DIY Camera Rig

I found this tutorial on how to make a compact, mobile camera stabilizer on a very limited budget.  This is extremely useful as it's probably easier to use this rig rather than the DIY steadicam made from the tripod, as it's more compact and looks easier to move around. The tripod stabiliser would be easier than this rig to use for extreme low angle moving shots, as using this for that type of shot would require me to crouch over while walking.  I can use both techniques as they are both extremely cost-effective and easy to make.

Steadicam How-To

I found a way to stabilise camera movement with just a tripod.  This is helpful because I have limited resources and money to spend on buying expensive equipment, but I still want to make my product to be as professional looking as possible.  This will be useful for creating lots of shot types which will probably be used in my video, for example tracking shots, tilts, pans etc.  I will definitely be trying this technique and posting test shots.

"Lens Whacking" - Close up shots, light leaks etc.

This is a tutorial on lens whacking, a technique used to get extreme close-up shots in focus, create artistic light-leak effects on the footage and have a double plane of focus.
This technique will be very useful to be because some of my shots require extreme close-ups, and some of the dreamy hallucinations. I already addressed the issues of focusing on close-up subjects e.g. glitter in water when filming my test shots.  I initially thought that I would need to use a macrolens to achieve these types of shots.  However, with lens whacking technique, all I have to do is take the lens off my camera and focus manually.  I will experiment with this technique and post a few test shots.

This shot in the tutorial has inspired me in the direction of my character's hallucinations.  I could have a shot of my protagonist in the foreground, and a shot of the daughter in the background, still in focus, implying that she's visible in the character's peripheral line of vision.  Then, the little girl could run away/disappear as the protagonist turns to look at her, and the focus will quickly shift to only the protagonist, creating a sense of isolation.   This will probably be quite difficult to achieve so I will need to practise this shot.  However, if I can pull it off it will hopefully achieve the effect that I want, and will create a visually striking shot.

Here is an example of the dream like effect that this technique creates.

Shooting in Slow Motion

This tutorial was helpful because some of my footage may be in slow motion.
Having more frames per second means that when the footage is slowed down, it is still of a good quality and doesn't appear jittery.  Because some of my footage may be extremely slowed down, maybe even by 5 times, I will probably try to use the highest frame rate possible to retain good quality.  This may mean that I will have to borrow a camera with the ability to shoot a very high frame rate for some of my abstract footage,

Filming tutorials

Due to my low budget, I thought it would be useful to know how to get the most out of my limited resources.






I wondered how film makers shot long tracking shots without getting the tracks in the frame.  This video was useful to see how tracking shots are done, and I might attempt it myself.