If I had to give one piece of advice to anyone thinking of taking on the responsibility of proving an artistic point by writing, producing, directing, shooting, editing and promotion a feature length film production that you've budgeted less than $2,000 for I wouldn't be the predictable one who says, "Well... don't." I would just say don't do it unless you not only know but also feel the importance and the potential success and significance of the production you are making, and I mean feeling this long before you begin serious pre-production. And what is the artistic point I intend to prove? That it is utter bullshit that in order to make a great film you need an astronomical budget and an astronomical crew of people to do it. Granted yes, if you intend to do an epic film with lots of coverage, lots of extras, a mix of exterior and on-set shooting and plan on doing lots of post-production/special effects work in the aftermath sure you need a lot of people. But that's not what I am talking about. I am talking about, directly, the notion that it takes a lot of people and a lot of money to make a "great film".
I am now only 11 days away from beginning production on the film, which will consist of nine 10-hour shooting days between May 2nd and May 16th. My lead actor, a very skilled and beyond courteous individual is willing to work for essentially no pay (and because he's the lead he'll need to be there every second of every day of the shoot). Another of my leads is coming up to Portland, where I'm located, from Medford in southern Oregon. For those not familiar to the geography of Oregon, Medford is about a 5 1/2 hour drive to Portland. She is willing to make this drive twice (and was willing to make it more times if necessary). And she's willing to work for just transportation costs. The same is for my primary female lead, who will be on location for seven of these shooting days while attending school four days a week and working a nighttime play performance at the same time. Again, working for practically nothing. Now I understand time is money for a lot of people, but these three leads have acknowledged both the true originality and emotional drive of the film's story as well as their genuine love of acting, which I am sure plays a major part in their willing to do so much for so little... at least on the outset.
I am not a well to do individual at this time. I am still a somewhat obscure filmmaker, but obscurity doesn't necessarily mean predictable, easy to pass over and the like. Sometimes it just means you're one big moment away from becoming that recognizable face. And that's not everything. I'm not going to lie, no matter how humble or modest we are or try to be there's always that part of us that, at least for a moment, wants to know that their talents and skill have been recognized and appreciated. But for a real talent it has to go beyond that. If your objective is just to get paid or just to get attention you're either going to find yourselves completed thwarted for your lack of perceivable talent or, if your lucky, maybe find some brief success before everyone else realizes how low your commitment is. To me, sappy though it sounds, love and commitment are critical in this practice and necessary to incorporate into the practical and technical side of things. And I've seen the difference personally. I've shot lots of films wherein the budget was practically non-existence, and by non-existent I mean that in the most literal sense possible. Back in the fall of 2012 I shot a film as a college portfolio project, a piece I've written about previously, that ended up being a strong piece of work. I've managed to bring on strong talent, both acting and crew-wise, just in showing them that film, which gave them a strong feel for where my talents lay. I'm not referencing that to brag but to make a financial point. I spent less than $50 on that particular film (and most of that was gas money to cover the travels we made in shooting the piece).
Before this time I had a hard time getting people to work on my projects, specifically because I didn't have a budget for my projects, but on top of that, when I first began I was not even very certain as to whether I wanted to pursue filmmaking as a serious career objective. I had the interest but the dedication and discipline was not quite there and people can sense that. If someone is going to work with you, especially if they don't know you, they have to be convinced you know what you are doing so they can be sure that they're not wasting their time jumping into a project that isn't going anywhere, or worse, a project that gets done and is flat out horrible on completion. That's something I've learned and am continuing to learn. Every project I engage in is a massive step up from the previous and this one that I am only days from finally embarking on is several times more significant than all of the rest. It makes for a lot of extra work, lots of extra stress, but when it's all done I will have proven my point and also shown that when you love something this much you will give everything you've got to make it happen, even if a lot of it is on your own. I'm not planning on making all my future projects this much of a one-man operation. It's not practical and hey, I don't want to end up in the hospital from exhaustion after not taking any time off. It's easy to do a decent short film and do most of the prep-work yourself, but to do a feature, that has the potential to be amazing, that's a whole other story. Most of the crew people I have brought on for this film are also people I am working with for the first time who are willing to work for next to nothing. And again, these people have been willing to come on for their love of film and the production process, but were primarily sucked in by the storyline. It's uplifting to see that so many others can see the same things that you do and it makes for an environment wherein everyone will be on the same page.
And, before I depart, I have discovered just in the past week that I have developed an allergy. Yes, after over 25 years of life going allergyless, I now have my first and have had to adapt to that annoying experience. It sure picked a great time to suddenly pop up, but despite having had to blow my nose off and on for the past couple weeks it's just something you power through. Tissue has become my new closest companion, but I am still rolling. Production starts May 2nd! Wish me luck everyone!
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