing Roman column. Use self-tapping screws on the joints. The translucent fiberglass or plastic versions can be lit from within for a glowing effect, or just spray painted and lit from outside. Very light! A little bit more expensive, but very nice and flexible set is based on components from trade show portable display walls. These fold up into cases the size of golf bags, but instantly open up into sets 8x10 foot and larger, in colors and fabrics that are replaceable or changeable. You can even have the company blow up a PhotoShop file into a giant duratrans-like backdrop for your talk show. We got walls in a nice shade of blue that doubles as a portable chromakey cyc. Check your phone book for Nomadic Display, my favorite, though there's at least a dozen other manufacturers. A simple roll of black or gray seamless paper can have myriad looks depending on how you light it, and if you use colored gels. If you can spend $200 on an ellipsoidal spotlight, you can use it to project patterns on that seamless, from abstract window blinds and patterns, to custom titles and logos. One time I wanted to try that effect, and had no spotlight. I used my word-processor and laser printer to output the B&W show logo onto clear acetate overhead projection sheet, the kind you buy at the office store and can run thru a photocopier. I cut the sheet down and fit it into a 35 mm slide holder, and used a regular slide projector to project the pattern against a wall, over the talent's shoulder. There are obvious sound and lighting considerations, but in my case it WORKED! Of course, we all want to use professional tools and supplies whenever possible, but when the clients want the impossible or unaffordable, it is especially sweet to be able to pull a "McGyver" with cheap materials used in new and creative ways. Like they say; "It doesn't have to BE, only to APPEAR to be".
HOT-WIRED FOAM, THE BUILD-ANYTHING MATERIAL.This is very neat for non-loadbearing set /prop materials that might be heavy or expensive to make from wood or metal. Expanded Styrofoam from the home center comes in several types of density. The blue stuff from Dow called Foamular is really dense, like balsa wood. And carves nicely using a hot-wire bow and sandpaper. You make the bow (u-shaped) out of wood or bent electrical conduit. The ideal power supply is called a variac, available from electronics surplus catalogs for as low as $20. It turns the house current into something lower and adjustable. Other resources for the variac and foam are airplane-building supply outlets like Airplane Spruce & Specialty. I have heard of old model train transformers used for the adjustable power supply, as well as direct connection to a 12-volt car battery or charger. If you are ignorant about electricity, skip this and try something else, as I don't want you to get in trouble. (MORE) Meanwhile, the wire part consists of nickel-chromium wire, nicknamed Nichrome. This is what's in your bread toaster, but you want a finer gauge, like kite twine. I have also heard that stainless-steel deep-sea single-strand fishing leader works, but that uses more current than Nichrome, so is less efficient. Nichrome is available (sometimes) at Radio Schmuck, or from hobby outlets like Hobby Lobby or Tower Hobbies in Champaign, Illinois. (They are on the web) The bow holds the wire under high tension, and when heated to near red-hot, it will dive thru the foam like a scroll saw. You can use templates of wood, even cardboard, to carve intricate shapes like 3-D show logos, futuristic weapons labs, sculptural set walls, etc. If you want to paint the foam, test a small piece first; anything with petrochemical thinners in it will melt the foam. A water-based latex-enamel sprayed in light coats seems to work. Another foam sealer is Elmers' glue thinned with water, brushed on. 3-M-77 adhesive spray works to bond pieces together without melting. Once sealed with paint, you can do anything else to the foam, and the camera can't tell it's not an adobe hut, a concrete wall, or a spaceship hull.
SUBMARINE PERISCOPE / KILLER SHARK POV IN WATERWant a shot right on or just under the waterline in a pool or pond? Use a fish tank the size of your camera, float the tank in the pool with camera inside. Put the lens right up against the glass to avoid reflections. Cheaper than an Ikelite casing.
