Toolkit Essentials
for Film Professionals. 

This is the good stuff;
the gear that makes
the day possible &
the work a bit easier

Toolkit

              The Hardcore, Do-or-Die, Must-Have Tools for Serious Filmmakers            s

 

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Clothes
ScotteVest & Gotta Wear It
Clothes...?  Well, gear's gotta go into something.  And Scottevest delivers gear-carrying, all-in-one clothes.  You won't understand comfort until you pack these pockets with almost everything - and still feel like you can move.  And you won't really understand comfort until you doff the gear and don a caftan from Gotta-Wear-It.  Pure heaven in fabric form earns three reels out of four. [MORE]
Facilities
Editing on the Move: Confidence Bay
As more productions turn to video, in-line editing is becoming part of the standard tool kit.  On-the-run editing can save retakes, resolve continuity questions and even end the shooting day with a fully cut sequence. [MORE]
Location Tools
Bluetooth Wireless Headsets & More
Hear, hear....  Good sound in very nice packages.  From the tiny to the large, these headset deliver.  Quality, sound, design.  If I had to pick just one to take on location, I'd distract everyone and take them both.  They're that good at what they do.  Good enough for three reels out of four. [MORE]
Brother Pocket Printer
Brother's amazing printer, the MPrint MW-140BT, can fit in your hand or slip into a back pocket.  It's ideal for the travelling toolkit, but best suited for emergency printing.  For humans to read them, you'll need to prepare a stack of releases and deal memos in 24 point or larger.  But when you need them, nothing else can deliver like this.  Two reels our of four because size does matter and there can be too much of a good thing  Four reels for those moments when you absolutely, positively need to put it in writing. [MORE]
iGo Stowaway Ultra-Slim Bluetooth Keyboard
iGo delivers a tiny, fold-up keyboard that can slip in a pocket and open for work.  Handy and compact, this little tool is ideal for the road.  Ideal for any time you don't have your computer at hand and must (MUST) get a long letter emailed.  There are those among us who may be better at texting, but this is the solution for the rest of us.  All four reels, though sparingly.  Almost exactly right.
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Little Scanners; Big Results
They may be small, but these scanners deliver.  Quality scans, catagorized receipts, even scans from a book or off the wall.  These are top of the line experts, each with a different take on perfection.  The hardest part is choosing which to put in the toolkit. [MORE]
Olympus Stylus 1030SW
I'm always looking for a little picture-taker to shove in my pocket, something small enough to ignore, but a whole lot better than the Etch-a-Sketch disaster that comes with my cellphone.  I use real cameras, too, but save those hefty beasts for more serious times.  Trouble with the little ones is that they're fragile and their picture quality, pixels be damned, is never quite good enough.

Yet again, the universe has proven me wrong.  Hoorah!
[MORE]
Stress Be Gone. For Real.
As much a medical necessity as an on-set tool, The Stress Eraser is literally a life-saver.  Silent, small, private and able to make a whole room of Type-A personalities slow down and smile.  Not inexpensive, but every department head gets one anyway.  With tension gone, everything runs smoother and faster.  Four reels and a whole room of happy faces.  [MORE]
TV to Go
On the road again, three channels to watch and for sure nothing's on TV.  No more.  Now you can bring your viewing habits with you.  All it takes is an internet connection and PCTV from Pinnacle. [MORE]
Ultimate Ears Triple-Fi 10 Pro
Headsets and earbuds are ubiquitous.  If your hearing wasn't destroyed at Woodstock (or you're smart enough to throw away the throw-away earbuds that came with your iPod), you've probably sprung for a pair of twenty-buck wonders from the audio rack at Radio Shack.  Enter a new world where "good enough" isn't good enough. [MORE]
Office Equipment
Drives, He Said
It wasn't that long back when my buddy, Bill Meredith, cautioned against those massive 5MB hard drives that were just leaving the labs and heading into the market (with their new, low, low introductory price tag under $5000).  "Don't put all your work on one drive," he warned.  "Those things are way too fragile.  Besides, anything that big is just a fad." [MORE]
iGo - Power to the People
iGo's go-anywhere, power-everything adapter is a joy on location or hopping from the office to a plane to a car and on to location.  Every power source powers every kind of accessory.  Too many doo-dads to lose, but all worth hanging onto.  Four reels and a no-brainer for the toolkit.
[MORE]
Logitech Air Mouse
Off the desk and into the air.  Logitech delivers the couch-potato's best toy.  Or the lecturers finest tool.  Either way, you wave your hand and your cursor moves where you need it.  After a while, its subtle shifts feel like mind control.  A real joy for the kit.  Three big reels. [MORE]
Paperport v113
Simple, small and very effective, the Paperport from Nuance is an essential toll for the home office or out on the road.  Scans are delivered wherever and however you need them.  Artwork.  Text.  Emails.  Three reels our of four and well worth your attention. [MORE]
Software
Axium Budgeting
Axium Budgeting is every bit as good as it was when it first hit the market.  In fact, with version 2.02, it's been improved to the company of market leaders.  Alas, priase aside, this is also Axium's obituary.  The program is an orphan now, owned by Entertainment Partners, but squirreled away into anonymity.  The latest version would have won four reels - instead it wins the Alas, poor Yorick award for a premature death.  If you can pick up a copy, do.  There's no support, but it's an incredibly good program.
[MORE]
Dragon Naturally Speaking v9
Dragon Naturally Speaking is a step into the future.  You talk; it types.  You bark commands; it does stuff.  Opens programs, runs macros, sends email.  Alas, nothing will bring the hyperdrive online.  But that aside, Dragon is one amazing tool.  If you ever need your hands off the keyboard, this is essential.  It's on my machines and it's in my toolket.  Four reels though it's not quite perfect, just very, very good at what it does. [MORE]
EP Budgeting
Entertainment Partners delivers the studio-standard budgeting program, its update to the venerable Movie Magic Budgeting.  While it lacks the groundbreaking dazzle of its predecessor, EP is a solid, no-nonsense program that gets the job done well.  For that, it earns three reels out of four. [MORE]
Gorilla
Gorilla is the indie powerhouse of all-in-one budgeting-scheduling-logging-actualizaiton-festival programs.  If Gorilla doesn't have a module to handle it, your film probably doesn't need it.  Every updated version has introduced new features and improved functionality, delivering a powrehouse for the industry to reckon with.  Three reels out of four. [MORE]
ProductionPro Budget
Another prematurely orphaned budgeting program, and one of the best.  There was no logic in leaving this one behind - even after two years without updates, many of its features still outpace most other budgeting programs.  A bit long in the tooth, PPB is still an amazingly good program and a steal for less than a hundred bucks.  No reels, alas, though it deserves more.  [MORE]
Showbiz Budgeting
Showbiz delivers a chameleon of a budgeting program, handling movies one minute, AICP forms the next. simple still shoots and complex episodics.  All with astonishing ease.  Easily the most original and powerful budgeting program produced.  With the added advange of multiple languages and calculating actual costs, this program is a winner.  Easily among the top tier programs, Showbiz earns all four reels. [MORE]