Equipment Choice

To achieve the greatest quality of production, I have realised that production equipment can not be skimped on and the better the quality of these, the more professional my project will be overall. As the purchase of a camera will eventually help for my work in University and will be useful for recreational activities, I decided to upgrade. Selling my Canon EOS 1100D which is Canon's beginners camera, I initially decided on a 650D which is a couple of models up, but essentially the same with 1080p video recording. As I found it on offer, however, and it essentially means I will never need to buy another upgrade, I opted for the Canon EOS 60D which supports 1080p video and also sports a much wider range of ISO and array of features unavailable on other cameras. 


Alongside this, I am using the tripod I used for my AS Production which is very lightweight, but sturdy so can be used for stable shots, but is portable enough for stabilised, handy cam shots. 

On top of these two, essential pieces of equipment, there are a number of specialist implements I plan to use which will embellish and accentuate my project perfectly, adding that desired professional feel. These include the Camera Crane I have already featured a post on and a soft box of my own design and build. Below are a few pictures of the process and explanation of it's components.
Soft Box

The soft box consists of:

• Clamp light
• White sheet
• Cardboard box
• Tinfoil
• Stand

Forming a small, lidless box out of larger sheets of cardboard, I began the softbox. I then measured the circumference of the clamp light so that it could be mounted in the box' back. 

Firstly, I placed the white sheet over the cardboard at this time, but the light did not reflect enough around the box and was too central (left). To remedy this, I decided to line the box with tinfoil which works by bouncing the light around the box and then through the dampening sheet. 

With this lining, the light spreads much better and it can even be used without the sheet as a powerful 'flood' light should my setting be dark enough for it. This is a very cheap, but effective way of achieving a well lit scene and it should help a lot for production. As the light bulb is a tungsten, indoor bulb I may have to alter the white balance on my camera for the scenes I involve this in - especially if it will be the main source of light for the shots.