Can You make a movie with little to no Money?

As you may have suspected I am a Film Maker.  I make very short films that I like to call "Micro Budget" films.  These small movies consist of less than 15 pages of script and last, on average, three to five minutes.  I make these films so small because I have no money to pay anyone and the only way I can guarantee that it will get done and on time is to finish it in one day.  Yes, I know, those are historically called shorts but even a short film usually lasts 30 minutes or so, but when you are working with about $35 bucks for a production budget that can be a tall task.  More over, my actors are usually interested in only working a few hours and want immediate results.  I might be inclined to call myself a short order cook filmmaker, that sounds about right.  You see, I do not live in LA, Denver or even a smaller big city like Little Rock.  My acting pool comes from a very limited pool of actors and crew out of a little North West Arkansas town called Fayetteville.  Fayetteville has a population of roughly 75-80,000 people.  While the art scene here is quite plentiful it is not accustomed to making film, or even shorts.  Now, I am not saying that it is devoid of talent.  There are many here that make great films and more.  What I am trying to point out is the little problem of not having the funds to pay people to work.  Because the area is unaccustomed to the idea of making films, local investors tend to loose interest after saying hello.

Recently, in the past few years we have had some folks who were able to pay for the actors and crew to film in NWA (Fayetteville) and it spoiled the acting pool a little bit.  Films like "Greater, the Brandon Burlsworth Story" and "Valley Inn" as well as a few others paid a lot of people to work on their films.  This was great!  However, some of the films (of which I am not going to name names) had some missteps when it came to paying extras and eventually soured the taste for such things around the community.  Maybe it is starting to fade a little, this pain of working for nothing at all (in one case the extras weren't allowed to even have a bowl of pea nuts from the craft table), but shouldn't a film pay for the services of the people?  Yeah, they should.  I have tried numerous fundraising outlets to get a film going where everyone gets paid and paid fairly.  Those attempts have fallen flat, but at least I have tried, I really have.  So I stick with micro shorts and keep plugging.  Trying to make them as interesting as possible in a small amount of time.  So, it seems that you may need to have lots of money to make a film.  Ok, that makes sense.

Now, lets look at the flip-side of the coin.  Large movie companies are making bigger and bigger budgeted films in the past couple of years, and while they actually get the film to market and advertise incessantly, a lot of them have failed.  In 2014 there have been at least three big budget films that have fallen flat on their face. 

"Transcendence"  the movie with Johnny Depp uploading his consciousness to a computer cost 100 Million to make and only made 43% of it's money back.  Ouch!  That film even had high end great actors in it!  Another was the film Pompeii with Kit Harrington and Carrie-Anne Moss had an estimated budget of 100 Million as well and has of today made $108 million total.  That sounds like it has made money but don't forget that this includes the theater and distribution monies in it, TriStar/Sony/Columbia (all are virtually the same company) didn't get to take all that money home and spend it on Lambo's and pool parties.  All the while little films like "The Conjuring" with its budget of 20 million and "Paranormal Activity" with an astoundingly minuscule budget of 15 Thousand dollars brought in big money.  Makes these mistakes with big budgets look like the end of the world.  

To make a small film of about an hour to an hour and a half takes a little investment.  My friend Todd, who is the creator of the film "Neapolitan" (I am one of the "Stars") is to be released sometime, eventually... maybe.  Todd bankrolled the entire film and thought it would only cost a few thousand dollars, but that quickly ballooned into a figure that I am not privy to but I know it was a lot more than he bargained for.  He paid everyone of us a good wage and then paid some people who shouldn't have gotten as much as they did.  I am not bashing Todd, he did the right thing and no one is mad or upset about money.  The question I have is, could he have done it for less?  Probably.  Would it have hurt production? Maybe.  

