What you “might” need to be a film maker? I will start by stating the obvious, a camera? but what kind of camcorder(s), then there is, lens, matt box, microphones, booms, headphones, tripod, dolly, track, jibs, lighting gear, and other accessories you may need?  As you see, the list can grow and grow and get scary to the point where you might think, stuff it, it’s just not worth the trouble.

What you don’t spend in money, you must spend in time – that’s time researching, not rushing into impulse purchases, it will pay dividends to properly explore all your’e options.

Know exactly what you need of each piece of kit, for example, what good is the latest £1,000 HD cam, if it doesn’t have anywhere to plug in an external microphone & headphones.

Take some time out... Pull back from the brink of all this confusion of what’s on offer and spend time planning. This is by far the best way to approach “all things” in filming. When your script writing, you, develop the plot, “planning”, when your’e doing the shoot, you will have it storyboard and a shot list, “planning”. So before you turn up on the shoot, ensure you are fully equipped by planning what’s needed, this has the additional benefit of not turning up over burdened, by taking more equipment than is needed, this in itself can often be as problematical as not taking enough gear... so plan ahead.

When offering general advice like this it almost impossible to be too specific, and individuals will all have there own spin on shooting requirements. Therefore, the guide below offers some explanations of what certain accessories do, and the benefits of using this kit, you can then make an informed choice as to wether this kit should be included in your shoot.

Accessories: what’s goes in your bag

Camera: when you get serious about the camera to use, here are a few pointers, regarding the specification you may wish to consider. Specification wise: manual focus, manual white balance, manuel iris/shutter control, external mic option and headphones jack, and hot shoe for attaching a mic, ideally, manual sound control. Format:  minimum 3CCD (for broadcast quality), do you want the ability to shoot in SD HD 16:9 widescreen, letterbox, different frame rates, 30fps, 25fps, Cinema Mode.

Recording Media: Hard drives, Memory cards, DVD’s, Mini DV tapes, Whatever your camera uses to record too, make sure you have all the appropriate recording media and spares, imagine your horror if you 3/4 of the way through a shoot and you discover your tape, hard drive, memory card... is full!

Batteries: Same story as above really, you must have a back up system for batteries, ensuring you have enough power for your camera to last the length of your shoot, be a good boy scout, and be prepared!

Lenses: As well as your standard lens, which usually come included with consumer and pro-sumer camcorder, there are two other types available. Wide-Angle, this will allow you to shoot “all” your shot, if for example you are working in restricted space, which prohibits you from moving far enough back to capture all the subject. These can be fairly inexpensive additions,. However, one word of caution when purchasing this add on, if you do not acquire a “focus through” wide angle lens, you may find if you have to adjust the cameras zoom, dependant on how much you do adjust will determine whether you encounter some vignetting or fish eye effect. My advice if you can afford to spend that little bit extra, then go for the focus through types, that way you avoid the vignette/fish eye.

Telephoto Lens or Tele-extenders: will give you a far greater range to the optical zoom, for example when filming wild life, and you can’t get to close to your subject, a X2 tele-extender will change your 12 X optical zoom, to X 24. Just be aware that the moment you stick something on the end of your camcorder, which restricts the light getting onto the sensor, as a tele-photo or tele-extender will do, you may encounter some degradation in quality, all you can really do to balance this out, is ensure your subject is extremely well lit, or simply get closer.

Macro Mode: most camcorders will come with a type of macro mode, this function will allow you to get a real close-up shot, being almost on top of the subject matter, which is usually something quite small, such as, flower heads, insects, coins and stamps. Using the macro mode will allow you to fill the whole frame, with this small subject matter.

Filters: Commonly there are three types, a UV filter which protects the lenses delicate optics from damage caused by sunlight. Polarising filter, for reducing flare when shooting were you encounter direct sunlight, e.g. sunlight being reflected off water, is a very common headache, using this type of filter can reduce this unwanted effect. Then there is a ND (neutral density ) filter, designed to lower the total amount of light entering the lens without changing its colour. This can be useful when you want to open up the aperture for some “depth-of-field” effects on a very bright day.

Matt box:

Tripod:

Microphone:

Boom Pole:

Headphones:

Lights:

Tripod Dolly:

Tripod Track:

Jib: