Saturday, July 30, 2011

DIY Camera Slider



I finally got my camera slider done. After watching many of the tutorials online, I decided to take the best aspects of the ones I watched and mash them together into one rig. The overall cost came out to about $30.

Originally, I had a small dolly made out of two skateboard trucks and scrap of board. I dropped this idea long ago because my wheels weren't aligned and it was bulky and unreliable. Then I came across Lolo Two's Big Brother camera rig which used conduit and connectors. After filing down the inner rim of the connectors as the video demonstrates, I realize that it was nearly impossible for me to attach the rest of the shuttle without increasing the friction.

I then stumbled across a video making an over head documentation camera that used bearings. The great thing about this is it doubles the contact points. One skateboard has four wheels and eight bearings, so I was able to get more stability by crossing the bearings along the pipe instead of just using the wheels to run along the top.
This rig uses the same mount assembly as the fig rig. The shuttle is made from 3/4" PVC connector and pipe, 8 skateboard bearings, and 8 5/16" carriage bolt assemblies.

I put 1/4" washers on each side of the bearing to prevent needless grime from getting in, as well as a layer of masking tape around the outside to dampen the metal-on-metal screech.

The rail system is 3/4" EMT conduit, some of the cheapest piping available. I chose it to be stronger and more rigid than PVC. It's screwed down with 3/4" conduit hangers to two scrap pieces of board.

I'm really excited to try it out. Special thanks to Katie Black for helping me acquire parts.

Thursday, July 28, 2011

DIY Fig Rig


This is a rig that I designed based off of a tutorial from IndyMogul.com. I made my own custom modification to the camera mounting screw assembly. Their version had long bolt threaded through the PVC cross section secured by caps on each end. I used a 3/4" to threaded 1/2" PVC adapter on the top of mine, allowing me to screw different bolt assemblies onto the rig. Now I can just make various caps instead of a whole new rig.

It should be very useful for minimizing shake and wobble in handheld shooting.

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Blind Simon Productions' photostream



I've linked up a Flickr page for Blind Simon Productions! This means that more production photos will soon be available. Stay tuned for updates

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

July Madness

July has been crazy so far and is only speeding up. To begin, I'm currently entrenched in the process of refining the first EIU sports promo and getting it tweaked for the client. The first music track was a no-go, so I'm currently recutting the footage to a peppier track. It's completely changed the feel of the promo and I hope that it doesn't take away from the overall aesthetic charm (but as long as the client's happy, that's good with me).

Towards the beginning of the month I donned a pair of old school flannel pajamas, red of course, (the ones like and adult onesie) and stood in front of a green-screen for Andy and Will's "Spaceman Flannel" short. I don't want to talk about it...

In addition, I've had the honor of teaching a crew of 11-14 years olds in a Stop Motion Film class at the Tarble Arts Center. This is the second year I've gotten to work with the kids and so far they're making some really cool stuff. Most of them have completed their claymation and whiteboard cartoons, so tomorrow we'll start our 3D object animations. It's a blast to work alongside them. There's always lots of quirky plots riddled with clay blood and insanity. Ahhh... Awesomeness. 

Next week, I'll be working with a veteran of last year's class, Jesse Wilson-Brown to tag-team a realistic zombie short. We're going for a profession day to day film with some action scenes. I'm really looking forward to getting the final script done and begin preproduction full on.

It's gonna be a busy month rolling right into Shark Week.