Shooting Feature $100k budget (need help)

ernesto said:
Also, I understand you're making two features. I would prioritize one of them, you don't want to have two half-finished features. It just doesn't seem like a good idea to tackle two features at the same time with no previous experience on filming features.

Make one, learn from your mistakes, then make the second.
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As of now the scripts themselves are being worked on simultaneously. It allows a break from one to go to the other, as both are complete opposite...or more so unlike the other.
 
So you don't have a locked script?

I thought you wait until your script is locked to start worrying about a budget?
 
imageonepictures said:
Where on earth did you get that kind of money? I wished I had a budget that high. I'm shooting a feature on $9,500.00 am I nuts?
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Depends on your connections and subject matter. Spiderman 3? Yes, you're nuts.

Primer? Totally plausible.
 
Kholi said:
So you don't have a locked script?

I thought you wait until your script is locked to start worrying about a budget?
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I am of the belief that you work with what you "know" you have. I have the budget so in a practical sense I need to create in a box, the box being the budget. I can't have a script that looks, reads, and feels like the movie Braveheart and expect to shoot it on a $100k budget. Thats just how I approach it.
 
And you've had an established film professional tell you your script is ready to go?


Don't leap until a few other people are in love with your script.
 
sotty said:
I am of the belief that you work with what you "know" you have. I have the budget so in a practical sense I need to create in a box, the box being the budget. I can't have a script that looks, reads, and feels like the movie Braveheart and expect to shoot it on a $100k budget. Thats just how I approach it.
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This is what we did on the last film. Had someone we knew with and old 56 Chevy car and a tricked out truck. A friend of the director was a lear jet pilot, plus the exectuive producer had his own private fighter jet. So we made the movie work around those things and around the money someone offered us.
 
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Zig_Zigman said:
And you've had an established film professional tell you your script is ready to go?


Don't leap until a few other people are in love with your script.
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No. Just lining up all key people until then.
 
I have an HVX and a P2 card, and a tripod. I leave in Clearwater Beach, which is close to Sarasota. Plese contact via private message to talk.
 
youre gonna need a stronger bigger tripod to carry the kessler + cam + weights + monitor, etc..., and youre gonna kill that 503 head. look into a 526
 
I can see you are a confident person, and have a background in the creative industry. What I suggest is, simply, get the best possible (for the budget) team and actors around you. I would certainly test the team - DP, sound, cameraman in some "test" situations before actual shooting commenced. Somethimes, the people you hire might look good on paper but are a pain in the arse to work with. Make sure that the people you're working with want to construct the movie with you, and not destroy it with their own perspective. I knew this the hard way. Also, do have the open mind to listen to them. Somethimes one has to give in in some particular things to boost morale- but only very little. And don't EVER discuss anything technical, if you do not have the background, with technical personnel. Just talk about your artistic and aestethic needs for the scene. If you go technical, you're entering their game, and you'll surelly lose. Only ask- Doable? Not Doable? Why not? End fo story.

Of course I would sugest you knowing a LOT about the technicalities of the main parts of production- that would be the best. A couple of Key technical comments here and there are needed for the team to create a certain respect to you as a director. This approach, however, needs time and practice. You need to go trough working in these particular roles of production to know the problems that are faced by your team.

And, like everyone suggested, get good actors. Since you where a stage actor, I would presume you can judge good acting. Just remember that stage acting is very different from Movie acting. The constant overacting of stage normaly doesn't translate well to the screen. (Al Pacino is an exception).
 
Zig_Zigman said:
And you've had an established film professional tell you your script is ready to go?


Don't leap until a few other people are in love with your script.
Click to expand...

Seriously, though.

Sotty--

I get what you're saying about working within your budget. At the same time, you don't have a script to break down yet.

So, you budget your equipment right now. Then you budget actors. After pre-budgeting before you even have a locked script, how much have you left for the actual production?

Set dressing, make-up, props, food-- etc.

Even if you're writing within a 100k budget, you don't know how far you can stretch it, truly, without a script. A person would only be speculating until they had a solid foundation to work off of.

