7 Steps to Making A Low Budget Film: STEP FIVE
Is it possible to make a film without funding? Well, I’ve been doing it for over 20 years so… absolutely you can!
But it’s not easy. In fact, the scale of the task is often so overwhelming it puts many of us off even starting.
So here are my 7 Steps to making a film without a budget…
Each step will be a separate post. Today, I’ll talk about… yes you finally made it… actually shooting your film!
5. Filming
The first day of filming begins. Everyone is there at 6am (or whatever your arranged assemble time is) excited and nervous. You’re nervous too.
Until now, it’s all been theory. You’ve been so wrapped up in the preparation and organisation, you haven’t had time to think too much about being an actual filmmaker. Now it starts for real and everyone is waiting for your instruction (if you’re directing this movie).
There might be an instant of self-doubt at this point. A sudden panic – holy shit, people expect you to know stuff! There’s a ton of footage to get and time is already running out!
Hopefully, everyone is excited in a good way. In the early stages, the energy is fresh and positive so make the most of it. At this point in the shoot, no team member has offended another team member. That could soon change, but don’t worry – humans annoying each other is pretty standard behaviour.
Call sheets
On a regular film shoot, call sheets are sent the previous day informing everyone who is supposed to be on set when and where they are to show up. This job is traditionally done by someone like the 1st AD or other production staff (depending on the size of the production). But quite likely you are now wearing this hat as well as a load of others.
I’ve never personally sent a call sheet. When organising my shoots, as there are so few crew, I find sending an email to everyone with basic instructions is enough. I’ve never had a problem.
However, on a couple of occasions I’ve had helpers who wanted to get a 1st AD credit and also wanted to “do it properly”. Most of the time, these call sheets have been fine. Other times they have included mistakes, which means having to contact people to fix errors.
Again, it’s case of pretending to be a full scale crew adding to your problems rather than solving them. Because someone wanted to send call sheets, that means you have to check them every day and fix any problems. This time could be better spent on more important stuff.
Use new technology
For some of my recent shoots I have created a WhatsApp group and added all the cast and crew. This is a great way to keep in contact with everyone as the shoot progresses. Not only can you update everyone instantly, your cast and crew can update you (and each other).
With a WhatsApp group (nearly everyone is on it too), communication is faster. Now your assistant doesn’t have to inform you when someone is going to be late, because you just saw the message. Using a chat group, you cut out the need for information to be passed through a 3rd party.
If there’s a last minute update, its far quicker to send a message to the group than worry with email or phone calls. Avoid those communication breakdowns and this kind of situation: “I thought you said 6pm?!”
On a recent shoot last year, we needed a underground car park and had to drive around London looking for one during the shoot. There were 2 vehicles, plus one crew member travelling to the location via public transport. So having the WhatsApp group meant we could all communicate with each other and everyone was quickly informed as soon as we had the location.
Capture good audio
It’s often said but bears repeating: an audience will tolerate all kinds of picture quality but very rarely accept bad sound. With the image you can be creative and expressive, but with the audio any creativity needs to happen in the sound mix.
Put simply: the audience want to hear what the actors are saying. And these days people’s tolerance of low quality audio is much less than it used to be, due to the fact most filmmakers have access to high quality equipment.
Audiences are now used to hearing crisp, well treated speaking voices at the cinema or on TV. They’ll even complain about vloggers on YouTube who don’t take care to get good audio. Therefore, it cannot be stressed too much to get good audio.
Try to stick to the schedule
Well, duh. Of course we’ll try to stick to the schedule. Why do you think we made one?
I know, but you’ll be surprised by the number of productions which start out that way and end up with everyone filming until 4am when the scheduled finish was 6pm. If you’re using the 21 day method and this becomes a habit, you can really undermine your production.
If this is happening every day, it could be one of two things. Either you were too ambitious with your schedule or you didn’t strip down your production enough.
Of course, it’s hard to know how long things will take to film. And if you don’t have much filming experience then it’s even harder, so stripping down your production to the bare minimum becomes even more important.
All these things eat up time: collecting lights, driving lights around, setting up lights, setting up scenes with complicated lighting, filming scenes with complicated lighting, putting lights away, managing all the people you need to carry lights around, driving lights around… and so on.
You get the idea, right?
Time is money, so the basic cost of buying or hiring lights is NOT the only cost of those lights. In fact, it’s certainly not the main cost. About 90% of the cost of hiring a big lighting rig is the time it takes to use it.
When I learned (painfully) how not to make a movie, it was the lighting that sunk us. This was after it was insisted by certain crew that having a Leelium Balloon in the middle of the woods at night would “save us time”.
So try to stick to your schedule. Going over by a few minutes is fine, but use the schedule to keep the pace of your shoot. It’s better to move on now and come back later to work on something you’re stuck on.
Once you set this pace, it helps the whole production later down the line. Everyone gets into a rhythm and the whole process becomes more efficient.
