Showing posts with label low-budget film. Show all posts
Showing posts with label low-budget film. Show all posts

The Zero Budget Movie

Source: Elliot Grove, Raindance Founder

Learn how to make a movie as a producer on a lo-to-no budget.

This quick piece highlights just some of the areas money can be pinched and still produce a quality film. Raindance Film Festival website is full of tips just like this one.

The Fight Scene

Source: Lindsey Curran, Raindance Indie Tip

8 Tips on how to portray convincing fights on the screen.



Tip 3 : Motion

A static fist-fight looks dated and unexciting. Fights are dynamic and violent, and to achieve this feeling you can dictate the movement of the camera by the movement of the actors as they struggle and drag each other around the room. For example, if you start with a medium shot set up alongside the actors around head height, as they struggle one actor should drag or push the other across the room, perhaps into a wall. The camera should move with the actors across the room, without changing the height, pan angle or distance to achieve the strongest feeling of movement.
The actors will not be completely even as they move across the room, and if you follow them as a pair it will diminish the sense of motion that you are trying to achieve. Instead, keep the camera focused on only one actor, to maintain the dynamic feeling of the shot. Once the actors come to a stop against the wall, you can change the height, distance or pan angle, as this will emphasize that the dynamic motion of the shot has ceased.

LA MOTTA V JANIRO

25 Low Budget Films

With Paranormal Activity going 22 million in revenue strong I thought you might enjoy another list of low-budget success stories.

Raindance: The List

5 Steps To Low Budget Film Success

In recent years, we’ve seen a number of directors and producers put together successful films on a relatively low budget such as The Blair Witch Project, (1999) , Clerks (1994) and Open Water (2003) – just to name a few. But on a limited budget, it can be extremely difficult for these filmmakers to be successful in their endeavors. They must carefully follow a certain set of guidelines for a film to reach its maximum potential.

With that in mind, there are a few simple and basic guidelines to keep in mind when attempting to put together a successful film on a limited budget.

1. Draft a Creative, Engaging Script

An important ingredient to any successful film is a good, quality script – which is the most critical aspect to the success of a low budget film. As evidenced through the success of Writer/Director Kevin Smith’s film Clerks, a quality script can carry a black and white film that was shot on a $27,575 budget to an enormous amount of success. The film eventually grossed over $3 million in theaters, with millions more by way of VHS and DVD sales. Due of the cult following of the film, an animated series, a comic book, and a sequel were spawned using the exact same characters Smith created for the film.

The key to writing a good low budget script is creativity and originality. With no budget for special effects, elaborate sets and desirable filming locations, a script must carry the film from start to finish. It’s the creative element that will keep the audience guessing and interested in the development of the story.

2. A Visionary Director

In most cases, successful low budget films are directed by individuals who are willing to take risks, are innovative, and know what it takes to put together a quality film. Examples of this are again, Kevin Smith, who wrote, directed, produced and acted in Clerks, Jared Hess, who wrote and directed Napoleon Dynamite (2004) and Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sanchez, who co-wrote and co-directed The Blair Witch project (1999). All of these writers/directors put together an original script and played a vital role in managing and directing the creative elements that made their films so successful.

For steps 3-5 of Andrew John's low-budget film success article. Here

What others are saying about low-budget film success:

"Take 12 kids to a house and chop them up" -EG


Low Budget Film Marketing

Need help or some basic tips on getting the word out on your low-budget film? You don't have to spend a fortune especially with marketing tools such as Twitter, Facebook, and blogs. Briefly outlined in this short article are some strategies for marketing your low-budget film