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Category Archive: Production Tips
The band is Big Band Boom! Yeah I’m friends with a sound guy that has a big band. He had been begging me to come down and see his show. So I brought some cameras with me. The live mix was done by Jeff Powell. I had 7 cameras there that night with one other [...]
At first I couldn’t figure out what to do with this old shoe rack. No one wanted it on freecycle, so it sat. After trying to sort though all my cables it dawned on me. Hang them up.
Need some bags to haul your grip tools and film gadgets around on set but would rather spend your money renting lens or a great camera? Check out Harbor Freight Tools for their assortment of tool bags. These bags are perfect for your production needs and at more reasonable prices than what you might find [...]
I recently had new carpet installed and I had a few samples left over. I just happen to leave one on my desk so I sat my camera on it. So I kept it. Seemed like a soft place to put my camera and admire it while I was twittering… SIDE NOTE: That’s not the [...]
So I got the new camera and I want to take pictures of people, places, and things. Places and things are easy, just take the picture. People that’s a different story. I don’t mind asking for permission but I wanted some way to offer them a copy of it without giving them my regular card. Something [...]
You’re doing a podcast and the only way to get your guest is on the phone? Well here’s how you do it. This post is just for recording off phones, and just about any phone. You can always use Skype but that’s just a little different so that’s like a whole different topic. If you’re [...]
I’ve been talking about my Zi8 a lot lately that’s just because I like the camera so much and I like thinking up ways to do fun stuff with it. This post is about tricking out your video camera with a wide angle lens! You can gets this nice little lens kit from Amazon or [...]
This is just like “2001 a Space Odyssey”. Not sure if you remember the scene with the reporter taking pictures. But his camera was very small, well guess what the future is finally hear. I love using my Kodak Zi8. It’s actually a nice little production camera. Stephen Knapp in the photo. Photo taken by [...]
One of the reasons I enjoyed using my Kodak Zi6 was because of the double AA batteries. But when I first picked up my Kodak Zi8 I was worried about the new battery system the Zi8 uses. Not anymore. Now I can shoot for as long as I want. I only need these three things. [...]
Don’t have a shotgun mic but you still need to get a little closer to your source? Here’s a simple solution for low budget filmmakers or audio podcasters. This is a combo of my video double sound kit and my podcasting kit. In the image: Zoom H2 20 foot 1/8 inch headphone cable Gitzo 3 [...]
If you live in the Midwest and just got hit with all the snow we did here in Chicago, it’s a perfect time to grab images for matte paintings. Especially if you are doing snow scenes! So it’s time to grab images of snow blown fields, piles of snow in parking lots, and shear cliffs [...]
If you’re like me and still don’t own a blu-ray burner you are still archiving on lots of DVD disks. At least I have a Duel Layer… Maybe this is obvious but when doing a lot of backups in a series and you’re not sure how many disks it might take up. Just write “1 [...]
I’m not the most organized person, but I do start my motion graphics or visual effect projects this way. As the image below shows this is a folder full of empty folders. I use 3D Studio Max and the Adobe Creative Suite. So my folder structure is geared to what I use and my workflow. [...]
I really mean Makeup. You’ve guessed it these are makeup bags. Cost me $3.99 at Target. I know this is not a new idea and I think I remember it back from my film school days. Recently the wife had a couple extra little bags around so I repurposed them for my adapters. The problem [...]
January 1st I helped launch Midwest Media Now! This is a project I’ve been talking with my friends for a while now. I’d drive them nuts talking about this stuff and to get me off their back, they’d tell me I should start my own show… So I did! It’s taken me about 2 [...]
This effect has been getting some buzz lately because of this fantastic looking tilt shift time-lapse effect created by Keith Loutit. There are a number of Photoshop Tutorials out there related to this, this one is great! so check it out. I believe I even saw this explained in “Wired”… But I figured if it [...]
No I didn’t spell it wrong. I mean Nagra not Niagara. Let me start off by saying I am not a sound guy and no sound persons job is any danger. When I was in film school the way we would gather sound was with a Narga reel to reel recorder or a Marantz audio [...]
This is a good example of the kind of video projects I work on from time to time. It’s fun stuff and I’m always on the move. You always have to be ready to go when doing a productions like this. You never know what’s going to happen. There is some planning you can do [...]
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