Camera accessories

Here are the plans for buildinga $14 steadycam. Im gonna try to build one whether we end up having a use for it or not.

http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~johnny/steadycam/

Also, I watched this interview a while back and you can see the ladder dolly that this Ty Evans built for filming skate tricks:

http://208.65.153.251/watch?v=unbqIIRqEFQ

I think ty evans is the best thing going in skate videography. In that video he talks about a camera set up he made usinga remote control car so that the camera could go under cars and such.

I think if we went the camcorder route we could experiment with stupid stuff like that bc it wouldnt matter if we fucked up a camera.

ALSO, I'll find some videos when i get home to illustrate this, but I think that using a fisheye lens on low-to-the-ground tracking shots looks super awesome. Im pretty sure there's some of that in the Gnar Gnar video I sent in the last post.

I think low shots are awesome anyway:

But I think that the low, moving shots filmed with a fisheye lebs are super awesome. It's a pretty standard technique in skate videos but you dont really see it anywhere else.

It's awesome that the videography that goes into skate videos is designed just to make the trick look as pretty as possible. the camera angles and such need to have nothing to do with storytelling or any of the issues associated with a normal movie. I think it would be cool to take some cues from skate videos in fliming the show.

I'd like to look for one fish eye lens that could go on the ladder dolly if that becomes a reality.

This is alot of shit Im sending to you I realize and if youre not into any of it thats cool. Also, if Im not making myself clear with any or all of the ideas Im trying to get across let me know.

If you are into any of it I could try to diagram out how I'm envisioning the positioning of the cameras in relation to the performance areas.

More later.

GNAR GNAR

I was gonna try to embed the video but I think Im fucking something up, so here is a trailer for that video I mentioned on the phone. It's called Gnar Gnar. I think it's awesome the way they use the look of the old camcorder recordings to their benefit.
http://208.65.153.251/watch?v=DzBZG_f-e_E
I can't actually look at this video at work right now and I cant really remember if this trailer gets across what it is that I think is so awesome about the whole video. I'll check later and if this isnt up to snuff Ill find some clips that are.
Or, you can skim the whole video here...It's only 24 minutes:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6692836945529757238&q=krooked+gnar+gnar&ei=8rAqSODHMIeQ4wL8yNjkCQ&hl=en

So, I think we could probably get ahold of a bunch of old camcorders for next to nothing and if we have a good master recording of the audio then we could digitize the tapes from all of the camcorders and cut them together. We could possibly even set up a control board for the camcorders to produce the show on the spot. That is to say we could definitely do that, but we could possibly do it for cheap.
If youre into this idea at all I'd like to start looking at used camcorders - at thrift shops and ebay and such. I think we could do something pretty awesome with them. If we could turn the look of filming on camcorders into something cool and sort of a signature part of our look, then we'd be in a badass position as we'd be able to afford enough cameras to film every conceivable angle of any given act. Anyway, let me know.

I have some ideas as to how we could film the show, but Ill have to put that in a later post.

ALSO, I watched some clips from the disco dancer movie and its awesome. I think that not only does that movie have the awesome set design we're talking about but it also has a look abotu the film quality that's kind of fucked up but in a way that adds to the clips i saw rather than in a way that takes away from it- which is what Im getting at with the camcorder stuff.

Im rambling and shit, but you know, Im into this camcorder idea.

Jaimie, This is a waste of time?

So, I started this blog as a means of posting shit for you to check out. I thought it would be easier to send you videos and pictures of interest and commentary on the whoop dee doo ideas through this blog rather than sending assloads of pictures via email. Anyway, here are some more pictures of random stuff: