260 Nuts and Bolts Filmmaking
Suggestions Here are a few suggestions to help you get the best use from the apple boxes: •
Sand the edges and corners Slightly rounding the edges of the boxes can minimize the sharp edges and reduce the possibility of getting slivers. Make sure you seal any edges after you’ve sanded them.
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Ratchet straps Apple crates and ratchet straps go hand in hand. With a ratchet strap, you can attach almost anything (including a camera mount) to an apple box. You can also ratchet strap an apple box to something else (such as a ladder). Make sure you have at least two ratchet straps to go along with your set of apple boxes.
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Beaverboard from a pancake Beaverboards are used for holding a monitor on top of a C-stand or mounting a light close to the ground. A beaverboard is simply a wall plate attached (with four wood screws) to a pancake. The wall plate has a standard “baby” stub that can be inserted into a light receptacle or into the top of a C-stand. Once a beaverboard is mounted on a C-stand, a ratchet strap is used to secure the video assist monitor to the board for a portable “video village.”
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Raise cable connections Under wet conditions, place apple boxes under any cable connection to keep them off the wet ground. Likewise, if you’re using any gang boxes or power strips in these conditions, use the boxes to elevate them out of the way.
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Bring some type of box to the shoot Even if you have no time to create apple boxes, find something else, perhaps milk crates, to bring to your shoot. Having some type of box can be critical to accomplish many of your filming objectives.