Leading up to (and inspiring) the launch of this site in February 2015, there were a few viral videos that folks found useful across the Interwebs. Since these videos have never gotten their own back-to-the-future debuts at this permanent residence, let’s use Throwback Thursday (TBT) as an occasion to see what they had to say.

This one told the story of creating a rig to mount a Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera onto a helmet for shooting into the talent, at cinema quality. It was for a major feature film that just got a Christmas 2015 release date, but the chances of this footage making final cut is anyone’s guess! My expectations are low; and the video explains it all. But it was the best fun I’ve had! Still working up a journal on the once-in-a-lifetime experience…

From December 12, 2014:

Although you can mount a GoPro on a helmet and turn it around to point at your face, the video quality on a GoPro is inadequate for anything serious. Not that this is serious.

But I just worked on a shoot that needed to play game at multiplexes, and big screens need clarity. What you’ll see in this video is a Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera and Rokinon 7.5mm prime lens (while my surrounding how-to is shot on a Panasonic GH4). The articulating arm that I mention is a Kamerar 11-inch Tough Friction Arm. It stays out of the frame, but there’s no getting rid of the helmet without aiming the camera severely downward. So, point: SnorriCam, though it wasn’t a problem for this skateboarding shoot with helmets anyway.

I was surprised by the image stabilization of my own head, without having the benefit of any gimbal or active lens (and without me being some kind of half-fowl mutation, thinking of that viral clip shown here of SmarterEveryDay’s “chicken-powered steadicam”). To get the shots I was brought in for, I got tempted to go down the SnorriCam route that starts off this video; but my scene didn’t call for stability that’s locked onto the torso – instead, the head. I’m pretty stoked at how the gizmo worked out. Yet this commentary ends with a reflection on how Hollywood is a helluva lot different from indie filmmaking, and I’ll be writing more about that later at the blog.

Big thanks to the friendly experts at the under-wraps studio production, especially Julio Macat, A.S.C., Max Macat and Jeremy Hays. And of course, Dad. Music is “A Freak” by Moby, licensed via mobygratis.com.

[NOTE: If you make one of these, proceed carefully, at your own risk. You are responsible for taking extra precautions on account of the additional mass created by any head-mounted rig.]