Tips for a easy to transport external equipment setup for indie filmmaking

apefos

Tips for a easy to transport external equipment setup for indie filmmaking - you only need a backpack!

use a small and lightweight camera with good low light performance
use a set of only 4 lenses, one lens can be a cheap zoom with ois when you need stabilization, the other lenses can be fast lenses for shallow dof with wide, normal, tele equivalent to 35mm, 50mm and 85mm infull frame, enough for all king of framing
carry the number of batteries you need, but dont carry chargers, charge batteries at home. Only carry chargers if you need to sleep in another place
AA and 9v batteries will need a enclosure to avoid short circuit
use a small battery powered led light with dimmer and color temperature setting so you dont need gels or filters, viltrox L116T is great
if you work alone use a dual wireless lavalier mic system so you can avoid wires and get audio from two people in separated left and right channels at same time
if you work with another person to hold the mic close to the talents you can use a small shotgun and a small boom pole like the Godox AD-S13
the shotgun can use wire or can use the same transmiter/receiver from the lavalier system, use deadcat to avoid wind noise
use a camera monopod because it is small, lightweight and easy to transport and easy to setup among shots, avoid tripods and sliders. (using handheld camera long time can be tiring)
the monopod can be used as a stabilizer for walking handheld shots togheter with the OIS lens
use a backpack with two compartments, bellow compartment for camera and lenses, top compartment for other equipment, and also a compartment for monopod. Some backpacks have a cover to protect from rain. See images bellow. This one is good: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Rain-Cover-DSLR-SLR-Camera-Backpack-Shoulder-Bag-Case-For-Canon-Nikon-Sony-HOT/183874822190?hash=item2acfcb202e%3Ag%3A8lcAAOSwTM5Yx3ZO&LH_BIN=1&LH_ItemCondition=1000
use a dual shoe mount adapter for put both wireless mic receiver and led light on top of camera
use ambiente light as it is, and use the on camera led light just to reduce shadows in people face
use a memory card with enough space for all the shoots, avoid changing cards, buy a big one like 128 or 256gb
use a small in ear headphones to monitoring audio, avoid big headphones
do not use external monitor, use lcd and viewfinder
carry a black cloth to put over your head to see the lcd protected from ambient light
do not carry a computer notebook, it is big and heavy
carry small amount of personal objects, just keys, money, documents, and charged smartphone
remember to have the script and a copy for the talents, and a pen for notes
use only one filter, a variable nd with step rings for all lenses
do not use mattebox because it is big and heavy, use a simple lens shade
do not use external preamp for audio, use mics with high level output and avoid preamps. Boya is cheap and good
carry a small gaff/masking tape to fix the lavalier mic and other things
record audio in camera, do not use external audio recorder
use a multi pocket photo jacket so you can avoid open and close the backpack during shots
you can use a suction cup to attach the camera to the car/bus/train window if you do not have space to operate the camera
use public transport, bus, metro, cab/taxi. This will avoid loosing time to find a place to park the car, and will be cheaper
wear light clothes that cover the whole body and also a hat to protect from the sun. wear clothes and shoes that facilitate body movements to not get tired.

apefos

There is an interesting belief about ibis saying it helps you to be discreet and do not draw attention. So you can use prime lenses for shallow dof because these lenses do not have OIS. And you can work in public or private places without ask for official authorization.

But lets think about this: if you are doing a film or a series or a documentary you cannot take the risk that the owner of the place will ask you to remove the images from the internet or television or from the cinema. If this happens you will loose money and time. So it is better you get signed official authorization before filming.

So, with official authorization you can use the monopod or tripod and no problem. Handheld camera with led light, wireless mic receiver and lens for long time can hurt the hands, arms and sholders.

apefos

I am doing a research to find a monopod very small when folded/closed, so I can put it inside the backpack and nobody will see it at the outside backpack holder. This way I will not get attention in public transport and in public places and people will not guess what is inside the backpack.

Because if you put the monopod at the side of backpack people can be curious about what you carry inside. If there is nothing outside so you will be a normal person like everybody who carry a backpack.

These are the first four I found. Model names: Andoer A-555 / Yunteng Yt-218 / manfroto compactblack mmcompactbk / Difun_a-255. They are only 37-38-39cm / about 15 inch when folded/closed, and get high enough when extended. And you can attatch/screw an small articulated head with pan/tilt movement on it. You can carry the head and stem separately so they will fit inside the backpack and screw them just before filming.

Among the small models the Andoer A-555 is the best, because it is 38cm closed and 156cm extended.

Another option a little bigger, 45cm closed, 165cm extended = Manbily A-222 - This seems to be the best option because if you put the weifeng WT1006 head on it, the middle of camera lens will be at 174cm from the floor, and it is good to keep the lens at same height compared to person eyes, so it is possible to film tall people, and people with tall shoes

How to get the articulated small head: the Weifeng WT-1006 / WT1006 monopod has a good tilt/pan small head which can be unscrewed and screwed to the other monopods with 1/4 inch screw. The stem from weifeng is 57cm without the head so removing and using its head in another smaller stem is good.

RoadsidePicnic

I use Bento S6 mainly because of fluid head but I find some monopods too lightweight. I used something too light with lx100 and g85 it caused jitter and was too tiresome because I would need to be actively worring with the monopod all the time.

Personally I find pleasant to use a more heavy video monopod with feet and fluid head so I can put it in place, step on and put my weight on the locked feet and let the weight of the monopod transfer to ground so I can focus on the head or make an interview with peace of mind. Its not that heavy, made a shoot in a grape haverst in some hills last week with that setup. Its infinitely more agile than a tripod tho.

Also too lightweight monopod will be a hell in windy situations.

RoadsidePicnic

You could trade some weight of with an S2 or S4 head.

The feet and head are easily screwed out and back.

É fácil encontrar no Brasil, na Efigênia deve ter mostruário, é o caso de levar seu rig e testar. Fazer umas pans, tilts e pivô, ver quanto pesa no braço e se seu jeito de filmar se beneficia de uma distribuição maior de peso no chão.

http://benrobrasil.com.br/Benro.kit.MONOPE.VIDEO.htm

apefos

@RoadsidePicnic thanks for the informations and suggestions. Great options more professional. But at this moment I need something very small.

balldawg14

If you are outside and do not require permission, for example in city or town, then it is much more discrete to use ibis than monopod. Monopod is big give away for filming. In fact, all you need is OIS.

f2.8 is all you need for DOF on apsc.

The problem with fuji is that there is no zoom f2.8 constant aperture with OIS. Ef has much more option such as 28mm 2.8 OIS (for compact and not heavy) or 17-55 OIS efs (for zoom). Both sufficient DOF. In general, in day time, can buy 18-55 efs variable aperture (very cheap and compact) and can stay above f/4 for focus reasons.

Very good with bmpcc 6k (can shoot prores on sd card and prores is very easy for system to handle).

For audio, to take weight off camera, can use external system as follows:

Zoom with two xlr input (h5 for example) - attach to lanyard around your neck. It hangs off your neck. Plug two avx sennheiser receivers into two xlr input of zoom. Now have two lav audio. Connect zoom to camera input. Hide zoom under jacket - zip coat up over zoom. No one can tell you are shooting audio. Also, there is no external receiver on camera - camera looks not professional. No one will know you are shooting. Plus takes weight off camera and can handhold for long period.

Light can be put on camera hot shoe when required. But try to find right lighting situation where additional light is not required - or use natural bounce - to reduce weight.

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