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Okay thanks. But why break it down to 8 minute shorts? By doing that, I am breaking it apart into pieces, instead of doing it all in one. Also I don't want to shoot on an iphone. I have never used an eyephone, for shooting, but I assume you have no control over the exposure gain, aperture, or shutter speed for example.
You also only get one lens. But I think it has to do with where I live, and there is not a lot of cast and crew here, and if I go somewhere else to make it, my money will get burned up on that, when I don't really have much money for practice, compared to actually making the movie.
I have tried making short films over the years, but could never find cast and crew. I also worked under other people and helped them make there's, but the never finished because they also couldn't find the people to make them. I did travel so far once, to help make a feature. The crew and cast was big and they actually got one. Maybe cause they were more interested in making a feature.
But I feel kind of trapped, as in people say to make short films first, but I cannot find anyone interested to make them. I have the money to travel to a much bigger city with more filmmaking professionals to do a feature, but do not have the money to make shorts in another city. Unless I don't want to make the feature at all, since the money will be used up on shorts, and rent and all that, if I did.
So as far as opportunities go, I only have the opportunity to go to a bigger city to make the feature, but not the opportunity to make shorts before hand. So I don't have these luxurious opportunities and money to walk before I can run, so to speak. I mean I spent the last five years about, trying to make short films with almost no luck accept for one, but not any more after.
So I would like to do something productive and get something done, but cannot afford to keep making them, as I would have less for a feature then. Plus I told myself five years ago, that I would make my first feature by the time I'm 30. I am not 32 and my goal hasn't been reached yet, so I really would like to accomplish a goal for once as well.
How can you possibly have money to travel and make a feature but not make a short? A short will cost less money. If you are organized and planned you can shoot a short in 2-3 days. You can spend a week a in LA so you have a couple days on both ends and stay at an air bnb. That seems cheaper then moving and renting a an apartment. Also nobody is going to rent an apartment to you in LA without a job so if you are here long term you'd probably have to rent a room with someone.
Oh I don't know what the rent rules in LA are, but there are other cities where you can rent an apartment for a month, if you have the money and don't need a job.
My budget so far is 22, 000 USD but I can add some more if needed.
Oh I don't know what the rent rules in LA are, but there are other cities where you can rent an apartment for a month, if you have the money and don't need a job.
My budget so far is 22, 000 USD but I can add some more if needed.
Is that your budget including your travel and accommodations?
Have you contacted any professionals about working on your movie and what it would cost? I'm an editor in Los Angeles and most professionals get $3k/week and up for editing. Editing a feature could take 6 months, 3 months if you cut a lot of corners but I've worked on Hollywood features that have been in post for 1 1/2 years. A professional cinematographer generally has a higher day rate. Some people might work for less if they love the project. You might also find students and people trying to break in that will do it for less but you get what you pay for generally. I've worked on indie features where they skimped on cinematographer and sound and no amount of work in post could make those watchable (not to mention horrible actors taken from local colleges etc). If I was serious about making a professional quality short 10 minute film I would expect to end up paying at least $10k for cinematographer, sound person, composer and editor and I would expect to spend a couple of hundred per day in food and drinks to keep other crew and cast happy on set if they aren't getting paid. In other words, $20k might get you a very professional looking short film that you can enter in festivals and use as resume to get a directing job or sell your feature idea to a studio. $20k will get you a amateur looking feature film with lots of problems and no way to distribute it. Another problem with a feature is that people that aren't getting paid don't have incentive to finish the job. I've worked on micro budget features like you are suggesting and after a few long days of shooting crew members and cast members start no showing and dropping out. Losing grips and crew members with no notice sucks but it's even worse if you have actors that are supposed to be in several scenes and you shoot a few with them and then they don't come back.
Okay thanks. Yes the money would include travel. I was hoping to make a really low budget movie like El Mariachi, or Paranormal Activity, which were shot for a little lower than my budget.
