I jumped on a plane from London, UK - to New York, USA - my plan was to visit some friends, meet some writers and producers, and get to work on a feature script, as New York always inspires me. I was in New York for a month, and I wanted to write a feature in that month.. but I only ended up writing half. I was happy, though, as I unexpectedly made a short film, using 12 actors, on a zero-budget. It was a lot of fun and I'm happy with what I did.
A lot of people ask 'how do you do something in New York for absolutely no money?' - so I thought I'd talk a little bit about the process I went through, and hopefully it'll inspire some people who have maybe been struggling to get to making their first film. For those of you who are more experienced, you've probably done all of what I did, and more.
I took a handheld camera on my trip with me. Just a little handheld JVC thing, not professional, not even semi-professional, a bog standard, consumer model.
When I got to New York I started to get ideas for a film. I was feeling a bit lonely at the time as I was ill and not up to seeing people. So I was a 7 hour flight from home, in NYC with nothing to do and no-one to see. I began writing the script for 'alone.' I wanted to write something I could do with just me and my little camera. And of course, I realised -- this camera is going to perform better outdoors than indoors. If I film outside during the day, with natural light, it'll look pretty good, but the minute you go inside; the lack of professional lighting is really going to show. So I decided straight away to do something set entirely with exteriors (I ended up with one short shot which was an interior).
Also, being just me and this little handheld camera - It was never going to look polished and totally professional. I was aware of this when writing, and it added to my conviction to write about loneliness and lonely characters. It felt like a handheld kind of story to me. People out in the streets, being alone. By writing this way, you could almost say I gave myself license to have bad camerawork. Or rather, I allowed my limitations of budget and equipment to become a plus.
I wrote 12 parts for actors. Actually, I wrote 15 but ended up cutting a few bits-- the wonderful thing was that the parts were all very interesting for actors; very involved and very short. So an actor could turn up on location, do some fun, interesting work, and be gone in an hours time. The speed with which I decided to work meant that actors were all to happy to work with me. There was an improvisational spirit to how we worked, and my directing style (even though it was scripted, there was room to find the moment) which again made it attractive to actors. Therefore, I didn't need to pay anyone, yet still got great talent. It was a true guerilla style collaboration -- no money, no time, no anything, just a writer/director with a camera and a story, meeting his actors and getting to work.
The wonderful thing about using such a small, low-spec camera, is that nobody is interested. Nobody says 'ooooh, will this be on TV?' or 'Do you have permission?' - they just think you're tourists. And therefore, I was able to film anywhere I wanted. I shot in many of my favourite places in New York, with absolutely no problem at all.
I also shot a scene this way in London, to add a level to the story, which really helps tie the film together.
So this is the film - a zero-budget short movie; just me wanting to try something around an idea I had... I would love for you to check it out. I am quite proud of what we achieved out of nothing, and for all of you filmmakers I think you'll love watching these actors; they're ones to look out for in the future.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upfVIPiOpbc
Daniel johnson
PS: The guy checking the blonde out on the train is me in a cameo!
A lot of people ask 'how do you do something in New York for absolutely no money?' - so I thought I'd talk a little bit about the process I went through, and hopefully it'll inspire some people who have maybe been struggling to get to making their first film. For those of you who are more experienced, you've probably done all of what I did, and more.
I took a handheld camera on my trip with me. Just a little handheld JVC thing, not professional, not even semi-professional, a bog standard, consumer model.
When I got to New York I started to get ideas for a film. I was feeling a bit lonely at the time as I was ill and not up to seeing people. So I was a 7 hour flight from home, in NYC with nothing to do and no-one to see. I began writing the script for 'alone.' I wanted to write something I could do with just me and my little camera. And of course, I realised -- this camera is going to perform better outdoors than indoors. If I film outside during the day, with natural light, it'll look pretty good, but the minute you go inside; the lack of professional lighting is really going to show. So I decided straight away to do something set entirely with exteriors (I ended up with one short shot which was an interior).
Also, being just me and this little handheld camera - It was never going to look polished and totally professional. I was aware of this when writing, and it added to my conviction to write about loneliness and lonely characters. It felt like a handheld kind of story to me. People out in the streets, being alone. By writing this way, you could almost say I gave myself license to have bad camerawork. Or rather, I allowed my limitations of budget and equipment to become a plus.
I wrote 12 parts for actors. Actually, I wrote 15 but ended up cutting a few bits-- the wonderful thing was that the parts were all very interesting for actors; very involved and very short. So an actor could turn up on location, do some fun, interesting work, and be gone in an hours time. The speed with which I decided to work meant that actors were all to happy to work with me. There was an improvisational spirit to how we worked, and my directing style (even though it was scripted, there was room to find the moment) which again made it attractive to actors. Therefore, I didn't need to pay anyone, yet still got great talent. It was a true guerilla style collaboration -- no money, no time, no anything, just a writer/director with a camera and a story, meeting his actors and getting to work.
The wonderful thing about using such a small, low-spec camera, is that nobody is interested. Nobody says 'ooooh, will this be on TV?' or 'Do you have permission?' - they just think you're tourists. And therefore, I was able to film anywhere I wanted. I shot in many of my favourite places in New York, with absolutely no problem at all.
I also shot a scene this way in London, to add a level to the story, which really helps tie the film together.
So this is the film - a zero-budget short movie; just me wanting to try something around an idea I had... I would love for you to check it out. I am quite proud of what we achieved out of nothing, and for all of you filmmakers I think you'll love watching these actors; they're ones to look out for in the future.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upfVIPiOpbc
Daniel johnson
PS: The guy checking the blonde out on the train is me in a cameo!
