Legendary director Steven Spielberg was initially drawn to filmmaking at age 10, when his father gave him an 8-millimeter camera. Without this gift, we might not have “E.T.,” “Jurassic Park,” or “Schindler’s List” (just to name a few), and the entire cinematic ecosystem would look drastically different than it does today. If you’re hoping to inspire movie magic, check out this roundup of the best gifts for aspiring filmmakers.
1. Color light
Beyond simply allowing the audience to see what’s happening on set, film lighting helps illuminate context and mood. To create the claustrophobic, nauseating lighting of Gaspar Noé’s “Climax,” for instance, cinematographer Benoît Debie used the Astera LED tube; while the Astera’s price tag may be a bit hefty, the Nanlite PavoTube series has a cheaper starting price point.
2. Wireless microphone system
Unless your favorite aspiring filmmaker is looking to make the next “Skinamarink,” which was shot without using audio equipment, they’ll need a quality wireless microphone system like the RØDE Wireless Pro to take their sound from muffled chaos to crisp, clear professional-grade audio.
3. Portable SSD
In the age of 4K (or even 8K) video, storage space disappears faster than Diane (Sandra Bullock) in George Sluizer’s 1993 horror “The Vanishing.” A solid-state storage drive like the Samsung T9 SSD allows faster data access, reduced latency, and better reliability than a traditional hard drive—and is sturdy enough to survive being tossed in a gear bag along with everything else.
4. Color management system
From the technicolor change-up of Victor Fleming’s “The Wizard of Oz” to the “evocative and provocative” hues in Jon M. Chu’s “Wicked,” color grading perfects a film’s visual aesthetic. Tools such as the ColorChecker Passport Video 2 give filmmakers the power to keep their footage consistently on point across different cameras and lighting conditions.
5. Gimbal
Although the shaky cam style can sometimes work, à la Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez’s motion sickness–inducing “The Blair Witch Project,” most movies benefit from a good gimbal to steady things out. Compact gimbals like the DJI RS 3 Mini offer a pocket-sized solution to making handheld shots feel smooth as molasses.
6. Clapperboard
They make production look more legitimate and create that satisfying iconic clap, yes—but production slates such as the Elvid PS-911-C 9-Section are also crucial for on-set organization and postproduction audio sync.
7. Gaffers tape
Gaffers tape is the leave-no-trace version of duct tape, making it a perfect gift for filmmakers that you know will definitely get used. If it seems like too practical a gift, you can jazz it up by choosing tape in your filmmaker friend’s favorite colors. Most brands, such as the Pro Gaff line, offer gaffers tape in every color of the rainbow (and beyond!).