Low Budget Watch List: Clerks (1994) Slacker (1990) Primer (2004) Pi (1998) Following (1998) Relics (2017) El Mariachi (1992) She's Gotta Have It (1986) Tangerine (2015) Edit: this is just a list of every film referenced in the video above.

"Planning is your friend" -- that's some solid creative advice, applicable to *every* creative field!

Another good thing to remember when getting into shorts is the sound. I see so many shorts that are shot and cast beautifully, but for whatever reason they put no money into a good boom op and the sound is so jarring between each cut. Definitely don't slack when it comes to hiring to a sound guy!

Number one is to make a list of locations that are available to me, then write a simple story around them. Then cast. Then find camera gear and crew.

The only problem I find with a lot of movies in this regard is a lot of them can be pretty same-y. Like I live small scale character drama based stories, but there’s only so many times I can see something set in a small town about a dysfunctional family shot on handheld digital before I start seeing the similarities haha. I guess it’s the polar opposite of how so many major blockbusters are so cliche 😂

Sometimes I can't tell if a production looks cheep because the camera is static, or the acting is monotone. I'm sure I've seen proscenium framing or flat accents in mainstream productions. Maybe bad acting is emphasized by bad acoustics, and wide shots are called out by flat lighting.

You just nailed it! After being mainly a VFX guy for more than 30 years I try to make my own movies simple and intimate. with minimal crew and gear. Great video!

Although I agree that for every successful film of this type there is indeed some failures, but I think the same can be said about big-budget films falling into the same trap. There are too many to mention, but I think that movies made on small budgets shouldn't be put down too much and they also should be discussed more often; especially in film schools. In fact, the "independent movie" trend should also come back and should be discussed often. Too many boring remakes and/or reboots. Movies need to be original. #BRINGBACKINDIEFILMS

I'm a low-budget filmmaker and I occasionally watch stuff like this as a reminder/inspiration. Just wanted you to know that you helped me come up with an idea that will allow me to fix the film I just shot without re-shoots.

Great thing to keep in mind before shooting your first feature. It won't be easy but the least you can do is minimize the chances of it being a total fucking disaster.

I think you need a couple of things to succeed; and one of them is someone on your production crew that knows when something looks right or wrong, Andy you may also need someone that knows when something sounds right or wrong… with these two people you could manage very ambitious special effects that are being honed in by the person that knows when something looks right or wrong and also the soundtrack has to be acceptable, which is mediated by the person that knows when something sounds right or wrong ( ? )

Another great and helpful video! Your channel has quickly become one of my preferred sources of information on filmmaking. Keep up the good work! Greetings from Germany :)

Thank you very much for making this easy to understand yet completely necessary guide. Very helpful and motivating to see other filmmakers low (and no) budget films to get inspired by how small you can get without becoming boring. I just gotta keep telling myself, make it smaller make it smaller, you can save the big set pieces for a future film.

I appreciate these videos! Thank you so much

Here's a different take on it. I was lucky enough to direct my first short film with a Red Scarlet and Skypanels. My crew were mostly unexperienced, my cast were experienced, but i wouldn't say great actors, even though they were perfect on the audition. I'd give the film a 5/10, it went on some festivals, but it's nothing spectacular. Now 3 years later, i have decided to make my truly first film, which i've written, and i'll be the director and the DOP on. The cast will be top quality (one of the best actors in my country) and my crew are with more technical experience than me, way more. And after getting that out of the way, let me give you my take on it: Ask yourself why are you making films, do you want money, do you want recognition, are you just doing it for fun, out of boredom, or what is it. After that, ask yourself what kind of films would you like to make if you had infinite money. See i myself have realised that i'm making films, because that's how i get some sort of joy, no matter the hardship of the process or stress involved. And now i've come to the point in which i'll be funding my own movie, without caring about producers, studios and all that crap, simply because i've managed to get connections through my years of working (do that, btw, i'm getting a 12 500$ gear for free - 3 day shoot, simply because of the trust i've build and most of the times people in the industry support each other). The stories that intrigue me are not set in the "realistic world", nor in the complete "abstract", but these are the movies/stories that i enjoy and i'd like to make, regardless profit or whatever. And i'm always trying to overachieve, that's just the person i am, and if you are the same way, don't fall short because people overlook your ideas as "too ambitious", specially if you don't care about making money out of it or whatever. Most importantly I think that in the end you should not be ashamed from yourself, because you've settled for something, instead of striving beyond your reach. But that just implies for the naive ones.

watching this again after about a year of absorbing a ton of information, brilliant use of brevity and fantastic points.

My first is going to be shot during Christmas time. Because of that, no one wants to commit. So, I'm changing the script to one room, one person, one day. This is very helpful. Thanks.

I agree! New Filmmaker and new KZfaqr! Staying low budget definitely keeps your focus on the story and audience! I hire contractors to help me shoot my films. I am a one band man!

thanks for the nod to the 5D2... it may be old, but it is still a beast! i use mine for mostly stills, but the occasional video... and i was one of the first owners, preordering and taking delivery on dec 5, 2008.... cheers!

