Weekend Extra: Make a Boom Pole for $15

My friend tried it and worked.

first off, you need a 320mm shock mount if your using a shotgun mic, not 325mm. second off, the pole is 20$, the shock mount online comes to 13$, you have to spend at least 15 to buy the adapter online, so with shipping its 20. and the bolts are 1-2$. so its a $54 boom pole, not 15.

I made my own boom pole that works just as well, and even cheaper albeit not very professional looking. I used a broom handle and i duct taped my mic to the end. It works just as well but the downsides are that it doesn't look very professional and it isn't very lightweight. But I am a newbie filmmaker and I am very low on cash.

Brilliant. Materials, gas and time spent, approx. $25. It took me a little while to find a hangar bolt but otherwise. Easy Peasy. Thanks a ton.

The painters pole alone costs $15. With the other stuff, the project totals around $30.

I had to buy a whole box of 50 5/8-16 x 2" screws. They're rare. I had to order a nylar tip pole online. They're rare too. Now I have to wait around for the UPS truck. The time and money I spent on this project has been wasteful. The lesson learned, however, is priceless.

Have A Zoom H2 They Are really Good+They Record On to SD

Where can I find a 3/8 x 2 hanger bolt?!? Ive tried 3 major hardware stores and the best I could find was a 3/8 x 3in, but its not fully threaded and doesnt look like it will work. Do I have to try a specialty store or something?

Very cool, I think I might try to make this next week.

I teach filmmaking and video production to high school students and think that your website is absolutely fantastic!!!

Well, you don't need to buy $15 worth of hardware to get a good boom pole. You could use a metal or plastic pipe, a microphone you can plug into your camera (it doesn't have to be a shotgun mic) and tape. It probably won't be as effective as this one, but if your incredibly cheap or don't have a shotgun mic, this could work.

THANK! YOU! GOD! i've been waiting forever for someone to show me how to make a cheap boom pole

Awsome dude!

Hi again Indymogul, What about lighting? Have any ideas on how to light our projects better?

IMPORTANT: everyone should know this and erik should post this is the next weekend extra, you can make a great steadycam for about $14! The link is right here: http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~johnny/steadycam/

Hey guys, these tips are awesome!! A big thanks from ET ENTERTAINMENT! Check us out on the web! http://www.et-films.net http://www.et-films.net http://www.et-films.net

I have a boom pole too, and a shotgun mic, but when I use the shotgun as opposed to the built in mic, I can't get the audio to record in both channels. I am using a dvx100b camera. Know how I can get the boom mic audio to record in both channels simultaneously?

For the person asking about a cheap steadicam... http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~johnny/steadycam/ There is an art to it...so practice practice.

Nooooo! Where are the fake heads?!?!??!!

That was useful. But what I'd really like to know is how to make a decent Steadicam for under $120.

wow that was short. nice vid though. good idea.

hey i want to make a music video sometime soon, and i need at least one very realistic gravestone, even better if i had multiple of different designs. thanks alot for your help, you guys rock!

b4uproductions: you mean a crane? Check out these: http://www.instructables.com/id/ED2KU2U8G4EPLK0CR8/ http://homebuiltstabilizers.com/

matthiasdeo, if you don't have a mic-in line, then you might want a separate audio recorder, that records to minidisc or audio tape or whatever. Then do the bit where you clap in front of the camera to make it easier to sync the sound in post.

Matthias: If your camera doesn't have a input jack for an external audio source, you don't have the option of adding a shotgun mic, sadly.

Any ideas on a camera boom? ;)

OH... SWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET Can't wait!!!

i have an normal "home videos cam" how would i go about adding a shotgun mic on boom pole?

Hey i know this has nothing to do with boom poles, but i have a tip for gunshot effects. What ive been doing in all of my fillms is this: first i make a rig like the bfx one. then, paint a big piece of cardboard green and cut a hole in it. put the rig through the hole so you dont actually see the bootle and hose. Then film a demonstration of the "gunshot". Use this as a layer on your actors in the editing stage of your film. The great thing about it is that with most software editing programs you add multiple of them, and change the size of each one for everything from cannon balls do needle pricks.

Hey Dysfuncional! If you check the top banner of the site, you'll see that bruises and beat-up effects are coming to the site on Monday :)

Awesome! I was interested in buying my friend a nice boom pole but I'm sure this will suffice. This is great! Good job guys.

PS: i ment to post that comment about a week ago but i seen this video and decided to now.. only one person is gunna bail now most likely but he can be replaced also the script is perfect this time and i've been working on editing and filming skills, also re-writing the script so many times allowed me to make it better and get more practice..

I wanna see bruises. it is ver important to me and every one at dysfunctionalfilms we are working on "take a stand" a short film and every thing is going horribly rong.. people are bailing out and the script has been changed over a hundred times... ahh i donnno what to do!.. Oh also i have your latest episode updated on my site..

Thats a pretty nice one, awesome work. I like how blunt you where. "Wonder why your sounds comes out bad even with your shot gun mic? Its because your doing it wrong."

First comment! w00t! I'm a musician, so I have a real boom pole!