$9 Microphone kit for iPhone Video Recording

'Microphone kit that enables good sound quality cellphone recordings in loud environments' 

The bootlegMIC by 'Open Music Labs' is a simple $9 microphone kit which boosts the audio recording quality on mobile phones. The video below shows the microphone in use, at a rock concert. It is extremely clear that this is a $9 worth spending. The start of the video shows the typical 'distorted' concert recording, and then a comparison with the bootlegMIC in use. Click here to purchase the microphone kit.

MicroMuff DSLR Internal Microphone Wind Reduction

Just came across this cheap wind filter for the internal microphones on DSLR cameras whilst searching on eBay. It is simple to attach with the velcro attachment and the results sound fantastic. Whenever I film with my DSLR the wind does always ruin the sound, as at the moment I do not own a decent external microphone. However on the test video comparison below, the results do sound very good. They come in a variety of designs including 'Fat Boy',  'Original' and 'Skinny'. Click here to view the on eBay, with starting prices of £14.99.


                               

Documentary Filmmaking Tips - Rule of Thirds, Natural Sounds & B-Roll

Griffin Hammond from 'Indy Mogul' on YouTube has recently shared some great tips on documentary filmmaking in his weekly 'Indy News' webshow. He begins with how the interviewee should always look off camera, to make it look like they are being 'quoted' more than making them look like presenters looking into the camera. He also gives some interesting composition tips for filming the interview. Including the correct angles to use, and how to use the 'Rule of Thirds' correctly. There are also some very useful editing tips, to make the edit look smoother and to make the continuity flow better. This includes shooting 'b-roll' or 'cutaway' shots that you can show during the documentary. Another tip is recording 'natural sound' so that you can use it as a sound bridge throughout the edits.

$6 Fisheye Lens - Knoptop Quick FX - Micro Budget Filmmaking

Dave Knop from 'Quick FX' has just shared his latest 'DIY Quick FX' build for low budget filmmaking. In the video he shares with us how to make a fisheye lens for a point and shoot camera for only $6, using a door lens viewer, and a PVC piece. Most likely prices will vary, however it will always be a quick and cheap build. The final effect doesn't look that amazing, I would never use it seriously for filming. However I think it would be a perfect in camera effect for shooting a point of view for a monster in a film. Fisheye lenses are very expensive, another alternative would be the wide angle filters which screw onto an existing lens, you just need to find the diameter of your lens to get the right size.

Micro Budget Filmmaking - £18.90 Portable Digital Audio Recorder

Portable audio recorders such as the Zoom H1 do sell for great prices, however if you're on a micro budget there are even cheaper options. The 2GB Digital Voice Recorder from eBay sells for under £20 and has some fantastic features. It has the options to monitor audio externally with headphones, record audio externally with microphones to improve audio quality and 2GB of internal storage space for up to 580 hours of audio recordings. It records in .mp3 and also supports .wma, .wmv and .asf audio formats. It can also be used as an .mp3 music player like an iPod. In my opinion this audio recorder is definitely worth a try, you really can't go wrong with the low price. Click here to view more low budget 'Audio Recording' posts on this blog. Click here to view more low budget audio recorders on eBay if the widget below has expired.

$45 Lens/Focus Shifter - Kickstarter Campaign

I have just come across a fantastic campaign on Kickstarter for a low budget 'follow focus' type product which attaches to lenses with circumferences from 176mm to 308mm, or lenses like the 50mm f/1.8 to the larger zoom lenses. The great thing about this product is that it attaches to these lenses without the need of rails, with the simple attachment mechanism it simply slides onto any size lens, making it a very flexible, low priced and innovative product. From the time of writing this blog, you only have to invest $45 to their Kickstarter campaign to receive the focus/lens shifter and the marker board with dry erase pen. Using this product will definitely improve focusing skills for photography and cinematography, as critical focus points can be pre-focused and marked with the marker pen to ensure the focus puller/ camera operator reaches those critical focus points during filming or taking photos. If this is still out of reach for your budget, why not check my post out about the 99p follow focus?

Zoom H1, Rode Videomic Pro & Rode Lapel Microphone Wind Tests

Carl from YouTube recently uploaded a video testing three different microphones in windy conditions, with and without the wind muffs for each microphone. He firstly tests the Zoom H1 portable audio recorder plugged into his DSLR camera, with the wind muff on. At certain parts in the test recordings the sound is very clear, however at other points the wind muff doesn't filter out the wind and the dialogue becomes over empowered by the wind noises. Secondly the Rode Videomic Pro is tested, once again plugged straight into the external audio input on the DSLR. From listening to the two tests, with and without the wind muff, I couldn't really hear any difference in audio quality. When the wind muff was on the microphone, the wind noises sounded just the same as it did without the wind muff, so maybe not the best microphone for exterior use like this. Lastly a Rode lapel microphone is tested, and in my opinion sounded the best out of all of the microphones in the video. It may not have the best audio recording quality, but the amount of wind that the lapel microphone filtered out was very good, with and without the wind muff in fact. The lapel microphone was most likely filtering out the wind the best due to it being held closer to the body, however this is the advantage of using a lapel microphone, and is why professional journalists usually use them.

