Budget Busters

cameronchapman

cameronchapman

I'm working on a script at the moment that I'd like to shoot as my first feature. Because of this, I'm trying to keep the budget in the range of $10-$30k. I also know that with budgets that small, every little thing adds up quick.

What are the big things that can quickly add costs that beginning filmmakers might not think about?

For example, I know shooting in or around water can add a lot to your insurance costs. But that was something I hadn't even thought of when I first started working on this script (I'm now rewriting some parts to minimize the water scenes). Sure, it might only add a few hundred or a couple thousand dollars to the insurance, but when that's 10% of your budget, it's a big deal.

I guess it comes down to a cost/benefit analysis. Some scenes are worth the extra cost. But if shooting a scene with a car/driveway rather than a boat/dock is cheaper, and it doesn't really matter which one it is in terms of the story, then I'm gonna go with the cheaper one at this point.

So, to all of your with a lot more experience under your belts, what things would you avoid strictly from a budget standpoint that aren't obvious?

Thanks!
 
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Alcove Audio said:
Here comes the obvious from Uncle Bob...

Spend the money and the effort on production sound. Every dollar/minute you spend on production sound will save you ten in audio post.
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You know, just one, just ONE of these days, I want to hear you say about a piece "the VISUALS are more important here!" :D:lol:



I'm kidding of course, you've given me a LOT of advice on sound that I've incorporated, and I always know if there's "sound" advice to be had, you're one of the best :)


As alcove says, Do NOT scrimp on sound/audio, I have come to learn how precious and how filling sound can make a picture-video can always be trimmed and edited, but sound-getting crisp sound off the hop is important :)
 
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Sound is definitely high on my priority list. I'm married to a complete audiophile who also has theater sound and lighting experience, so he's going to be helping me out a lot in those areas.
 
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Kholi said:
Relative to what you're shooting. What might that be?
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This particular project is drama, about four old friends who are spending the summer together before their final year in college. It's a pretty straight-forward storyline, but I'm trying to approach it from a different angle and throw in some new twists.
 
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cameronchapman said:
This particular project is drama, about four old friends who are spending the summer together before their final year in college. It's a pretty straight-forward storyline, but I'm trying to approach it from a different angle and throw in some new twists.
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Only thing I can say to account for are reshoots, in that case. Everything else is pretty straight forward. Food, Wardrobe costs, hard drive costs for storage,etc.
 
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Modern Day Myth Prod. LLC said:
Are you shooting at night?

Rentals can add to the cost of your insurance. Renting a generator and lights and a truck can add up.
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We plan to go the DSLR route for the minimal night shooting that will be included (a couple of scenes). After seeing the footage from the Skywalker Ranch screening, I'm pretty convinced to go that route (plus, I can either rent a single Red One setup for a month or I can buy 2 DSLRs with lenses, which I can then reuse later). So hopefully lighting will be kept to a minimum even for the night shoots.
 
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cameronchapman said:
This particular project is drama, about four old friends who are spending the summer together before their final year in college. It's a pretty straight-forward storyline, but I'm trying to approach it from a different angle and throw in some new twists.
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Sounds like mumblecore!

:woohoo:

I love this subject. If you haven't seen "Puffy Chair" yet, please watch it. Realize that, as far as production value is concerned, this is about as good as you can get, with your budget. Maybe you can do slightly-better, in one area or another, but I don't think there is any way that your nothing-budget feature will be able to compete with the big dogs, insofaras production value is concerned.

What do you want to come from this? Do you want wide distribution? Cuz that's pretty damn unlikely (though, not impossible). Or, do you just want to get noticed, by somebody, anybody, preferably someone who can fund your next project? If the latter is closer to truth, please allow me to offer the following piece of advice:

GUERILLA!!!

Insurance, shmimshmurance! Just don't do anything that will get anyone hurt. Permits, shmermits! Just don't be an ass-hole.

For a feature film, it is my opinion that your budget is screaming guerilla. I'd say that you do your best to keep it on the up-and-up, as much as possible, but your bottom-line should just be storytelling. It's hard enough making a movie on a nothing budget, let alone following a bunch of stupid rules. That way, the only limitations you'll have to force on yourself, during screenwriting, are to write locations that you can actually shoot, with actors you'll actually have.
 
