For this week’s post I wanted to share a few thoughts on how to keep your budget low, with lessons I’ve learned from my last few films. This is geared toward people making low-budget shorts, but I think the information can be readily applied to a film that costs $300 or one that costs $30,000.
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Write a script you can shoot
It’s tempting to write a script as it comes to you, to use the locations, props, and special effects that seem natural. The risk in writing this way is that the budget for your script will far exceed the amount of money you have on hand. Sure, you could spend the next year looking for financing, or you could spend that year making your movie. If it’s a good script that you’re passionate about, then its heart has nothing to do with the pyrotechnics. You can tell your story with a tiny budget as long as you’re willing to package it carefully.
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A couple of years ago I made a short film that followed a renegade reporter as he took on censorship in a futuristic dystopia. I was a junior in college and several people asked me, “How the hell do you think you’re going to pull this off?” But I wrote the script so that it revolved around the friendship between the reporter and his boss. The two men had been college buddies and now found themselves on opposite sides of the censorship argument, so the real tension and excitement came from their interactions with one another, (cheap to shoot).
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I was very careful to write scenes with specific locations in mind, and I made the most of the visuals these places offered.[1] My total budget was $150. Although the film wasn’t polished enough for a festival run, it was as good a movie as I could have hoped to make in my college town and it served as a stepping-stone to my next project.
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Choose the right camera
There are two important factors here: what does the story require and what are your goals for the film. Documentaries generally don’t need to look great, (Marshall Curry’s Street Fight was shot on a small, standard definition camera and was nominated for an Oscar), and depending on the story, a narrative film might not need to have a polished look either. A gritty, character-driven drama, for example, could benefit from a rougher look. A glossy romantic comedy, on the other hand, might require more polish, for which you’ll need a higher-end camera.
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It is important to be honest with yourself about where the film is headed. If it is designed primarily as a learning experience for the production team and a stepping stone to larger projects, (like my film from junior year), then there’s no point in spending a lot on the camera. Find one you can borrow or rent cheaply and shoot with that. Learning to tell a story visually has very little to do with the camera you’re using.
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If you’re aiming for a festival run and feel like your story requires higher quality visuals than what a basic camera offers, it may be worth spending some money. I shot The Drawing on a Canon 5D and used a Sony EX1 for Adán. Each has distinct benefits and drawbacks, but both provide a very nice HD image at a reasonable price. The only reason to shoot on film or a high-end camera like the RED is if you’re aiming to get into top tier festivals and feel that your story requires a professional look. This is the point where it is critical to be honest with yourself about the prospects of your film. If you’re on your third or fourth short and your previous projects have had solid festival runs, then it may be worth finding extra money for film or a high-end camera.[2]. Otherwise, I would recommend saving your money, (and the money of the friends and family members you’ll be borrowing from), for the next movie.
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Of course in order to make decisions about what camera to use, you need to be familiar with their relative capabilities and prices. Find samples of footage you can compare and call up a few rental houses to get quotes. If you call on a slow day, you may be able to get advice and recommendations. Keep in mind that different cameras require different amounts of light, which will affect the size and price of your lighting package.
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Use the locations you have
Locations can be an enormous drain on your budget and a major source of production-planning headaches. Write, (or re-write), your script to take advantage of locations that are free or cheap. This often requires some creativity.
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On Adán, I had scenes taking place in four different apartments. I was able to find one very large, empty apartment that the landlord was gutting for renovation. I counted on my production designer and art director, (pictured), to transform four sections of it into the four apartments in the script. I had to do a bit of re-writing to constrain the scenes to the spaces created within the apartment, but for $750 I got my four main locations and never had to move the equipment. On my most recent short I took this one step further and shot the whole film at my family’s cabin. I was able to focus my time and money on other aspects of the production, and the quality of the final product improved as a result.
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Since money is such an important topic for low-budget filmmakers, I plan on using as a topic for future blog posts. I’m looking forward to hearing what you have to say, so please post your thoughts, additions, and anecdotes below.
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1 The best example of this is the final scene. The reporter gets arrested, but of course I didn’t have money for cop cars or a prison set. I knew that there was an institutional-looking, concrete tunnel on campus, so I wrote the scene as: “Two policemen march the hand-cuffed reporter down a bare, windowless hallway.” Several people have told me that this is their favorite scene in the film. back to post
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2 I want to emphasize that these higher end cameras can give you professional look if they are in the right hands, but renting an expensive camera is not in any way a guarantee, (the RED in particular can be very tricky). Be sure to watch any prospective DP’s reel and ask plenty of questions about his or her experience with whatever cameras you’re planning to use. back to post
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Other resources:
- How to Get Donated Goods and Services for Your Film blog post by Cinereach Fellow Courtney Hope
- Getting Financing an interview with Children of Invention director Tze Chun about how he funded his early projects and ……………hisfirst feature
- Making Movies book by Sidney Lumet