Hi there, and welcome to the third issue of "Better Movie Making Monthly". As the title would suggest
"BMMM" is a once-a-month publication, and is sent out in the first week of each
month via email. To subscribe, simply fill out the form on the left of
this page.
The main focus of "BMMM" is to help you improve your movie making by giving you some useful tips and ideas too. Our aim is
to cover all aspects of movie making, from choice of equipment
and software, through filming techniques, editing ideas and final production. We will also be looking at accessories you can make
to improve your movie making, as well as other related products.
We intend to aim at the level of the home enthusiast, but will be outlining more advanced
techniques that can help film makers at a more professional level too.
We want to hear from you too - let us know what you would like us to feature, and what topics you would like to see covered. Let
us know of any problems you are facing, or if you need help with
one of your projects.
1).
Congratulations Bek - first video completed and online!
My friend Bek is a snowboard instructor, and for the past two Australian
winter seasons (June to September) has worked at Mount Hotham in the
Victorian Alps. In 2004 I visited her, and we filmed quite a bit of
snowboard footage. Later I edited it into my video "Ride...",
which can be viewed in the movie
gallery.
Since
then Bek has bought her own video camera and computer, and with a couple
of quick tuition sessions, is making her own videos.
Her
first one is of her sister's baby, Charlize. You can watch below by
clicking the Play button.
Well
done Bek. A couple of people have told me that this has brought a tear
to their eye!
Choice of the appropriate music is VITAL if you movie is to be a success. You create an
atmosphere and set the whole pace and tone of your movie with your music choice.
If you are planning on making more movies in future, I would suggest that you start a file on your computer for "possible movie
soundtracks". Whenever you hear a song that you feel might work well for some future project, tuck it away in your file. Build up a good
library of possibilities.
When you start a new project, try a few of your possibilities by importing them into your project and dropping them onto the timeline
with some of your footage. You should soon get a good idea of what will work for that movie.
A couple of my favourites are the AC/DC track used in the "Karting"
video, and Cast's song Sandstorm used for the "Sandboarding" video -
perhaps a bit too obvious? Bek's choice of music for her video above is
another good example.
3).
How to
make an underwater video camera housing for $19, and capture some
amazing underwater footage!!!
When I first made "Baxter's
Day Out" I wanted to take some footage of the dog swimming,
and would have loved to do a couple of shots from underwater. I couldn't
figure out how to do so cheaply - a good quality underwater housing for
my Sony would cost around $1,500. The idea for this great piece of
equipment hit me later while browsing the shelves of our local hardware
store.
It
can be made for about $19 and is very easy to make.
I borrowed a friend's Panasonic camcorder, as it fits nicely in a piece
of 100mm plastic plumbing pipe. The items I bought were a 100mm T-piece,
an end cap, a screw cap, a circular piece of glass (diameter approx
99mm), some silicone sealant, and some Vaseline. Total cost about $19.
You
need to drill a hole in the end cap which will line up with the lens of
the camcorder. Use the silicone sealant to seal up the base piece of the
tube, and to seal the glass into the end cap, and the end cap onto the
tube.
Use
cloth to hold the camera in the correct position, and if you have any,
put in a silica gel packet to keep the inside dry (these can be found
inside the packaging of many purchases, particularly electrical items).
Vaseline can be used for the screw cap end when the camcorder is put in
the housing, to ensure water-tightness.
There
are a couple of obvious limitations with this housing:
1) You need to open it to switch the camcorder on and off, so you have to
film everything as one continuous long shot. You can edit this later of
course.
(NOTE:
1st Nov 2006, this problem has now been overcome by one of our inventive
readers, have a look at
Better Movie Making Monthly Issue 13 for further details.)
2) Because the housing is well sealed, not much sound is captured, but if
you are using music for your project, this shouldn't be a problem. You
could also download some watery sound files if you needed them - a great
resource is FindSounds
Click
the Play button below to see a short video of the underwater housing
being made:
You can see more detail on the underwater housing, including footage
captured using it, by clicking
here.
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month.
You can subscribe by simply filling out the form at the top left of this
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