How many $$$ are you spending on your MonsterFest short?

How many $$$ are you spending on your MonsterFest short?

  • $0

    Votes: 8 27.6%

  • $100 - $500

    Votes: 14 48.3%

  • $500 - $1000

    Votes: 3 10.3%

  • $3000 +

    Votes: 4 13.8%
  • Total voters
    29
  • Poll closed .
TMerry

TMerry

Well-known member
What is the YOUR budget for MonsterFest on DVXUser?

My last short, Number 19, was 15 minutes and had a $6000. budget.
[trailer http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNeu2UD9Vso ]

This time out because of my current employment situation I'm
on a $0 budget. I will be trying to raise a little money for the actors
because I think you get what you pay for. But the rest of the film
from, shooting, sound, editing, vfx, composition is all going to be done
by myself with the crew of two friends and tons of creativity.



BUT I see lots of people on the board with HUGE special effects plans, and lists of
IMDB crew and actors.. etc... It's got me wondering:


WHow much is your budget for MonsterFest short on DVXUser?
 
Last edited:
I am on a "wing and a prayer" budget ... which is much smaller than a shoestring budget. I haven't found a way to truly shoot a film for $0 ... but I will be striving for that mark this go around.

But I'm sure it'll come in around $500 when all is said and done.
 
TMerry said:
My wife's a chef so the craft services will be donated for my two day of shooting.
But as Larry mentions, when all is said and done expenses creep up.
Click to expand...

Yeah, Shawn Nelson will have to pipe up here for the actual costs. But I'm pretty Sure it was done VERY minimally excluding food costs and expendable supplies used.
 
That's the real trick ... food on the cheap that isn't sugar and carb loaded. Nothing worse than getting an hour into shooting after a meal and then everyone losing steam as they hit that sugar low. :)


My last short we did lasagna's one night and pizza another ... they are carb loads, but we mixed in salads and veggies, so hopefully that helped offset the carbs. I don't know what I'm going to do this time ... I need a chef in the family
 
Food is the least of our concerns this time around. The crew just turned into a platoon with the makeup artists and additional grips, so while we're feeding about 15 people, it's still easy to do with the aid of Costco.

Make-Up alone is eating up a huge chunk of the budget with the numerous people needed to first apply and THEN to maintain the makeup as the day continues.

Plus I'll be paying the crew and the cast... so...

Ow.
 
Richard J. Johnson said:
you're telling me. And to top it off, I'm not even sure I can pull this off correctly. But if I don't try I will absolutely hate myself.
Click to expand...

You win both ways then: if you pull it off I'll hate you as much . Sound fair to you?

Seriously though: 3 wrecked cars? Wow. Now I'm definitely looking forward to seeing what you pull out. Sounds like the new Summer blockbuster movies just got moved to Monsterfest!
 
I originally meant to only spend about $500, but that just isn't gonna cut it. I think I'll end up spending around $800 in the end.

I think that even if you go over budget, having an initial low figure helps to keep things in check a bit.
 
I'm guessing I'll be close to 400-500 actual cost after food, props, and all that stuff I havent thought of yet... Cast and crew are working deferred or we would be closer to 1000 I would imagine...
 
Jeff Anderson said:
I'm guessing I'll be close to 400-500 actual cost after food, props, and all that stuff I havent thought of yet... Cast and crew are working deferred or we would be closer to 1000 I would imagine...
Click to expand...

Jeff, how do you estimate deferred pay on a short film?
 
What would you actually include in the budget?

Obviously any cast/crew pay and location fees (nil for me)

How about software used, should that be included? I bought Mudbox for this and future films, so should it be included. Would I include an estimate of the VFX work involved and a proportion of the cost. How about my new PC for running the renders.

It seems that there is no form of benchmark for this as two people could use say a Red camera, but one hires it and the other borrows it, so they have vastly different budgets but the same kit.

Are we measuring expendature or resourcefulness :)
 
I think we have proven time and time again that a budget would be swell but isn't as necessary as everyone believes. Most of you have spent more on one short then we have on all of ours put together...I am gonna say this time I might have to buy a couple things but still I will come out well under $250...
Pauly
 
Though I am not doing a short... usually I spend anywhere from 300-900 dollars on a short... I try to keep it under 1k... and have been able to thus far.
 
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