I do know that you Can make a movie without spending money on more than pizza, gasoline and a hotel room or two.  The quality will not be world class but that may not matter much.  What does matter is the story.  A great story can outshine even the most mediocre of an actor, director, cinematographer and editor.  The sound could be "just ok" and not even matter.  Finding a story that will make people pay attention and draw them back in for another go is always priceless.  If you don't have that great story, it can be hard, but we can still make a film.  It is all about perseverance, and dedication.  

To make a no budget film that is watchable you will need to pay attention to every detail and you will need to be surrounded by dedicated and deliberate individuals.  Finding the people who actually care about the craft of filmmaking and will stick through the project no matter what, will allow you to make a movie without a mention-able budget.  It can be done.  Unfortunately for me, I haven't quite found the right folks, YET.  So, if you want to be in a film and can spare every free moment of every day making it happen, you and I need to talk.  I have great gear and the skills to make it work without having to break the bank.  If you wanna make a "Micro-Short", well, I am free on Monday.  How about a sequel to this one?

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Even YOU can make a movie! Or, maybe not...

Every day I read more posts from people on this here interwebs that talks about how the art of filmmaking is changing. I do agree that it is a brave new world for cinema. Cameras are getting better and better and the tech to create things like VFX (Visual Effects) is getting cheaper and cheaper. All you have to do is look to me for an example of this phenomena. In 1990 when I was just a wee high school student there was no way that I could ever have made a film for just the cost of a camera and an editing suite such as Adobe CC (Photoshop, After Effects and Premier Pro). I would have had to buy the camera, film, a projector and possibly even machines to help with the editing. Sure, I could have used the crappy video cameras of the day but they were so bad that no self respecting cine file would watch something made with one unless it was something like a XXX movie, because no one cares what that looks like. But you see, I care, I care deeply about the look and feel for my work. I slave over every detail in everything I do. Because of this it was only recently that the technology was available to make great film (and sometimes not so great) for just the cost of a computer, software and a camera. I mean good Quality film. Some of these $800-1,500 cameras have been used to film Feature films and they show up on television more and more as the quality keeps rising. Films like "Red Tails" from Mr Lucas Himself was shot on a dslr by Philip Bloom.

Yes, among all that crazy gear is a little DSLR you can go buy at the local camera stores or even Best Buy. Now, I am not saying he is using a Cannon T2i. That is (according to Bloom) the Cannon 5DmkII that was at the time a little pricey but now you can get one from $1800.00. I know what you are thinking "$1,800 For A Camera?!". Well, my friends, that's a steal! The Red Epic suited up with the correct gear to get the job done right is about $85,000! You heard me right, and that is just for the camera! You still have to buy lenses and tripods and mixers and... You get the point. 

Back to my main topic. You must pardon me, I am building a website, editing graphics, talking to my mother and holding a text message while I am writing this blog. When I hear people telling folks that all they need is a camera to make a movie, a cell phone camera even, I cringe. Technically They are right, I guess you could make a great movie with just a cell phone but that would have to be one hell of a story with the best actors on the planet. To make a film you have got to have methodical planning and logistics. Even with a small film, you Must know what you are doing. Talent carries me some of the time but it's more than that. Even when I am "running and Gunning" I am plotting and thinking about the next camera angle, the color of the light against the next angle, shadows, sound, what's behind the camera and most importantly, the performance of the actors. One of my best stories so far was shot as a run and gun but I knew ahead of time what I needed to do with color, sound and lighting before I ever started shooting "Remorse"

To make a bold statement that "Anyone Can Make A Film" just shows a lack of understanding of the process. In fact I have seen many local folks who are actually involved in the legitimate entertainment industry try and do just that. I do not want to bash people for trying but it was horrid. They filmed the whole thing with their cell phone vertical instead of horizontal. In other words it looks like a cell phone made movie from 2005. Yet, it was a movie, i suppose. Well, maybe just a short film. 

This concept that making art is easy is a prolific scab on our modern society. Photographers are degraded by the moms out there that say "it's just a picture" and now it is filtering over into filmmaking. All I can say is, Thank God For Karaoke. For everyone has their chance on stage and most everyone figures out that, no, it isn't that easy after all.

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