KEV'S FAVORITE CHEAP TRICKS #1: PANTY HOSE HOLDERSometimes my favorite part about this biz is how the gear all fits so perfectly into their little cases and making useful little production tools out of the stuff around me. This is a little tip I learned from a shooter in DC... if you take the little gray cap from a film canister and trim away the inside plastic (very carefully) you'll end up with a plastic band that fits really snugly around the inside barrel of a standard eng lens. Use it to hold black or white nylon hose stretched very tight (Christian Dior - Midnight Black is my current favorite) to achieve a nice soft look for that corporate head shot (black) or babies/elderly (white). IT WORKS GREAT!!! It's tighter than a rubber band, easy to put on and remove, and has a low enough profile that I can just leave the band on for safe keeping when I'm not filtering. *Please be extremely careful when handling and reassembling the very vulnerable back element... DON'T TRY THIS IF YOU'RE IN A HURRY!
KEV'S FAVORITE CHEAP TRICKS #2: WATER & MIRRORSOkay you know the U2 video "She Moves In Mysterious Ways" where everything is shot off flexible mylar? I achieved a similar, just as cool effect with water and mirrors... (MORE) Build a little stand out of 1" X 2"s and wing nuts that will look and work kind of like a drafting desk... two sturdy upside-down T-shaped legs for the base, with the wing nuts at the top and a brace that will hold a good size mirror, allowing it to tilt vertically. Then fill a good sized basin with a couple inches of water, and submerge another mirror underwater, with something behind it to give it a tilt of about 30 - 45 degrees off the horizontal. Now place the tilting mirror above the submerged one, aim it at your subject and shoot into the water, reflecting off the submerged mirror, off the tilting mirror, and at the subject. Experiment with different levels of ripples in the water, dropping things into the water, then a quick rack to move focus from the mirror to the water surface, drops of food color and oils... you get the idea. Make the effect work even more when you get into post... slo mo that ripple action as the subject comes into focus and you've got something brothers and sisters... Yeah, I know you can get similar effects from a SGI and effects boxes, but hey it's good clean fun at a fraction of the price!! Do I have too much time on my hands or what? Later,Kev. Mark says, "Another way to do this is to drop by the hobby store and buy some mylar/polyester model airplane covering called "Monokote" in chrome (they have a zillion colors plus clear). You can tack this to a frame with a clothes iron, then use a hair dryer on hot or heat gun to shrink it to a drum-tight surface. Attach strings to the back w/ tape. Pull randomly for warping effects. If you saw the first "F/X" movie, the prop/effects guy made a door-sized mirror this way."
CAR MOUNTS/INTERIOR:Here's at least one other way to mount the camera in various parts of a car interior. Make up an expanding pole that can friction-fit from ceiling to floor, and a slotted angle iron L-bracket that slides up and down on it, to which you attach the camera with a simple screw or wing nut. This works better with tiny cameras, of course, but in any case takes up much less interior space than the serviceable 2x4 plank thru the windows. You can also get in/out the car without a lot of hassle. And it lets you shoot 360 degrees without showing the camera support. You can also hang lighting on it. By locking the camera to the frame/body of the car, you take out major vibration, since camera and car hit bumps as one unit. The outside view shakes more, of course. I've never built one of these for the inside of a car before, but I imagine threaded metal pipes and some extra threaded connectors or lock washers would do the trick. Large rubber pads or cups on the ends keep from poking holes in car fabrics, and improve the grip/hold. You would do field/tension adjustments with a pair of plumbing wrenches. Plastic version: You could make it out of two pieces of telescoped PVC pipe with some kind of a spring inside... just think of an old pole lamp from your parent's rumpus room, or the expanding shower curtain rod in your bathroom for inspiration. You'll have to design it to the weight and other needs of the specific camera you're using. All bets are off if the car is a convertible:-) (MORE) Wait a minute, hot flash hit me: The PVC thing is easier if you forget the spring, and buy a solid rubber strap-style bungie, maybe a foot long. No, buy several in various sizes, they're cheap. Follow me on this: the outer tube of the "telescoping" pair gets two slits in it/across it at one-third it's length, which lets the bungie pass thru inside, blocking the tube inside. When the smaller diameter inner PVC section is inserted, it pushes out against the rubber strap, kinda like an inside-out bow and arrow. And be careful here, 'cause this would expel the "arrow" with harmful, if not fatal, force. But now, the pole has an adjustable amount of "spring" extension force, depending on how much the rubber strap is stretched. (which is why you bought several lengths). Call it the Suszko Pogo Stick camera mount. Hey, get me Garrett Brown on the phone, I smell money here...:-) another free, no-charge service;-) Mark Suszko In the Devil's Workshop, with a glint in my eye
STAGE BLOOD RECIPEWhite corn syrup Red food coloring Blue food coloring Liquid dish soap Use 16 oz. bottle of syrup.(heavy consistency and easily washable) add about 1 tablespoon of red, 2-3 drops of blue and a few drops of dish soap to retard drying (also makes it easier to remove). Obviously you'll need to make some camera tests and adjust accordingly. Good luck & let me know the results.
