Note: these are separated by connector type, not the signal. For example, a YPbPr signal can be carried by (among other things) three RCA connectors or three BNC connectors. We’ll get into that in a different article.

RCA Connector

Anyone who has hooked up a VCR in the past 25 years knows what this looks like. One pin (usually color-coded as to its intended use) with a metal ring around it, it’s definitely a staple for consumer electronics connections.

The RCA Connector was originally manufactured by the RCA corporation for phonograph connections and is sometimes reffered to as a “phono plug”. It can be used to carry a lot of different signals including a power signal, but is most commonly found on consumer electronics in the form of a composite and component connection.

Basically, you know these babies – they are everywhere.

BNC

Short for Bayonet Neill-Concelman, the BNC connector is one of my favorite connector types. Why? BNC connectors area able to lock themselves to their female components. The locking mechanism is similar to that of a case for a stack of  writable CDs or DVDs – you fit it on and twist to lock. Just fit and twist.

Obviously, this means that if you’ve got something connected with BNC and it’s locked, and someone trips over a cord, tears will follow. However, in situations where you don’t want an RCA cord just falling out, then BNC is pretty cool.

BNC is used to carry a variety of signals, and is common on professional video equipment. Not just cameras, but other heavy duty studio equipment like genlock generators. You probably won’t run into it on many prosumer camcorders, but once in a while you may come across a BNC jack on something you’re working with. I always like to carry a BNC cord on larger shoots, and I always have a RCA to BNC adapter in my bag just in case.

It’s worth to note that there is some variations on the BNC like the twinax and triaxial connectors, but the chances of you running into one are slim to none on a DiY project.

XLR

Contrary to what it might seem like, XLR is not exclusively an audio connector. It is actually an electrical connector, and it has a lot of variants besides the classic three pin XLR3 commonly used for audio connections, and a lot of other uses other than carrying electricity. As you probably guessed, you are going to run into the three pin XLR most often, so just keep in mind that if someone is referring to a socket that looks like an XLR and has 6 pins and you say “that’s not XLR, n00b!!”, he gets to punch you in the nuts. NO EXCEPTIONS.

XLR is the standard for quality audio connections, and your camcorder may have XLR inputs right on it. If so, great! If not, and you have a 1/8″ jack for audio input, consider investing in something like the Beachtek Dual XLR Audio Adapter which screws right onto the bottom of any camcorder like a tripod plate, and allows for 2 balanced XLR connections. You can also screw a tripod plate into the bottom of the audio adapter, making a kind of camera sandwich that hey, everyone can get along with.

But wait, remember I said that XLR is an electrical connector? You may have seen them on theatrical dimming switches and other power applications like a lot of podium lights. Well, XLR is so talented it can carry both the audio from the microphone AND the power the mic needs (if it needs any). This is called phantom power, and if you have a camera with XLR inputs, open up your manual and check and see if it’s a feature. If it is, then take the batteries out of your mic and plug it in – if phantom power is on, it should still be working.

Pretty cool, huh? The name – phantom power – is also cool. Much better than the original name, “flaccid power”.

TRS Connectors

I bet you have a TRS connector in your bedroom or house, and you don’t even know it. That’s because TRS connectors are really common, but are rarely referred to as TRS connectors except by nerds (like DiY filmmakers). If you have headphones they probably have a 1/8″ TRS connector, commonly known as mini-jack. If you play guitar, it’s probably connected to your amp by a 1/4″ TRS connector. They are all around us – watching (maybe).

TRS stands for Tip, Ring, Sleeve, and the lines are the insulation between elements. The tip is the … tip. The sleeve is the sleeve usually at the bottom. TRS. Pretty easy, eh? One thing to note is that there can be 2 rings (a TRRS) for some applications.

If you have ever touched a live guitar cord connected to a mic, you know that the different parts of the connector (the tip, the ring, and the sleeves), do different things, because if you touch the tip, you get noise out of the amp, and you don’t with the rest of the plug. Basically, the different parts of the plug carry different parts of the signal based on which signal it’s carrying. For instance, if we are using it to carry a stereo signal, the tip is the right channel, the ring is the left channel, and the sleeve is the ground (the sleeve is almost always the ground).

