Moviemaking For Cheapskates - My Blog

D

David W. Richardson

Chapelgrove Films
I'm guessing that most of us would have a hard time finding $200,000 to make a movie with, even though that's what Hollywood considers a 'micro' budget.

Those who don't consider $200K to be 'micro' should hop on over to my new blog. It's titled 'Moviemaking For The Cheapskate'. I'm just getting it off the ground, so there's only a couple of posts there at the moment. But it will be updated daily. We'll be talking about making real movies with extremely little money. I'll be sharing case histories of filmmakers I know who have done it, and you can learn and be inspired from their experiences.

Oh! And it's FREE!

Come on over and check it out.

http://www.chapelgrovefilms.com/realblog.html
 
Oh man, I'm beggin for $3,000 to make this really small slasher film... The short version will be part 2 to the feature version which is part 1. Can I find out how to get that without saving for the next 3 months at work? (I need to pay expenses also, so extend that 3 months to 6 months lol)

PS - I have no credit so that bank stuff is out... And friends and family is not an option for me lol...
 
FutureDVXUser said:
Oh man, I'm beggin for $3,000 to make this really small slasher film... The short version will be part 2 to the feature version which is part 1. Can I find out how to get that without saving for the next 3 months at work? (I need to pay expenses also, so extend that 3 months to 6 months lol)

PS - I have no credit so that bank stuff is out... And friends and family is not an option for me lol...
Click to expand...

Well.....first, what exactly do you need to spend the $3000 for? Get everything you can for free, as long as it doesn't compromise the quality of the movie. Locations are usually free. Cast and crew can be found for free most of the time. Feeding them can cost money, but you can find ways to keep that to a minimum. Try and find local restaurants or pizza places willing to give you food for one cast/crew meal in exchange for a mention in the credits and invites to the premiere screening. Get your local paper to do a story about your project to get more people interested.

Props? Keep 'em simple. Same with wardrobe. Don't rent any equipment that you can get for free -- find DP, lighting and sound people who have their own gear.

Hopefully, that will whittle down that $3000 to something a lot more manageable. If it's truly a 'really small' slasher film, you should be able to do it for next to nothing money-wise.

I'm a little confused. You say Part 2 is a short, while Part 1 is a feature? Most people will do a short version of their movie and use it to help find investors for the full feature-length version.

Try to think of creative fundraising ideas. For instance, you could try pre-selling copies of the movie, although that's hard because people wonder if you'll ever really finish the movie. You could auction off a cameo role in the movie, complete with a line of dialogue. Or auction a day on-location, watching the magic of moviemaking.

Have a yard sale? A bake sale? A car wash? Even a film festival. Drag junk out of your basement and sell it on eBay.

I read once of a woman who was a marketing professional, but lost her job and had a pile of debt. She put up a website that basically asked people to send her money to help her get out of debt. Believe it or not, in just a few months her $20,000 of debt was completely gone. I suppose you could try and do the same -- setup a site to ask for donations to make your movie. Keep in mind, it's donations you want, not investors. You can't make a public solicitation for investors like that without running into trouble with the SEC. You could probably offer a free DVD copy of the movie to anyone who donates at least x amount of dollars, and an 'Executive Producer' credit to the 5 people who donate the most money.

Publicity is always good. I saw a book in our local library called something like "How To Be Your Own Publicist" that might have some good ideas for promoting your project. See if your library has it.

Maybe other folks here have ideas as well. Anybody? Bueller?
 
If I set a site up lookin' for donators, how would I advertise that? Maybe I'll make an even smaller mystery short just so I have something to show as I use it to get the donators for the short slasher...

I can probably make the mystery this weekend since I'll be with 3 actors in the basement of a building haha... Maybe I'll write that Saturday night and make that Sunday haha... They'll go for it... Is there a way I can make a free website? Like... a free... www.-.com? And how do I block the advertisements that have nothing to do with the site out?

If the short film generates attention from an audience and producers than I succeeded at what I was trying to do... I don't even care if it makes any money and it probably wont since it's gonna be like 10 minutes... And by me saying I don't care about the short making money eliminates interested investors lol...

Also, the short film (part 2) is going to give a lot out about part 1 (the feature) but I'm gonna make it in a way it leaves a lot of questions so people will wanna see how whatever happens: happens... So in some strange way... It kinda is the same way everybody does their short version of their feature... The only difference is, it'll be a movie all on it's own...

