Which way home...

I've had my reading glasses on for much of the last two weeks. The books that have taken much of this time are dealing with the main ideas behind directing motion pictures.

The first is called Directing Actors. It deals directly, and in a beautifully nuanced way, on getting the most from actors. Having been an actor for many years I found this book to be excellent. It reminded me how much fun acting can be - the listening, the moment to moment exhilaration of being in a scene with another actor, and it reminded me of how some of the best directors I've worked with have gotten more out of me as an actor.



The next is called Film Directing Shot by Shot: Visualizing from Concept to Screen. It is more of a text book and doesn't deal a lot with the actor / director dynamic, but is aimed at what is actually in the frame. The whys of how you frame a subject, and more importantly, the pre-visualization of each shot and scene.



This book is a great primer about the craft of directing. Craft is something that has become more important to me as I've gotten older and I'm always excited to find gems like this.

And the last book is a wonderful picture book called Master Shots: 100 Advanced Camera Techniques to Get an Expensive Look on Your Low-Budget Movie.



Yeah, the title says it all. This book is a must have for anyone trying to get their indie piece looking as good as possible. Kenworthy (the author) takes shots from known films and dissects why they're so good and what effect they're having on the audience. Totally cool. All these books are in my reference library and I highly recommend them.

Dollies and Cranes...

A bit more on moving the camera...
 
Getting the camera on a track and crane is usually the domain of highend productions, but there are ways to do this without a huge budget - but it will take a bit of work.
 
I bought this e-book from dvcamerarigs.com
 

 Then built this rig.
 

It cost about $250 (including $40 bucks for the book) and works pretty good - not quite what you'd get from a high end rig, but with a bit of practice it's works well.

Dan Selakovich has thought up some great rigs and gives easy to follow instructions as well as a full shopping list so you don't forget anything at the hardware store. This book is well worth the $40 bucks if you want to build some cool camera rigs.


 
I did a bit of customization - I added a fluid head to the camera platform, then added another shelf below the camera to hold a monitor so I can see every thing with ease.
 
Here's the maiden voyage of my new rig...