Is it a good idea to shoot a feature in a foreign language to save money?

H

harmonica44

What I mean is, is that I want to produce and direct a feature, but having trouble budgeting it, to be shot in my Country, Canada. Mostly cause of travel expenses. I would have to fly to a bigger city to recruit enough actors, extras, and more options for crew, and the traveling expenses, and hotel bills quickly add up.

I was talking to my friend who lived and taught English is South Korea for a couple of years, and he says I should shoot a film there, as you can live like a king on Canadian money, as he put it.

So that might save me money it turns out. South Korea, is also a very movie making passionate country, so it may be a good idea. However, I would have to recruit Korean actors, rewrite the script to be set there, and shoot the movie in their language. Then I would have to market it back to the U.S./western film market in Korean though, and wondering if that's a good idea? Some foreign language films do well in America, but I want to market a movie in order to get work here, and not in South Korea.

Also I do not know if South Korea, will have a problem with me taking all the footage, and audio back to Canada, and finishing the movie there, and marketing it to the west first, before marketing it back to them.

What do you think, is this a good idea, to work around travel budgets in Canada, and can still make a marketable movie in the process or no?
 
Oh, come on... Now you're venturing into ridiculousness.



You can't even complete one short in your home town where most everyone speaks your language. Now you think you're going to write the script in Korean, travel 9,000 miles and, without yet having achieved anything even remotely resembling proficiency, shoot a feature film in a country where you don't know the language or customs?
 
Shoot a Short local to you.

You want to keep costs down. You're not shooting the latest James Bond or other Hollywood epic. And South Korea is not cheap.

We have seen great shorts shot on ultra low budgets (think sub $1,000).

Your plan will cost you big $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$.

And American audiences are not keen on subtitles.
 
Okay thanks. I am just trying to think outside the box, since I have not had much sucess here. I can travel to a bigger city to shoot one, but I don't want to have to pay for travel and hotel expenses, just for a short. WelL I will if it's worth it, but it's hard getting people interested, and a lot of people's attitudes are 'anyone can make a short film nowadays'.

I have been trying to make shorts for almost five years now, but no luck aside from helping other people's with theirs, but they do mostly documentary stuff, where as I want actors and crew that can do scripts other than documentary.

I feel after five years, I have put in enough time here, and want to go somewhere and make something that is big enough that will capture talents' interest.

How do I do it here, without throwing out so much money on travel, or moving expenses on having to find people in bigger cities?
 
Maybe their attitude is.. this dude has been working at it for 5 years and doesn't have a single short for public exhibition. why waste my time with him?

I made a little 3 minute crime thriller.. It was only a two page script. I used one friend of mine that I've known for 20 years. Another friend of mine that I've done software consultant work for him for free .. and then one actor that was a friend of a friend

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vo5Yl9kyn8k

Do you not have any good friends that can do you a favor? What about your GF? You're volunteering on different projects but no one is willing to volunteer for yours?

Maybe you should help people out in other ways. Hell IDK go to a homeless shelter and recruit people, give them food and $50. how is that for out of the box? And then make the script about a homeless guy. Done
 
In a recent post of mine, I have described an incident that occurred with my gf, while shooting, and she was a very poor sport. After that incident, I will not use her again as she is not reliable and made the production a living hell. As for other friends, they said they will help as long as they are behind the camera, and they do not want to act. I can try begging.

No one knows that I have been at it for five years, I don't tell them that. I'll keep looking.

I also acted in a movie recently, and got some on set experience. I didn't really learn anything though, since we had to shoot in and out, and nobody had a lot of time to answer questions, I feel I didn't really learn a lot about what the DP was doing or what the sound guy was doing. The director just told us how he wanted us to act, and told the DP where he wanted the camera, but that was about it. Didn't really much.

But I will keep looking for more people. If I cannot get anything made by fall, I am going to travel to a different city to shoot a bigger project. I talked to two friends who are into filmmaking, who moved to Vancouver and have had much more experience since. They both said it's not me, it's the city I live in, that is totally to blame.
 
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I can try looking for a stop motion animator. I tried pursuing a regular cartoon artist before, but could not find an animator, who had experience in doing it frame by frame, and they were just familiar with comics, and books. But I can look again. What if I hired someone from another city or country even? I tried hiring an editor before from another city, but that didn't go well, as we only communicated online, and didn't work well together, since we weren't in the same room, collaborating. It just lead to us not having good communication, but if it's a good idea, I can pursue animators outside the city or in another country even.

Isn't the point of filmmaking though, doing a project that involves on location live audio recording, and lighting, production design, and cinematography and all that? If I do it animated, I feel I won't really learn anything since someone else is making all the production design, and cinematography for me, instead of shooting it live in a real place.
 
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Playing off what sfoster's kind of alluding to; you talk about doing a lot without every actually doing anything. You have these big ambitions, but can never get them started.

Big ambitions are fine.

But you have to start somewhere. Make a film with just you. Make it with just you and your girlfriend. Stop obsessing over getting the right talent. Actually make something.

I made films as a 15 year old in a city with a population barely 1% of yours (according to wikipedia) and found people willing to help me. I struggle to believe you can't (and if it is that hard, make them by yourself or with your gf - a member here, LDS makes some pretty good stuff and he's usually a one man band).
 
I liked my homeless idea.
Check out bum fights.. homeless dudes were beating each other up for practically nothing. One dude even got a tattoo on his forehead.

I'm not saying exploit them.. but they have no jobs, and are desperate for money and good food.
 
Okay thanks. I checked out the crime short. Cool. My gf wants to do some fashion and make up tutorials so I will do that for now. I was also asked to direct and edit some documentary shorts later this summer, and will have to travel for those, but the cost will be low, since they are offering me a place to stay if it's a go.

So I will do those for now, and keep looking.

I can also do more videos of city shots, like I did before and just edit those together. I kind of like the animated short idea. Will it be expensive to pay for so many drawings, since it would be around 24 frames per second?
 
Or combine the city shots with the 1 person script of a sad girl (you can turn it into a man) I once gave you.

Cell animation (every frame is drawn) takes a lot of time and skills. So, yes, if you have to payfor it, it won't be cheap. Even more moderntechniques with keyframing 2D charaters aren't cheap.
(Or talk to Mussonman: he uses minecraft to make simple 3D animations.)

Unless you have a fortune to spend or you can do it yourself, stay away from animation for now. Instead of shooting for 1, 2 or 3 days, you'll need someone to draw/animate for weeks. Since you already have trouble with getting people for a short period of time...

Go make those videos with your gf.
Clear the sky, make her happy, make videos that are finished and learn as much as you can from it.

Than make something really short with a little story.
In your own language!
 
Okay then. I will do the fashion with my gf. I am going to move though, as those two actors I know have gotten a lot more work in Vancouver compared to here. They said it's not me and it's where I live, and when they get five or more short films a year so far, there must be more opportunities in Vancouver by comparison.
 
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