One of our strengths is our ability to create custom gear on site. Fabricating tools that are just not available or things that have never been done before.
We are always trying to get an edge over other studios with new gear to get shots that other small studios have never even thought of.
Our fabrication shop also allows us to update, repair or fabricate necessary tools in real time. If we need a modification to some of our equipment to facilitate shooting a particular scene we can usually make it.
While other studios try to find the budget to buy gear, we build many of our tools on very very low budgets, saving our clients serious money.
For example we built our own Crab Dolly for under $2000 using parts from 3 1970's Vinten Fulmar studio pedestals. A Professional Crab Dolly that would otherwise cost thousands of dollars a day to rent, can now be used daily at no cost.
Here is another example of taking gear to the next level.
We took an ordinary set of Dana Dolly tracks and added the ability to rotate them from a center point. This gives us an ability to create composite dolly movements very easily.
Innovation & Custom Filming Tools
We built this 360 spin rig for a music video because we wanted a specific shot spinning around a subject looking up into the sunny sky as we transitioned from darkness to light.
We always try to build things that can be used over and over and transported to different locations.
In this case we wanted something that could support a cinema camera around a 4 foot circle and provide up to a 20 foot radius with 100lbs of gear.
The best part of this build was that it only cost us about $200 and packs up into a small space after removing the standard 1.5" speed rail.
While this is not a new idea we have not seen any rigs capable of holding heavy gear such as a fully rigged cinema camera. And even if there was a unit being offered for sale, the chance of it being $200 is pretty unlikely.
This is one way that we leverage micro budget films into quality productions. Spending less on custom gear and pushing the window on new and exciting shots.
