Low Budget Film Project

This is somewhat old but I figure I can lend from my experience.

Always have storyboards or some kind of visual clue. Draw each shot so you know exactly what you have to get. It doesn't have to be fancy, stick figures will do, just something to jog your memory.

A shot list helps too, preferably one that you can group together scenes by necessities. I'm an unorganized person, so when I shoot it's a nightmare remembering what prop I need for what scene, and scheduling so that I can get the most out of the shortest period of time. This helps loads, and makes you look more proffesional as well.

Provide food if you can, it motivates people to do work. Even just free Coffee can make a big difference.

If there's any other specifics I could answer, lemme know. I'm more than happy to help.

Do rehearsals. Trying to direct a performance on set is a lot more stressful than directing one the week before you shoot.

The best advice I was ever given on ultra-low-budget filmmaking is to write a script that can be filmed in one day. This will probably mean you'll make a short, which is what I did twice. Both times, the shoots came off pretty well. People's enthusiasm for the project is at its peak on the first day of shooting, and there's a really big dropoff after -- once people realize what a boring grind filmmaking is. You'll get your feet wet directing actors, setting up shots and learning what you can live with and what you can live without. It'll also help you build more confidence and teach you things about the practicalities of low budget filmmaking that you can only really glean from firsthand experience.

Nothing's worse than being several days or weeks into a shoot for a feature-length project and losing actors and crew who become mysteriously unavailable because they've lost interest or faith in you. I've had that happen, too.

I can totally vouch for what Bradito said. Make the shoot as short as possible or, if you're set on doing something longer, ensure everyone you're working with is uber-reliable and knows what they're getting into. The last thing you want is for the project to fuck out because key actors/crew decide your film isn't important to them anymore.

Other things: Watch the sun. If you're not using artificial lights, placement of the sun effects the look greatly and can make match-cutting a chore. Clouds do the same. Also, make sure you get decent sound equipment and a sound guy. Terrible sound recording is always one of the surest signs that a film was shot by someone who doesn't know what he's doing.

Really good advice here, especially the audio tips.

In my experience you need to give kids (I'm counting everyone under their teens) something very simple and concrete to do. Otherwise they get confused and/or bored. Kids like running more than standing still, yelling more than whispering, etc. Try to make the directions short, precise and concrete. It helps if the kid is someone you already know. However once you have a camera pointed at them and some strangers in the room doing stuff with lights and audio mikes, he/she might still get nervous.

And if you're providing some catering, watch how much sugar that kid consumes or you'll end up with a very uneven (but possibly interesting) performance...

I didn't even think of Audio, d'oh.

If you have Lavalier mics, you don't have to put them directly on your actors. You can attach them to the fern near the Protagonists' face, as long as it's hidden.

Shotgun Mics can work to an extent, but you're going to want to invest in a boom mic sooner than later.

Turn off all appliances before shooting, anything that would make noise. Fridges, Television, anything.

I was shooting once and the audio kept coming out screwy and I had no idea why. It took me a while to realize that fluorescent lights give off a slight humming. You learn something new each day!

Edit: The AcceptableTV Tutorials with Jack Black can sum it up much better than I can. They have a whole series of them, you can find them for free on iTunes.

Jackalie-Blackalie-Doo!

It doesn't usually work well if you don't already have a body of work that proves you're a capable director.

If it were me, I'd shoot all of them from worst to best. I'd shoot the worst script first and the best last, so if you screw up your first one, at least it wasn't a terrific script you wasted.

But that's just me, do whatever you feel is right. Good luck!

I hate crowdsourcing sites because what they boil down to is asking your mom, favorite uncle, and fourth-grade math teacher to support your dumb hobby except with one more layer of abstraction (and feigned legitimacy) between you and them than if you were straight-up begging. There's strength in humility; if you're going to beg for money, beg humbly, not through a crowdsourcing site. But if you want a sleazy way to raise an insignificant amount of money for a bad film, crowdsource away! Fwiw, this is just my stupid opinion.

Honestly, the first thing is to decide is if you want to make something good or you want to learn and try to make a movie. If you want to make something good, get real money. If you're not a good director, hire one. Hire a good sound guy, cinematographer, gaffer, and AD; scour reels and resumes for young, emerging talents and pay a fair wage (i.e. minimum wage) to the cinematographer, gaffer, AD, and sound guy. Some directors, particularly those coming off festival wins, are good and will attract other talent to work cheap. Be really wary when watching reels. Watch lots of them, then watch them again with your director. Also, no one gets his or her real day rate, so lowballing is generally okay so long as it's not insulting. Fill your crew with free grips, interns, etc. looking for credit and union hours and be generous with food, money for transpo, and credits and at least some should stick around.

If you're looking for real money (i.e. hundreds of thousands or more, so still micro-budget territory; low budget is about 2 million plus and thus trickier) look for people in the community who love movies or who have extravagant hobbies fostered by sudden wealth: hot shot real estate agents, dentists, businessmen, etc. Attach yourself to someone who won at some festival that sounds prestigious, as suggested above, and then name drop. Name drop your actors' credits everywhere you go (assuming you have name actors), even when negotiating deals for locations (again, look for people who like movies and these can be free) or recruiting extras. Then look for investors who buy ostentatious bad art and have jet skis, people who once wanted to work in the arts but sold out very quickly and equally successfully. You won't return a cent on any investment so promise huge back end points or whatever it takes, let them meet and hang out with the actors and director, who cares. And name actors aren't actually that expensive. Look on imdb for movies in similar budget ranges to your own for casting inspiration (Asylum films is a good place to look to see who will work cheap). Having names really helps if you want to get distribution.

If, on the other hand, you want to make a movie for fun and edification, just make it and have fun with it. Hire sound and camera if you want it to be watchable, do it yourself if that's what you want to learn. I'm bad at sound but openly admit it's more important than a good image for baseline watchability and you can get pretty darned far with just a $300 boom mic and competent operator, whereas getting a better picture requires more money for less return. So just grab a cheap camcorder. Pretend it's bad because it's dogme. Be a little ambitious but have fun with it. If you've hired a cameraman (hint: do this, unless your interest in the project is that you want to try operating, which is not the interest to have if you want to direct), work with the actors and leave the technical stuff to the crew. I think the worst mistake you can make with a legitimate micro-budget project (see above) is not taking it seriously enough and the worst mistake you can make with a fun project is taking it too seriously. I'm hoping to eventually make some zero-budget/no crew youtube videos of my own...

I'm writing stuff and hoping to film a couple of shorts in the next few months as well. Keep us posted on your progress, interesting stuff! (thanks also to everybody that chipped in advice, I'm taking notes)