A excellent video. Thanks for sharing 👍🏼

Excellent points! How about adding another point, "find a good story about how a character changes?" Also, add music in a consistent style that adds coherence to the film.

As a professional Sound Mixer I would do Pro Bono work, but everytime I ask for basic necessities like: Crafty with Coffee, they sometimes laugh at me...not understanding I have a pro audio setup, state of the art wireless, and Industry standard microphones. If other words, you need to feed your cast and crew, don't ever ask me to brown bag your passion project. I just gave you $1100 free audio work. FFS

Awesome video & tips, thanks.

My 5 Rules: 1. Use a smartphone. 2. Pay no one. 3. Trespass if necessary for location shots. 4. Use a friend's (or your parents') car for any car scenes. 5. Always shoot quickly before getting caught. ;-P

Thank you for sharing 💯.

I'm working on an uber-low budget sci-fi flick so knowing how to do stuff on a budget is very nice for me.

Congratulations for 200k

Loving the content bru

It would be great to do a video on funding, if you don't have one already. You sort of cover it in your 3 tier budget videos, but I'd love an overview of how young directors get funding together for first projects. (Ideally including cinema outside USA, and focusing on movies made recently.) Thanks for your videos ☺️

3:38 --> I nearly lost it in my cubical while watching this clip. Luckily everyone is working from home... Great Video!

Thanks for this, I'm currently working on my first film (a short film) for a film contest and this was super helpful! I was always worrying that I didn't have the right stuff or it would look like shit because I don't have the right camera, but after watching this, I now know exactly what I'm going to do, and I even tested it and black and white is definitely what I'm gonna go for. But thanks a bunch for these tips! Edit: It's finished. It's terrible. I didn't even get to direct it. No black and white, the actors suck. And the worst part is that it was directed by a professional, which makes it worse that it turned out so bad.

awesome tips thanks It makes a lot of sense Cheers!

This is one of my favorite channels

Gray, your knowledge has inspired me an I'd like to thank you for sharing, I also wish the best for you. Thank you.

Thanks for putting the list on screen at the beginning that way, if the list is self explanatory, I don't have to wade through the entire vid and waste time. Small details like that help alot.

Still good to hear!

in Summer I will make a short film with my friends. There are not the best actors of all time. But they try to and I think that matters. And my money will flow into props and editing. The rest is all free luckily. So I think that is a real real real low cost film. Let's see what is coming at me... Definitely better than my last short film on my KZfaq channel. lol

I totally agree with the rules!!!

Ok...getting ready for my first feature. It has basically 3 locations (90% of it is at 1 spot in the woods). I have 4 actors (2 with onscreen speaking roles, 1 with an onscreen but non speaking role [think a sadistic Silent Bob], I'll do another off camera speaking role and a voice actress who will do 3 off screen speaking roles.) We'll use as much natural lighting as we can possibly use. The passage of time during the days will actually work to our advantage. I have an Excel spreadsheet of all the shots I want and feel I need to get (it's about 140) for a 79 minute film. Practically no SFX. A camera and sound team with 2 good RED cameras. I'm thinking since only 1 actor does 80% of the on screen dialogue, we could probably go with one LAV mic. The film schedule calls for it to be shot in 6 days (so that's about 11 pages a day) but with most of it happening in one spot and not having to move a bunch of equipment around, the cast and crew think it's doable. I've planned all the close up shots that need to take place in one specific area, planned all the "moving" shots (there's really 1), and already cast my 2 key "on screen" actors. A very nice gentleman in the town where we plan to shoot is allowing us the use of his house for the final scene location and we're staying at my fishing cabin where we can sleep, rehearse, eat and hang out after shooting. We're planning Zoom calls to begin read throughs, I've gotten most of the props already as well. Can anyone think of anything I'm missing or haven't thought of? Thanks!

So helpful! Cheers!

As a filmmaker and camera nerd I’ve definitely figured out the most cost effective ways of getting good yet inexpensive camera, lighting and sound equipment, allowing you to focus on the actors, locations, feeding everyone, etc. I was (and still am) gear obsessed but my wisdom has triumphed over materialism. Inexpensive cameras are so good now and great looking vintage glass is so cheap that there’s no excuse on that end with budget.

Always well-thought out and explained, thanks! Reigning in an overabundance of ideas is paramount to any good, tight story.

I got an ad for film school on this vid, but I’ve never got one simmaler before 😳

Useful informations..thanks

Everyone who is interested in independent filmmaking should see Breathless by Godard as well as Robert Altman and Mike Leigh’s films. These have a real improvised style. When it comes to building a script and directing your actors this improvised sense might inspire you toward a more natural way to go about it.

Love y’all video

Great video!

Very nice and encouraging presentation. I might add that I have found it very educational to watch people on KZfaq talk about the problems they spot in what are often low budget independent films. Sometimes these are disasters hardly worth going over (I'm thinking of "After Last Season" and anything by Neil Breen), but others seem more like the kind of accidentally entertaining mess I could have ended up creating because I do not have a sufficient grasp of certain details of film making.

Great Knowledge IDC Team . Director and Cinematographer Azlan Arain khan.

