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Today I was viewing some of the speakers at TED.com (Great inspirational Speakers) and one of the newer videos on there was a speech given to TED Last March (2007) by J.J. Abrams. He talks about his life and his obsession of boxes. Well this leads to how he got his first super 8 camera at 10 years old (From his grandfather). Well this leads to his love of Mystery Boxes. He talks about Mystery Leads to thinking and what can this thing be. This really is a great film technique to learn and master like he has. He really is good at it. From the way his little film is doing this weekend (you know Cloverfield) Remember it is what you think you are getting and not what you are getting. Your Mind creates what you want it to create better then any special effect. And as J.J. Abrams states in the following video - Go - Create - You have all the tools you need to create the next blockbuster. Most computers and Cameras are capable of making any movie. Just CREATE IT!

So Use the Following as inspiration and Create your Blockbuster.

Here is the writeup on Ted.com about this speech:

J.J. Abrams traces his love of the unseen mystery — the heart of Alias, Lost, and the upcoming Cloverfield — back to its own magical beginnings, which may or may not include an early obsession with magic, the love of a supportive grandfather, or his own unopened Mystery Box.

Technorati Tags: indie, movie, making, jjabrams, j.j.abrams, j.j, abrams, jj, mystery, box, ted, ted.com, inspiration, film, making, technique, techniques, boxes

Just to let you know that this past week I stopped by the local Joann Fabrics and was able to pick up a 72″ wide x 9 Feet long Piece of lime/electric Green felt that works great for an inexpensive green screen. I have to say in the samples I have completed thus far it really is working out quite well.

As with any green screen you need to make sure to evenly light it and make sure the actor / presenter is at least several feet away from it or it will reflect green onto them causing that to blend in as well.

The big reason I mention Joann’s is that this is that the felt is normally $5.99 a yard but at Joann Fabrics the felt is on sale for only $2.99 a Yard so this inexpensive green screen only cost me about $12 to make. I already had a way to mount this - I have a expandable Clothing Rack (Shown on Right) I picked up at the local target or wally world I forget which one. And to hold the green screen in place on the clothing rack I use several heavy duty hand clamps like the ones shown to the left. I got my hand clamps at the local dollar store. A Three pack for a buck. Pretty good deal - I bought 2 packs of them as the smaller one in the pack could not clamp over the clothing rack. But still quite useful in videography and photography.

Well after all is said and done the complete green screen kit was less then $40 bucks for a really easy to use inexpensive green screen.

Keep Videoing and Lights - Camera - Action!!!

Technorati Tags: green, screen, greenscreen, bluescreen, chroma, key, chromakey, videoing, indy, movie, making, effects, efx, special, cheap, diy, hack

You don’t want to end up like this group of guys who were out filming for a class. What they did wrong was not secure any permits and let the local police know they were filming a student film.

They were trying to film a chase scene and had bb-guns. Well someone called the local authorities and well you can see the rest in the video.

Here is an excerpt from the Guerilla filmmakers handbook - on Shooting Permits

More to follow…..

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Today, I would like to take you on a small video tour about all you need in your studio. Everyone thinks that the video studio must be GRAND and put alot of money into it to get the best out of it. Well that is a Myth. I feel like Myth Busters today. Honestly, you don’t really need super expensive equipment to make good quality video in your studio. Sure it helps but as long as you have the time, patience to learn your equipment (IMPORTANT!!! READ THE MANUAL) - You really are off to a good start - You are reading this blog in hopes to learn a few hints and tips. (Well, thats why I am here to help you and along the way I pick up some hints and tips from you as well)

Keep reading this blog and don’t forget to add this to your RSS Feed. That is a good way to keep up with the current topics (But I digress)

Well now on with the tour: Bill Myers invites us into his Youtube / How To Studio. You will notice that on the wall is a nice green screen that I showed a few tutorials on a few days ago on Flop Film. This really is a nice and simple setup that WORKS. As I said you don’t need real fancy equipment that cost $1000’s of dollars. If you know your equipment and practice with it and play with it you will get better with it. So of the Greats had their start with Super8 Film. We have it even better. Digital is low cost and easy to edit on a PC. Stay tuned as in future articles we will talk about video editing. Cheap video Editing solutions and try to answer the questions that you wrote in about.

Technorati Tags: video, studio, tour, desktop, pc, control, room, green, screen

I was talking to Jason today who found a good subject to include here on Flop Film. He was reading about how they made Evil Dead and how inexpensively they did all the different effects and shot video. One thing of interest to horror film makers or anyone wanting to make a better video is the use of the Steady Cam or what they called the Dead Cam in Evil Dead. You can order off of Amazon a wonderful steady cam and they have many to choose from. BUT, If you are like me and want to or need to be as cheap as possible we have found several ways to make your own DIY Steady Cam. First and foremost is “Johnny SteadyCam” and his amazing $14 Steady Cam. But since this is a website devoted to making your own videos I set out looking at Youtube to see if anyone published a video about making this steady cam. Well there were quite a few See Videos after clicking in to read.

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