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August 2009
“Hollywood” Productions on a “Home Depot” Budget
by Jay M. Delp
Ever since the prehistoric days of media ministry (circa. 1986) the universal “mantra” has been “cheap is good; but FREE is even better.” When it comes to using today’s video and media technologies in our ministries it doesn’t take long to ring up a hefty “grand total’ at the BEST BUY check out counter eating up your entire year’s tech budget. But tapping into video tools & techniques need not break your ministry budget or max out your church’s credit card. Sometimes replacing that technology entirely with a readily-available “low-tech” substitute can be your budget-saving ticket to once again experiencing that warm & fuzzy “financial afterglow” when you realize you just saved an offering-plate-load of $’s with your “bargain basement” smarts.
Let’s go shopping for some video/media production “gear” where there are more ladders than lenses…Home Depot. Grab one of those super-sized flat-bed carts and let’s roll.
WATTS UP WITH THAT?!
First stop...The ”shop lighting” department. No matter what kind of video camera you are shooting with (consumer, “prosumer” or professional) sooner or later you are going to need a “lighting kit” for those portable (ENG) shoots. Professional lighting kits (Lowel, Smith-Victor, Arri, etc.) work great and have slick designs and accessories providing high portability but they can cost a pretty penny. Get yourself a couple of those two-headed shop lights (2 adjustable lights on one stand; usually bright yellow) which can be tilted up and down. Not fancy, just effective. In rooms with relatively low ceilings point one or both of the lights up and bounce the light off the wall or ceiling instead of “blasting” them directly at your subject to avoid harsh (and ugly) shadows. “Clamp lights” (that would be lights with clamps attached!) designed for work benches, auto mechanics and garages, can be very effective for back lighting or overhead lighting in situations where you can’t use lighting stands which can be elevated high enough (or low enough). You can use fluorescent lights if you want “cool” lighting; and, for “warmer” lighting use halogens.
Do you want to bounce light onto a subject but don’t want to pay for those expensive, highly-portable pro reflectors which come in white, gray, gold, silver, etc. and fold (unfold?) with a flip of the wrist? Grab a few 24” x 36” (and larger) sheets of foam core for a fraction of the cost although you may need to scoot down the street to the local arts and crafts store to find the foam core. And why not use those “sun shades” designed for auto windshields to reflect light? Some are silver or shiny on one side with a totally different color or degree of reflectivity on the other. These items are very portable and once again, very affordable.
And how about this for a super-cheap (FREE!) substitute for those little custom on-camera light diffusers designed to soften the in-your-face glare so often associated with portable video camera lights...BOUNCE fabric softener sheets. That’s right. Don’t throw those white, soft, semi-fuzzy sheets in the trash after they are done tumbling in the dryer. Keep a few in your camera bag with a couple rubber bands and mount them over the lens of your on-camera light. Add a second and third on top of one another for varying degrees of diffusion. (Just make sure your bulb isn’t touching those sheets or it will burn right through them!). Very handy! Very cheap! Now that’s what I call bouncing light!
Need “barn doors”? (Usually attached to pro lights around all 4 sides designed to help control light “spill”). Snag that roll of tin foil from the kitchen and make your own. Depending on the kind of housing around your lights you can attach the tin foil to the lights with clothes pins, paper clips or tape. Mold/shape as desired. Just be sure that whatever tape or materials you use around any light doesn’t overheat and catch fire.
BOOM ME UP SCOTTY!
Nothing screams “PROFESSIONAL (AND EXPENSIVE) HOLLYWOOD PRODUCTION IN THE HOUSE!!” than one of those long, black mic boom poles hovering over the talent/subject (hopefully just out of frame) usually touting a shotgun mic which in turn is touting a foam or furry windscreen. Big bucks. I was shooting a promo video in Juarez, Mexico several summers ago for a youth ministry based out of New Jersey. The plan/goal was to have a group of about 6-8 teens stand all together in front of their work site, ask them questions and videotape their responses as they shared spontaneously about their mission experiences and what God was doing in and through them. Moving a wireless lapel mic (which I had) from one person to the next was hardly spontaneous and would get in the way of the storytelling. This was a perfect situation for a boom mic (which I didn’t have). What to do?
We grabbed one of those long handled “manual sanders” (a pole about the length/thickness of your common everyday snow shovel, broom or rake with a piece of sandpaper clipped to a metal plate on the one end) that the students were using to sand the interior walls of the school they were preparing to paint. We then taped the small lapel mic to one end of the sanding pole and stretched out the approx. 3’ cable which ran from the tiny lapel mic head to the transmitter along the handle and securely taped the transmitter near the other end of the pole (the sandpaper end) and Viola!, instant mic boom. And not just your everyday wired mic boom but a totally effective WIRELESS mic boom. After “enlisting” a nearby up-until-now-not-involved teen we were busy capturing terrific sound bites which could actually be HEARD thanks to our FREE mic boom. Of course the same could be done with a wired mic although the heavier the mic the harder it will be for the “boom operator” to hold it above the heads of the subjects for any length of time.
BIFF! FLUMP!! GAWOOSH!!
So you DON’T have that 15-CD ($600!) Greatest-Sound-F/X-on-Earth Collection. Big deal. But you DO have a good video production which would be so much “gooder” with some much-needed (and usually very hilarious) sound f/x. Hand 97% of the 16-year-old guys in the country a microphone and you’ll have all the sound f/x you’ll need (and some “body function” f/x you may NOT need). I like to use a miniDisk (Sony) recorder, a Flash memory audio recorder or the camcorders built-in mic (just have the kid hold the camcorder up to their mouth and speak into its built-in mic like they’re holding a regular microphone and, bingo, you’ve got a CD-quality (portable) audio/music/interview/sound f/x recorder. For even better results with these kinds of “Foley” sound effects have the “f/x maker” review the video segments needing sound f/x a few times and have them record the sound f/x as he/she is watching the video clips. This technique really helps with sequences needing sound f/x timed perfectly and/or rapidly. Kids love doin’ it and love watchin’ the finished production (and their name in the scrolling credits at the end).
HELLO DOLLY
Wanna “roll” your camera like the pros for that Hollywood-style “dolly shot” (where the camera and camera operator roll along metal tracks for those super smooth tracking shots) but don’t have an extra $8,000.00’s or so lying around? You’re “inner Hitchcock” is not as “handicapped” as you think. Commandeer a wheelchair, hand truck, or shop cart and you are set. One student can be the “pusher” and another one the camera operator. Be ready for some highly out-of-control outtakes at the end of “dolly day”. Skate boards make for some great low-angle shots but keep your camera on the skate board (not your feet) and keep your hand on the camera. Electric (quiet) golf carts are even better.
SCREENS...bed sheets, white walls, foam core, sides of white panel trucks, exteriors of houses and barns or reflective “paintable screens” (goosystems.com).
WEATHER EFFECTS...instant mashed potato flakes (the big flakes) and a fan. Take it from there. Wind...hand-held powered leaf blower. Rain...the “mist” or “shower” setting on one of those rotating hose nozzles. Fog...dry ice and a fan. Thunder...the old shake-the-sheet-of-metal technique. Lightning...camera flash or any bright light with a quick 0-100%-bright response time and manual on/off switch. Earthquake...slight and rapid shaking of the camera with the addition of “rumbling” sound effects and on-camera actors wobbling/falling create a VERY convincing 6.9-on-the-Richter-scale seismic event.
Hopefully these are enough ideas to get you started but, trust me, this is only the “tip of the Spielberg” when it comes to “Home Depot” video tools and techniques.
“Customer needs assistance in hardware!”
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