Hi again, and good to have you reading my second post on how you evade a shaking camera. In the last post I did, you learned how to make a very cheap tool for making static shots. Today’s tool is used for making dynamic ones. You can easily make it for less than $2.

Tool #2:

Shopping list:

• A bolt, 1/4 inch with coarse threads, about 2-3 cm (1-2 inch) long.
• Some string that wont stretch, and is approximately as long as your height
• A small weight, like a washer

How you make it:

• Tie one end of the string to the washer, you can do this with an easy granny knot.
• Tie the string to the washer or other weight
• Clip the lose ends, and if you want to, seal the knots with a match

How you use it:

• Screw the bolt into the camera, just like you do with a tripod
• Put the washer on the ground, and step on it
• Pull up with the camera against the tension of the string
• This eliminates vertical camera shake, and greatly reduces horizontal shake

When you’re done, simply put the ‘tripod’ in your pocket

Have fun!

Thijs Vandenbussche

Source: http://www.metacafe.com/watch/1041948/1_image_stabilizer_for_any_camera_lose_the_tripod/

Technorati Tags: amateur film, budget, eastern lights, eastern lights productions, eliminate shaking, film, filmmaking, free film, free online film, make film, onepod, shaking camera, shaky camera, short film, shortfilm, thijs, tips, tripod, vandenbussche

A long time ago I discovered a wonderful trailer to Cashback, an adaption of an 18 minute short film to a feature film. Yesterday I got time to buy this film and it is one of the most artistic films I’ve ever seen.

The story tells us about Ben Willis, a guy who’s suffering from insomnia due to a recent break-up with his girlfriend. That’s why he takes a job at a supermarket and works the night shift. There, with no sleep for two weeks, he discovers a tremendous gift: the ability to stop time and to draw and unclothe women, for he is an artist drawing still life. This may sound pornographic, but the R-rated imagery in the film is incredibly artistic.

The film is mostly about love and how love is “sometimes hiding between the seconds of your life”. It is a very poetic and charming film. The shortfilm was made two years earlier and was nominated for an Oscar. Later the same team tried to develop a feature film, and with succes. A little known fact that the 18-minute shortfilm has been put in the feature film itself, making it a sort of extended cut. If you want to see a beautifully photgraphed, lyrical and poetical film, this is the one you are looking for.

9/10!

More info: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0460740/

Technorati Tags: cashback sean ellis ben willis adaptation oscar nominated short film naked girl art paint toronto