nofilmschool » rigs

Watch: 'The Art of Steadicam' Pays Tribute to Film's Great Gliding Shots, Operators, and Pioneers

Dave Kendricken — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 16:41:47 +0000

While hand-held shooting has basically been around since there was a camera light enough to do so, it’s safe to say that the Steadicam (which is technically a Tiffen name) constitutes a cinematographical revolution all its own. Hand-holding dates back as early as 1911, but it was a long time before cinema gained the dolly’s fluidity of motion coupled with the hand-held operator’s freedom of travel. Audiences would first meet the ‘Steadicam shot’ in 1976′s Bound for Glory, and the first impressions were enough to earn the film an Academy Award for Cinematography. Larry Wright of Refocused Media recently created a supercut called The Art of Steadicam, paying homage to the ground-breaking invention and the artists who helped reshape the possibilities of cinematic movement — check it out below. (more…)

SnapTrack Cinerails: a Light, Portable, Easy-To-Assemble Curved Dolly Track System on Kickstarter

Dave Kendricken — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 04:50:44 +0000

Danny Dodge is a cameraman and cinematographer who has devised what may be the most light-weight and portable curved dolly track system you’ve ever seen. Searching for a way to build the ultimate portable dolly setup, Dodge stumbled upon the fact that a draw string could be used to arch PVC track to any degree he wished. The SnapTrack Cinerails rig was the result. Combining a simple draw string device with seven Cinerails gives you up to eight feet of curvable dolly track that seems primed for low-impact DSLR shooting, weighs under ten pounds, and breaks down/sets up in about a minute. Check out the SnapTrack Cinerails below, and some pre-ordering info if you’re interested. (more…)

Learn How to Build a DSLR Shoulder Rig for Only $100 with Parts from eBay

Dave Kendricken — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 16:02:59 +0000

Since the explosion of DSLRs, shoulder rigs have become almost a necessity for smooth handheld work. Some you can buy on the cheap, others you can build yourself for even cheaper, and one can even double as a portable jib solution. Name brand rigs will save you the trouble of a DIY assembly job, and should hold up well enough to use on just about any shoot, but they’ll cost you quite a bit more. Now we’ve got another how-to video, this time geared toward shooters who’d like to build their own somewhat heavy-duty shoulder rig for as little as $100. Check out the video and the full eBay items list below. (more…)

Another DIY Bullet-Time GoPro Rig (This One's Handheld!)

Dave Kendricken — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 02:10:36 +0000

We recently featured several practical but effective techniques for creating the (by now) famous Matrix-esque ‘bullet-time’ effect — accomplished, in more than one case, by using an evenly spaced array of GoPros and some post-processing elbow grease. Clearly, the availability and portability of such cameras is catching on beyond conventional ‘action cam’ uses, and inspiring creatives of nearly any budget to create shots only A-budget Hollywood productions used to be able to pull off. GoPros make sense for such arrays, because they are forgivingly frameable (and decently affordable as far as rentals go). Now, another project has demonstrated what’s possible with these simple but adaptable cameras — in this case, built into a rig that can also be handheld. (more…)

DIY Builds: Portable Jib That Doubles as Shoulder Rig, Panoramic Head, Dirt Cheap Steadicam

Dave Kendricken — Sat, 26 Jan 2013 22:54:39 +0000

There’s a variety of rigs out there for pretty much all your mounting needs — Cinevate and of course Kessler are go-to solutions for jibs running the gamut from heavy-duty to collapsible, respectively. The same goes for shoulder rigs, with options ranging from professional solutions to lightweight prefabs all the way down to homebrew kits. Of course, something that can pull double duty as a portable jib and custom shoulder rig — which you can put together yourself for $50, to boot — may be the best of, like, three worlds. Read on to check out some details — plus info on how to build your own 360 degree panoramic head mount, plus some hardcore DIY stabilizers — all geared toward the low-to-no budget but crafty shooter. (more…)

Get Your Shoulder Rig Redrock'n'Rollin' with New Gear Upgrades

Dave Kendricken — Fri, 21 Dec 2012 03:20:07 +0000

As a longtime owner of a Redrock shouldermount rig, a recent announcement from the accessory manufacturer almost makes me wish I had instead waited the eight-some-odd years to spring for the package today. Actually, it’s still pretty good news to me, and any other current rig owners, for that matter — because what’s announced isn’t a new Redrock rig unto itself, but instead upgrades for key components for any shouldermount setup. Bump the jump for the details. (more…)