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Kholi said:
Check out Tiny Furniture (Shot on 7Ds for 24Kish) if you want to see what the bar for today's mumblecore features are.
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Good call. "Puffy Chair" is sort of my go-to inspirational-story of nothing-budget-filmmaker making it big-time, but you're absolutely right to point out that the bar has been raised. "Tiny Furniture" looks pretty cool, and based on the trailer, there's no doubt that both the video and audio quality are far superior to "Puffy Chair".
 
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Cracker Funk said:
What do you want to come from this? Do you want wide distribution? Cuz that's pretty damn unlikely (though, not impossible). Or, do you just want to get noticed, by somebody, anybody, preferably someone who can fund your next project? If the latter is closer to truth, please allow me to offer the following piece of advice:

GUERILLA!!!

Insurance, shmimshmurance! Just don't do anything that will get anyone hurt. Permits, shmermits! Just don't be an ass-hole.

For a feature film, it is my opinion that your budget is screaming guerilla. I'd say that you do your best to keep it on the up-and-up, as much as possible, but your bottom-line should just be storytelling. It's hard enough making a movie on a nothing budget, let alone following a bunch of stupid rules. That way, the only limitations you'll have to force on yourself, during screenwriting, are to write locations that you can actually shoot, with actors you'll actually have.
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My main goal with this is to get noticed. I have two other feature scripts I'd like to shoot in the future, and for those I'd love to get name actors, distribution, the whole deal. But this one is kind of my "practice" feature (and by that, I don't mean that I'll be giving it any less than my full effort, but it's a simpler kind of film to shoot, with more limited locations, and four main characters, so that nothing is riding on a single performance, and with locations that I can pull favors to get, etc.).

I'm working on a guerilla short at the moment, and it's definitely something I'm open to doing. Budget at the moment is very flexible, but I'm hoping to keep it as low as possible, and it'll likely be done with a mix of self-funding and friends and family and lots of favors.

Also, watching Puffy Chair right now. Gotta love Netflix streaming!
 
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cameronchapman said:
My main goal with this is to get noticed. I have two other feature scripts I'd like to shoot in the future, and for those I'd love to get name actors, distribution, the whole deal. But this one is kind of my "practice" feature (and by that, I don't mean that I'll be giving it any less than my full effort, but it's a simpler kind of film to shoot, with more limited locations, and four main characters, so that nothing is riding on a single performance, and with locations that I can pull favors to get, etc.).

I'm working on a guerilla short at the moment, and it's definitely something I'm open to doing. Budget at the moment is very flexible, but I'm hoping to keep it as low as possible, and it'll likely be done with a mix of self-funding and friends and family and lots of favors.

Also, watching Puffy Chair right now. Gotta love Netflix streaming!
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Great attitude to have. It's cheaper than a film education in most cases, as well. And, if you've got some connections, it's a good time to exercise them to see how everyone works together.

I actually sort of figured this, that's why I mentioned Reshoots. You're almost going to reshoot your first three days of the feature because you'll get better as it goes along, then realize when you get to the edit that the earlier material can't stand up to the later for various reasons.

At the end of the day, keep it in the back of your head that your experience doesn't necessarily reflect that of others... and just because someone says one thing doesn't mean that it is just that. Like Cracker Funk said, following too many rules means stifling your process at this stage...

...and listening to too many people is the same.
 
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Editing!!! I learned this one the hard way. A lot of newbies spend so much time budgeting for the actual production that they neglect to budget correctly for the post-production. Unless you are editing the film yourself, plan to spend 1/3 of your budget on post-production.
 
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I've been lucky enough to totally f*ck the editor on all my films be getting them to sign on for a flat rate rather than per hour. I think in all cases they wound up making something like $0.40 an hour. It's the producer in me coming to the fore.
 
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For this first feature, I think I'm going to try to go the El Mariachi route and do as much of it as I can myself. That includes editing (I've done some basic editing with consumer tools, and it's something I actually like doing). I want to learn how to do it all, and then I'll be in a better position to figure out where I want to hire people for future films, without feeling like I'm forced to hire anyone if I can't find the right people.
 
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