Making Your Own Filmmaking Gear vs. Buying It
Published June 18, 2021 · 7:38 · 163,429 views
About This Video
A Steadicam Van built. Dated, obsolete, don't bother, buy a store-bought one for $99 with servos and auto-stabilizers. A camera from 2008 he still uses to simulate VHS footage. A foot he chiseled and Dremeled so an LCD screen would stay open. A charging station that evolved from a desk.
The video is a catalog of homemade filmmaking gear: each item an argument about when to build and when to buy. The Steadicam was too hard, not worth it. The camera foot was hard but worth it because no one sells the exact thing he needed. The charging station solved a problem that didn't have a commercial solution. The underlying principle: build when the commercial version doesn't exist or doesn't fit your specific workflow. Buy when someone else has already solved the engineering. Van's workshop is the boundary between those two decisions.
Transcript
this is a steady cam I built back I don't know oh it has a date on it 5139 don't bother way too hard don't bother
buy one of the store ones store bought ones are probably like $99 and they're perfect with servos and and auto
stabilizers and everything uh this is an obsolete camera this is obsolete I'm just maybe I'm just bragging about this thing because I love
it so much this camera it's from I don't know it's from 2008 2010 I use these old ones to simulate uh VHS or old looking footage
because they just look right and they do the lighting all bad and um the resolution's all wonky and they're fun
to use and easy to use and they shoot on cards and I just think this thing is so beautiful it's made in Japan it's all
either aluminum or stainless or titanium but the problem is with the LCD screen fold it out it doesn't stay up by itself
so I made this little foot and it was hard to make it's a quarter inch screw but I had to Chisel out so that the screw head would fit in
and then I had had to get the the threads exactly the right height so I cut the threads to exactly the right
height with a Dremel so that when you screw it all the way home it lands like that nice and snug it lands like this
nice and Slug and now you know it stays open but I don't know I think I'm just bragging and it's totally useless and
you're never going to buy this camera okay so this charging station is a new project that evolved from a desk
and and I don't know I'll I'll figure out there is a brand name on this desk they're sought after they're weirdly
sought after and they're weirdly expensive but I love them and I have uh with sheet metal screws attached this um
sheet of plywood to the to the desk surface and it's I built this desk which is attached to the wall I built it to
the same height as as this it's got wheels on it these are casters that I bought from Home Depot I like no no no
I'm sorry I think I got these from McMaster but maybe Home Depot I tapped the legs so that they threaded in
because the casters that come with this are terrible I replaced the hardware with stainless steel and then I
originally just had this belon I love these belon uh rectangle surge suppressors um I originally just had it as a just to
plug stuff into computers and chargers and so forth and now it's evolved into our charging station and I added a shelf
for the uh 1dx charger and the T2i charger and then uh you know the insta 360 charger and then insta 360 sent a
whole bunch of cameras over and we had go and my brother gave me the GoPro and so uh I had Mr slce here who's behind
behind the camera that you're watching me on build this perfectly built he said a perfect job bottom shelf we're waiting
on the next velin Charger to go here and I think with this sort of thing you keep it sort of disorganized so that there's
lots of room so that you can go fast and you can just take for granted that your batteries are charged and that's like a
discipline thing I have like little posits that say format card and after I finished the project and the Project's
back backed up then we format the the card um there's also little stickers that say uh you know charge battery or
charged but they basically the cameras live on the Chargers I don't know if that's bad for them I don't really
understand I've never understood like lithium ion and chargeable batteries oh you want to run them all the way down no
you never want to run them all the way down oh they come half charged but always I don't I don't get it I just plug them
in and use them until they don't work anymore and then buy knockoff ones on Amazon and there's also a third charger
up here with the dock from my old uh La laptop that has like the USB C I think is what these are called ports to most
everything is these Chargers now oh Destroyer lamp we did a whole video on how to build the Destroyer lamp for Dad
this is my personal Destroyer lamp and it's a super handy thing I've already used it twice this week in videos and
you know it's great on the ground to like light you know light if you're sitting at a desk it's great for lighting your
you know I don't know what the all the lighting is called there's like key lighting fill lighting I don't know what
any of that stuff's called but this is a terrific thing because it's heavy and it moves around mine has this is a gun smithing
this is a gun smithing Hammer that you use um I just use them for nailing in push pins I got this hook in Japan I love
them even though like when you try to put the thing on they like sometimes they don't it doesn't catch I put threadlock in there
so it's a little stiffer but but it's so you don't like scratch your head if you bump into it I don't know I I love them
okay this brings us to these are my shades for blackening the studio and this is the crappiest homemade film making gear in the studio
it's just black seamless paper which as you probably know tears very easily and I've put this 2-in packing
tape uh in the corner and everywhere I put a push pin and then they just hold I just hold them up with a clothes pin so
when I need to blacken the studio it's just I roll them down I take the push pin these go in easily because I pushed
I've done it so many times it's almost like Cork and I blacken and I have one here and I have one here and these skylights I have to
do as well but that's a project the next video is going to be these skylights okay so that's a few uh homemade film
making gear things that you can probably make um put in the comments if you want me to go into depth for if I get enough
comments that say oh go into depth on how you made blah blah blah blah blah um maybe I'll make another video that's an in-depth thing all right all right you ready to go to Home Depot okay
Products & Tools Mentioned
- Steadicam (homemade) essential — built his own rather than buying
- Canon TX1 recommends — pocket camera he uses
- Dremel uses — workshop tool
- Belkin surge suppressor uses — repurposed power cord for extension cords
- Canon 1DX uses — charger mentioned
- Canon T2i uses — camera
- Insta 360 uses — action camera
- GoPro uses — action camera
- black seamless paper uses — filmmaking supply