Award Sounds

I wrote last week about how DIY equipment for indie movie-making is becoming more important as the recession takes hold. Many prices are increasing, but incomes are stagnant and even disappearing. Before you dive into building your own kit instead of buying branded equipment, have a read through this list and figure out if DIY kit is for you.

I came to realise that usually the benefits outweigh any concerns I'd have about using DIY filmmaking equipment, but sometimes you need a certain piece of branded equipment to be able to get the job in the first place. Again, by posting on forums or even in movie-making/photograhy groups, people will be interested in what you've made, how you made it and what you learnt from it. Here's my first take on comparing the advantages and disadvantages of building and using DIY movie-making kit.

Benefits

1. Achievement - You can do a job and say "I built this"
2. Motivation - a small DIY project is a great way to kick-start your motivation and enthusiasm for indie moviemaking. Some of the Steadicams look a great place to start.
3. Conversation starter - how many conversations are started with "what's that for?" as the inquirer is looking at your piece of home-made kit attached to something more professional.
4. Publicity generator - made something useful? Then publish it on your blog, a friend's blog or even just give back to a community/forum you frequent.
5. It could lead to productisation and a full roll-out. If people like it, then maybe it's got potential to be manufactured and sold.
6. You can still complete your production. Can't afford the real thing but still need to get that one shot, then make the DIY version and keep your costs low.
7. Meet new friends and colleagues. Again, by posting on forums or even in movie-making/photograhy groups, people will be interested in what you've made, how you made it and what you learnt from it. The set of articles I wrote on 43 Reasons for Collaborating a music production are equally as important to the indie movie-making industry. If anything, I'd say that they are more relevant since it's almost impossible to complete a movie single-handed,
8. Possibly the most important for me is that I learn the real value of the commercial product. I made my own lightbox (or more properly, a light-tent) from a cardboard box and pieces of A3 paper. It did the job and was a lot cheaper (i.e. no cost) than the commercial products (about $150 at the time). Now that the price has dropped for lighttents, I purchased one. The box has gone and the collapsible, multi-backdrop nylon light-tent is here. I'm happy I bought it. I'm also happy I built my own while they were still too expensive for what they were.
9. Extendable and ugradable according to your own skills.
10. Recycling - you get to give some scraps of wood or metal a new lease of life.

Concerns

These are the disadvantages I've seen of the majority of DIY equipment. There are some that are truly works of art and look more professional than most branded products, but these are in the minority.

1. It takes more time to design, build and fix DIY equipment than it does to buy branded kit
2. It can be time-consuming to use. You're unlikely to have a mass of electronics to be able to set defaults. Most DIY kit is mechanical in nature.
3. May not be fully integrated with standard fittings.
4. Looks ugly - although I've seen some ugly professional equipment as well. The difference is that they usually don't have glue smears or held together by gaffer tape
5. Looks unprofessional -you could always create your own brand and logo
6. Not easy to carry or collapse. This is where the large manufacturers rule. Unless you're making something out of cardboard, then it's not likely to collapse well for transportation.
7. Fragile - many are more easily broken. Saying that, I built a 2x12 speaker cabinet and I'm sure it's a lot less fraigle than most manufactured cabinets.
8. Non durable - If it's made of cardboard, then it's not going to last forever, especially if it has to be manoeuvred into position.
9. Requires an experienced operator, even if only because others haven't got the patience to work with it.
10. It doesn't have the brand. Sadly, it's often the case that if your equipment doesn't sport the right label, then people will look down on you, possibly to the extent that you don't get the gig.