Stumbling Toward Expertise: Read Me First!

I am a videographer, editor, producer, set designer and otherwise video geek. I'm mostly self-taught, with no formal training, but I've been at it for ten years professionally, plus many years before that as a sometime schoolboy helper. It's a family-run production company, so opportunities to learn and try things have just kind of "been there".

I am not an expert, I don't have countless decades of experience at the highest levels of motion picture production, but I do have a passion for a guerrilla approach to production equipment, set building, techniques and anything else that gives good results with a little effort and no money.

I'm constantly putting together schemes, plans, blueprints and prototypes for various production-related projects. Our productions don't have the budget for high-end gear, but I believe that shouldn't prevent us from getting high-end results.

I will be blogging here with various how-to projects, ideas, thoughts and interests. Recent projects I plan to blog about:

• homebuilt jib with motorized pan and tilt controls;
• homebuilt follow focus;
  
• homebuilt matte box (in progress);
• homebuilt camera stabilizer (Steadicam-style, also in progress);
• fake stone block wall set;
• whatever else I cook up next.
  

I hope you find it to be helpful and inspirational, and perhaps you'll share guerrilla gear with me too.