Hey, I'm new here. I recently stumbled upon this amazing resource and hope to learn as much as possible. I apologize for the lengthy post, but I feel it will also make the job of those willing to help me much easier.
My situation is quite complicated and if you kindly bear with me, I'll try to provide all of the necessary information.
I'm currently a college student at a very prestigious national university. We do have a film studies program here, but it certainly isn't the schools most reputable program. In fact, it is so overlooked I am not even a member of the department even though I am greatly interested in making my own films.
Having said that, I am currently in the preliminary planning stages of making a low budget feature film that I hope to shoot locally. I have a pretty solid idea of the hardships, difficulties, and costs of making a feature length film, and I still won't be easily discouraged.
As I said before, I am not a film student. I want to pursue this purely for reasons some of you might call silly. Basically, I just want to create something that might draw local attention and could potentially lead to greater filmmaking opportunities. Essentially, I view this project as a modest attempt to get discovered.
My greatest concern right now is how to approach the issue of funding. Please note that I am not asking anyone on this board to invest in my film, I'm only seeking advice on what channels to go through. I hope to shoot the film on Super 16mm, because I'm strongly influenced by the mentality that film is still the most preferred medium (not to offend the DV people). On top of that, film still looks much better in my mind.
But shooting on film is more expensive (obviously). I anticipate the stock alone to cost me $10,000 if I shoot on about a 9:1 ratio. This will probably be the bulk of my cost. I'm hoping the other expenses won't bring me over another five to ten thousand, so my preliminary initial budget estimate is about $20,000 total, and I think that is being pretty conservative.
So where to get the money from? I'm not independently wealthy...I can probably put in $2,000 of my own money. The university I'm attending DOES offer student grants in arts and media. I haven't approached them yet because I wanted to wait until I have more solidified plans, but I think I can probably get $5,000 to $7,000 from the school plus some possible use of their equipment (some 16mm cameras, lighting devices, editing, etc.). It sounds like the main cost for me that I'll be on my own with as far as production goes will be the stock itself. And there is the minor possibility that the univeristy will have some connections, but I can't say for sure.
So I'm looking for about $10,000 dollars more now to cover the differences (post production fees, insurance, camera mobility equipment for certain days of the shoot, and all of the additional regular productions fees that will likely surface. I would like not to deal with loans or investors that I will have to pay back in case I don't turn a profit. It appears what I'm looking for would be grants outside of the university. Unfortunately many of the ones I've researched are for minorities or for filmmakers who are already in post production. I really haven't found anything worth applying for yet.
And for me to get all of this money handed to me to make my movie and take any profits it could potentially make is obviously far too good to be true. So here is the alternative I am considering: making the film NON-PROFIT. Obviously this wouldn't be my preferred choice, but if it is my only option, I'd take. As I mentioned before I'm not making this film to cash in, it is mainly a crude attempt to get some recognition and technical experience. Oh, and if I feel like the end product is something decent, I would potentially like to submit it to film festivals more slightly more exposure.
So if you could tell me of any grant possibilities, maybe even for students in particular, I would be greatly appreciative.
I suppose that's all I have to say for now. I'm eager to hear your responses. Obviously there is a lot of work to yet and I don't intend to shoot a single frame for quite some time.
Thanks in advance.
My situation is quite complicated and if you kindly bear with me, I'll try to provide all of the necessary information.
I'm currently a college student at a very prestigious national university. We do have a film studies program here, but it certainly isn't the schools most reputable program. In fact, it is so overlooked I am not even a member of the department even though I am greatly interested in making my own films.
Having said that, I am currently in the preliminary planning stages of making a low budget feature film that I hope to shoot locally. I have a pretty solid idea of the hardships, difficulties, and costs of making a feature length film, and I still won't be easily discouraged.
As I said before, I am not a film student. I want to pursue this purely for reasons some of you might call silly. Basically, I just want to create something that might draw local attention and could potentially lead to greater filmmaking opportunities. Essentially, I view this project as a modest attempt to get discovered.
My greatest concern right now is how to approach the issue of funding. Please note that I am not asking anyone on this board to invest in my film, I'm only seeking advice on what channels to go through. I hope to shoot the film on Super 16mm, because I'm strongly influenced by the mentality that film is still the most preferred medium (not to offend the DV people). On top of that, film still looks much better in my mind.
But shooting on film is more expensive (obviously). I anticipate the stock alone to cost me $10,000 if I shoot on about a 9:1 ratio. This will probably be the bulk of my cost. I'm hoping the other expenses won't bring me over another five to ten thousand, so my preliminary initial budget estimate is about $20,000 total, and I think that is being pretty conservative.
So where to get the money from? I'm not independently wealthy...I can probably put in $2,000 of my own money. The university I'm attending DOES offer student grants in arts and media. I haven't approached them yet because I wanted to wait until I have more solidified plans, but I think I can probably get $5,000 to $7,000 from the school plus some possible use of their equipment (some 16mm cameras, lighting devices, editing, etc.). It sounds like the main cost for me that I'll be on my own with as far as production goes will be the stock itself. And there is the minor possibility that the univeristy will have some connections, but I can't say for sure.
So I'm looking for about $10,000 dollars more now to cover the differences (post production fees, insurance, camera mobility equipment for certain days of the shoot, and all of the additional regular productions fees that will likely surface. I would like not to deal with loans or investors that I will have to pay back in case I don't turn a profit. It appears what I'm looking for would be grants outside of the university. Unfortunately many of the ones I've researched are for minorities or for filmmakers who are already in post production. I really haven't found anything worth applying for yet.
And for me to get all of this money handed to me to make my movie and take any profits it could potentially make is obviously far too good to be true. So here is the alternative I am considering: making the film NON-PROFIT. Obviously this wouldn't be my preferred choice, but if it is my only option, I'd take. As I mentioned before I'm not making this film to cash in, it is mainly a crude attempt to get some recognition and technical experience. Oh, and if I feel like the end product is something decent, I would potentially like to submit it to film festivals more slightly more exposure.
So if you could tell me of any grant possibilities, maybe even for students in particular, I would be greatly appreciative.
I suppose that's all I have to say for now. I'm eager to hear your responses. Obviously there is a lot of work to yet and I don't intend to shoot a single frame for quite some time.
Thanks in advance.
I have absolutely no problem shooting fun things on miniDV. It's a superb learning format - especially with 24p and it has pretty decent image quality if you don't beat it up too badly in post. If your goal is to make money off a cinematic project it's certainly not ideal, if only for its low resolution. DV serves a critical purpose. It all depends on the level of the user and what sort of money is involved.