So far I have only kept in touch with the one actor. But I don't want to contact anyone until I have at least gotten some feedback on the script and perhaps some improvements to make.
And yeah I was hoping to find people that are talented, but willing to work for less to get a name on it maybe, cause they are breaking in themselves, but still talented enough to pull it off. When I worked on other people's movies, that's what they did, so I thought I would do the same thing.
As for editing, I have done editing before, on other people's projects, as well as one short film I managed to complete so far, and I feel I can do the video editing myself. The audio editing is a bit tougher, and I can do the actual editing, but I need someone to do the mixing I think. I can also do the color grading myself, as I have done photography jobs for people in the past and am experienced on how to do grading.
I guess I got inspired by movies like El Mariachi or Paranormal Activity, where they were shot for very low microbudgets, a little lower than mine even, and people in the business told me they were forced to do it, and cut corners, and it can be done.
Oh and the reason why I didn't want to use any money to make shorts is cause it would mean taking a chunk out of the budget for the feature, and I thought saving every little chunk would help.
Oh and the reason why I didn't want to use any money to make shorts is cause it would mean taking a chunk out of the budget for the feature, and I thought saving every little chunk would help.
But making a short will give you something to demonstrate to a potential investor (even in a crowdfunding situation) that you have the chops to make a feature in the first place.
Oh and the reason why I didn't want to use any money to make shorts is cause it would mean taking a chunk out of the budget for the feature, and I thought saving every little chunk would help.
But you don't have a budget for a feature, not the way you want to do it.
Your El Mariachi example is now almost 25 years old. Film making is drastically different. Not just the technology but the economics of production, distribution, exhibition, everything!
Embrace the present and the future with respect to your goals here or else failure is highly likely.
Dude or dudette: take a step back, breathe, and look at your options. I'm assuming you're young, but who knows people want to follow their dreams at any age.
There is no right answer other than some conflicting advice I can give. There's never a right time or wrong time to start to do something. Unfortunately it sounds like you want everything right now.
How many hours have you really put into your actual work?
Sure you may have a partial script, half an actor, and some editing skills, but what does that mean?
If I were you I would work.
Work on your craft. You can make short films whenever. There's this thing called YouTube. Make short movies unrelated to your main idea. Post them.
Do it. Fail. Do it again. Fail. Do it again.
As others have mentioned, if you have a script and you think it's good, have other's read it, sell that.
But trying to do everything all at once and not being particularly good (I don't know your talent, but usually where you're a jack of all trades something suffers) is just set-up for failure especially if you're saddled with desperation.
Look, I'm not trying to hate or get in the way of your dream, but all of this is very, very hard work or a very slim chance of making it. The truth is if you just want to create, then do it there's nothing stopping you.
boom op...the only experience I have had on a set.
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I am finishing off a script right now, that...will probably get really mixed responses
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the script...if I, plus another actor I know, do it
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What do you think?
I can see why everyone is looking askance at this idea of yours.
The script is the most important part of the process. If the script won't be accepted by a large mass of people, there is no point in making the film in the first place.
That said, the scriptwriter is NOT also the actor, nor are they ALSO the editor, nor the boom operator, nor the director, etc. You have to have an entire crew to make a movie that will actually been seen by someone other than your grandmother, and again, unless the script is worthy, no professional crew is going to put their names on the credits.
It would seem that you might want to go to filmmaking school just to learn how it's done in the first place, not just because it will get you "in".
But you don't have a budget for a feature, not the way you want to do it.
Your El Mariachi example is now almost 25 years old. Film making is drastically different. Not just the technology but the economics of production, distribution, exhibition, everything!
Embrace the present and the future with respect to your goals here or else failure is highly likely.
Not to mention that Robert Rodriquez went to film school and made many short films to learn not just filmmaking in general, but pretty much all the technical roles as well, so he was able to do almost everything himself. And the reason there was interest in his feature film was because a short film he made won awards so he was already on the radar from that.
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