The Manfrotto Fig Rig in Action! | Gear Guide
Gear Guide: Lightweight, portable and affordable interview gear, episode three!
We've already showed you the compact lighting packages William F. White Int. lent us for our TIFF 2012 coverage, stuff that helped mightily when we interviewed directors like Don Coscarelli & Rob Stewart under the gun and in surprise locations - often without access to power.
However, we still had another big challenge to overcome: every night during the TIFF Midnight Madness programme we talk to fans waiting in line, visiting film critics and bloggers and even the odd filmmaker we happen to meet. A lot of this footage is shot totally on the fly, with not a lot of time to set up your shot and adjust lights. We needed a quick and easy way to shoot non-crappy footage that was both reasonably well-lit and relatively steady (not easy when you're running around the streets at midnight). Naturally, Whites saved our butts AGAIN.
They gave us a Fig Rig by Manfrotto (which, if you recall, we've talked about before) which looks kind of odd and bus-wheel-like but couldn't be more effective at steadying the hand of a haggard videographer who's had too many Red Bulls. Plus, the thing is basically a hoola-hoop which means you can attach multiple accessories all around it like—surprise, surprise—a Lite Panel (which we've also talked about before).
This set-up couldn't be more simple to throw together quickly and carry around without cursing at the sky. The Fig Rig from Whites is light, cheap to rent and produces great results! See for yourself - all our Midnight Madness coverage can be found here.
Gear Guide is an ongoing series made in conjunction with William F. White International. From lights to cranes to generators to camera rigs, we'll show you what it is and how it works.
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