Make a Movie Camera Prop

If shaky home videos are making your audience seasick, it's time to steady your hand. Watch this video to learn how to make a camcorder stabilizer. Step 1. Begin building bottom Attach two 45-degree elbow connectors to either end of a 6-inch PVC pipe. This will be the bottom ...more

Feeling a bit like Bonnie or Clyde, without the reckless disregard for human life? This mini machine gun is a great prop for Halloween or a homemade action movie. You will need a joystick, pipe, cardboard, a small box, PVC pipe, a cylindrical box, a hot glue gun, a sharp knife ...more

Expressing the camera: animating along a path. Rick Gerard presents a five minute tutorial movie as the second in a series that teaches basic After Effects Camera animation. In this example you'll learn how to simplify animating a camera over a still image and how to orient th ...more

An RPG is a rocket propelled grenade, which is a common tool for enemy combatants in Iraq these days. If you need to have an RPG for your action war movie, then it's best to build your own prop one, since RPG's aren't exactly legal. Watch this video tutorial to learn how to ma ...more

When you need to make a Ghostbusters prop, who are you going to call? Parker! In this video, he shows you how to make a proton pack prop for Halloween, play, or a home movie. You will need a vacuum hose, a small box, miscellaneous plastic parts, a medium circular tin, a big bo ...more

Don Schechter explains how to capture your footage from your camera to your computer and log it for easy access later on. You can use Adobe Premiere to capture your movie, but you can not forget to put your tape in your camera.

Animating a Camera: Tracking to a Null Object. Rick Gerard presents a five minute tutorial movie as the first in a series that teaches basic After Effects Camera animation. In this first example you'll learn how to simplify animating a camera over a still image and how to cont ...more

Adam from Chemical Reaction wants to show you a little movie magic. This video tutorial will show you how to create, shoot and edit a time freeze effect for your homemade film. Stopping time is no joke, but doing it with a little camera skills and a little editing skills makes ...more

For those of you not in the tack horror movie loop, "Army of Darkness" was a comedy horror flick which came out in 1993 that featured not so scary zombies and your typical aggregation of gnarly looking undead. While the movie itself was a bit of a snore, the prop guys did prod ...more

Whether you were inspired by the movie "300" or just want to add to your costume or prop collection, you can make a replica of a Spartan helmet out of papier-mache. This won't stand up to heavy abuse, but it will still look awesome!

There are several ways to do time lapse photography, my favorite involves using a digital still camera and a controller. Once the photos are taken, I demonstrate how to to stitch the photos together into a finished movie. You could also use a digital video camera with controll ...more

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.

You don't need a ten-figure budget to make a great movie! With nothing more than iMovie, a camera, and your imagination you can make a stop motion animation. With stop motion, you can bring anything to life. This is a really fun project for aspiring directors of all ages.

Adam from Chemical Reaction wants to show you a little movie magic. This video tutorial will show you how to make an Assassin's Creed hidden blade prop for your homemade film. If you're a fan of the Assassin's Creed video game, then you can't not make this hidden blade. This i ...more

Are you doing a graveyard shot and decided it would be cool to throw someone through a tombstone? This video tutorial will show you how to make a breakaway tombstone. It can also be used to make a cool fake graveyard. You will need foam insulation, a tape measure, sand paper, ...more

If you're looking to give your Mafia movie a real, authentic, look, but don't have a ton of cash check out this great Indy Mogul Backyard FX video to learn how to build a Tommy Gun. It may not fire bullets, but this fifty dollar prop packs some real punch.

This video tutorial from Magix presents how to burn (S)VCDs and DVDs using Magix Movie Edit Pro 15 application.First you need to group videos you want to burn.If you want to play movies using remote control you have to place chapter markers. You can set markers manually or cho ...more

This video will show you how to make some cheap Star Wars light saber movie props with a few hardware store items such as pvc pipe, pool cues, duct tape, electrical tape, and spray paint. Part 1 of 3 - How to Make a cheap lightsaber prop from Star Wars. Part 2 of 3 - How to M ...more

Check out this video from Chemical Reaction Tutorials (CRTutorials). If you love filmmaking, prop making, editing and everything else that goes along with making movies, then you'll want to see what Adam has to say about laser guns. Adam explains how to build a laser gun prop ...more

