Hi there I joined about three months ago, at the time, I was looking to do my first ultra low budget movie.
I raised a couple of dollars independently and made my little passion project, a sort of dark take on Romeo and Juliet set in LA -
Firstly I did a camera test with the little Sony camera, to make sure I wasn't making a huge mistake, I chose one of my favorite comic book characters whom I thought had been maligned and made a two minute trailer for a fake movie.
(I paid for this by selling a motorcycle)
https://vimeo.com/60594348
The camera worked out great - we were able to use 1960's Zeiss still camera lens' which was something we wanted to do - we had a reflector board and a lamp, and one AC, and I felt it was the right choice to shoot my "labor of love" feature on - however, my experience with FilmLA and the permit office was overwhelmingly negative, and they ended up taking more of my money than the trailer itself cost.
So, the camera was good, LA was bad, I looked into shooting on friends property, but it felt overwhelmingly like it would look small produced this way - maybe it was psychological, but it was enough for me.
I found out about Santa Ana through a post I put on Facebook looking for untapped locations.
The permit for the whole shoot was $45 and the locations were roughly 10% of the cost of similar ones in LA.
We stole a shot on the sidewalk, and a cop car drove past, so I hustled everyone back inside, as we were not permitted for the street.
Unknown to us the cop car circled around the block and settled behind us, when he approached he simply asked if we wanted him to hold traffic for us - wow!
After LA, I cannot recommend the place enough.
My line producer there was Joshua Lang - pm me and I will pass on his info. He was awesome.
We shot using the SAG new media contract, and worked very hard on the casting - I budgeted for favored nations, everyone cast crew, producers, gets $100 a day expenses and works for free - we had no complaints, the savings on permits allowed us to get motel rooms for the crew - the hour drive worried me, I don't want people falling asleep.
Anyway - we're still cutting, but here is the promo reel - it will be feature length.
http://vimeo.com/59627038
I'd love to hear feedback.
Thank you, for the valuable insight into the world of ultra low, there are some great threads here, and although I haven't contributed much, I have enjoyed reading and looking at your work.
Rumble on and keep making movies!
JJ
I raised a couple of dollars independently and made my little passion project, a sort of dark take on Romeo and Juliet set in LA -
Firstly I did a camera test with the little Sony camera, to make sure I wasn't making a huge mistake, I chose one of my favorite comic book characters whom I thought had been maligned and made a two minute trailer for a fake movie.
(I paid for this by selling a motorcycle)
https://vimeo.com/60594348
The camera worked out great - we were able to use 1960's Zeiss still camera lens' which was something we wanted to do - we had a reflector board and a lamp, and one AC, and I felt it was the right choice to shoot my "labor of love" feature on - however, my experience with FilmLA and the permit office was overwhelmingly negative, and they ended up taking more of my money than the trailer itself cost.
So, the camera was good, LA was bad, I looked into shooting on friends property, but it felt overwhelmingly like it would look small produced this way - maybe it was psychological, but it was enough for me.
I found out about Santa Ana through a post I put on Facebook looking for untapped locations.
The permit for the whole shoot was $45 and the locations were roughly 10% of the cost of similar ones in LA.
We stole a shot on the sidewalk, and a cop car drove past, so I hustled everyone back inside, as we were not permitted for the street.
Unknown to us the cop car circled around the block and settled behind us, when he approached he simply asked if we wanted him to hold traffic for us - wow!
After LA, I cannot recommend the place enough.
My line producer there was Joshua Lang - pm me and I will pass on his info. He was awesome.
We shot using the SAG new media contract, and worked very hard on the casting - I budgeted for favored nations, everyone cast crew, producers, gets $100 a day expenses and works for free - we had no complaints, the savings on permits allowed us to get motel rooms for the crew - the hour drive worried me, I don't want people falling asleep.
Anyway - we're still cutting, but here is the promo reel - it will be feature length.
http://vimeo.com/59627038
I'd love to hear feedback.
Thank you, for the valuable insight into the world of ultra low, there are some great threads here, and although I haven't contributed much, I have enjoyed reading and looking at your work.
Rumble on and keep making movies!
JJ
