Sunday, April 01, 2007

In about eight weeks, we plan to be shooting my short, Twelve Ways to Say 'I'm Sorry', on a budget of about $20K.

What books do y'all recommend on shooting a low-budget film and/or a short? What are the most useful books you've read on the specifics of do-it-yourself production? Of nuts and bolts directing?

Labels: Alex, directing, short

10:07 AM

5 Comments:

THE DV REBELS GUIDE - especially if you are shooting digital.

FILM DIRECTING: SHOT BY SHOT

REBEL WITHOUT A CREW

Good luck!

By  Cunningham, at 2:52 PM  

I second Rebel Without a Crew.

I'd also like to recommend: The Ultimate Filmmaker's Guide to Short Films by Kim Adelman.

Chapter 8 is "Budgeting: Everything for Free." Nice.

By  Danika Dinsmore, at 3:05 PM  

I jumped in here to recommend 'DV Rebel's Guide' by Stu Maschwitz and see that I'll have to settle for seconding Bill. That and pointing you to his website at http://prolost.blogspot.com/

'Rebel Without a Crew'... I really like Robert Rodriguez's process and ideology but it seems to me to be more of a cheerleader to keep you stoked about making the film rather than giving a lot of hard info.

'The Guerilla Film Makers Movie Blueprint' by Chris Jones lays out a lot of process.

For information on the hardware side of things there ain't no source better than www.hdforindies.com, drop by there and read for a few hours and then call up Mike Curtis to consult on the acquisition and post process.

By  Clint Johnson, at 10:04 PM  

FROM REEL TO DEAL would be my recommend.

By  Piers, at 8:27 AM  

I really like Robert Rodriguez's process and ideology but it seems to me to be more of a cheerleader to keep you stoked about making the film rather than giving a lot of hard info.

Trust me -- When you've been on set for 16 hrs., everyone's exhausted, everyone's sick and tired of seeing the same faces every day; and no matter how hard you coax, cajole or castigate them, the cast can't get the scene down and you're going to lose your set in 20 minutes -- it's really good to remind yourself why you did this in the first place.

Speaking of cheerleaders, a director friend of mine once hired the local high school cheerleaders to come in at 3am and do a routine for the cast and crew. Everyone was laughing, re-energized and shaking their heads at the wonderful goofiness of it all...

The grips of course, were upset that the cheerleaders were not 'of age'.

By  Cunningham, at 12:14 PM  

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