Saturday, January 29, 2011

Drowsiness and Power Tools.

Shooting things "on the cheap" means occasionally having to build your own camera rigs, props and set pieces. I've got a small workshop in the garage for it, but right now it's backlogged with junk waiting to be converted.

Some of you may know that I'm a bit of an insomniac. Sometimes I'll catch 4 hours of sleep here and there, sometimes I'll get a full 6 at the worst possible of time of day. When I'm on a shoot and have a full schedule I sleep better because it's easy to decide when it's time to sleep. When I'm working on edits and can do them all hours of the day, like now, it makes tough for me to "shut off". Often I feel like I should be doing SOMETHING, even at 4 AM. I miss other people making my schedule for me at times like that.

Anyway, this causes a problem when it comes to making things. The next thing I need to finish requires the use of power tools. Sharp, fast spinning, dangerous power tools. I want to be fully alert when I work with these things, but I can't run them after 11 PM without being rude to the neighbors, or before 8 AM, which would be a great time because I feel wonderful now.

Hopefully tonight I'll be alert enough to build, or at least do the power tool portion, of my new HD 3D camera rig. It's very simple. Almost as simple as Carclopse was, but the 3D effect will be beyond anything I've been able to do up until now and I'll need that for our production the end of this year.

Look for some 3D shorts, maybe this Spring as I test it out. If you need glasses you can grab some from www.cultgoddessmagazine.com

I may blog again later today. Leave a comment if you want me to post some pictures of the rig and how it generally works.

There was no way to monitor Carclopse in the car, so when it went sideways I didn't know. It may not look like much more than someone taking video of driving, but the perspective is very different. We used it for the opening credits and transition scenes in "Stopped Dead" and I think it added to the scope of the movie.

5 comments:

  1. Cool! I like it. Makes me miss Vennom! :-(

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  2. WOW !!!!!!....awesome...You should come up north and do it with snow on the ground

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  3. Can I use your car to do it?
    Acutally, up North the legality of the rig is a bit more "iffy" because you guys require front plates and this would cover it. I guess I'd have to use my out of state car.
    I should go do a dirt road.

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  4. It had me pressing on my imaginary brakes. Really good.

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  5. Well, the power tool portion of the newest rig is done. Maybe a bit more drilling, but the drill is the least scary of my tools. I just need a bigger bit. It's rough looking, but it should get the job done. Even has some loops for safety straps.

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