Engadget tipped us off to an Instructables article that shows you how to add a CCD eyepiece to a set of binoculars. The parts list seems relatively inexpensive, the CCD camera module is probably the most costly item on the list.

Need a sunshade or top flag for your camera, but not quite willing to jump into a full-featured mattebox solution? Here’s a Do It Yourself solution that works with camcorders equipped with a hard lens shade. With a little time, epoxy glue, a inexpensive universal shoe mount, and this el-cheapo french flag, you should be able to put something together without much hassle. Here are the full-size images and a few brief assembly notes. It’ll run you around $31 for the parts, before shipping. Not bad for a simple shade solution.

Kenn Bell has a post up that talks about how he used the iPhone to storyboard a recent music video shoot. His technique is quick and looks to be very effective…take digital images while location scouting, throw together a quick iMovie video slideshow, and use the video on-set with the iPhone.

“Basically, we’d arrive at a location, I’d play the movie and let everyone, including Baby Jay, see what shots and looks I was interested in. It only took a minute and everyone was on the same page. I can’t stress enough how much time I saved! The three days went incredibly smooth and I really believe it was because the movie on my iPhone. It actually got everyone excited to see how cool the music video would look and I gained a great deal of trust from it.”

This would also be a good time to check out Kenn’s interview on the Digital Production Buzz podcast.

This DVinfo user has fitted his camera with the HV20’s full zoom-through Canon WD-43 wide angle converter and a Canon XHA1 lens hood gaff taped on. It’s a unique solution that looks surprisingly sleek.

Via CDM comes this link to an Instructables article on creating your own “time-slice” capture rig ala The Matrix. Interesting project.

In more interesting news for independent filmmakers it seems that IMDB has bought Withoutabox, the thriving community of indies and creative filmmakers. Amazon owns IMBD. Mike Curtis has the scoop.

We mentioned The West Side several months back. Since then I had a chance to meet one of the filmmakers behind the project in NYC, Ryan Bilsborrow-Koo. Ryan is a motivated guy with a strong indie sensibility; I suspect he’s destined for filmmaking greatness. And after watching this second in the series of West Side online episodes, you might agree.

The creators of the independent film 10 MPH have released a practical DIY Filmmaking Handbook that covers all the steps they have taken to market their film, from branding and festival submissions to self-financed DVD release and theatrical tour. The manual is available as a 26 page PDF for a buck, or you can read it online free. Here’s what it covers:

INTRO
HISTORY
ONLINE EXPERIENCE
DESIGN & BRAND
FESTIVALS
PRESS
WHO DO YOU KNOW?
KEEP MAKING FILMS
SPONSORS
DVD RELEASE
DIGITAL DOWNLOADS
THEATRICAL TOUR
DIY FOR EVERYONE?

(Via Cinematech)

For those that love building their own gear, here’s an EXCELLENT link roundup of various DIY and instructable projects. You’ll find tutorials and directions for building Do-It-Yourself fig rigs, jibs/cranes, steadycams and stabilizers, dollies/track, and lighting. Great stuff if you happen to be handy and don’t mind investing the time.

In a Microfilmmaker Magazine feature aptly entitled “Fund-Raising For Your Micro-Budget Film”, authors John Gaspard and Dale Newton cover the process and legalities of courting investors, getting grant money, calling in favors, and other ways of raising funds for your film budget. On a similar note, I also recommend reading The DV Rebel’s Guide.

EXCERPT:

Of course, there are moments during the money-raising process that may cause you to feel panic or even desperation. During these moments, you may feel as though you would do anything for money. Anything. There are a few situations that do not qualify in the strictest sense as found money, and we recommend that you don’t succumb to these temptations when money gets tight:

* Your distant, ailing aunt asks for a second opinion, and you arrange an appointment for her with Dr. Kevorkian.

* You accidentally place your younger brother’s kidney up for auction on eBay.

* You enter a convenience store wearing a ski mask and carrying a prop pistol, and the goofy night clerk inadvertently gives you all the money in the safe.

(Via Camcorderinfo)

ProLost’s Rebel Cafe has two new Indie-tastic tutorials for those with a do-it-yourself bent. For about thirty dollars each you can build a DIY Flag for controlling light spill, and a DIY Century Stand (with folding legs) for holding your shiny new DIY flag…or basically anything. The instructions are pretty simple, material and shopping lists are already created for you, and of course there are a healthy helping of example pictures. So if you can’t rent ‘em and are too cheap to buy the real deal, get building!

Nathan Snyder of owyheesound has an interesting writeup on using old anamorphic projector lenses to squeeze true widescreen images out of a cheap DV camera without losing valuable vertical resolution by cropping/letterboxing.

“Put simply an anamorphic lens can squeeze a wide image to fit onto a typical format like 4:3 mini-DV cameras…A cheap and easy way to get experience using an anamorphic lens is to use readily available anamorphic projector lenses. Though these lenses were not designed to be used for cameras they can none the less be easily modified to be used with a camera. These projector lenses have the same basic abilities as the original Cinemascope lenses.”

A very do-it-yourself solution that might help eke a little extra filmmaking mileage out of great 4:3 SD cameras like the DVX100.

Via Film Flap comes this EXCELLENT do it yourself resource, a video blog called Creativity To Spare. The videos dig right into how to build a number of useful and valuable rigs, like this simple DIY Teleprompter, constructed of a laptop and sheet of glass (there’s even links to free prompting software for both Mac and Windows). The instructor Chris Bailey is careful to include detailed parts lists and demonstrates the final product. This is great stuff for those who enjoy building their own gear, or perhaps if you need something for one time only and can’t get a rental.

You may recall some months back that Director Darren Aronofsky had some issues with the DVD release of “The Fountain” by Warner Bros. He was quite candid, in fact, stating;

“Everything at the studio was a struggle. For instance, they didn’t want to do a commentary track cause they felt it wouldn’t help sales. I didn’t have it in me to fight anymore. Whatever.”

So instead of fighting the studio, Darren has made and is freely sharing his own unauthorized commentary track. And in a ironic twist, the audio commentary is being distributed via Bittorrent’s The Pirate Bay, Meganova, and the recently relaunched Suprnova community. Nice. The Fountain DVD is available at Amazon for $14.99, or $27.95 for the HD-DVD.

(Via Scott Simmons)

We’ve covered many of these rigs in the past, but here’s eight Do It Yourself camera rigs in one blog post. All the classics are there…the (in)famous $14 Steadycam, PVC bodybrace, lightweight jib, bike mounted steadycam, the PVC fig rig, etc. One that I hadn’t seen before that looks interesting is the Car Roof Mount project.