But, this is your venture. Do keep us informed on how it plays out.
 
Kholi said:
Seriously, though.

Sotty--

I get what you're saying about working within your budget. At the same time, you don't have a script to break down yet.

So, you budget your equipment right now. Then you budget actors. After pre-budgeting before you even have a locked script, how much have you left for the actual production?

Set dressing, make-up, props, food-- etc.

Even if you're writing within a 100k budget, you don't know how far you can stretch it, truly, without a script. A person would only be speculating until they had a solid foundation to work off of.

But, this is your venture. Do keep us informed on how it plays out.
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Wong Kar Wai and the late Fellini only shoot with basic plotpoints or sinopsis of the story.

I say go with the way you feel most confortable with. If you go the "Wong Kar Wai" route, just make sure you get actors that you can communicate very well, and are capable of improvisation- some aren't.
 
need help?

need help?

Sotty,
I live in the Sarasota Area.
Just wanted to know if you were hiring for prop masters, set dressers, painters, art dept., pa's, etc.
Let me know if/how I should email you my resume.
please contact me via email at dicapria@gmail.com
thanks.
-Dicapria
 
imageonepictures said:
Still can't figure out how Rodriquez did it for that money. My hat goes off to him.
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he said no to everything. i'm sure you've watched the commentary where he said he was even too cheap to buy spray paint to paint the worn out guitar case.

you gotta love him.
 
Put your 100k in a savings account or CD.

Go to Florida State University film school in Tallahassee (not too far from Sarasota) and learn how to make a movie first.

Make movie with your 100k+, now larger with interest!
 
J P said:
Put your 100k in a savings account or CD.

Go to Florida State University film school in Tallahassee (not too far from Sarasota) and learn how to make a movie first.

Make movie with your 100k+, now larger with interest!
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I disagree. No need to go to film school. There's a long list of successful filmmakers who never went to film school.

My suggestion is don't make a movie unless you have two things: a GREAT script and good actors.
 
SPZ said:
I can see you are a confident person, and have a background in the creative industry. What I suggest is, simply, get the best possible (for the budget) team and actors around you. I would certainly test the team - DP, sound, cameraman in some "test" situations before actual shooting commenced. Somethimes, the people you hire might look good on paper but are a pain in the arse to work with. Make sure that the people you're working with want to construct the movie with you, and not destroy it with their own perspective. I knew this the hard way. Also, do have the open mind to listen to them. Somethimes one has to give in in some particular things to boost morale- but only very little. And don't EVER discuss anything technical, if you do not have the background, with technical personnel. Just talk about your artistic and aestethic needs for the scene. If you go technical, you're entering their game, and you'll surelly lose. Only ask- Doable? Not Doable? Why not? End fo story.

Of course I would sugest you knowing a LOT about the technicalities of the main parts of production- that would be the best. A couple of Key technical comments here and there are needed for the team to create a certain respect to you as a director. This approach, however, needs time and practice. You need to go trough working in these particular roles of production to know the problems that are faced by your team.

And, like everyone suggested, get good actors. Since you where a stage actor, I would presume you can judge good acting. Just remember that stage acting is very different from Movie acting. The constant overacting of stage normaly doesn't translate well to the screen. (Al Pacino is an exception).
Click to expand...


I second SPZ's advice. If you haven't worked with the crew you've assembled (at least your key crewmembers) or with the equipment you have purchased/rented then I would advise you to work on a couple of short films using these resources 1st if at all possible. Then shoot the feature. This way you can make any necessary adjustments--because chances are you're going to run into a lot of problems on the shoot anyways, best to reduce as much as you can beforehand.
 
brianluce said:
I disagree. No need to go to film school. There's a long list of successful filmmakers who never went to film school.
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You're right. All I was trying to get accross is that he should better learn how to make a movie prior to spending his 100k.
 
brianluce said:
I disagree. No need to go to film school. There's a long list of successful filmmakers who never went to film school.


There is also a long list of students who spent 20K on film school and never
went on to make a film or were otherwise never heard from again.
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