If you're sick of cramming all your various camera bags and light stands into your car, then you're not alone. With a little know-how, it's possible to take the headache out of shoots by building the ultimate production van.
You don't have to look too hard on the internet to see how popular vans are these days. A quick glance at the #VanLife movement will give you an idea of some of the many creative conversions people are doing to their vehicles. Norwegian filmmaking channel Andyax features some of these creative individuals, as they have just converted a Volkswagen Transporter into a film production van.
The video starts with one of the team at Andyax explaining their motivation for buying a van and the initial design concepts for the inside. Everything from storage, sleeping arrangements, and cooking are all discussed in the layout. These comprehensive considerations really do allow a vehicle to be driven to a location and be completely self-sufficient. The biggest hurdle with self-sufficiency is usually power. In this build, that issue is being taken care of by the EcoFlow DELTA Pro Portable Power Station that can harness a staggering 3.6 kWh of capacity. For us photographers, that really would be plenty of juice to run lights, laptops, and charge camera batteries for days. In the video, they go even further and double up the power with an additional battery and some solar panels.
The second half of the video is them using the finished production van on a real shoot. It's great to see them running several lights easily off their power supply and having the luxury of all that storage for their kit. They even have a handy "office space" to edit comfortably while out on the road. I don't know about you, but the idea of a production van would really make my life on location so much easier. The ability to power all my gear, edit my work on the go, and sleep in the back when I needed to would really open up a world of exciting possibilities for me as a photographer.
What do you think of this production van? Any additions you'd make to the design to improve it? We'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.