BLOOD AND CHOCOLATEMake blood or any color paint pour down the screen using Hershey's Syrup poured down a piece of white foam core. The high-contrast black and white can be keyed any color, or you can key video thru it, making a very organic paint wipe. To me the brilliant part is using chocolate syrup instead of paint - the fumes are WAY easier to take, you eat the leftovers, and cleanup is soap and water.
MAKE OMNI PZM MICS DIRECTIONALUsing PZM microphones: If you need a good "reflector" to improve the pick-up of a PZM or other mic, purchase a plexiglass picture frame which will hold 2 - 8.5 x 11 photos. Place the mic about an inch or two from the bend in the frame. Cost: about $8 This is especially useful for anything on stage. It's also a good idea to place the PZM on some foam to help reduce any noises from the stage/table or whatever surface its sitting on.
REVITALIZE SCUZZY OLD MICROPHONE BODIES WITH HEAT SHRINK TUBINGOur Electro-Voice stick mics get beat up quite a bit, and we couldn't afford to re-plate them, so we found heat-shrink tubing the right size (in a flat black), cut and heat: presto, looks new, no glare, and has a really nice grip. If it gets grungy, or you need to disassemble the mic, slit with a razor blade, work, slip on and shrink a new one. Heat shrink comes in colors too, for coding purposes, as well as clear. Works on tie-tack mics too.
CHEAP AUX. PROMPTER HEADThis looks like a Presidential-styled speech prompter, but you can put a camera against it in a pinch. It's virtues are cheapness and light weight/compactness. Components are a metal flag pole bracket (angled about 45 degrees), a sheet of Lexan (stiff as possible), a spare light stand, assorted bolts, a black cloth about 4X4, and a monitor. Monitor goes atop sheet on floor, tube facing ceiling. Fix bracket to Lexan sheet, attach to top of light stand, place where it will reflect from monitor. Hopefully, you have a real prompter somewhere, feeding the reversed-out image to the aux. Video in of this monitor. The black cloth minimizes reflection. This would be tough to use under an open sky, but in a studio setting, it can work. Another approach: if you have a studio viewfinder, turn it around on the camera to face talent, and patch the prompter signal to your Return Video button. With this and a CG capable of rolls, you had an emergency prompting system, and didn't know it:-) Jay Leno's Tonight Show uses little LCD monitors mounted on the top of the cameras, facing Jay, so he can look at any camera and see what the live program video looks like.
MARK'S MIRACLE MOUNT TINY CAR/PLANE/DOOR MOUNT FOR Hi-8 and VHS-C/ DV CAMSI needed a mount for shooting in-flight interiors of me flying in a VERY cramped Cessna. This mount also works well in automobiles, and can quickly give you a high-angle security camera type shot when hung in most any doorway. Setup/takedown takes seconds. It is all perforated steel strapping from the hardware store, heavy gauge, so it takes a lot of muscle to bend it by hand. Add standard nuts, wingnuts and bolts sized to match your camera's mounting bolt threads. The primary unit is a simple ˆîL' shape, with a shorter secondary piece attached at right angles half-way down the el's long axis. This adds stability against twisting, and gives you a surface to gaffer-tape against the window of the car or plane. A piece of steel L bracket is screwed into the back of the unit at the bend to stiffen it. Camera sits on the short horizontal part of the big el. The cool part to me is the short loop of nylon strapping or webbing that you attach to the highest point of the L. This gets trapped in the rolled-up car window, or between door and jamb, anchoring the unit. The folded loop should be about 15 inches long, which lets you vary the height of suspension. It must be a folded loop, not a single straight piece: camera weight pulling on it makes the loop's end splay out at the window interface, locking the unit in place. I also discovered you can put this on the top of a door, close the door on the loop, and (usually) it stays put quite well. For loose-fitting doors, push a pen thru the loop to help keep it from pulling thru the jamb. Obviously, you have to lock the door or guard against accidental opening while the camera is hanging. Try this mount sometime, it is very versatile and costs about $12 in parts. I also pad the sides that face window glass with spare foam rubber, like from an equipment packing case. Helps damp vibration and prevent scratches on glass. This mount has weight limitations: the most I'd trust to it is a VHS-C camcorder, but I'd be pretty confident about it with High-8 or mini-DV units. Mark Suszko
CAMERA VIEWFINDER BUSTED, WHAT NOW?Works on Sony M-7 and M-2/M-3: Pull the shotgun mic out of the round holder, and sight thru that. On anything but the tightest shots, it will give you a true finder view, because it is aligned with the lens.
