ASK & DISCUSS INDEX

5 years, 11 months ago - Andy Sowerby

Hi Stevie,

My film The Jump was made for under £500... now its played at 20 festivals, featured in a few online film websites and even got small distribution in US and India.

The film was produced for the NASA short film competition CineSpace, where filmmakers are asked to make a short film, of 10 mins or less duration, that contains at least 10% footage from the NASA Archives, using actual NASA imagery within the film.

It can be done! You need a great cast and crew / collaborators.... Impossible without top quality people.

http://www.andysowerby.net/#/the-jump/

Good luck!

Andy

5 years, 11 months ago - John Lubran

Nice work Andy. The relationship between money and outcomes is not set in stone.

5 years, 11 months ago - Brendan O'Neill

I produced this with a volunteer cast and crew of 50 for a 48 hour Sci-Fi competition. Budget £265. The secret was in doing about 6 weeks of prep to get it right. I fed everybody via an In Kind arrangement with a local Veggie caterer. We did a corporate for them in return for food.

https://vimeo.com/40768054

Brendan

@Stickleback_Pro

5 years, 11 months ago - Andy McCormick

While we're used to making budgeted shorts, last year we engaged with director Louise Galizia for a series of low-to-no-budget pieces for her year-long One Short A Month project.

Appreciating some of the restrictions involved, we penned a number of narrative micro-shorts that could be shot on a single day in a single location. After that, it was all about calling on former collaborators and newly networked contacts to bring everything together pre and post. As writers, we doubled up as location scouts, assistant directors, runners, catering staff, taxi drivers and drone operators!

A neighbour stepped in with gear when an empty equipment bag turned up on our sole shooting day. We used a playful puppy to distract ramblers when we needed a quiet moment or two along a treeline. My daughter played a leaf-covered corpse when we realised she'd fit a back-up dress and shoes!

At all times we had people who were great at what they did and even better at adapting to on-the-spot challenges. Look for the same!

Check out "Bloody Tourists" and "Between":

https://vimeo.com/258051925

https://vimeo.com/297341803

Cheers!

5 years, 11 months ago - Tom Jolliffe

Hi Stevie,
Here's a short I made last year. Still in its festival run and has done very well. Inspired by Stephen King, John Carpenter, David Cronenberg among others. It was basically a two man crew. I wrote, produced, cast, co-composed and scouted. My brother directed, shot and cut it. We had a great cast headed up by a newcomer (Katie McKenna) who we took a chance on, as well as a couple of people I know and had been looking to work with. So yeah grab any friends or acquitances you know who are up for collabbing and otherwise take a punt on young up and comers wanting experience too (we did this with my co-composer).

The budget was about almost zero. Bar a bit on food/travel, and a 50p red light bulb, it was well under 500. But yeah. Where and whenever possible, multi-task.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YeTdMrGSxs&list=WL&index=7&t=
We've upgraded from a Canon 6D-2 since this to a C-100 (and better sound equipment). But I like the ol' 6D, it has a nice quality and colour (great in low light too) as long as you keep it predominently locked down.

Tom

5 years, 11 months ago - Stevie Cooke

Thanks so much for your advice everyone! Very useful, and your films are all great. Really excited to get started on something now, thanks for the inspiration!