Over the Christmas period, I have had a few changes in my life. The biggest has been a move back to Sydney’s Northern Beaches from the south west forests of WA. The second has been a bit of an epiphany.

Over the years I have collected all sorts of bits of pieces in the video and audio area; cameras, audio gear, tripods, editing software, special effects stuff and so on.

But the trip over – by car I hasten to add – meant I had to been brave and savage and offload a heap of stuff. There were two reasons for this. The first was simply for space saving as there is only so much I can pack in a Monaro with a rather large dog!

The second was realising I was falling in a trap to a degree, in thinking that a pile of top notch gear was needed to make the best movies and films.

So I have pared back to a Canon HV20, a Sony TRV10E, a cabled lapel mic and a Shure handheld.

I have kept Sony Vegas, Boris Red and Continuum, and using Smartsound for audio (along with Sonar and my Casio keyboard).
But there is a secret weapon involved as well.

I have been analysing a bunch of excellent TV shows in my spare time to see how these are made in terms of shooting angles and production values – specifically Sherlock, Dr Who, The Monarch of the Glen, Poirot and Spooks.

These have given me clues and impetus to look at script and technique as against the gear to shoot with.
Give it a try. Put aside the top shelf stuff and go back to basics and where you started. It might even be fun!