POOR MAN'S DVE/ROSTRUMYou wanna shoot stills like Ken Burns, and panning off the tripod doesn't make it? A trip to the hobby store, or a call to Tower Hobbies in Champaign Illinois may be in order. You can buy a two-channel radio control system for RC cars for about $50 if you shop around. Ask for a ground-based system, not one for model airplanes-you don't want to cause expensive accidents. The car-type two-stick transmitters are cheaper, anyway. Ask for two high-torque servos with that, preferably the biggest you can afford. Quarter-scale-type servos would be great, but run about $50 a piece. Then get your hands on some light plywood, sized for your biggest pictures (hobby shop) and two sets of ball bearing races, like ball-bearing drawer slides from the home center. Only make sure the slides are as free-running and frictionless as possible: these servos are not all that strong, even when you make the output arms longer for more throw. You build it up like this: a three-level sandwich of wood. Two slides facing in x-axis between the bottom and middle planes, two sets of slides in y-axis under the top plane. Connect one servo arm with model airplane hardware to the base plate and X-axis tray, one between the X and Y- axis tray, and you can then remotely position photos with very precise movements. I would hang the camera looking down on the whole thing; with a remote zoom control, you'd have 3-axis smooth movement without keystoning. Course, that would take three hands:-)
NEAT BACKGROUNDSHome centers- how could I do videos without em? :-) Drop by the kitchen remodeling center, and load up on free Formica sample chips. A lovely collection of wood patterns, stones, marbles, granites, work great behind a boring CG. Also keep an eye out when shooting in the field: a lot of times you have to (you SHOULD) record some room tone or nat sound anyway. While doing that, instead of color bars, line up an out-of-focus close-up of an asphalt roadside, a clump of wildflowers, the textured wallpaper or carpet in the office, etc. You may never need it, until you NEED it, dig?
SETUP MONITORS W/O BLUE GUN MONITOR SWITCHYou should have a sample swatchbook of gel colors from Rosco or similar laying about. Pick out a Night Blue, and look at your color bars thru that. Adjust until you have three evenly-colored white bars and three evenly-colored black ones in between. Your monitor should look pretty close to correct now.
HI-TECH TABLETOP PHOTOGRAPHYYou can't go wrong with an egg crate flouro light grid from the hardware store. About nine bucks, usually in white (which you can color with gelled lights) or Chrome, for the ultimate macho-technical look. Also consider black spray paint. These actually come in several styles, some of which are flexible enough to take on curves. Being mostly styrene, they can be persuaded into various shapes with a carefully-applied heat gun. I light them from below, using two spare light stands and clamps to get it positioned right. Put product on top, add kicker lights and fog, and you're on your way!:-) Also makes a neat gobo.
LOW-TECH CHOCKS FOR CHAIRS WITH WHEELSWe have some lovely adjustable-height chairs with 5-wheel bottoms, that skid on the concrete studio floor like ice on a griddle. A handy, dirt-cheap way to chock all 5 wheels at once, and keep the chair still, is to use a hunk of old audio or phone cable, formed into a noose, the circle drawn tight against the wheels. Works great.
UP, UP AND AWAYSubmitted by Andy Reichsman We were shooting a fairly substantial Japanese TV commercial in the Surrogate Court in Manhattan. The DP and gaffer after scouting the place wanted a bounced light source from above and it wasn't going to work because the building has 3 - 4 story vaulted ceilings above where we were shooting. We ended up buying 4 weather balloons and tying them to the four corners of a 20 x 20 silk. We sent the silk up to about 15 - 18 feet and bounced HMI's into it. First time and last time I've ever used balloons in a lighting set-up.