'A Silhouette Story' - Short Film - Best Direction Award

Whenever I see a short film that inspires me in filmmaking, I like to share it on this blog. Here is my latest short film finding, 'A Silhouette Story', a Norwegian short film directed and edited by popular YouTuber 'Andyax'. The films protagonist is a lonely girl who meets a mystical creature in the woods, the creature helps her in life and shows the importance of being 'open minded'. The whole film shows the characters in silhouette form, with hand painted pictures in the background which make the characters stand out nicely. The film was awarded 'Best Direction Award' at 'The Gathering 2012' festival by 'The Karate Kid' director 'Harald Zward'. I think this film definitely deserved to win the reward, and I cannot wait to see more films from this director in the future. There is also a link at the end of this video which takes you to a behind the scenes/ making of video which shows how they achieved the silhouette shots.

Location Scouting for a 'Shane Meadows' inspired short film

We went out today to do a little bit of location scouting for our up and coming 'Shane Meadows' inspired short film. I have watched films such as 'This is England', 'Somers Town', and 'Dead Man's Shoes' all directed by 'Meadows' and the style of the cinematography is something I got a lot of inspiration from for our own short film. The song I used in this video is by 'Gavin Clark and Ted Barnes' and is used in the opening of 'Somers Town' which has similar shots used in my location scouting video shown below. Static wide shots of someone walking is used quite often in 'Meadows' films and this is something I want to incorporate into the short film. So far I have no real idea of the narrative for the short film, all I know is that I want it to be really simple, with minimal acting and dialogue and cinematography. I have people who are willing to help out and act for the film, who can also provide all of their own costumes and props; which are going to be 'skinhead and mod' style clothing such as Doc Marten shoes and Harrington jackets. There is even going to be a 'Vespa' scooter involved and I really want to do a cinematic tracking shot from the back of a car as the scooter goes down the road shown in the image for the first shot in the short film. I will be posting with updates whenever there is anything interesting enough to write about throughout the whole production process of the short film.

Paddy Considine & Shane Meadows - Short Films

Shane Meadows award winning director of 'This is England' and 'Dead Man's Shoes' and British actor Paddy Considine have worked together quite a lot, and years ago produced a series of zero budget short films for the fun of it. I think they are a fine example of independent short films and the fact that they were directed and acted by well known people is even better. The films are all really simple, with no real narrative which is why I really enjoyed them. They have all inspired me to make some really simple short films, and to stop procrastinating about making films. They all show off Paddy Considines great acting and the variety of characters that he can pull off well.

My favourite film in the series is the sixth short film 'Three Tears for Jimmy Prophet' which is a mockumentary style short which follows Jimmy's story about a fight he had in the boxing ring. We hear his regrets for what happened all those years ago. It's a very comic short film, with some simple yet effective cinematography. Another thing I liked about it was the soundtrack, I am not too sure but it sounds like 'Gavin Clarke' who produced the soundtrack for 'Shane Meadows' film 'Somers Town'. You can view 'Jimmy Prophet' below or click here for the full list of shorts.



Currently 'Meadows' is one of my biggest inspirations for filmmaking, his films have been some of my favourite British releases and I really like the style that his films have. I am currently planning a short film which has been inspired by 'This is England', with the 'Skinhead / Mod' style, and it would be great for 'Meadows' to see it when it is done.

For Sale: Lensse MidX Camera Stabiliser - £39.99

I am trying to save up some extra money to purchase a half decent microphone for my DSLR, so I have decided I am going to be selling off some of my unused camera gear. I was going to put things on eBay, but I wasn't too happy with the charges for putting the items up. The first item I have for sale is the 'Lensse MidX Camera Stabiliser'. I got this item around a year ago, and haven't found a use for it, so I decided I would rather have the money from selling it than having it sit around doing nothing. The stabiliser will take most consumer camcorders and smaller DSLRs like the 550D or 600D, however to be on the safe side it will take cameras with the weight of 0.25-0.9kg (0.55-2 lbs). The balance weights which are on the bottom of the stabiliser are included, you get 6 bigger weights and 3 small weights to help balance the stabiliser with different cameras. If anyone wants to purchase this, please say in the comments below, and we can figure something out through PayPal. I am asking for £39.99 with £3.99 postage, this is still £30 cheaper than the ones being sold on eBay. The item is practically brand new, I think I tried using it once when I got the item. It never came with any packaging, so I will be posting it in a jiffy bag or similar packaging. You could find more information about this stabiliser on the Lensse website. Please comment if you have any questions, I will be very happy to answer any the best I can. Also please note I will be sending this item anywhere in England for £3.99, other postage charges can be applied if anyone from Europe want to purchase. The camcorder shown in the image was for demonstration purposes only, it is not included within the price.

