Shoot two-sided iPhone video with the Love Box
Goofy name, cool idea: a simple stand with a sliding mirror lets you record front and rear video simultaneously.
You know the old saying: necessity is the mother of invention. The necessity? film two sides of a conversation with one iPhone.
The invention: the Love Box video mixer, a wood contraption that looks like it was born in shop class.
The result: documentary filmmakers were able to record a real-time conversation between two people, one on either side of the iPhone, without a special app or any kind of post-production editing. Neat!
The unfortunately named Love Box is little more than a wood stand with an angled mirror that can slide back and forth. Positioned properly, it focuses half the iPhone's lens on what's in front of it and half on what's behind. The result is a split-screen view, not unlike what you'd see during a TV-news interview.
What's particularly interesting is that this home-brew problem-solver was turned into a commercial product, albeit one with a limited run of 100 units. About 30 are left, selling on Etsy for--are you sitting down?--$77.55 plus shipping.
Granted, it's all fancified with packaging, a wood-burned logo, and the like. But let's be real: you could easily build one yourself in your garage, using little more than a couple pieces of plywood and a saw. For reference, consult the many, many product photos on the creator's site.
What do you think of this contraption? A clever solution to an iPhone videography problem, or an overpriced joke that few people would ever need? I'm feeling about 60/40.