Jason talks about his low budget filmmaking world-both his beginnings working on films like Leprechaun 2 and Return of the Living Dead 3 in Hollywood and his current work as a screenwriter in NY. beautiful by akon
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Cake! This is from my friend Amy's wedding shower but you get the idea.
I like to plan and host parties. I also like to bake. If I can find the time, I try to think of shoot days as little parties. This is not intended to get in the way of the work at hand. I just like to create a feeling of an event, which is mostly about the way I deal with others. Bring your cast and crew a treat, a small one-you don’t have a budget. For me, it usually mean bringing something freshly baked to set, something unique and/or delicious to serve with the meal, or having some wine or beer for the end of the day. It doesn’t cost a lot and hopefully makes the cast and crew just a little bit happier.
How can you use your unique strengths to make your set a better place to work?
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If you’re really low on cash, don’t spend too much on titles. Obviously, you can type them out in any of the video editing programs.
One of the most brilliant film title sequences was in Napoleon Dynamite. I’m not sure how much they spent or whether those adorable titles were made before or after the movie was bought by Fox Searchlight. But it’s easy to duplicate. They used food items to spell out the names of the cast and crew. Figure out something that makes sense for your film and create something fun (and cheap!)
download Scary Movie 3 movie Check out Napoleon Dynamite’s titles, and tell me your favorite low budget titles.
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You can hold auditions anywhere, really. I was one of the directors for a sitcom pilot a few years ago and the producer held the auditions at Starbucks in Times Square. He said the production had no money at all, he was broke, and actors might as well see that there was no money to be made in this production. They had to be there because they believed the sitcom had a chance of being picked up, or just wanted to be in it for the sheer joy of it. This particular Starbucks has an upstairs section which is looks like some people use for their office or conference room. It’s odd. Last time I was there someone was in the corner playing his cello, there were tons of group meetings and some normal patrons. I must admit that I was embarrassed I was part of these Starbucks auditions. There were 5 of us auditioning the actors and 2 at a time people would come over and sit down and perform a scene for us. They couldn’t talk too loudly and had to stay in their chair or pretty close to it. Shockingly, I was able to get a sense of who was right for the part.
Actors who audition a lot are used to being in strange places. Actors are often referred to as professional interviewers as they are constantly going to auditions. As an actor I auditioned in rehearsal studios, blackbox theaters, peoples’ living rooms, in the park, at schools. There’s some advice floating around to actors that they should be able to audition in a closet if they have to. They are expected to be able to audition anywhere. My advice is that if you have no money to pay anyone don’t hold the audition in a really fancy place. It sets the tone that you do have some money to spend and you’ve chosen to spend it on things other than actors. I think people want to know that if you had money, you would spend it on them. Along those same lines, if you live in a beautiful home and aren’t planning to spend any money on the production, you really shouldn’t hold auditions there. The message is that you have money but this production is not worth spending it. People want to know that you are completely invested.
I really wish I had a picture of those auditions at Starbucks. Where’s the strangest place you’ve ever held auditions?
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I just signed up for April Script Frenzy. If you have ever wanted to write a screenplay, April is the time to do it.
For the past two Novembers, I have written 50,000 words of a novel, as part of Nanowrimo, or National Novel Writing Month. Last year I actually wrote a book on low budget filmmaking. One of these days I will go back and edit them…
Anyway, the other day I heard a song which re-inspired me to sit down and write a screenplay that’s been forming in my mind for the past year. My husband reminded me that script frenzy starts in a few days, so off I go. The concept is simple. Write a screenplay sometime between April 1st and April 30th. Thousands of people have committed to doing it as well, and there is comfort in the idea of a whole mess of people suffering as you do.
So if you have been talking about writing that screenplay, just sit down and write it in April. It doesn’t have to be good yet. It just has to be written. And write to me and tell me how it’s going.
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The blog White African did a story on a man in Africa who keeps a kind of analog blog-a chalkboard in the center of town in Monrovia. He wants to make sure people who can’t afford newspapers get the news. He also writes for people who can’t read so he uses a lot of symbols. Side note: I also just read that more people in the world have access to a mobile phone than running water.
Show Boat psp This is a good reminder to use whatever you have. You will be surprised what you come up with. Think about it when you plan your next movie project. Don’t worry if you don’t have the tools you think you need. Dare to do something different, if only because you don’t have the tools to do it “right”.