Below is a official Lensse video from Vimeo which shows the stabiliser being set up, and then being used.

For Sale: Audio Technica ATR6250 Stereo Condenser Microphone - £19.99

The third item that I have for sale is the Audio Technica ATR6250 stereo condenser microphone which can plug into your camera or computer for audio recording. Included with the sale is the microphone, original battery and 2 spare batteries which I will add in, foam wind reduction filter, short cable (3.5mm stereo  to 3.5mm stereo) for use with your camera or computer and a longer cable (3.5mm stereo to two 3.5mm mono plugs) for use with a boom pole (not included), a mount which allows you to place the microphone to a standard tripod or to add a handheld grip and two 3.5mm (1/8") to 6.3mm (1/4") mono adapters. I am asking for a price of £19.99 with £3.99 postage within the UK for this item. If you check on eBay, this microphone is £44 at the cheapest. However I do not have the original packaging for this microphone or manual. The actual microphone is in great condition though. If you are interested in purchasing this microphone from me, please leave a comment below and we can sort something out through PayPal. This microphone has been produced to a high quality, and feels just like a more expensive microphone. Please note how everything in the image is what you will get, there will be no packaging and no instruction manual, however the manual can be found on-line.

Below is a test on YouTube which shows the audio quality of this microphone compared to a built in camera microphone, as you can hear this microphone reduces a lot of background noise.

5D Mark III Short Film - 'Copelandia' - Three Tremors

This short film really is evidence to what a low budget and small crew can produce in a short time. The whole thing was filmed on the new Canon 5D Mark III and there was no post colour correction done, so what you see was straight out of the camera, and it looks pretty good in my opinion. I don't want to spoil anything for anyone, but from what I had seen for this short film and all of the pre production stuff, this definitely wasn't what I was expecting. Luke had made a fantastic narrative for this short film, and apparently is a very personal story for him. The cinematography is really good, and the locations that were used helped bring the depth of field into the shots with the mountain ranges in the background which almost look like paintings. The costumes were realistic, apart from the moustaches, however if you watch you'll find out why. The soundtrack was also produced by Luke by his second company, 'One Production Music', and I think it worked well with accompanying the cinematography. If you get a chance, definitely watch the production diaries for this short film, starting from pre production day 1.

iPhone 4S Short Film - 'Operation' - Film Riot

A recent short film upload by 'Film Riot' caught my attention, the film was shot entirely on the iPhone 4S video camera. The short has the usual 'Film Riot' humour with a funny twist which contrasts with the serious start to the film, the name of the short sort of gives the twist away though as I know 'Film Riot' too well to expect something serious. The audio was really good, and overall you would expect this to have been shot on a camcorder or DSLR camera if you didn't know any better. However if your like me, you'll know how there was more to this than just the iPhone video camera, and the recent making of video to this short confirmed this. Firstly Ryan wasn't actually filming with the standard iPhone video camera, he used a $5 app which allowed everything such as frame rate, resolution, white balance and focus to be manual. Secondly he was using a LED lighting kit worth well over $1000, and a handheld rig which cost $170. Lastly they weren't using the on board audio from the iPhone, an expensive portable audio recorder was used. Now I'm not  against this video, I think it's great and very well done, I just don't think the normal low budget filmmaker would be able to achieve the same output to what 'Film Riot' got. Something I know is how sound is 90% of video, so the perfect sound which was recorded is what makes the short film seem good for an iPhone video. Another point I have is that the LED lights were most likely given to them for review and promotional purposes, and the same with the handheld rig.

Micro Budget Filmmaking - 99p Follow Focus / Focus Assist

The focus ring on my Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II is very small, and with the added addition to the lens hood that I use, it can sometimes be a struggle to actually find the ring to focus quick enough. I was thinking about how I could improve this focus ring without spending any money, when I thought about one of those rubber wristbands which you buy from different charities. The wristband has a perfect diameter for fitting around the focus ring, and almost triples the surface area to focus with. For a quick modification which didn't cost me a penny, I am very happy with how this turned out and will definitely be keeping it on my 50mm lenses focus ring for future use.

The image to the right shows the wristband on my lens. When you focus on the 50mm lens the front element moves in and out depending on what way you focus. I did think that the lens hood which also moves in and out would get stuck when it got to the wristband, however the movement of the front element stops perfectly at the wristband.



I would definitely recommend doing this quick modification on your EF 50mm f/1.8 II prime lens if you have problems focusing. Currently on eBay the rubber wristbands start from only 99p, click here to view them now, you can even get 'Joseph Kony' ones for a little more.. Most people have these wristbands from when they were a craze a few years ago, you will probably find one laying around like I did. Another solution for lenses with bigger focus rings, such as my EF-S 18-135mm zoom is 'Dave Knops' silicone jar opener follow focus, click here to view his YouTube video on it.

Click here to view the $45 lens/ focus shifter campaign on Kickstarter.