Okay friends, this post is brand new, custom developed, and chock-full of ninja awesomeness. Last year, 11 Tools Every Ninja Needs was our most popular blog post. This year, we’ve updated it to become something much bigger—The Ultimate Ninja Gear Guide.
We’ve broken down the best tools for ninja filmmaking into every category: camera, lenses, lighting, lenses, support, audio, and business/education.
For each piece of gear you’re going to find:
- Our suggested ninja skill level. Who is it for? Beginner, intermediate, or advanced.
- The price range the tool or resource falls into.
- A detailed review on why it’s perfect for a ninja filmmaker
- Bullet points of all the key features
- Links to directly rent and/or buy that tool or resource
- Product images, tutorials, and videos
You can see why we’ve chosen to call it The Ultimate Ninja Gear Guide.
A ninja approaches filmmaking like no other.
There are three main things we want to learn from the ninja; how to be strategic, how to be stealth-like, and how to stay a step ahead. And the tools we choose play a large role in us, as filmmakers, staying strategic, stealth, and a step ahead.
Strategic means that the ninja is choosing tools that are versatile. They work in a variety of situations and in a variety of ways. For example, a monopod is highly strategic as it can be used for static and moving shots, it can mimic a crane or slider, and can be used as a long pole in a pinch (say you need to get black foil to cover a light on the ceiling).
Being stealth-like is all about the experience you create when you film. We like to think of it as a conversation, and not a performance. Ninjas will not make their presence known and make you feel as if you need to act or perform for them. Be one with the people in your film for the most natural behavior in front of your camera.
And staying a step ahead is the central tenet to Ninja Filmmaking. Always be proactive, instead of reactive. Starting out, we often chase the story. Something awesome happens and we start covering it a few seconds later. We stay there until something else steals away our attention. But the ninja filmmaker is always looking into the future, predicting what will happen next, and being ready before it happens.
After all, that Red Epic may have more dynamic range and a wider color space than our brains can process, but if it’s always trying to catch up with the story, we’ll take the Canon C100.
To be a true ninja filmmaker, you need to choose tools that are strategic, stealth-like, and allow you to stay a step ahead.
Click on any category (i.e. camera or lenses) in the navigation bar at the top to start diving into the ninja tools.
[do action=”pullquote-tweet-withurl”]At its core, ninja filmmaking is about being proactive versus reactive. Check out the Ultimate Ninja Tool Kit.[/do]
