DIY Photography

Your one stop shop for everything photo-video

  • News
  • Inspiration
  • Reviews
  • Tutorials
  • DIY
  • Gear
Search

Submit A Story

5 DIY tricks every filmmaker should know

Apr 10, 2017 by Dunja Djudjic Leave a Comment

  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Flipboard
  • WhatsApp

We are DIYPhotography, but we love DIY solutions for moviemaking equally. After all, many of them can be applied to photography as well. Ryan Connolly from Film Riot gives you a list of top five (plus a bonus) DIY solutions for every filmmaker. They are cheap and simple, but don’t let it fool you – they can up your filmmaking game pretty well.

YouTube video

1. Coloring your lights without gels

I’ve never thought of this, and it’s so simple! You can color your lights without gels using high heat spray paint. You can paint the ordinary light bulbs in different colors and use them with a clamp light. They can be on their own or combined with regular light bulbs. You can use them as fill light or backlight – feel free to experiment. Just keep in mind that the spray paint needs to be high heat, otherwise there may be some safety issues.

2. Fishing line lens flare

If you’re looking for an anamorphic look on the budget, this is probably the cheapest trick ever. Just tape a piece of the fishing line to the front of your lens. You can experiment with different sizes, and also color the fishing line for various looks.

3. Low-lying fog

If you want to achieve that creepy, low-lying fog, you can do it yourself. This is DIY up to a certain point, considering that it involves a fog machine. But it can be found for about $30. And if you’re a filmmaker, you maybe already have one.

Take a Styrofoam cooler, cut a circle in the back and connect a fog machine to it. Cut another hole on the other side for the fog to get out, and then fill the cooler with dry ice. Once you let the fog through the cooler, it will get out on the other side and thanks to the contact with dry ice, it will stay low on the ground. This gives that “horror-effect” to the fog, and if you’re shooting indoors – it’s good to know that it doesn’t set off the fire alarms.

Keep in mind that dry ice is no joke, so make sure to use solid gloves while working with it, and don’t let it touch your bare skin.

4. Create a party with only a few people

Even if you have hundreds of Facebook friends, maybe you don’t want to include all of them in your party (even if it’s just for a movie). So, you can fake a huge party with only a couple of people.

Get a few extras on the set and place them in a group. Place your main subject further from them and film him or her with a long lens. Get a crew member to walk in front of the subject once or twice, to create an additional effect of a busy room. Add a sound of a crowded room, some music, and there you have it – instant wild party. I’ll never see parties in movies the same way again.

5. Shower curtain diffusor

I never knew how versatile a shower curtain could be until I started doing photography. You can use it as a backdrop, and it also gives excellent diffusion.

The trick is to get a white shower curtain with a level of frost you’re looking for. The more it’s frosted, the more diffusion it will create.  You can use it to diffuse both studio lights and harsh sunlight, which makes the shower curtain even more versatile.

6. Bonus trick – DIY bounce

As a bonus trick, Ryan mentions the DIY bounce. It’s something like the 5-minute reflector I recently made, and you can check out his version here. It takes a few bucks and very little time, and it gives a great effect.

I must say I love all of these tricks. Although they are intended for filmmakers, they can easily be applied to photography as well. And most of all, they are all easy to make and pretty cheap. Even if you have a good budget, it’s always good to have a few DIY tricks up your sleeve – you never know when you’ll need them.

[Top 5 DIY Tips | Film Riot]

FIND THIS INTERESTING? SHARE IT WITH YOUR FRIENDS!

  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Flipboard
  • WhatsApp

Related posts:

These are 5 simple and clever tricks every filmmaker should know 5 GorillaPod tricks to make filmmaker’s life easier 11 simple DIY tricks to improve your photography or video work 5 DIY lens tricks for under $10

Filed Under: DIY Tagged With: cinematography, filmmaking

Dunja Djudjic: from diyphotography.net

About Dunja Djudjic

Dunja Djudjic is a multi-talented artist based in Novi Sad, Serbia. With 15 years of experience as a photographer, she specializes in capturing the beauty of nature, travel, and fine art. In addition to her photography, Dunja also expresses her creativity through writing, embroidery, and jewelry making.

« $1,600 Ryzen based PC has double the performance in Photoshop than a $5,200 Mac Pro.
Chimp steals a 360° camera to take selfies with friends »

Submit A Story

Get our FREE Lighting Book

DIYP lighting book cover

* download requires newsletter signup

Recent Comments

Free Resources

Advanced lighting book

Learn photography

Recent Posts

  • Samyang adds 100mm T2.3 to its compact autofocus cine prime lineup
  • Build your own DIY night vision camera with a Raspberry Pi
  • This adorable LEGO retro camera set hits the stores soon
  • Here are the cameras that shot Flickr’s best images
  • Meta AI image generator Imagine gets its own website

Udi Tirosh: from diyphotography.netUdi Tirosh is an entrepreneur, photography inventor, journalist, educator, and writer based in Israel. With over 25 years of experience in the photo-video industry, Udi has built and sold several photography-related brands. Udi has a double degree in mass media communications and computer science.

Alex Baker: from diyphotography.netAlex Baker is a portrait and lifestyle driven photographer based in Valencia, Spain. She works on a range of projects from commercial to fine art and has had work featured in publications such as The Daily Mail, Conde Nast Traveller and El Mundo, and has exhibited work across Europe

David Williams: from diyphotography.netDave Williams is an accomplished travel photographer, writer, and best-selling author from the UK. He is also a photography educator and published Aurora expert. Dave has traveled extensively in recent years, capturing stunning images from around the world in a modified van. His work has been featured in various publications and he has worked with notable brands such as Skoda, EE, Boeing, Huawei, Microsoft, BMW, Conde Nast, Electronic Arts, Discovery, BBC, The Guardian, ESPN, NBC, and many others.

John Aldred: from diyphotography.netJohn Aldred is a photographer with over 20 years of experience in the portrait and commercial worlds. He is based in Scotland and has been an early adopter - and occasional beta tester - of almost every digital imaging technology in that time. As well as his creative visual work, John uses 3D printing, electronics and programming to create his own photography and filmmaking tools and consults for a number of brands across the industry.

Dunja Djudjic: from diyphotography.netDunja Djudjic is a multi-talented artist based in Novi Sad, Serbia. With 15 years of experience as a photographer, she specializes in capturing the beauty of nature, travel, and fine art. In addition to her photography, Dunja also expresses her creativity through writing, embroidery, and jewelry making.

Copyright © DIYPhotography 2006 - 2023 | About | Contact | Advertise | Write for DIYP | Full Disclosure | Privacy Policy