Making a movie or a web series is expensive. Making a no budget movie or web series is still expensive but unfortunately they often look cheap. Here are 5 ways to up the production value of your bare bones project without spending extra.
1. Choose locations that are already dressed. Art direction is a very important part of any production. It’s a hard job that really shapes the whole feel of a film. Unfortunately it isn’t always in the budget to hire a whole department of people and pay for prop rentals to dress the set like you’d like to. If you choose places that already look mostly how you want them to look then you have saved time and money, which are kind of the same thing.
A pre dressed set for Diani And Devine Meet The Apocalypse
2. Consider that a small mobile camera is faster and easier to move around. Digital cameras have really changed the world. There are lots of different cameras to choose from. My first feature was shot on the RED and it shoots beautiful footage. The newer Scarlets and the Epics do really cool stuff and I’d love to work on them. But for the feature we’re shooting right now, Diani And Devine Meet The Apocalypse we chose the Canon 5D Mark III and I’m glad we did. I was suspicious that we could get the look we wanted with the 5D, a camera I think of as ideal for stuff like web content but maybe not for something that will be playing in movie theatres (at least at film festivals). The footage looks great but the quick shooting the tiny 5D allows has been invaluable. More angles mean more options in editing and a slicker end product. We are shooting with two cameras but we’ve had days with over 70 setups. That’s nuts!
We have also been able to rig some great camera mounts. Who knew that a water bottle and some tape was the ideal car mount? No need to rent an expensive trailer rig. Just grab your equipment from the on set recycling bin. You couldn’t do this with a bigger camera.
Our high tech car rig for Diani And Devine Meet The Apocalypse Photo Credit Matthias Schubert
3. Use public domain works to fill out your world. There is a reason why you don’t see someone in an independent film watching prime time TV or singing Happy Birthday very often. Consuming media is a big part of our modern life and if you strive for a real life feel it can seem weird not to include it in the life of your film. There is a way around the nightmare that is licensing. All you have to do is use something that’s in the public domain. Now this can be complicated to figure out and will require some research on your part but you can have your characters watching Teenagers From Outer Space or The Screaming Skull and you won’t have to pay anybody a dime.
4. Shoot outside! Shooting out in nature costs as much as your permit does (or nothing if you’re going to risk shooting without one).
You can’t get a view like this in a studio.
5. Crowdsource everything. Need a garden hose to cut up? Ask Facebook. Need prop guns and cop uniforms? Ask Twitter. People have weird stuff around and they are often happy to give or loan it to you to use in your project. Prop rental houses are really cool places, but when you’re on a strict budget it’s always better to get something for free.
Ramon de Ocampo in crowdsourced gear courtesy of fellow filmmakers Skinny Bones Productions
Do you have special tricks you like to use? Don’t keep them to yourselves. I start filming Diani And Devine Meet The Apocalypse again in June and I’d love to know what your secrets are. Put them in the comments.