Donkey in Durotar

I had a short Tuesday morning shift today, and I was away by one. It did seem to drag a bit today—sleep has not been amazing the last few nights—so I needed a coffee by the time I escaped. Luckily, a few of my work friends had the same idea, so we all headed to Starbucks for lunch. There was less rain today, but it is still overcast, and the light is gloomy and flat. I decided to have another go at a still-life with my small but evolving desktop studio. Blip Donkey will continue his tour of virtual worlds, this time visiting the deserts of Durotar in World of Warcraft.

I remember watching a behind-the-scenes documentary on Disney Plus about filming the Star Wars spin-off series The Mandalorian. Instead of the more traditional green screen special effects, the show used a background of high-resolution flatscreens to display the CGI environment and visual effects live in the studio while filming the cast. This gave me the idea of using my monitor as an infinitely variable backdrop for the set.

The extra photo is my behind-the-scenes shot… none of the equipment is hugely expensive, and everything was easily obtained on Amazon. For anyone interested… I’m using a simple black monitor riser stand (by Gokeda) to hold Donkey (on a rock) at the right height in front of the monitor. The lights are Smallrig P96L RGB panels, and the phone is supported on a Smallrig BUT2665 ball-head and a Neewer phone tripod adapter. The arms holding it all together are a Neewer Desktop Camera Stand and a Duronic Monitor Stand Pole DM453, with Neewer Light Stand Mount Adapters that fit the 5/8th inch spigots at the ends of the articulating arms.