Matthews Butterflies

[Yannick Hagman]

Has anyone here experience with butterflies? There are huge price differences on those 8x8 frames.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/144343-REG/Matthews_319437_8x8_Overhead_Fabric_.html

[Tim Hole]

Make your own...and get your imaginary donkey to hold it up...if you need two...imagine a second donkey. Or if you are that good at imagining things image a large set of butterflies

[Tim Hole]

Is it just a mobile greenscreen or is it just lgiht diffusion...confused

[Cedric_Akins]

Yeah it is much cheeper to build your own frame. You can use PVC pipe, 1.5" Schedule 40, or 1" electrical conduit. And once you have 2 people to hold it just right then you are in business.

[Peter Majtan]

I think Yannick is asking if the huge price difference between the various brands does truly reflect the quality. In another words - do the "cheaper" ones get the job done in the same way as the more "expensive" ones...

I have not used the Matthews brand, but we have one scrim and couple of diffusors from Chimera which are great. I have not used ones for green-screen thou - we always use large back-walls or studio BCKG's for CGI shots...

:D

[Cedric_Akins]

I have never worked with a "named brand butterfly due to the fact that it has never been in the budget of any project I have been associated with. I have made my own 4 by and 6 by from pvc and copper tubing.

The main thing about the butterfly is that you don't want the frame to fall apart. As long as the frame is sturdy you are in business. The second thing is the material you are stretching across it, reflector, grid cloth, nets or whatever as long as they are tied properly it will perform as good as a probuilt on, IMO.

Now if my budget required me to purchase one or rent one then sure but until I have a need to do so my DIY butterfly will have to do.

[Peter Majtan]

I agree that DIY is the way to go, especially with restricted budget. We normally build majority of our own grip and accessories. I got the Chimeras for peanuts from company who went under...

[Yannick Hagman]

Hi folks. Yeah, it's definitely too expensive. However I have two left hands. Can I see some images? Can you collapse this DIY frames?

I recently enountered a canvas for showing dias in my cellar I don't need anymore. But I guess it blocks the whole sunlight away. Will test it tomorrow.

[Peter Majtan]

Yannick - check this one out:

http://flickr.com/photos/22191643@N00/1470506901

[Cedric_Akins]

Great that is a huge butterfly.

[Peter Majtan]

Or this one:

http://www.subdoc.com/marc/diy/lightrpanel/

[Yannick Hagman]

The first one looks fantastic! I have to visit a DIY-store!

Where to get the tarp mentioned in the second one for only 2$?

[Peter Majtan]

Not sure the exact price, but Home Depot would be my first stop... :D

[Luke Stewart]

GREAT links Peter!!! Thanks for posting them! I think this is my low-cost solution for my Softboxes. :D

[Peter Majtan]

You want some more great DIY links? Check out this site - it is full of pretty much everything a indie filmmaker needs and I have used many of the tutorials there to build our own gear and accessories...:

http://www.rondexter.com/

I will actually create a new thread, as Ron deserves that... :D

EDIT: Here we go: http://www.scarletuser.com/showthread.php?t=454

[Yannick Hagman]

Got some PVC-pipe with aluminium today (plombersection), ordinary PVC was too flexible. 18 bucks. I make a 4x4 butterfly with them. But the connectors are bad, I have to get other ones.

In which section you might think the tarp could be located? DIY-markets are definitely to recommend for people-watching. funny folk in there. :)

[Yannick Hagman]

Got my 4x4 frame together, for 26$.

I guess it will cost me another 40$ to get some diffusion. It should be plain white, I've seen a lot that is either nature-colered or is letting through too much light.

Would you recommend thread eyes and some sort of rubber (like the real ones) or velcro to attach the silk?

[Peter Majtan]

Velcro with optional clips... :D

[Yannick Hagman]

Now Peter, isn't this a very nice looking frame? :)

[Peter Majtan]

Yes indeed - Good work!

My only observation - You could have (and still can) inserted a T-joint in the middle of each side. This will give You a lot of flexibility to later mount or attach the frame to anything...

Once again - great work and keep us posted...! :D

[Yannick Hagman]

I thought about that, but they only have these half T-joints which fall apart so easily (I first bought half-curves to connect 'em and they always fell apart, now I have attached solid ones and used some tape). So I will use a c-clamp for stands.

[Peter Majtan]

Great! Keeps us posted once you add the fabric... :D

[Tim Hole]

I did a similar thing and made a huges screen for projection worked nicely. Just used dust sheets sown together. It worked for the purpose. It was only SD (PD150). I'll see if I can find an old show reel and post it.

[Tim Hole]

I really can't remember the size of the screen 15ft maybe.

Skip to 01:15 into the show reel if you fancy a look at the effect.

http://www.vimeo.com/1370729

[Yannick Hagman]

That's a huge screen! What are dust sheets?

[Tim Hole]

Baically just cotton sheets. They tend to be a bit more robust and heavier than a bedsheet. don't know what they are called in your neck of the woods - used for painting and decorating, covering furniture etc...

[Peter Majtan]

Pretty dark Tim... But I like it. How long ago was this? :D

[Tim Hole]

:thumbsup:He He!!

Thats a fair point all the segments are from films of a dark nature. its a showreel of some films up until 2005. I'm really bad when It comes to showreels, I can't be bothered with them. I haven't made an updated one since then.