Macro-shoot a digital stopwatch, key it over tape, add "We'll be back in" message...this is for CG's that don't come with this feature built-in. Once built to tape, you can use it over and over, and it can already have music on it, freeing you to re-organize the audio board for the next segment. Make it much longer than you think you'll ever need, then dial-a-duration by cueing the tape! This way is better than posting a return time when there's a chance you're not gonna be right on-schedule. Also, everyone with an eye on the monitor knows exactly when you're back.
Is it a fruit drink or an acid trip? Dunno, but I got this toy called a teleiedoscope from American Science & Surplus in Chicago for like two bucks, and it breaks up any thing you point it at into the same effect as the fruitopia spots (or the old "Wonderful World of Disney" bumpers, but I'm dating myself). Tape it to your lens, and have a great time looking at screen savers, video monitors, etc. Very psychedelic effect. Low tech, low-bucks.
If you don't have high-tech flow charting software, just stare at a blank wall... what I mean is, when we're planning-out a big project, we find it effective to use post-it notes with each scene or subject, stuck on the wall, organization-chart fashion, to arrange/rearrange/check the flow of a program. The notes are cheap, editing is instant(like non-linear, solid-state storage, dude! :)) and looking at it on a big wall space makes for better group strategizing. Markertek catalog has post-its with picture frames and dialog lines, but you don't need to use those... the local office supply has 'em in lined, 4-by-6 size in bulk. BTW, if you've moved a certain shot around enough times that the stickum stops working, maybe the shot isn't, either, hmmm? :)
Stole this from an NBC affiliate shooter who's now at FOX/Chicago. Problem was "gang bangs": spontaneous news interviews with a cloud of cameramen all vying for the best shot from an interview "victim". Typically, the person being interviewed would stare around at every camera, but to get them to look more in YOUR direction, try putting an eye-catching little doll or other incongruous critter on top of your viewfinder. In one-on-ones, this gives a perfect point for the talent to focus on instead of an intimidating, unblinking lens... works great for inexperienced talent. You could also try sticking a notecard with one-word or short phrase prompts on the viewfinder, for people who don't need a full-blown cue card or prompter. At close range, it works.
When we finally (!) got our one-piece betacam, I found the need to "accessorize", since I no longer had the 3/4's Porta-Brace bag to haul tapes, mics, etc. in. So I look in the Porta-Brace catalog for a small waist bag for tapes, etc. YIPE!!! The prices were more like Gucci. After trying several places and just about giving up, I found just the thing at Venture. Lucky for us it's back-to-school time, and if you look in the student's backpack section, there is a very nice belt/fanny pack made by Eastpack for only $15. Has a very sturdy web belt and big quick-release clip, looks to be made of Cordura or a close knockoff of it. It will hold three beta tapes, your wireless, an NP-1 style battery or two, and has a small outer velcro pouch for a candy bar, tweakers, etc. Comes in several nice colors as well as Sony Beta Black. The guys made fun 'till they had to go out shooting with no place to put their extra "stuff". At fifteen bucks, you might even be able to afford some "extra stuff" to put in it. :-)
Tired of noise and intrusions messing up office shots? Take a tip from your hotel. It's easy to make doorknob Do Not Disturb signs of various flavors. If you have a word processor with dingbats, and a copier machine, you can get very artistic with them. I recommend you make 'em oversized, on colored paper, so they can't be missed. You can laminate them to scrap foamcore with clear packing tape for durability. One of mine goes on the edit room door to keep out pesky intrusions while I'm working with important clients. Sometimes, the staff even pays attention to the sign! :-) Mark Suszko
Next time you need a stone or wood, or metallic background for a graphic, and you don't have a paint system, check out the many pretty textures/patterns of formica samples at your home center. We have about 50 nice ones on a key chain, you can stick 'em under the camera on macro and de-focus just a touch, and "voila!" Silicon graphics it ain't, but it can work in a pinch. You can also borrow wallpaper sample books, and some of the specialty paper from the paper-direct catalog makes very pretty screen textures. |
Contact vidpro at vidpro.org
|
|
|
|
