New directing jobs have started coming in and so I've been investing in some new gear.
Lately, I've been borrowing a friend's motorized slider to start dabbling in moving time lapse shots. I'm a big fan of time lapse photography and it's something that I've wanted to start adding to more of my directing work. Adding movement to the shots makes them a lot more dynamic and interesting than just watching sped up action. My friend has the Kessler Pocket Dolly Traveller Edition which has a 2-foot track and is perfect for travel and short moves. I decided to get the Kessler Pocket Dolly 2.0 which has a 3-foot track. It's still short enough to pack in a suitcase or a tripod bag, but that extra foot can mean a lot in moving shots.
What makes this slider different from my Glidetrack Hybrid is that it's belt driven, which means that you can use a crank to move it, or attach a motor to the slider and use that to drive the carriage. I bought the ElektraDRIVE Bundle with the basic controller which is what I've been using so far. My buddy Tyler Gorell has the Oracle Controller which gives you a lot more control over time and movement and allows you to control the Revolution Pan/Tilt System, but the expense was just too much for me to justify right now. If it turns out that I use this more and more, then I'll probably upgrade.
The motor can be used for live moves (though it's pretty noisy unike the Glidetrack which is almost totally silent) or, you can have it move incrementally over long times (up to 7-hours to move the length of the track) for moving time lapse shots. Most of the time, the 6.5-foot track of my Glidetrack is overkill, so it'll be nice to have a shorter slider for doing countertop moves in tight places or if I just don't want to have to carry the huge beast with me on a shoot. Plus, the motorized control means nice slow, even moves for live video. Even if it's noisy, it's still perfect for b-roll shots which is where I use a lot of my slider shots.
Still, I'm not getting rid of the Glidetrack for now, it's still a solid slider and I know I'll be finding some good uses for it on these jobs.
I've also invested in some small LED lights that are going to be great for small places. I got 160-count LED's that have a pretty decent throw (about 7-feet). They're powered by AA-batteries or Sony rechargable camera batteries if you happen to have those (I don't). They're dimmable (a huge plus) and come with hard, plastic gels to give them a daylight or tungsten look. They're cheap, only about $40 each, but I've used some from a friend and they've worked really well. I'm going to be putting them on Manfrotto Super Clamps which I got at B&H. These allow you to clamp the light to pretty much any bar or shelf or whatever. I've tested them and they will even hold my 7D with a big lens on it. Great for getting interesting angles.
One of the big goals for the 12 Films Project was that I would start directing more and more because of the work that I was doing and it's finally starting to happen. April marks the first month where I have more directing work lined up than editing or graphics work. It's a good feeling.