Wikipedia has a handy chart that you can reference, and a whole lot of information that we can’t cover here. Like we mentioned though, there are everywhere, so it is a good idea to be familiar with them and their capabilities.

Handy side note: Since TRS connectors can carry a balanced signal, they can be interchanged with XLR (no phantom power, however). You might, as a result, see some XLR jacks with a hole in the middle for a 1/4″ TRS connector. Choices!

Speakon

I mention these because you might run into them in a setting where there are PA speakers set up. These cable connectors are usually used almost exclusively to connect to high end professional speakers from sound systems. You probably won’t need to use them, but it’s good to know what they are.

So, these are the guys I am willing to bet you are going to run into 99% of the time while doing some DiY filmmaking. The thing is, there are some really weird connectors out there. Check out some old video equipment, you’ll see some things that will haunt your dreams. If you run into something you just can’t figure out, try these sources:

Wikipedia’s video connector list

Wikipedia’s list of audio and video connectors

Those are the basics, so remember – if you don’t know what it is, look it up! No just trying to wedge in whatever cord you have in your hand into a socket just to seem cool. Say no to cable peer pressure, and happy hookups!

1. An extra tripod plate.

Where did I go? Hell if I know.

These things get lost, and how. They are the guitar picks of the DiY filmmaking world, and it helps to have a bunch around so you aren’t stuck doing a hand held shot for something that really should be locked off on your tripod. Luckily, these guys are less expensive than the whole head, so while they aren’t exactly something you should toss out the window on the highway in large quantities, the loss of one shouldn’t ground production to a halt. Your tripod may have actually come with two of them. If so, hooray for you. If not, then it’s a good idea to buy a backup.

2. Power adapter (NEMA 1 to NEMA 5)

These guys are a little life savers! They are tiny, but they come in big when you find yourself in a location with only two pronged (NEMA 1) outlets. Bring a few – they can fit if your camera bag is bigger than a ring box (note: it should be).

Note: for the hardcore among you, try this crazy looking thing (international power adapter). It is pretty compact and if you find yourself traveling the world I’m sure you can pony up $5.10.

3. Lens cleaning cloth

There is nothing worse than getting something on your lens and then having to wipe it away with your shirt or sandpaper because you don’t have the proper type of cloth that doesn’t damage a lens. Everyone will see your footage through that lens so be kind to it and pack a few of these.

There are a variety of cool ways to keep a cloth around too. You could do the basic classic style cloth, the cloth in a keychain pouch, a really handy little non-keychain but still cool retractable pouch thing, and of course a lens cleaning pen. Why not.

4. An extra tape

Yes, I know, this is blindly obvious, but it is forgotten more frequently than we would collectively like to admit. Pack one more extra then you could possibly need, and you’re good to go.

5. Regular Sharpie/Thin Sharpie/Extra tape labels

These are the holy trinity of keeping things labeled in the field. Yes, the tapes come with their own labels but a reserve supply is a good idea. Don’t bother with ball point pens for marking on them, they’ll only smear. Thin sharpie (the pen kind, not just the thin type of marker) for the labeling, and the regular sharpie for marking bigger things and writing on gaffer’s tape.

6. Extra lightbulb for light

Another oft-looked over no-brainer. If your light goes out, make sure you aren’t in the dark. You can find the type of bulb to get from your light’s manual or website.

7. 1/8″ cable extender

This one may not be so obvious, but sometimes the situation pops up where you are getting distracted by a shorter than necessary headphone cord and you need some length. Same with if someone else needs to hear the headphone audio to work a boom for a shot or two. Very handy.

8. RCA butt connector

Or RCA female coupler, I guess. Why not “butt” though? I can’t tell you why you may need this, because the situations are very diverse and strange, but at some point, having a RiteAV – RCA Coupler makes life a lot easier.

9. Microphone stand thread adapter

Sure, your mic goes on your boom pole just fine, but somewhere along the line it may have to play nice with another mic stand, or you may need to fit another mount on your pole. One of these little guys can save you from awkwardly taping some things together.

