Fig Rig

My Finished Product

     This is a homemade piece of equipment that I made off the design of the web series Backyard FX (BFX) on Indy Mogul. This only costed me about 15 dollars. The original design costed around 20 dollars, but we did not use primer on ours. The build consists of pvc pipe, pvc cement, bolts, washers, butterfly nuts, and lawnmower grip (optional), see below for details. My came out perfect and I can’t wait to try mine. I did do a few test shots and my footage was a lot better when I was using the Fig Rig.

     If you don’t know what a fig rig is, it’s basically just a steering wheel with you camera in the center of it. It really help to take out all the little shakes in your moving shots. It makes your arms farther apart to make them less shaky. I did do a few test shot like I said before, and I saw the difference between me going handheld and me actually using the fig rig. It is not as perfect as using a steady cam, but the fig rig is lighter and easier to carry around.

What I used to build this piece of equipment was…

• 5 feet of 3/4 inch pvc pipe
• 10 corner 3/4 inch pvc pipe
• 2 T shape 3/4 inch pvc pipe
• 2 3/4 inch pvc end caps
• 1 /4 inch bolt
• 1/4 inch washer
• 2 1/4 nuts
• 1/4 inch butterfly nut
• pvc cement
• pvc primer ( optional)
• Lawnmower grip (optional, but recommended

     All of these I found at Lowes, but you can find them at any place that sells hardware. I only listed the pieces you’ll need, but not the instructions how to build it. To find out how to build it, read the next paragraph.

     The creators of this design, Indy Mogul, were genius with what they came up with as the final product. This was actually my first real build by them, even after I had been watching the show for about a year now. Sadly, BFX aired their final episode on July 18, 2011. Even thought the show is ended, you can still go back and watch all there episodes. I have plans to build more of their past builds. I highly recommend you guys check it out. The link for the Fig Rig is  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qT72hoYxESI on YouTube and http://www.indymogul.com/backyardfx/episode/BFX_20100823/build-a-fig-rig-diy-film-tutorial on their website. Enjoy!

     This video right here is the test shots I did with my Fig Rig. Some of the shots I did handheld, and the others I used the rig. Please watch it to see this amazing piece of equipment in action.