ASK & DISCUSS
INDEXMaking microbudget short films - some tips
3 years, 3 months ago - Vasco de Sousa
I have made a few microbudget films in the past, and watched hundreds (maybe thousands) of short films in festivals. I am the guy who stays around the ask questions, not as a filmmaker, but as a fan who really wants to know how people do things. (Okay, so most of the time I just listen to everyone else's questions, but I still learn something.)
1. Start with a location, not with a script. In my experience, securing a location is the most difficult thing to do when you don't have a lot of money. This can be the break room in your workplace, your uncle's haunted house, your aunt's massive backyard, a small room in your school, wherever you can book. It could be multiple locations.
2. Then add a date. Book the location, with a contract, for long enough to shoot something there.
3. Get the people together. This is linked to 2. Make sure the key people commit to the date.
4. Work toward your talents and aspirations. You have someone who is great at doing makeup? Or two kung fu dancers? A budding stuntman? A singer? Accent person? Build your story around that. Maybe the impersonator in your uncle's haunted house can pretend to be possessed. Or, if you prefer comedy, could be a trickster.
Notice I didn't give the script its own step? Short films don't always have the best scripts, nor do they need them. If you can't afford to pay a writer, then a free script is likely to call for locations that you can't afford either, or skills that you don't have. Use one of your cast as the writer, or do it yourself.
Also, as a writer, I am not going to give my script away to someone who can't afford to pay, because they will get actors that won't have time to learn the lines. Their focus will be on making the cinematography look good at the expense of the story. Any director, actor or producer worth working with can read my scripts anyway, so a cheap production by a broke 'director' is worse than no production at all.
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3 years, 3 months ago - John Lubran
Some valid observations Vasco. What is highlighted is that whilst some processes might be commonly successful they aren't definitively exclusive, by some margin.
For those 'ducking and diving' without adequet resources, then creative opportunism, maximizing the available physical and intellectual terrain with a free thinking guerilla approach can help overcome uphill struggles. It's easier to evolve a script to meet available resources, including with 'ad libed' creative inspiration from everyone, both behind and in front of the camera, than to cling doggedly to one that can't. It's one of the few advantages micro budgets can have over big ones.
It's about the versatility and mutually aspirational qualities of the people involved.
There are few entrenched rules, just the 'physics' of circumstances and the limits of sentient consciousness applied.
"One need not take ones own case for a generality"
Response from 3 years, 3 months ago - John Lubran SHOW
3 years, 3 months ago - Susi Arnott
Just to note that a 'location exercise' - coming up with a v short film project in response to a specific location - was a very productive/creative part of the drama course at NFTS, back in the day (might still be, for all I know:)
Response from 3 years, 3 months ago - Susi Arnott SHOW
3 years, 3 months ago - Vasco de Sousa
Some of the NFTS stuff sounds pretty interesting. We had that same thing unofficially in Wales, basically we we stuck with whichever room we could book. An intentional location exercise looks like a great idea.
Response from 3 years, 3 months ago - Vasco de Sousa SHOW
3 years, 3 months ago - Terri Potoczna
Nice one Vasco! I've been editing my feature for nearly a year now and am gasping to make a quick short - something I can rehearse, film and edit in a fortnight to refresh my spirit. I have laughed out loud at some short scripts which contain impossibly complicated locations. You are so correct about the importance of location. I have some woods close by and someone has just reached out with a 2 hander shot in some woods. Sounds right up my street. Beginner script writers who need to get some reference material in their portfolios should definitely bear this in mind if they are to make their scripts attractive and filmable. In most cases the BBC is not going to pick up your script right out of the gate! There are different reasons for shooting a film - be it a short or a feature. That was a long winded way of saying I liked your post:)
Response from 3 years, 3 months ago - Terri Potoczna SHOW
3 years, 3 months ago - Vasco de Sousa
Thanks all for answering. Terri, I hope your film works well for all involved. I remember making short films when editing my feature. Never got around to editing the shorts, they may still be on a drive somewhere.
John, exactly, work with your available resources, whatever those are. And yes, my suggestions are just one way of doing things. Creativity can invent many other ways of using what you have.
I am also being reminded more of some of the things we took for granted in film school. We had a team and location for each project, even if the equipment wasn't great. I think many of us failed to use the opportunity to really show our hidden talents. I was writing scripts for productions without even knowing what everyone's hobbies and abilities were.
Response from 3 years, 3 months ago - Vasco de Sousa SHOW
3 years, 3 months ago - Terri Potoczna
Thanks Vasco. I've been reading some of the short scripts people submitted. Another thing writers don't think about are props! Indie filmmakers don't have access to costume departments and props like "plumbers tools" at the drop of a hat. It's possible of course but definitely not worth the effort for a short film you want to shoot in a day! I did this to myself once. In my feature, I stupidly had a scene in the hairdressers where the actor had to have her hair coloured. The coordination was a nightmare! I learned my lesson!
Response from 3 years, 3 months ago - Terri Potoczna SHOW
3 years, 3 months ago - Paddy Robinson-Griffin
There's a conversation I've had with writer/directors in the past about "Oh cool, you want a pig/fire engine/classic car in the background? Which scenes shall we cut for that? Pig needs to be OK around people, comes with 2 handlers, needs transport, needs feed, really ought to have a vet available, everyone needs a hotel and feeding, and we'll need to add it to the insurance" kind of thing. Adding a small detail can have a huge impact on the production, so putting it in terms of what shot you *lose* in order to add that detail usually helps people decide if it's actually as important to the story as they feel in the moment.
Response from 3 years, 3 months ago - Paddy Robinson-Griffin SHOW
3 years, 3 months ago - Vasco de Sousa
Thanks Paddy and Terri.
I remember hearing about a microbudget Shakespeare film that was shot in the house of a Hollywood director (between superhero pictures). It was so microbudget, that it was shot in black and white. It was shot in a mansion, of course. His friends acted in it, but they of course were all professional actors who had probably already learnt the lines doing the same play on stage.
If you own a sports car, or work in a dealership that will loan you the car for publicity, it might be cheap for you. You might even get sponsored for using it, in some cases.
If you grew up in a farm and the family owns the pigs, use them because your competition cannot.
If you are a plumber, use your tools.
Everyone has something special about them, whether it be a skill or a prop or a location or an experience or whatever.
There are also ways to film the impossible, going back to the genius of Georges Méliès. I can film the pig without there being any pig, and I learned how from other filmmakers.
I have seen some creative British and Romanian that show real problem solving skills on the part of the director. Go to film festivals, ask the filmmakers questions, and you will learn a lot.
Response from 3 years, 3 months ago - Vasco de Sousa SHOW