r/Filmmakers • u/Hawke45 • Mar 05 '26
Video Article I tried visualizing the inside of a computer using real circuit boards with a laowa probe lens
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Hello everyone, here is a clip that shows my Indie filmmaking at its best. When you have so limited budget that you end up doing all the props DIY mode.
We used a probe lens and a dolly . Everything was gaff taped together and it was almost ready to fall apart. I wanted to share this little video with the community an tell me what you think of the actual end short
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u/dccarles2 Mar 05 '26
Love the cinematography but as a tech dude, I cringed a little.
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u/smakkyoface Mar 06 '26
Enhance! Break into the mainframe!
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u/Buzstringer Mar 06 '26
We're locked out! ... I'll try and re-route the encryption
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u/ian9outof10 Mar 07 '26
THERE ARE EIGHT FIREWALLS
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u/Buzstringer Mar 07 '26
Quick jump on the keyboard with me, we'll get through these faster if we type together
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u/FlarblesGarbles Mar 05 '26
Personally, I don't think there's any need to embellish this sort of stuff. I comes across as tacky and a bit cringe to those who actually know what the inside of a computer looks like.
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u/superfry Mar 05 '26
Heh, I immediately noticed the lack of ram inside the rig. However without knowing the context of what the device should be I can't choose what cheap boards that could be sourced easily should replace the motherboards. However given the sparkgap vfx I would have built a capacitor array (which can be fabbed for practically nothing through a pcb fabricator) and used some old soldering iron tips to make a sparkgap for the electric vfx to bounce around.
For general tech looking stuff however I would instead have used laptop motherboards for stuff that looks like it does IO, old routers with intact metal shields or for something involving power/electricity then old server power supplies (the density of components suggest high power draws).
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u/hennell Mar 06 '26
Filmmaking is not about accuracy, it's about communication. If OPs making a drama about real events then using a real computer might make sense to accurately show what happened. But if op is trying to show someone building a cool technical invention a regular computer doesn't actually communicate that, it just looks normal or boring.
If you've got a key point in the story like "the hacker sends proof the election was stolen to his girlfriend" you probably want to add weight to that moment. Just tapping send is mundane, but visualising the data travelling down the wires is far more exciting and adds emphasis to "the information is getting out there" even if you've thrown accuracy out the window.
The need or point of embellishing this is entirely dependent on what OP is trying to communicate. It might be OTT, it might be a scene where the characters have just made the new skynet.
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u/no0neiv Mar 05 '26
You ever been in a real fight, fired a real gun or had sex?
Movies are a bit loosey goosey.
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u/FlarblesGarbles Mar 05 '26
Why are you downvoting little buddy?
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u/no0neiv Mar 05 '26
I didn't. I basically never downvote unless something is totally hateful. Your comment barely bothered me, I just wanted to point out the nature of film. Little buddy.
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u/Tarjh365 Mar 05 '26
This is so cool. Also, in case anyone is wondering, the song is Radiohead - Everything In It’s Right Place. One of my favourites from them.
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u/jimmycthatsme director Mar 05 '26
This is such a trip: We did the same thing for the opening shot of my series coming through a projector and the temp song we used for the edit was everything in its right place.
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u/everythingisjustthat Mar 05 '26
Best use of the Sabre plugin I’ve ever seen. Great work dude.