Hot Film & Theater Posts
How To: Mount a 1080p camera on a helmet for less than $70
Looking for a way to record what you see from your motorcycle? Check out this video and learn how to mount a 1080p HD camera in a motocross helmet. Capture awesome high quality video of your rides with this 1080p helmet cam mount.
How To: Build a car rig camera mount for cheap
If you're a filmmaker with bigger ideas than your budget, Indy Mogul is here to help with Backyard FX. Learn how to build a camera mount for a car that costs less than 40 dollars. Using suctions cups, you can rig a camera on the front of a car.
News: Firing Tank Caught at 18,000 FPS Looks Just As Awesome As It Sounds
It's like the H-bomb. In slo-mo, it's stunning. In real life, it's terrifying. The footage below was uploaded by YouTube user NielsBorg, unfortunately lacking in description, but offers the following information via headline: "T90 shot taken by Photron camera at 18000 fps". The T-90 is a brute of a tank, a third-generation battle vehicle used by the Russian Ground Forces and Naval Infantry. The tank contains an autoloader which can carry 22 ready-to-fire rounds, loadable and ready to go in 5-...
How To: Build a flesh eating plant from Little Shop of Horrors
Straight from the Little Shop of Horrors to your front lawn! Watch this video to learn how to build a flesh eating plant prop that you can use to give people a good scare, in your next movie or when Halloween rolls around.
How To: Build the A.S.H.P.D. Portal Gun from Portal and Portal 2
How cool would it be to have your own A.S.H.P.D., aka Portal Gun? Find out for yourself. Learn how to build your own Portal Gun, just like the one in the game, from affordable parts by watching this Indy Mogul Backyard FX video guide.
Westside Story 2011: The Ultimate Dance Off
WonderHowTo user lex lugo of Bootleg Entertainment posted this fun spoof on musical classic Westside Story to the Canon 7D World forum. The short starts off with some pretty (amazingly) goofy dance-offs; stay tuned 'til the end if you dig 2D violence.
How To: Make your own Boom Pole for recording sound in your film
Silent films went out of style just as soon as it became possible to give a film a soundtrack. This Indy Mogul Backyard FX video will show you, for only forty dollars, you can make your own Boom Pole for rigging a mic to capture sound.
How To: Create a hole in the chest special effect with green screen and gore
Indy Mogul Backyard FX is here with an awesome, cheap, special effect build that will have your audience jumping out of their seats. If you're a filmmaker on a budget you've got to watch this video and learn how to make a hole in the chest effect that look exactly like there is a hole in the actor's chest.
How To: Create a ground explosion SFX for your film on a tight budget
Just because you don't have money to blow doesn't mean you can't blow things up. If you're looking to add a Michael Bay quality explosion to your backyard film project, check out this Indy Mogul Backyard FX video. The total cost of everything you need to make this special effect is less than one hundred dollars.
How To: Build a Pirates of the Caribbean inspired prop sword for thirty dollars
Yar! If swashbucklin adventure be yer fancy, check out this awesome Indy Mogul Backyard FX video to learn how to build a Pirates of the Caribbean style sword prop out of foam. This video explains what materials you need and what tools you'll use.
How To: Build awesome Sci-Fi armor for less than one hundred dollars
Looking to create the look of a blockbuster Sci-Fi epic, for the price of a student film? This Indy Mogul Backyard FX video will show you how to build incredible looking science fiction armor out of foam for about eighty dollars. Be sure to follow these instructions carefully and be patient.
How To: Build a Mole Man makeup for 30 dollars
Check out this great episode of Indy Mogul's Backyard FX where you'll learn how to build a Mole Man makeup appliance on a budget. For less than thirty dollars you can create a shockingly realistic, and creepy, Mole Man latex appliance.
News: Shoecam Takes Wingsuit Flying to New Heights
For most thrill-seekers, skydiving alone is an adrenaline rush worth experiencing only once, but for the death-defying, elite skydiver, the wingsuit is the next step in daring midair adventures. But thankfully, we people who like our feet planted on the ground can enjoy the thrill ride via our flatscreens, due to some fearless cinematography from the daredevils themselves. And though there is no shortage of awesome skydiving footage on the web, there is a shortage of camera angles, with most ...