Want a Dirt Cheap DSLR Shoulder Rig? Filmcity Has You Covered For Less Than $100

Joe Marine — Wed, 19 Dec 2012 08:30:25 +0000

If you want to do steady handheld work with most small cameras — like DSLRs — a shoulder rig is almost a must. They vary in price rather drastically, and they come in all sorts of shapes and sizes. There are plenty of budget rigs around, some from better known companies than others, but not many of them can break $100 as a starting price point — but that’s exactly what the Filmcity FC-10 Shoulder Rig does. Click through to check out a video showing off the rig. (more…)

Shoot a Film on Your iPhone, Control Canon DSLRs with an Android Tablet Monitor Rig

Dave Kendricken — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 16:28:19 +0000

There’s no doubt that modern mobile technology has the capacity to streamline or benefit many aspects of filmmaking. Whether it’s the micro-video art emerging in social media, script supervision capabilities, lighting-fast previsualization softwares, or the surprisingly high-resolution video some phones and tablets can shoot (given what they are), there’s something to be said for their place in the industry. For goodness sake, modern smartphones are better at giving directions than my GPS navigator and shoot higher quality video than my first camcorder. With all that said, though, how far can things like the Apple iPhone or an Android tablet be taken down-and-dirty in the trenches of shooting? (more…)

A Rig for Filming with Two Cameras at the Same Time... Sure, Why Not?

Benjamin Dewhurst — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 18:45:13 +0000

Every once in a while I see a filmmaking product, and I can’t help but think “why didn’t I think of that?” due to the genius in the simplicity. Well, today is one of those days. Take a look at the new Cinemecanix C1-PRO-RIG, a two-level rig that allows you to film with two cameras simultaneously. See it in action in the video below. (more…)

Zacuto Gets Creative with Their New Blackmagic Cinema Camera Rigs

Joe Marine — Sun, 19 Aug 2012 15:30:30 +0000

Zacuto has been getting quite a bit of coverage lately thanks to their controversial (or not, depends on who you ask) Revenge of the Great Camera Shootout 2012. That particular shootout saw relatively inexpensive cameras go up against the best in the business in both a creative and empirical test. Besides being a rental house, Zacuto also makes a ton of rigs and support gear for cameras, and they’ve come up with some interesting designs for the much-anticipated Blackmagic Cinema Camera (which is hopefully less than two weeks away). Check out the video below featuring Steve Weiss and Jens Bogehegn. (more…)

The Indieshot: a DSLR Steadicam, Shoulder Mount, Dolly, Boom, and Tripod--All in One

Justin Minich — Thu, 05 Jul 2012 23:26:41 +0000

One of the most consistent issues for filmmakers –especially those that travel a lot– is hauling around a lot of heavy gear (and for those of us on a budget, affording the gear we want to make great looking images). There have been some developments in making equipment more compact and cheaper, but this concept rig from designer Grant Parrinello, promises “a steadicam, boom camera (for high shots), a glide track (for smooth pan and push shots), a shoulder mount, and a tripod all into one compact, low cost product.” (more…)

NAB Video: Cinevate's DSLR Rigs, Sliders, Viewfinder, and New LED Lights

Ryan Koo — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 13:33:37 +0000

I was a bit overwhelmed by all the gear on display at Cinevate’s well-trafficked NAB booth, especially given I don’t have the faintest clue about camera sliders. Better, then, to let the guys at FreshDV walk you through the Simplis DSLR rig, Atlas DSLR slider, new LED lights, and the Cyclops Viewfinder that will, packaged with a Sony monitor, soon join the other EVFs I saw at the show. If you don’t feel a need to keep one eye free, the Cyclops has a unique (and very clear) viewport that immerses you more along the lines of that dude from Star Trek than a traditional one-eye viewfinder. Here’s what they were showing at their booth: (more…)

NAB Video: ECC Tools' All-in-One HDSLR Rig

Ryan Koo — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 23:09:01 +0000

FreshDV checks out the O’Connor booth, where ECC Tools is showing off a Terminator-like 5D rig that includes HD-SDI-output conversion, battery solutions, and is constructed mostly of cheese plates: (more…)