Growing Up Guide Pup - Week 43 - Xmas Tree Farm

Ricki and Eli rarely get to go out and do something fun together. Dogs are not allowed at most places we take Ricki for our outings, but a tree farm was a great exception. We had a lot of fun. Amie and I really experimented with our training of the dogs, as well as the approach to how we shoot the show. I loved putting a camera on the tree and watching it timber. Growing Up Guide Pup is my petri dish of camera experimentation.

I'm in LA right now writing this blog. We just finished our big travel from SF to LA. Ricki is exhausted sleeping on the ground next to me. She really handled traveling well so stay tuned for the next episode. It is going to be really great. Airport traveling awesomeness.

So Ricki turns 1 years old tomorrow. I can't believe it. Our little pup is growing so fast. Pretty soon she will be going back to school for her formal training. Won't that be exciting. The next several weeks should be a lot of fun, and packed with more content than normal to celebrate her first birthday. We are going to release a birthday special episode, and perhaps an additional behind the scenes video for the first time.

Thanks for your support.

Simple Camera Trick

I made this video because I wanted to show this simple camera trick I coined the "dutch angle tilt". I don't know if anyone out there has thought up the same thing, but I'm pretty certain no one has ever made a tutorial video showing the technique. It's really easy, and only requires one to rotate the camera 90 degrees. Seriously..check it out!



Here is the film entitled "IN CASE OF EMERGENCY" that I referenced in the simple camera trick video. Check out how I used the camera trick to convey that "Joe" was spiraling out of control.

Make a $30 Steadicam

I have always wanted to make a video on how to make a cheap steadicam. I finally got around to it this week. It's really easy to make this thing and it improves the shot by about 50% over just shooting handheld.

Word of advice about making this steadicam. It is very important to know the weight of your camera so you can counterweight it accordingly. Using 3 3/4 pounds like I did might work, but if your camera only weighs one pound, then it would be out of balance for example. The other thing is it's very important to use 1/4" 20 hardware. I can see it already, if one was to use 1/4" fine thread hardware, the camera won't be able to screw on.

Enjoy! And remember, keep that camera rollin!