Breakfast Interrupted: Tangled Food Captured Midair at 1,000 FPS
They're not the fastest in the world, but Vision Research's line of Phantom high-speed cameras produce some of the best slow motion effects on the web. They can turn violent punches into a chaotic scene of distorted skin and repulsive sweat, or make a night's stay in a hotel room more exciting. Now breakfast gets the Phantom treatment in Breakfast Interrupted, where America's favorite meal gets captured in midair at 1,000 frames per second.
News: Papermation to the Psychadelic Meditations of Dan Deacon
Construction paper animator Jen Stark teams up with electronic music composer/rabble-rousing party-demigod Dan Deacon in the video below, titled "Believer". The animation is fantastic—likely constructed in a process not entirely unlike animator Ryan Kothe's paper Waves and Weaves. The basic principle: stop motion animation; so if you're inspired, start schooling yourself here.
News: All Hail the Herculean Phantom Flex: 2,564 FPS of Insane Slo-Mo
Slow motion isn't just for blockbusters and indie films. Sometimes it's for pure wonderment, like the bullet that seems to melt away at impact, the chemical burning of phosphorus and gelatin on the head of a match, and the distorted skin and disgusting sweat being thrown from a punched face.
How To: Apply a prosethetic appliance to create a zombie or werewolf attack effect
Are you working on a zombie movie and need to step your gore up? Or do you just want to scare your friends with an ultra-realistic halloween costume? Check out this video that shows you how to apply a prosthetic.
How To: Make a simple low budget camera mount for film
If you are interested in low-budget filmmaking, this video will show you a clever way to construct a camera mount. Instead of spending money on a tripod or camera mount, pick up a few materials from a hardware store and make your own.
News: 3 Super Budget DIY X-Men Costumes
Superb costumes generally fall into two categories; artfully crafted, time intensive, pricey facsimiles or the low budget option—ingenious, cheap and scrappy. When undertaking the admirable task of creating "one cool (or not) idea every day, for 365 consecutive days, from January 1st until December 31st", option two is most viable. And the most fun.
The Joy of Destruction: Smashing, Guillotining, Igniting & More
Why is it so satisfying to squash, snap, squeeze and splatter? You know, squashing a juicy grape, snapping a twig, squeezing ketchup out of a packet—perhaps with your fist—or splattering mud across a sidewalk. But all of these actions are child's play next to animators Laura Junger and Xaver Xylophon's Joy of Destruction. The real joy of destruction is illustrated below—we're talking sawing ladies in half, exploding corn into popcorn with dynamite, burning cities, and rolling over statues wit...
News: Zoetrope + Bicycle Wheel = Cyclotrope
Kudos to student Tim Wheatley, who came up with this incredibly nifty DIY animation using a bicycle wheel, cardboard cut-outs, and wire to create a magical reinvention of the classic zoetrope, Earth's earliest form of animation (it first surfaced in China around 180 AD!). Simply give it a spin, and the animation comes to life. Inspired to make your own? First, learn the basic principles of the zoetrope here or here. Next, take a little advice from Tim to add the "cyclo" element:
DIY IMAX: 5,600 Satellite Photographs x After Effects = Fly By Footage of Saturn
The footage you're about to watch may look CG, and while it is indeed animated, the 5,600 frames used to composite this fly by glimpse of Saturn aren't fabricated—they are real hi-res photographs taken by the Cassini orbiter. Outside In—an "IMAX in a basement"—is a DIY not-for-profit IMAX project-in-progress by filmmaker Stephen Van Vuuren.
News: Let's Wreck Stuff! Cap'n Video, the Original Jackass
We love all things Jackass at WonderHowTo, but before Johnny Knoxville and his pals were sticking fireworks up their butts, snorting wasabi, and taking a shock to the gonads (à la the childhood game, Operation), in the far off land of Ontario, Canada reigned another daredevil—a man named Ralph Zavadil, a.k.a. Cap’n Video. Just as we all winced when Knoxville tore his uretha, community access viewers of the '90s cringed as Cap'n Video bounced off concrete and broke his neck... until Zavadil wa...
How To: Make a fake tree for a play
Well it's time to put on the school play! This year, the school's going to put on Chekov's "The Cherry Tree". Only problem? You have no tree. Well, this helpful how to will guide you through the steps to make a light, portable tree that will turn your school play on its head.
How To: Make Splinter Cell Goggles
These goggles are great for a stage prop, cosplay, Halloween, or any videos you may make! They're made to look like Sam Fisher's tridents from the game series Splinter Cell.