Saving this video for when you make something like br 2049 or avatar(some big budget studio project)

All of this and more have been spelled out in a myriad of "DV rebel" books quarter century ago. DV was the first cheap format with a half-decent quality. Sure, Robert Rodriguez shot El Mariachi for $7K, but most of this money was spent on film stock and processing, he was lucky to have the location, the actors, the cars, the music, and the camera either free or very cheap. But he had to pay $7K for film stock!

Great video

Yes..thanks

gracias, esto es muy útil, me encantó

Great content! :))

Really helpful, i mean it’s like what i thought

Was the thumbnail designed to intentionally read "Film King" instead of filmmaking? Its brilliant and as always a helpful and informative video!

Very good.

It was poetry!

for the love of God buy a tripod, I understand you imagined having complex system of track dollys and a crane , I don't need a dynamic shaky cam shot of 2 people standing still

Love your videos man! I think it's your voice. Haha.

Wooo!

A lot of good points about story telling and script. Then, there are conflicting remarks about choice of color vs B&W. Also, I expected to see proper framing, proper exposure and proper camera angles in the "Nailed Basics". Thanks otherwise!

Noob question: who's the most responsible on a film, on set specifically, for the overall look of the lighting? The DP or the gaffer? Is it the DP/Director who articulate what they're looking for and the gaffer then does his best to make that happen?

Where do you get the audios of the cinematographers or filming crew?

great thumbnail

bravo

Good content. What is your fav low budget film?

Non Cohesive doesn't necessarily mean amateurish. Check out Natural Born Killers. There's no reason a no budget feature couldn't be shot in that style. Short ends, re-cans, black and white, colour, various digital formats, Super 8mm, 16mm, 35mm - whatever you can get your hands on. So long as the content is suitable for that particular approach.

Ignore No4 if you want to stand out to people you want to fund you. If you find ways to make smaller budgets appear larger on screen through clever planning and set ups, producers will have a much easier time funding your projects.

Nice

200,000 subscribers 😵‍💫

First thing I ask if the pay is low is if I can read the script. If I'm not getting paid, then the story needs to be good.

Nothing experimental, nothing fancy, nothing crazy... David Lynch, shooting "Erasherhead": "Hold my beer."

Amazon has become my best friends when buying props

Never mentioned anything about sound recording and background score

#6 Good Audio

I recommend seeing the trailer of NO BUDGET NO SCRIPT NO PERMISSION. That shows you how to make a feature with $0!!!

Basics like what exactly?

GOOD

"Brother's friend who does Tik tok videos got me"😂😂

can you please include more examples of women film makers

Kiff video

actors/characters are probably the highest priority you should consider before you make a film

Im making a movie too. Wish me luck

See, you don’t need special effect to make an interesting movie. Because their too depressing and expensive. All it needs is a strong character to make it work.

I still whole heartedly disagree with the budget advice and "don't take risks." Sure if you have no concept of any basics at all in movie making, I agree, learn those first. But taking risks drives me to be creative freely. As for the budget, I agree, don't go too crazy to where you literally can't afford it. Don't get into debt. But I believe you should still write the story as big as you wish. Just when you're done writing, YOU make the decision to adjust for your budget. Don't limit your mind. Your mind can and will help you problem solve for what you can't afford. You're more creative than what someone else expects of you. Make your story as big as you want. Only you know what's possible for your movie. If you're not good yet with calculating your budget. Team up with someone you trust who's good at it and compromise. You'll come up with low-budget, yet creative, solutions for scenes you can't afford on a high budget. To keep the money part simple. Just don't put your self in debt. You can still find cheap, yet creative, ways for big scenes. You got this. Don't limit yourself.

I will not tolerate the slander against my brothers friend who makes tik toks. Lol

shittyrigs letsssgoooo 🙌

The first point summarises what's mostly wrong with contemporary art, mainly cinema and photography (in photography this even has its own name, "G.A.S.", Gear Acquisition Syndrome), people focus more on what they can use to express something than on to what to express, what to say! It's like buying a Montblanc pen made of gold and diamonds, and pure sepia ink, and extremely exotic and expensive paper to then say... nothing... because most of modern art expressions have no message, or if there is some it's so vague, bland and cheap that it's almost meaningless altogether...

You should've made this years ago, so I could make a way more decent high school film😂

So I got $20...

Thank you for suggesting to not cast TikTok stars as actors... All my roles are being taken by influencers :/ Us actors appreciate that more than u know!

I would suspect that film success is like Tik Tok success ; who would have thought mass appeal was in that piece of "bleep"

I think shooting in limited locations is regurgitated bad advice. The story dictates the locations. Don't handicap yourself just because of someone's advice. Make sure the locations add value to the story. Shoot smart and necessary.

👌👏

Me and the homies will be making a short film for like $10

“Get a free grade from a good colorist” is sad advice. Why not also say “get a free score/foley/costumes/SFX/etc. from a good composer/sound designer/stylist/animator/etc.” ? You’re basically saying you don’t value this part of the craft the same way. Why not get free lighting from a good DP? Valuing craft means valuing that work and paying for it even if you can find someone desperate enough to do it for free

Memes are susususususus