My quest for the perfect Indie Film Production Kit (Pt. 2 – The Tripod)

August 24, 2010

Last time in my quest for a perfect Indie Film Production kit, I discussed my camera and how it compares to to it’s older brother, the Sony HVR-Z1E. What else do I need, though? A tripod, to start with!

Ever since I bought my first camcorder in 2006 (a Samsung VP-D362 – the one I’ve used to film the Rowan and Jimmi Adventures, a couple of music videos and the vast majority of Clayground shorts), I’ve been getting by with using a cheap little Hama tripod that I bought from Amazon for £12. Despite its cheap price, it has actually been a really handy little tripod and has paid for itself many, many times over now. It fits in my backpack easily, it’s light and it’s about a metre and a bit tall when the legs are fully extended. Bargain. But alas, the time has come where I desire a larger, sturdier tripod to carry my newer A1E.

Now, a wise person once told me that the best equipment is the stuff you’re familiar with. This is true. When purchasing my A1E I was quite nervous that I’d never used one before. I kept panicking that it wouldn’t work properly or that I’d made a bad choice. Thankfully I hadn’t and all was fine, but I ran a massive risk. So when it came to purchasing a tripod, I knew what I was going to get; a Libec TH650 DV. Not only is it sturdy, but I’d used one of these (or at least something very, very similar) when filming most of Robot. I know it’s quite sad buying stuff I’ve used at college, but I know it works and I know how it functions. (Left: the same/very similar tripod supporting up a Z5E while filming Robot)

So with that out of the way, I’ve now got two tripods to keep my shots sturdy and stable; a larger one for the majority of shots and a small one for shots in tight places, or to be used as a makeshift steady-cam (one of the added bonuses of a tripod that small). What about a Dolly? Well, I’m one step ahead. When purchasing the tripod I could add an additional dolly for about £30 extra. A chance I jumped on, naturally.

In the past, I’ve used a Hague track and Dolly system -I think it was- which produced some really amazing shots. Thanks to the tracks, the dolly had a really smooth, debris-free surface to roll over, and even in the middle of a field I could get incredibly steady tracking shots that really looked fantastic.

My dolly, on the other hand, is slightly different. Being a studio dolly, there are no tracks for mine. The whole thing is freewheeling and this causes a couple of problems. Firstly, it’s difficult to control the dolly and you need a fair amount of room to use it. As the wheels aren’t fixed, they can rotate and twist underneath the tripod, and when you start a manoeuvre there can be a bit of an awkward pause where it sorts itself out that stops it from going where you want it to go immediately, like a baby buggy or a shopping trolley. Secondly, it’s quite stiff, so there’s no chance of using it outside to get a nice tracking shot; the only flooring it can really be used on decently are smooth ones, such as wood flooring, Lino, and other such smooth surfaces. I recently used it for a video I shot on a weird, spongey flooring and it worked pretty well, but I’ve also tried using it in the street and it was so wobbly that it was unusable. It doesn’t really help that, by design, CMOS cameras are much more susceptible to camera shakes, which can cause “Jellyvision” (here’s another fun one involving windscreen wipers). But at £30 I can’t complain that much when track-based alternatives can cost over ten times more.

Overall, I feel like this is starting to come together. Next time I’ll discuss my new microphone that I bought recently, and then I’ll go into lighting and editing in future editions. Until then, I must try and work on writing a couple more scripts so that I have something to make with all of this stuff!

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