Start Your Day Off Right: Beautiful Oscar Nominated Short "The Lost Thing"
The Lost Thing is a lovely short written by Shaun Tan and co-directed by Tan and Andrew Ruhemann (executive producer of the fantastic doc My Kid Could Paint That). Based on the award-winning children’s book of the same title (also by Tan), the piece was created over a span of eight years(!) using a mix of CGI and 2D handpainted elements. Tan, whose background is in painting, spent much of the duration "carefully building, texturing and lighting of digitial elements to create a unique aestheti...
Trip on This: Liquids Reaching Freezing Point in the Most Dramatic Fashion
"Freezing Moments" is a great piece of video of different liquids dramatically reaching freezing point, directed by Andrey Muratov. It's cryptically described as "Components of the space. Between existence and 'No!'. Alive - Absorbs." Hmm. Client is also cryptic: GTLK (Gosudarstvennaya Transportnaya Lizingovaya Kompaniya). Appears to be Russian, which would translate to the "State Transport Leasing Company".
News: Sugar & Spice
Good morning. A little inspiration in the realm of stop-motion animation. By the talented Kirsten Lepore, something heartbreakingly sweet... ...and something a little spicy:
How To: Be Amazing at Improv Acting
Have you ever seen Whose Line Is It Anyway? Many people enjoy watching this show, where they can see people do comedy off the top of their heads. There's no prior thought involved and it can be a lot of fun to participate in.
How To: Turn a tripod into a free body mounted camera rig
Start with a basic tripod, and then follow this DiY tutorial which shows you how to construct a body mounted camera rig. Why spend hundreds of dollars on one, when it's so easy to just construct one for yourself at home?
News: Lazy Teenage Superheroes
With the low budget of $300 bucks, Michael Ashton and pals created the below 12-minute short film entitled Lazy Teenage Superheroes, complete with some pretty great looking SFX. Just shows what you can do with a little ingenuity plus some self-taught filmmaking know-how (and the right After Effects tutorials). Not bad at all. Behind-the-scenes:
News: Banksy's Storyboards From the Simpsons Intro
A glimpse into the storyboarding process behind Banksy's Simpsons intro. Visit Banksy's site to view larger.
How To: Make a monster out of foam latex for stop motion filming
This tutorial shows you how to create your own monster, from start to finish, out of foam latex. You can use this as a prop in your movie by using stop motion techniques. Get your inspiration for the monster from anywhere!
News: Whaddya Know? Human + Ice Skates = the Perfect Camera Dolly
Filmmaker Kasper Bak didn't bother with buying (or making) his own camera dolly. Instead, he strapped on some ice skates, and with Canon EOS 550D in tow, he captured beautiful footage of his wintery town in the Netherlands.
How To: Edit clips into movies as a newcomer to digital video
Learn the basics of video editing in this funny and informative clip from Vimeo's excellent Video 101 series of tutorials. This video provides a handy overview of the steps involved in editing video, including transferrring footage, organizing clips into video bins, editing using the timeline, trimming the footage & using transitions, saving frequently, and exporting videos to be viewed on various sites with various compression settings.
How To: Shoot like a pro as a newcomer to digital video
Learn the basics of shooting videos in this video. This funny and informative video from Vimeo's excellent Video 101 series of tutorials demonstrates the importance of things like always carrying extra batteries, holding on to the subject for at least 5 seconds, using the rule of thirds to compose the shots, and planning the shots ahead of time.
How To: Replicate some props from the video game hit Fallout
If you're a fan of the hit video game Fallout, you may want to check out this how-to video which gives an overview of building several different props from the game. Check it out and see if you can get your Pip-Boy 3000 up and running. No mutants allowed!
How To: Construct a realistic light saber prop from Star Wars
What more to say? It's a light saber! You will need need 1 1/4 inch PVC pipe, a dremel, a drill, a hot glue gun, a riveter, some rivets, a 12 inch metal pipe, a brass nut, a beveled rubber washer, a one inch thumb screw, a rubber door sealer and some hardware. Construct a realistic light saber prop from Star Wars.
How To: Apply face prosthetics to make yourself look like a zombie
Who doesn't like zombies? This tutorial shows you how to get the ripped face prosthetic from Nimba Creations, and how to apply it. This is a fairly pricey prosthetic, so make sure that you get your money's worth by making it look as awesome as possible!
How To: Make a microphone boom at home
You can make an inexpensive and effective microphone boom pole just by using a extensible paint roller handle. Add a few modifications (all you'll need is a few pieces of basic hardware), and you will have your own DiY microphone boom.