Money is Not Holding You Back

Money used to be the biggest hurdle holding back indie filmmakers. My first camera was a Sony digital handicam, that used 8mm cassette tapes. I don’t know what the word digital referred too, since it used analog tapes. I guess it just sounded fancy. I got that camera as a christmas present when I was 16 years old. I think that camera cost about $700 which was a whole heck of a lot as a christmas present for me back then.

The next year I asked for an editing software for our PC, again I think that cost a couple hundred dollars.

I could now “film” and edit. Except I’m filming on a 4:3 camera with poor quality and a built in microphone that was also incredibly terrible. I had no way to distribute my finished films. If I’m not mistaken I could record the finished film on the editing software back into my camera and then connect that to my VCR to record it back onto VHS so then I could share it. Or I could haul my camera around with and adapter to plug it into someones TV.

My whole point is this, between a handful of tapes, the camera, and the editing software, the total price would have been over $1000.

A THOUSAND dollar home movie that I can’t easily share.

Today if I spend a $1000 dollars I could buy a really good smartphone that will have a built in camera that is far superior than my “digital” handicam, I can edit the film on that built in software/app, add music, add VFX, and distribute it, without having to spend any extra money - and all done from the phone.

I can do 100x more now with the same money than I could do back in 2002 when I had my handicam and editing software.

Money is not holding you back.

The double edged sword with new technology is that we think we need better technology. We see the technology that is in our hands as the most basic level of it.

Many indie filmmakers making their first feature film think they need better cameras, better microphones, more in depth editing softwares and other visual addition softwares and lastly, a “prestigious” portal to distribute their films. This idea is usually what holds you back.

All those things cost money so you need to raise a good chunk of money to make it happen.

It’s Better to Make A No Budget Movie Today

It’s easy to want to wait until you feel like you have much more in place, like more money, like more equipment, like more crew. The idea that having more of that will make the process of making the movie easier.

Making movies never gets easier, if anything, it becomes more complex.

It’s far easier to make a movie with your phone and a couple friends and a couple actors. There are far less elements thus there are far more controllable elements. Controllable in this sense means logistics that are easier to handle and troubleshoot because there are less of them.

It’s far better to actually make the movie than to wait…

What do you need?

• Camera

• Audio

• Editing

• Effects

• Distribution

We all know there are great cameras built right into your phone. With a quick google search for smartphone filmmaking you’ll come across great tools and techniques. Some of those tools are little lense attachments, or small handheld tripods, even little motion rigs. It is easy to spend a lot of money to build out your smartphone camera set up. It is as equally easy to choose one or two additional elements that you believe will give you the most value and focus on that.

Or you don’t have to spend anything extra.

The camera in your phone is good enough quality to tell your story.

In camera audio is the one area where many of us struggle.

Built in microphones on smartphones are not that good, especially for filmmaking. If you don’t want to spend any money or spend very little money, bluetooth ear pods are a cool little solution. You can use the earpod as a makeshift lavalier microphone. It’s not hard to hide it on or around the actor.

I had even done scenes when testing out iphone movie making 14 years ago on the iphone 4 and ran the corded headphones from the ear of the actor down into another iphone that was just recording on the voice memo app. We just made sure the corded headphones were on the side of the face the camera didn’t see. Now we had up close quality audio.

With bluetooth headphones it gets so much easier.

You don’t have to spend a lot of money trying to find a boom mic that will work with your smartphone. There are work around solutions that cost nothing.

Maybe each scene will involve figuring out various solutions on where you can put the microphone or bluetooth headphones, but it’s worth figuring out and not worth spending extra money if you don’t have it. As you are trying to figure it out, make little behind the scenes videos of each solution you come up with.

Editing Is Worth The Value

Editing softwares is one of those places where I think it’s worth spending some money, but the great thing is you don’t have to spend a lot. BUT you can also just use free editing softwares.

If you spend some money then I’ll use Premiere Pro as an example because that is the one I used in the past. Side note here, I don’t edit any more and I have no idea what new fantastic editing softwares or apps are out there now, especially with AI.

You can get a one month subscription for $60 (they usually have deals) and get it only for a month. Don’t get tricked into a year unless you will edit every single month for the next year.

Plan out your edit.

It’s better to plan out your film and how you will edit it, even before you get that one month subscription. You want to make sure the day you spend money you are ready to move quickly on your edit.

Also, prior to editing, make a list of techniques you want to put in your film. Find tutorials for them first, add them to a document or note to come back to later. You don’t want to be hunting for all kinds of tutorials in that month of editing because it will be a waste of time. Think of it like this, that subscription is costing you $2 a day, do you want to use that $2 wisely.

Now when you are in your edit and you want to try to implement a specific technique, you just quickly pull the link of the tutorial up from your notes app and you are ready to go.

It’s all about efficiency in getting the most out of the money you spend. This also helps put a deadline up against yourself if you only want to pay for the subscription for one month. As many filmmakers will attest to, it is easy to get lost in the edit for many many months. It’s the one place where you have complete control and infinite possibilities which can actually be a crippling detriment for filmmakers.

Give yourself that one month and then get out.

I won’t dive much more into this, but the same can be said for VFX and other effects. There are a lot of simple plug ins and free assets that you can put into your film. Do your research beforehand and figure out what it is you want to do. It could be smoke, it could be day for night, it could be an explosion, it could even be an interesting way to cut from one scene to the next. Plan it all out before hand and see if you can find the assets or tutorials as cheaply or free as possible. Like editing softwares, there are a lot of great apps and other tools out there.

Is It Truly A Film If No One Sees It?

Now this isn’t to say that if no one watches your movie, you haven’t succeeded, but to say - what is the point of making a movie if you don’t share it with anyone.

Sort of like the classic philosophical thought experiment: If a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a noise?

You want to get your film out there.

Of everything else, this is what I wish I had in 2002. This is what most filmmakers take for granted.

I wish I had distribution. I wish I could have easily just released my films to the world. For some reason, this is the reason filmmakers don’t even start making their films because they don’t think they can get it distributed. Maybe you are too focused on film festivals, or streamers, or even theaters. When your first focus should be YouTube. The instantly free worldwide distribution platform.

This is your first film or maybe a second or third film, but the goal is to make it and make it for as little as possible, like $1000. Then the goal is to get it out there for people to see.

Be okay with the fact that you probably won’t get a lot of viewers. You will probably have a small audience. There are films made for a $1 million on streamers that very few people have seen.

Don’t worry about getting the most people to see your film, just focus on getting it out there so that people have the possibility to see your film.

Pro tip:

Everyday record some behind the scenes/making of for your film and solutions for how you are resolving various problems like filming on your phone or capturing audio or editing techniques.

Share that content across your social media, this is content that will educate viewers while also promoting your film which in turn allows you to build an audience. The audience will be more inclined to watch your film because they had an authentic connection with you, watching you struggle but passionately put your movie together.

Don’t Let Money Hold You Back From Making Your Film

That film will now be a part of your career into becoming an indie filmmaker and pursuing your passion of being a filmmaker.

This edition of The Movie Revolution is possible thanks to the affiliate SoCreate Screenwriting Software. Use code TYLERMREID to get $20 off your annual subscription.

If you are interested in advertising yourself or company to over 1,100 filmmaker professionals and enthusiasts by sponsoring this newsletter, reply back to this email.