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Alfred serves as a reminder to the rest of us, that simple is often better, just because it works. The lack of electricity never throws him off. The lack of funding means he’s creative in ways that he recruits people from around the city and country to report news to him. He uses his cell phone as the major point of connection between him and the 10,000 (he says) that read his blackboard daily.
Liberia’s Blackboard Blogger from WhiteAfrican My One and Only film on Vimeo.
Not all Liberians who read his news are literate, so he makes use of symbols. Whether it’s a UN or military helmet, a poster of a soccer player or a bottle of colored water to denote gas prices, he is determined to get the message out in any way that he can.
Advertising works here too. It’s $5 to be on the bottom level, $10 to be on the sideboard and $25 on the main section. He doesn’t get a lot of advertising, and but he manages to scrape by.
His plans for the future include decentralizing his work, this means opening up identical locations in other parts of Monrovia, and in a few of the larger cities around the country. I don’t put it past Alfred either, he’s a scrappy entrepreneur on a mission to bring information and news to ordinary Liberians. He’s succeeded thus far, and I would put my money on him growing it even further.
(Also, read the NYT piece on him from 3 years ago)
http://whiteafrican.com/2009/03/12/the-blackboard-blogger-of-monrovia/
or, Demystifying the Dream Aspect Of Moviemaking
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I went to a panel discussion about raising money for film. A lawyer (whose name I have to look up) said to think of a movie as any other product which is manufactured, like a jar of spaghetti sauce. I thought that was brilliant advice.
He said filmmaking is the only business where you lock yourself into a room and create your product then you come out and start researching whether someone will buy your product. Normally in manufacturing, you do market research to see if there is even a place for your product. So if you are making a movie, why wouldn’t you do the same thing? The people on the panel agreed that it is a lot of work. It might take weeks. But at least you will be creating a product that people want. Step Up 2: The Streets movie download For Hire trailer
If you buy into the idea that a movie is actually a product (which you really should) then you should plan accordingly. Figure out how much money you can spend and still turn a profit. Decide what resources you need and make sure you get them.
Flip Mino HD, doing it's thing
My husband gave me the Flip Mino HD camera for Christmas and it rocks! The footage is beautiful. Check out my video of the Iguazu Falls as an example.
I’m used to the Panasonic HVX 200 and the Red Camera for production jobs so this is quite a departure. But I’m not a DP and I needed something simple for all the Low Budge Girl video interviews. It’s fantastic for what it is. I also keep it in my purse at all times so I’ve gotten some fun impromptu video with it. The pros are also the cons, as you will see below:
Pros:
Self focuses which is practically idiot proof (also on the con list)
Microphone is good and you get great sound in a quiet place-good for set up interviews (unless you’re in a place with a lot of noise-on the con list)
It’s really small and goes anywhere
Cons:
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Self focuses and I wish I could focus myself
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Microphone is not directional (a problem when you’re trying to film a host for her Foodie 2 Shoes restaurant review-link to follow soon).
It’s really small and sometimes I have camera envy or am embarrassed that mine is too small. Is this what it’s like to be a less than well endowed fellow? No need to answer that on my blog. Thousands of people are reading it, after all.
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1-As you learn each lesson you actually make something with glass. My first cup is a little lopsided but there’s nothing I can do about it. So I’m stuck with lopsided cups and little glass bubbles. It’s harder to throw away a glass than it is to crumple up a drawing. But they grow on you. I’m staring at my lopsided glass and I love it. It reminds me of when I started making movies. I made a bunch of short films that were pretty terrible. But that’s the only way to make good movies. Practice your craft. Don’t be afraid to suck.
2-When working with glass you have to work steadily and not panic. It’s different than an art class where you can put down your pencil, say that you just can’t do it. In glass class you have molten glass at the end of a rod. You have to do something with it. Plus, it’s really really hot so you don’t want to burn yourself. You have to work through the panic. In the end, it’s easier to just learn to be calm.
3-You have to have some degree of confidence and just work through your problems steadily. A good director does just that. You want to instill confidence in your crew and so you must come across as either knowing what you’re doing, or being willing to listen to someone who does.
4-It’s totally cliche but it’s important to try new things. It’s boring to talk to people who only know about one thing. Make yourself a more interesting person and a better filmmaker.
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This is part 2 of the interview with Jason Nunes. Here he talks about how he tailors his writing to low budgets. As you might expect, there are lots of scenes in apartments since he lives in New York City.
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