Writing To Budget: Make Opportunities Out Of Limitations

You hear people say things like "I'd never shoot on anything less than a Canon 5D" or "I only work with a Red camera". While it is exciting to work with great cameras, you may find you can't afford them. Even when you can afford the rental fees, it may be that your editing system cannot handle the files.

These limitations are often daunting for new filmmakers -- but I'm here to say, don't let it stop you making a film.

Nobody wants to shoot on DV any more. People look down on it. They shot "Once" and "28 Days Later" on Mini-DV. If it's good enough for John Carney and Danny Boyle, I'm sure you'll be fine with your short movie.

Sure, maybe you want the cinematic look you get with the Red, or the beautiful crispness you get with a 5D. But this is a post for those who don't have those privileges right at this moment.

The Indie filmmaking wisdom is, of course, "shoot with whatever you can get your hands on". This is great advice but you need to take it in the right way. Most people hear that as "do the best you can" -- but I think you need to see it more as: "this is a wonderful opportunity!"

You or someone you know has a video phone. That's good enough to get started and make some films.

Here's a tip: don't pretend it's a film camera. Don't try to hide the fact you have no crew. Instead, embrace what you have and make it part of your story.

Here's some ideas off the top of my head that could inspire ideas for a smartphone-video film.

-The world is about to end and two friends decide to capture the final moments.

-Two women, for fun, decide to document their dating lives with video diaries.

-A couple staying in a hotel are convinced it's haunted, so they film happenings on their phones.

-A kid decides to secretly film his parent's marriage difficulties.

They are just ideas. Let's look at the last one; a kid films his parents arguing. The story could be the same as a bigger budget film about divorce, but filmed with just a phone it'll have a rawness and truthfulness. Plus it's filmed from the point of view of the child, which could be heartbreaking.

If you like horror, look at Blair Witch and Paranormal Activity, those types of ideas you can film on your phone.

Same goes for any camera. What if all you have is your Uncle's old camera which has a broken lense? Use it! Make up a story where the characters document what happened using a broken camera.

These restraints are wonderful opportunities to overcome limitations. Use your imagination!

Films are made everyday on big beautiful cameras. But guess what? A lot of them are BAD. Equipment quality has nothing to do with how good you are at telling a story.

So go tell a story.

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Feedback

Here is a comment from my post 'Miracle Best' that I wanted to share because I was blown away by it. The comment was by a fellow blogger, papatigga

Man...I've really been struggling with the thought of embarking on a new journey at such a late stage of my life...I own a home and have a family, a job that some may view as being somewhat successful yet I feel so unfulfilled and empty. I feel this way because I have always taken the safe route and never took a real chance in life. There are so many opportunities that I have let pass me by for fear of failure...chances that may have brought me, and my family true happiness, yet I was content with mediocrity...a mediocrity that is now manifesting itself into a depression and feeling of failure. The very feeling I was trying to avoid. In the movie "Kung Fu Panda" the wise turtle said that 'The road we chose to avoid our destiny is often the road that leads us to it." (paraphrasing). How true this statement is, only now accompanying my feeling of failure is a feeling of regret. I have been asking for a sign as to what I should do with my life and I truly feel as if stumbling upon your blog may be that sign. This post has inspired me to reach out beyond what I see as my boundaries and create new boundaries for myself and my family. No longer will I be content with being content. Thank you ....

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Cameron Crowe is BACK!

The "We Bought A Zoo" trailer has all the Croweisms we crave -- the leaving of the workplace heroically, the overt hand gestures, the big heart, Tom Petty, a big romance. After 'Elizabethtown' a lot of people thought his bubble had burst -- but here he is again.. and I'm excited!





Back when Cameron Crowe was a teenager writing reviews for magazines, I don't imagine he knew that he'd be making movies someday. Cameron is the perfect director for 'Pearl Jam Twenty', he lives for music. He understands it better than anyone who isn't a musician -- and he makes us realise how much we love it too. I'm a fan of Pearl Jam; not a big fan, but a fan -- yet this trailer makes me feel like they're the greatest band ever. That's Cameron Crowe for you. He shows us the greatest little subtleties of music. He shows us who Pearl Jam really are.

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Miracle Best

I had this vision of how we could be absolutely everything. Limitless potential. When you meet someone in the street, you get to decide whether to be grumpy, or mildly acceptable, or to be the happy and free person you've always dreamed of being.

Our ages and our circumstances and our privileges or lack thereof are all real, and they influence so many things -- but so much more is left down to us. How often do we stand up and be all that we can be?

Hardly ever, is what I was thinking. But then maybe I'm just speaking about me.

That's why I like movies. Everyone is at their very best. Or at their very worst. Usually one of the extremes. Most of the time they complete a miracle change and go from bad to best in just under two hours.

Yet I don't think it's a miracle at all.

We hide behind imaginary walls, full in the safety of our homes and jobs and safety nets -- very rarely reaching out for everything.

Because it's scary, right? You can apply it to your creativity, and see all the times you've called yourself a writer but your actions have shown you to be anything but. Or you can look at your life -- and see how many times you said you'd go to the party but didn't. Or when you said you'd travel across the country to see a friend but found all the reasons not to.

And life goes and goes and disappears into nothing so quickly. You remember a day gone by from some year with a number much lower than this one and picture a moment of joy and completeness and oneness with yourself and with someone you were close to.

And that was far too long ago.

You figure life will throw you good times and opportunities and magic but really it's down to you, down to the amount of times you turn up rather than hide out. You were a Kid In The Front Row some time long ago - you'd try anything, go anywhere, stick your hand in the oven only to learn that it burns.

We don't want to get burned anymore -- so you play it safe and realise days have gone by and you're left with no heat at all.

You wake up one morning and put your socks on and realise this day will be a great one or a bad one or an indifferent one or maybe, if you're lucky, a mixture of all three and more. It's down to you and it's down to you and it's down to you. Scary, right?

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Youth / Old Age

There are two types of people in the world. Actually there are probably a lot more but these two types are so polarized and so prevalent in my life that I feel I need to address them. Because they'll be relevant to you too.

It's old age against youth. But I'm not talking years, I'm talking attitude. To be creative is to be five years old, lost in the possibilities, judging nothing, believing everything and anything anytime you can. You dream big and reach far.

And your life is filled with failure and near misses but you keep firing on, casing the promised land like some lost soul in a Springsteen song.

Old age is when you think you know the world. Think that what is is. You judge everything, because you know better. You know it's impossible.

And you're so quick to cut down anyone who tries. You throw lines at them about responsibility and risk and grown upness, and you're not satisfied until you've killed the young, left them losering, forced into drowning out their dreams and settling for a life surrounded by the same three people bitching about the weather.

This dynamic plays out in everyday circumstances. You get the choice to be caught up in the magic of life or you can claim to know the exact nature of everything and shut it down, close it off and hibernate until death.

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