--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB <no_re...@...> wrote: > > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, enlightened_dawn11 > <no_reply@> wrote: > > > > great find-- i recognized awhile ago while shooting video that > > it is very hard to duplicate all of the dolly effects used in > > professional cinematography. these guys came up with a cool > > solution. > > Just as a couple of hints, Dawn, For dollies, > a borrowed supermarket shopping cart works fine. > And if you're serious about wanting to create > non-shaky video, you can "grow your own" > Steadicam for under $20. > > All it takes is a harness to attach the thing to > your body (an old kid's backpack will do, worn > backwards), a ball joint that allows free movement > to anything attached to it in all directions > (which I found at an electronics/hardware junk > store for $5), and then solder/weld two pieces > of metal to opposite ends of the ball joint. On > one end, you weld an old tripod adapter to hold > the camera. On the other, you place enough weight > to exactly equal the weight of the camera. > > Voila. Instant Steadicam. As you move around, the > ball joint allows the balancing weight to keep > the camera in a steady, upright position, without > "camera shake." > > Or, since you're a gal and possibly don't have > access to tools and all that brilliant (and humble) > Do It Yourself knowledge that guys are born with :-), > you can just buy one of these things pre-made from > a catalog. Steadicams rock, especially when you > figure out how simple the mechanisms are that make > it work (Duh...gravity and inertia), and wonder at > how long it took for someone to figure it out and > turn it into an Oscar-winning invention.
For Dawn, and anyone else who is lured by the now-cheap HD video cameras on the market into becoming their own filmmaker, you can go a long way towards learning *how* to be a filmmaker by simply renting the DVDs of Robert Rodriguez's films (El Mariachi, the Spy Kids franchise, Desperado, From Dusk Till Dawn, Sin City, etc.). Rodriguez is the enfant terrible of cutting- edge filmmaking these days. He makes his movies *at home*, in his house in Austin, shooting on HD video, editing himself on the computer, and even composing all the music himself, also on the computer. In other words, he's using the same technology you are, just more expensive versions of it. And he is such a nice guy that on his DVDs he includes what he calls "Ten Minute Film School" clips in which he explains to wannabe filmmakers such as he was how they can become rich and famous like him. It's really a nice thing to do, and the information on these clips is valuable. On the "Ten Minute Film School" clip that is on the "El Mariachi" DVD, for example, he explains many of the ways that he made that film (which won the Audience Award at Sundance and several other awards) on a budget of $7,000. Yes, you read that cor- rectly, $7,000. And he tells you how he did it. On similar "Ten Minute Film School" clips, he shares with you other low-cost but effective tips about filmmaking. Well worth the cost of the rentals, even if the films weren't...and they all are. On one of the "bonus" clips on "Desperado 3" (Once Upon A Time In Mexico), he even shows you how to prepare the recipe for puerco pibil that Johnny Depp killed for in that movie. That can come in handy, too, because even aspiring filmmakers have to eat. :-) Most interesting to me was watching how he shoots. The low cost of digital media (as opposed to film stock) allows him to never say "Cut" on the set. He just lets the camera keep rolling, and then talks to the actors. Sometimes he is able to actually use footage shot as they're discussing the scene and blocking it out and they are just experi- menting with what he asks them to do. He often finds that it's more realistic than the "real" scenes when they are "trying." Besides, he makes great films. "Desperado" is in my personal Top Ten. It was his first major film. Clearly he had learned a lot before he ever got behind the camera of a studio film. In these DVD clips he shares some of what he had learned with you.