The money will be spent on a widescreen 7" monitor, a potential attachment (who wasn't famous for acting but wrestling in the 70's-80's), some props, and the rest will just be security incase I need anything else... I think it's better to have the extra budget money just incase...

Please let me know your thoughts...

Thanks man
 
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Thanks SafariJoe!

Okay FutureDVXUser.... If you setup a site looking for donations, then you can go out on discussion groups like this one and post messages directing people to your site. That's probably the best way to get traffic. But I wouldn't post on filmmaking sites because most people there are looking for money for their own projects. Rather, find discussion boards where people who fit the audience demographic for your movie hang out, and post there.

You can make a free website at www.50megs.com and probably tons of other places. But I don't know of anywhere where you can get a free site without banner ads. Does anybody else?

Why do you need a widescreen monitor? Can you get the use of one without buying it? Can you rent it?

Personally, I'd skip using the wrestler in the short. You can use him/her in the feature when the time comes, but for the short I'd save the money.

What props do you need?

I've shot three short films on DV. Two of them took only a weekend to shoot, and the third took just a single night. Basically they cost me some food and blank tape for the video camera. I think you could probably do just fine on less than $1000. In fact, try to see how LITTLE you can spend and still make a quality short film. This will also impress investors when you show how far you can stretch their dollars.

I'm getting ready to head over to my blog and update it with the story of my very first short film. Check it out and you'll see just how cheaply a decent short can be done.
 
Money is not the only element in making a quality project. Time, in sufficient amounts, can look like money. Time can exceed the value of money. Time is what truly matters.

I'm constantly surprised that many of us on this board rush through the making of our projects. If you own your camera, why rush? Who said a 3 minute short had to be shot in 2 days? Why not take 10 days? Why not labor over every shot?

Nearly every aspect of a project can be completed to Hollywood standards if we simply take more time and care with what we do.

Costumes can be purchased inexpensively at Good Will and used clothing stores. I've had some training in fashion (thanks to my aunt who was a model) and I understand the cycle of fashion design. I'm stunned how I can find a suit that looks like a $600.00 Armani at Good Will, if I'm patient and check their bins for several weeks in a row. In fact, sometimes it really is Armani!

I own my own large scale lighting package...but that wasn't always the case. When I didn't own lights I borrowed them from a cable access station and I'd patiently wait until the natural lighting was stunning. Use a Farmer's Almanac to get a solid reference on what the weather will be like on any given day and be willing to return to a location repeatedly to capture that perfect establishing shot.

You can pay LOTS of money for crappy production audio. Most audio recordists do NOT know what they are doing. I've had my best luck hiring non-professionals and training them on the principles of good sound recording. They don't have egos and they value the right things.

Nearly any special effect can be done inexpensively now. So why do most indie shorts have crappy special effects? Because most of us lack patience and the willingness to redraft.

Screenwriting is the best example of how unimportant money is. How many of us have written 15 drafts on our short projects? How many of us do readings with actors and submit the script to peer review before going into production?

Making movies is about planning and patience. Most of us are so anxious to begin shooting that we skip over the critical (and free) steps that will elevate our projects to professional status.
 
I agree with you that time is money, unfortunately it's also in short supply. A lot of people like me are film enthusiast who can only work on projects whenever we can grab some free time. It's difficult on a project like that where everyone is working for free and donating their time to stretch it out over weeks or months because then people's enthusiasm starts to wane and the project goes half finished. I always take as much time as I need in pre-production but once the project gets going I'm on borrowed time as I strive to maintain the momentum and finish in a timely manner.
 
I also agree with you Prodigi (except the part about audio recordist but to each his own), but as Jade is saying more often then not time is not infinite for everyone so occasionally compromises of time vs money must be made. Where this is most obvious is with actors; good actors are not going to make themselves infinitely available so shooting must be done within some realm of reasonableness.

Other then that I agree and would encourage indy filmmakers to take a lot more time with re-writing and pre-pro. The extra attention and time put in during that phase pays off 100 fold in the quality of the final product.

This is the quote of the year:

Prodigi Pictures said:
Most of us are so anxious to begin shooting that we skip over the critical (and free) steps that will elevate our projects to professional status.
Click to expand...

Cheers
 
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