Want to see some of the documents used during the production of a low budget film? Schedules, location plans, cast contracts and more can be found here: Low Budget Film Production Samples (Patrons Only)
Improvise
With small cameras you can get away with filming in locations that would normally be off limits. Using a smartphone, we’ve filmed in the London Underground, in major stations. You could even film in airports (if the scene isn’t too dramatic – avoid scenes involving terrorist attacks, for example). I know a director who was making a film shot on 35mm (over $1m budget) but grabbed a few sneaky shots on their flight to Europe using a DSLR.
When filming Third Contact, we had to film a scene in a cafe. I knew if we approached a venue in advance, it might get complicated. The staff would say they need to ask the manager and so on. As soon as you mention filming, people see $$$$ (no matter how much you try to insist you have no budget).
My theory was – if we just show up and ask to film, hopefully the staff will go with the spontaneity of the situation. People are more likely to be spontaneous if you are acting that way yourselves. If you act official, they will too.
So we assembled outside the cafe, sent a charming crew member in to ask, saying we just needed 30 minutes to shoot a quick scene. They agreed and so we rushed in and started filming. The urgency of the situation just added to the actor’s performance in the scene as we were under real pressure. The moment felt less like filming and more like it was happening for real.
Use your lack of funds to your advantage
This is a great example of using your lack of funds to your advantage. What you lack in money, you make up for by being far more flexible. You can give your film a raw energy almost impossible to achieve in a standard production.
If that cafe scene was shot in a traditional way, it would have taken the whole day. The actors would be sitting around, getting makeup done, waiting for the lighting to be set up, waiting for runners to block off the street, waiting for the extras to be coordinated and so on. By the time filming starts, the actors have been waiting for 4 hours and now you need to shoot 8 takes of every shot so they can warm up again…
When you understand how money is spent in a fully funded production, you can start to see how a lack of funds can be a bonus. In many ways, having no money and a tiny crew is a liberation. So if you approach your production this way, you will get the most from the experience.
Always ask yourself, “what can we do that a fully funded production can’t?”
Why do you think they call it guerilla filmmaking? Guerillas fight knowing if they come out into the open and try to engage the enemy in a straight fight, they will be annihilated. And that’s why I say don’t try to make a big budget movie with little funding – you can’t win.
Do what the big guys can’t do, while they’re lumbering around with their huge armies of people and equipment. They have to stick to the traditional rules of warfare written in stone over the last 100+ years – you don’t.
Be safe
People can get hurt when filming, even in big budget productions. Although I advocate the spirit of adventure and creative risk-taking, it goes without saying (but I’ll say it anyway) – don’t take risks with people’s health. That goes for your crew, cast and members of the public who might be in the vicinity.
Working out how to do things safely is a major part of your job. This should also include intimacy awareness.
In the shooting of our last episode of Silent Eye, David (actor and director) has been involved in intimacy coaching and offered to coach a scene involving 2 actors. The experience was a revelation to me. Not only did it provide assurances to the 2 cast members, but also helped with the performance of the scene.
In contrast, when I had to film a sex scene for Third Contact I was totally unprepared. Luckily, the actress took the lead and got us through the scene. However, at the time and afterwards I felt pretty awful about it and this undermined the scene, as I wasn’t able to direct effectively. Although the actors were fine with it, I just wanted it to be over as soon as possible.
Anyway, it’s something that I think is rarely mentioned in filmmaking “how to” articles or books. I’m sure there are some good resources out there, so I advise you not to make my mistake and be properly prepared.
Back everything up
Wherever you are storing your video and sound files, make sure to keep at least one copy of them on a separate drive(s). I once had half a days footage lost after filming when my phone (containing the footage) was snatched from my hands.
That was just half a day and we had to reshoot. So don’t take that risk with potentially a year’s work. If possible, have a 2nd backup and store it away from the others – like at a family member’s house. Storage is relatively cheap, compared to what you’d lose having to reshoot a whole movie.
Get signed release forms
If you are filming in public spaces, and you intend to distribute your film, you might need to get release forms signed by anyone who appears in shot. This is especially true if their face is in shot for more than a few frames. This also depends on the laws of the country you are filming in.
As we know from films appearing on YouTube and other platforms, filmmakers are “flexible” with the law when it comes to copyright ownership and release forms. So far, they’ve gotten away with it, but new EU copyright protection laws might be about to change things.
I can’t give you any legal advice. So I recommend researching the official sources to make sure, if you are concerned about any legal issues that come with filming.
Tomorrow, I’ll talk about Step Six: Post-Production. The proof is in the pudding, as they say. You won’t really know how good your film is until you come to form it into something watchable by editing.
If you don’t want to miss Step 6 make sure to subscribe to our weekly newsletter featuring inspiring stories, no-budget filmmaking tips and comprehensive equipment reviews to help you turn your film projects into reality!
