Save Your Back: The Lightest Filmmaking Equipment | Articles | Photo, video, optics

Movie devices are often made from heavy-duty mate­ri­als to with­stand the test of time.

There­fore, we must try very hard not to let the back break under all these weights.

Here are some film­mak­ing equip­ment that will help take the bur­den off your shoul­ders just a lit­tle.

For exam­ple, the Easyrig brand makes some great prod­ucts that allow you to dis­trib­ute the weight of the cam­era on your hips. By itself, this “tool” is also not easy, but it will save the health of your back.

Many film­mak­ers have their own sys­tems, even if the pro­duc­tion is small and may not be afford­able. But they know that this device will save them from pain in the short term and help their body in the long term and is there­fore worth the invest­ment.

LED pan­els are the most ener­gy effi­cient, com­pact and eas­i­ly adjustable way to light a film set.

The Aladdin Bi-Flex 2 LED Bar Kit shown below is a great tool for many sit­u­a­tions. The pow­er sup­ply weighs almost noth­ing com­pared to oth­er light sources — only 450 grams.

The pan­el is great for get­ting into tight spaces where oth­er types of lights would­n’t even hope to get in. It’s not a replace­ment for a huge, pow­er­ful light, but with a soft­box, the pan­el can def­i­nite­ly com­pete with an 800W stu­dio lamp, espe­cial­ly when you con­sid­er its size.

For exam­ple, MSE Road­Rags II. This is a portable light­ing mod­i­fi­ca­tion sys­tem that allows the pho­tog­ra­ph­er or video­g­ra­ph­er to quick­ly and eas­i­ly repli­cate stu­dio light­ing effects on loca­tion using portable lights. The sys­tem does the same job as a stu­dio flag or grid, but it’s com­pact and folds into a handy trav­el kit.

The sys­tem is installed in the same way as if you were pulling a tent on sticks for the frame, just select the desired fab­ric.

In the pho­to you can see how it blocks, for exam­ple, part of the win­dow light.

If you work in a depart­ment that uses tools all the time, the mul­ti­tool will be your best friend on set.

When you have already gone down the stairs and sud­den­ly real­ized that you need to cut or tight­en some­thing, and you have the nec­es­sary tool on your belt, you will be hap­py that you have every­thing you need at hand and do not have to climb back up.

Will it replace all the tools you might need? No, It is Imm­pos­si­ble. But it will def­i­nite­ly save you from hav­ing to car­ry a bunch of dif­fer­ent tools with you. Instead, you will have only one uni­ver­sal assis­tant hang­ing from your belt.

This is a black alu­minum sheet that can be used to frame lights, cur­tain win­dows, and from which you can build a sun­shade for a cam­era. There are many ways to apply.

Since the foil is made of alu­minum, it can be used when work­ing with hot light sources. This minia­ture cor­ru­gat­ed met­al foil is a great replace­ment for a stu­dio flag that won’t weigh down your back­pack or pock­ets.

Anoth­er con­sum­able that can help you repair, hide, hang and stick some­thing is duct tape or gaffer tape. She can solve a lot of ques­tions.

Also, if you need to stick some­thing to the wall, it’s bet­ter to use paper tape — it’ll be eas­i­er to remove and not like­ly to cause heavy dam­age to the walls.

Keep both black and white tape on set.

How to show that you are old with­out say­ing that you are old? Buy a camp­ing chair.

You will imme­di­ate­ly see how the team mem­bers admire you, impos­ing­ly seat­ed on a stool that was in your bag just a sec­ond ago. Much bet­ter than sit­ting on the floor or on box­es.