Today we are going to look at the best piece of camera support equipment on the market for adventure filmmakers. Or any filmmakers for that matter.
As indie filmmakers we should always be looking for gear investments that have the highest possible ratio of cost vs. results. With that in mind, the tool I am recommending is not a 3 axis gimbal, it’s not a drone, it’s actually just a plain old tried-and-true monopod. You’ve probably seen one of these before, and maybe you’ve thought, hey that works for that wedding guy, but I prefer my tools a little more high tech or pro looking. Don’t think of yourself as too good for the monopod. I am going to show you why this tool can help move the needle the most on achieving cinematic results for the lowest upfront investment.
I think this tool will be the fastest tool to help you develop your cinematic eye.
A monopod allows you to be more mobile and flexible than almost any other tool. It is the fastest way to cover many different perspectives of a scenario and then decide which ones you like the most. I’ve seen people who started out by purchasing a tripod and a slider. Then they mount their slider to the tripod and try to shoot from that the entire time. In the edit room they are trying to decide what to do with all these shots that just slide left to right from the same perspective. That’s because in a way the visual aspects of filmmaking is like good writing. You need to use varied words and expressions in order to create a pleasant cinematic experience. You can’t add an exclamation point on the end of every sentence and call it engaging writing. The same goes with filmmaking. Camera movements should be used intentionally, and a monopod helps you learn the foundations of these principles.
The Best Monopod Out There
Simply without question Sirui is making the best monopods on the market. The model I recommend is the Carbon Four Section Monopod from Sirui. If you would like to save some money you can go with the the Aluminum Four Section Version. I really do recommend the weight savings of the CX version though.
You are also going to need a fluid head of some kind
I like the heads from Manfrotto, but literally any brand of fluid head will do the trick.
