Producing a Short Film with a Limited Budget

The glorious, and laborious task of filmmaking can be very rewarding, however, unless you have the best preparation it can be frustrating too. Every good filmmaker starts with a basic checklist of what they have and what they need, and how they will go about getting and using those items. This guide will serve as a cheat sheet of everything you need to know about getting a short film from your brain to the screen.

The first thing you’ll need before shooting is a script to shoot. You literally have nothing if you don’t have a script. Simply wanting to film a movie for the sake of filming isn’t enough for a serious project. Writing takes a great deal of creativity …so brainstorm! Let your creative juices flow, take your time, and revise, revise, revise. Remember, great scripts aren’t written overnight. If you’re reading this article you’ve probably already found something passionate to write about, which is the first step in putting a script together, all you need now is time. Once you’ve got what you think is a perfect script, you’re ready for what’s next.

Low budget films are called that for a reason, and most are no budget. Big studios have amazing producers to find financing, but odds are you don’t, so prepare accordingly. It is important to go into your project knowing you’ll need basically everything, and cutting your expenses to the bare minimum.

Things you’ll have to spend money on:

• Craft services
• Film
• Transportation
• Music clearance
• Actors/Extras
• Equipment
• Crew

If you have good networking skills you may be able to work with local production companies and cut a deal with them so that they’ll slash the rental fee for equipment. Local schools with A/V techs can also prove useful. When all else fails, good old-fashioned fundraising (bakes sale, car wash, lemonade stands!) does the trick, even if you don’t come away with thousands you’ll get more than what you started with which is better than nothing. You could also consider hosting a funding party to raise money for your production.

Unless you’re George Lucas you probably don’t have an extensive budget to hire industry professionals. Luckily many inexperienced but enthusiastic budding filmmakers, have their own equipment and will be willing to offer their services.

The essential roles to fill are as follows:

• Director
• Camera Operator
• DP (Director of Photography)
• Sound recorder
• PA (Production assistant/Gopher)
  

It is not uncommon for a director of photography to work for expenses and a copy of the film, especially if you are genuinely passionate about the project and can arouse their excitement with the script and description of your vision of the film.