10. Roll of gaffers tape

Gaffers tape is the most popular guy at the party (the party being your shoot). Keep a nice big roll in your bag and its like coming to the party with a 24 case of non-Keystone light beer.

* For more on the importance of gaffers tape, check this out.

11. Firewire 400 to 800 adapter

4-circuit firewire can be found on most pro-sumer camcorders out there. The firewire cord you have laying around is most likely firewire 4-circuit to 6-circuit (400).  Oddly enough, I keep running into newer computers (especially Apple laptops) with no firewire 400, just the 9-circuit firewire 800. A show stopper in most cases, but not with this bad boy. Pull this one out of the bag in a pinch, and you are the village hero.

With these 11 items, you’ll have the tools to face a wide range of production problems that come up – just reach into the bag and make the magic happen.

Cable wrapping techniques are another one of types of things that you automatically do one way and you eventually learn how to do the right way. I remember when I was early into my high school career I was out helping on a local shoot and started wrapping cables around my arm. An old roadie quickly noticed and verbally accosted me, kindly showing me the right way.

So here for your reading and viewing pleasure is a short guide and some great videos on how to wrap cable.

First of all, can I wrap this cable properly?

Not all cables are created equal. The $4 video cable for connecting your DVD player isn’t going to be the same as a $40 6 foot Mogami XLR cable, obviously, but the quality of the cable has a lot of bearing on whether or not you can wrap it correctly in the first place.

Quality cable has a natural bias, meaning that it really wants to be a certain shape. This comes from the manufacturing of the shielding, which means that when you obey the natural bias, you keep the shielding in tip top shape as well.

Bottom line: if you are having a hard time finding the cable’s natural shape bias, you might consider that the cable just sucks.

Author’s tip – Christmas light have no natural bias.

Why? Oh, so so many reasons.

You might ask – why? Why should I do this? So what if it’s wrong, I like my way. Well one reason is the just described above possible damage to the shielding that might result. Cables are not invincible. They need to be handled with some care, and when they are, you are much less likely to plug in something and have it not work when it’s mission critical.

Also, wrapping cable with the proper technique means virtually eliminating the twists and knots that arise from general cable usage. This cuts down of frustration and you looking like an idiot. Seriously, you can throw the cable and it just unfurls perfectly. It’s a beauty to behold.

Did I mention that girls love proper cable wrapping technique?

Make sure you do the over/under technique

Once you find the cable bias, it is really easy to wrap cables just like that and call it a day. Unfortunately, it’s more complicated than that. See the video tutorials below for some guidance on these techniques. You pretty much just fold over the cable every second wrap though.

Don’t tie it in a knot

Wrapping a cable up properly then tying the ends in a knot is like carefully parking a car and then scraping a wrench across the front hood.

For the love of God use these. They’re cheap.

Don’t over think it..too much…

People can really get weird about how they wrap their cable and will have debates over such things as what size the wrap should be, whether to connect XLR heads, and other various minutiae. These people typically use cable all day every day for their job, and have dreams about wrapping cable and having conversations with individual cables they admire. As a DiY filmmaker, you just need to know how to do it to get the most out of your cables and be efficient when shooting. Don’t get too caught up in the craze that is sweeping America (the proper cable wrapping craze).

Check these guys out

Here are some of our favorite cable wrapping tutorials online that’ll steer you in the right direction.

Gospel John of Filmmaker IQ is very excited about cable wrapping, and has a great POV shot of how to do the over/under.

Ric Wallace, appearing in what appears to be a cable dungeon, takes his cables very seriously. All 7 1/2 minutes are worth it, but don’t miss his passionate plea to “do right thing by ‘em (cables)” at the beginning. I like Ric a lot.

If you don’t trust any of the above tutorials, let this wizard show you how to do it.

Perhaps you’d prefer to get your cable advice from a dispassionate headless man?

That’s it! There are many more of these on YouTube so if you find one that is good please post it in the comments so everyone can get their learn on.

Author’s note: check out the comments by our boy Yootoobsuchs who appears to be the self-appointed policeman of proper cable wrapping techniques in YouTube-ville. He’ll set you straight!