Cutting your Cloth

There are two extremes in indie film making -- one which says we should emulate professional full budget production techniques where ever possible, the other which says we should do everything for as near to zero budget as possible.

It has occurred to me recently that it's time to challenge both of these positions and actually look at what areas it's important to spend money on in order to retain production values and where we can throw out the old thinking.

My current take is that one area where the old thinking can go is in format choices, size of crew and post production.

There is now very little reason why you can't make a commercial feature film shot on a sub $5000 camera, with minimal crew (five people) and doing most, if not all, post production yourself in a product like FCP.

The reality is that you don't need a $500,000 budget to cover camera, crew and post any longer.

Where this discussion gets more complicated is in the areas where it's now possible to get by DIYing it, but where it's probably better that we don't cut corners.

Where I believe that indie film makers would vastly enhance their careers and the quality of their films is if they took a more professional "old school" approach to the following:

1) Professional Script Development -- Pay a script editor to develop the script -- Hire a writer to write the script if you have even the smallest doubt in your ability to write a superb script.

2) Sound -- The most complex area to get right in production, the one area where you can't cut corners with the quality of your equipment, the one thing 90% of indie film makers screw up

3) Actors -- It takes the best part of five years full time training to develop an actor's abilities, providing they had talent in the first place. You therefore really have to ask yourself whether by not casting professional actors and paying them at least eating money, you are doing your script justice.

4) Effects -- There is a lot you can do digitally, but if we're honest some of it is pretty lame. I would suggest that digital muzzle flashes are right up there at the top of the list of things that haul down production values and make your film look it's every penny of it's nasty low budget. I think with production planning you really have to take a firm view with what it going to look awesomely realistic and what is going to look cheap and nasty.

5) Wardrobe/Art Direction/Make Up -- Pretty self explanatory.

6) Music -- The major difference between a nasty cheap indie film and a serious movie is often the quality of the sound track -- there is no reason when there are so many talented musician's out there dying to get into film sound tracks that you have to compromise on the quality of the sound track.

7) Post production sound -- I've spent my entire professional career working in recording studios, I'm a musician, I have recorded and mastered albums for other musicians, but I still pay someone else to mix my sound in post. Sound design is the emotional heart of the film -- it really pays to put money into this area.

These are just a few of the areas where I think as indies we fail to be realistic in our production planning -- I'm sure I could come up with more.

Of course this isn't to say that if your intention is to make fun films with your mates, seeing how close you can get DIYing it, that you have to pay the slightest attention to any of this, because for you this is irrelevant. However, for those of us with serious career goals these are the areas where we mess up most often and badly.
 
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I might add, pre-production, if you do have a smaller crew, you definetely need to carefuly plan every aspect of your production process, this is very essential to help create a 'higher' production value, not only it will help minimize the worst case scenario, with good planning, you get to understand and protect yourself from many of the errorneous time you will face during production and post production.

And the most importantly, don't follow the hype of what is out there (because everyone is shooting in certain format, that's what you should do with as well), but being smart and study your needs, like I always tell my friends, to archieve the look you want, you must go back and see what is your end format or the end product's goal is about and go backwards.

Lighting is also very important, it's not to say to have the MOST professional light kits, but utilizing what you have (even with worklights) and make the scene look great or 'aesthetically' the way you would like the viewers to experience, and of course, this would be part of a careful planning that would suffice to say.

I always feel, making a movie, is not a one man's world, but it's a collaborative of everyone or every aspect of filmmaking (from script development to pre-production to post production to marketing and distribution), it takes careful study, research, planning, assessments to make it where it can be.

And finally, don't get burned or feel hurt when you get bad reviews, no matter what type of films you make, you will have both side of the audiences either liking it or hating it, and all is subjective, it's their opinions and you should always keep that as it is. A subjective matter. :) (believe me, I have my share of really really bad reviews) :)

Yikes, I re-read and noticed I failed to read this is about where to spend $ at, so ignore about pre-production (you can do that free) but also consider some lighting gels and such :)
 
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I think lighting is one of the areas where knowledge and experience are more important than kit. It's definitely an area where budget isn't the determining factor.

It's possible to acheive remarkable results with DIY or low end hires -- or if your story/shooting style suits it, no additional lighting at all.
 
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