It’s been a while since we last talked about some creative filmmaking techniques that you can easily implement in your everyday creative workflow out in the field. Of course, you can find many useful resources on the topic online, but the guys we definitely trust for some good tips and tricks are the creators of Cinecom.net.
Today we are going to share five more tripod tricks that Jordy Vandeput and his team have covered in the next insightful video that can certainly take your creative work to a whole new level. The best part is that you can use these simple tricks with the most basic video tripod you have at your disposal.
The idea of using a pair of socks and your flat floor may sound ridiculous at first, but it can certainly help you to pull off some steady shots on the fly when you don’t have any other options available. In fact, you are going to need three socks for each leg of your tripod. Once you put those on, push the tripod gently to either side. There you have it – a nice smooth and steady shot without using any sliders, gimbals or any other expensive filmmaking gear.
Meanwhile, you can use your tripod as a shoulder rig as well. Just tilt the head straight up and put the tripod handle at 90-edgree angle. Even though this setup won’t replace your conventional shoulder rig by any means, it can certainly help in some run and gun situations, especially when you are in a pinch.
When you are dealing with a dirt cheap tripod that doesn’t provide the smoothness you would normally expect for your shots, you can loosen its pan or tilt friction all the way and use your thumb to add pressure thus creating your own friction. Again, it’s not the perfect solution, but with some practice, you can clearly improve the smoothness of your camera movement.
You can also use a tripod to create some more interesting transitions for your shot. For instance, til your tripod head straight up with your camera turned on while being placed next to an object, then do a couple of turns around your tripod and then gently tilt the camera to your subject. You can enhance the effect by speeding it up in post and using it as a natural transition between shots.
Another way to do a creative transition with a tripod is to do a fast swipe then switch to slow and smooth pan camera movement. So instead of stopping right after the quick pan like you’d normally do, you can take this motion a step further by keeping panning but slower than your first swipe. You can play around with this trick by toggling your tripod friction on and off and see what type of results you can get.
Whatever the case, it’s always great when you have a few more creative tricks up your sleeve.
[source: Cinecom.net]
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