When it comes to filming a great movie, having a great creative vision is just as important as more practical aspects of cinema, like how to employ film editing programs for the perfect widescreen shot or a camera jamb arm for stunning overhead shots. Check out this video to ...more

Realistic fake blood is hard to come by, unless you plan on spending tons of money ordering it from a prop company. Make it yourself! This video features step-by-step instructions for making fake blood at home out of simple ingredients, with a blender being the only tool requi ...more

In this video tutorial, viewers will learn how to create the visual effect of being hit by a car, using Adobe After Effects. Adobe After Effects is a digital motion graphics and compositing software. This is not recommended for beginners. This video will show viewers how to ma ...more

Mike from the SubStream's "Film Lab" have some tips regarding a few in-camera trick shots, specifically... the dolly zoom. Learn how to do the dolly zoom in-camera effect shot. This is something every director, cinematographer, or filmmaker should know if they're interested i ...more

Check out this video from Chemical Reaction Tutorials (CRTutorials). If you love filmmaking, prop making, editing and everything else that goes along with making movies, then you'll want to see what Adam has to say about reversing video. Adam explains how to create a reverse ...more

This tutorial video guide will give you a $40 step by step instructions to make a camera dolly that produces a professional effect. a dolly helps make a smooth, gliding shot that will make your audience feel much more enveloped in the movie.

Alan K. from Indy Mogul shows you how to create a your own film production setup including a camera, tripod, and recording media for under $250. Of course this assumes you already have a computer for editing.

In this video, the Canon EOS 7D is explored and prepped to shoot extremely high quality video. This video goes over how to set-up the camera to attain the flattest image for later grading & editing. Capture professional looking digital video, with tips and tricks revealed here.

In this video tutorial, viewers learn how to make stop motion animations. Begin by mounting the camera onto a stable surface position, such as a tripod. Then layout the figure to a desired position for the first frame. Now take a picture and slightly move the figure for the se ...more

In this how-to video, you will learn how to censor your eyes using the software Fun Booth. First, click the left arrow on the program until you reach the section My Props. Click the plus sign and upload a black image. Place and reshape the image so that it fits your eyes. Now, ...more

The FN P90. Everybody wants one, but more than likely, you can't get your hands on one, especially if it's illegal in your area. Designed by FN Herstal back in the 80's, the P90 personal defense weapon is the cream of the crop. It's full name, Project 90, specifies a weapon sy ...more

Bring a little bit of super technology into your indie film with a prop robot dog. This is not a real robot dog, but a fake robot dog made from foam core poster board and a few other household materials. Think Lost in Space and The Jetson, only the robot is a dog. Watch this v ...more

Yes, a smashable board of wood. Just what the propmaster called for. A long 2x4 piece of wood prop is perfect for smashing overtop somebody's head during an action scene. The smashable board is easy to make, too. But not as easy as breaking it. Watch this video tutorial to lea ...more

Everybody has that destructive feeling sometimes, when you just want to smash your computer to bits due to a glitch or virus or freeze up. If you're making a film, it's a little more plausible that the computer would actually get smashed, considering it would be a fake prop co ...more

Adam from Chemical Reaction wants to show you a little movie magic. This video tutorial will show you how to fake shooting a person with a gun for your homemade film. If you really want to make it look real, get the most real prop gun you can get, but don't use a real handgun. ...more

Adam from Chemical Reaction wants to show you a little movie magic. This video tutorial will show you how to shoot and edit a cool dance effect for your homemade film. You will see how to position the camera, set up the scene, shoot it twice (once with your legs dancing and on ...more

This software tutorial shows how to make stop animation movies with Windows Movie Maker and a digital camera. Learn how to shoot the frames of motion with your camera, import them into Windows Movie Maker and turn them into a stop motion animated movie.

If you have a Mac, this video will walk you through the steps of using imovie to create video clips. It would have been nice if the person making the movie had used the software to convert their own movie. It's a bit hard to hear and a shaky camera so crank up the volume.

With the LG KU990 Viewty, you can take and view a crystal clear photo. Packed with high-quality camera features, this camera phone enables you to capture a high-definition image using a 5 MP camera lens certified by Schneider-Kreuznach and edit your photo on a large, clear, 3- ...more