LADIES AND GENTLEMEN: SHOOTING ON A MICRO MICRO-BUDGET
Right from the outset we knew this project was going to be a guerilla undertaking. We always had minimal budget for hiring lights, equipment. Everyone on the project is working for free. This has major implications for how you work. When you are crewing up, you are at the mercy of whoever you can get hold of to give you their time while simultaneously considering whether they’re actually any good or not.
I work regularly with a couple of DOPs (Carl Burke and Benedict Spence. Do anything you can to work with them if you’re in the UK they are both outstanding.) Sadly, even though I have a good relationship with the both of them, the were unable to commit to the project.
I rely heavily on my DOP, constantly bouncing ideas off them and coming to a consensus about how to balance speed against quality. Working with new people is always a bit of a lottery. My art director is another key member of my team. Again, I have people I work with regularly, none of whom could commit to the project. That’s just the reality of guerilla production. We ended up with a crew that is pretty young, but they’re enthusiastic and knowledgeable. It makes such a difference.
We’re constantly juggling the budget trying to keep our costs down. Lighting is a category we watch most closely. Our first weekend was slow, which meant we had to cut a couple of scenes. The scenes are being rescheduled, but if we have any more slow days then we’re going to be seriously over budget. This forces you to be creative.
Instead of doing my normal coverage on scenes I’m now looking for simpler setups that carry more of the burden of telling the story. That means being better prepared, and working towards more master shot coverage and less overlapping coverage. A master shot is a single shot that covers the whole action of a scene. At its most basic it is a simple wide shot of a scene. The master shot used to mean a single wide shot that covered all the action and all the actors and works very much like being an audience member in the theatre. These days master shots are much more involved and elaborate and can be very powerful. They are the foundations of your edit, the shots you use to tell the majority of your story, punching into a closeup when appropriate. When done well, they are much more beautiful and elegant than the simple wide shot. Moving the camera to follow the action, playing the role of establishing shot, closeup and over the shoulder coverage all in a single unbroken take. The film ‘Let the Right One In’ is a beautiful example of being bold enough to let master shots carry a film. The effect can be incredibly engaging as it effectively imitates the way we see and process the world around us.
On the first weekend of our shoot I covered our scenes the way I would cover a music video, designing the piece so I had a slew of options in the edit. On this production we don’t have the speed in the crew to shoot that way. This second weekend I’ve designed fewer shots and taken the bold step of covering myself much more with master shots. You need your actors, your set design, your lighting and your operating to be top notch when doing this, but I’m sure we’ll get it right. We better get it right, there is no alternative.
One of the other ways we save money on production is by getting sponsorship from manufacturers by way of in-kind support. That means getting stuff for free. When approaching companies you have to make it worth their while to give you stuff. They’ll want you to publicize the project and talk about the equipment however you are able. This includes some kind of banner on a website, or a press pack featuring photos of their gear. Our angle was for me to write extensive blog posts on PhotoCineNews and to be really creative with our behind the scenes material.
Don’t expect everyone to jump on board and give you tons of stuff. That isn’t going to happen. I’m fortunate enough to have a strong relationship with Canon who provided a 5D and a full set of prime lenses. That was a big draw for our current sponsors to get involved. In other words, Canon gave me the currency of credibility. I approached a slew of other companies. Unfortunately I came onto the project late in the day and so there really wasn’t enough time for the admin side of the process to go through before we started shooting.
I was looking for monitor and DSLR rig support. So I approached Zacuto, Redrock, Ikan, SmallHD, Marshall, Shoot35 and a bunch of other companies. Unfortunately it’s summer and most of the loan stock out there is already helping out other productions. Zacuto came to us with a great offer which we weren’t able to take them up on. Brian Valente, who is a very amiable chap, was very supportive and gave us a stack of gear. Ikan were initially very keen but I’ve not heard a peep from them for a couple of weeks.
I was dead keen on trying to get hold of a DP-SLR from Small HD but we’re just too early for that and unfortunately my monitoring situation is one where I could really have used some help. Ikan’s VX7 would have been ideal but it might just be one of those things where I was late getting my emails out to the company.
The secret is to get onto the companies as early as you can in the process and think really hard about how to make it worthwhile for them. I contacted Michael Britt here at PhotoCineNews as early as I could to try and set up a guest blogging spot which he kindly agreed to. Mitch at Planet5D is always open to good indie projects working in this area as well. What I’ve been surprised by is just how willing companies are to help you out and start a conversation. Those relationships are incredibly important and if you look after them and don’t take the piss you’ll be surprised what you’ll end up with. Just recently Bernie Keach from Marshall got in touch after talking to Michael Britt and, were it not for the fact that I’ve actually bought a V-LCD-70XP myself then I’m sure we’d have been able to do something together. The point is, if you put yourself out there and put the time in delivering good content for people then you may well end up being given a great opportunity. How you decide to act on that is your business but always be respectful and don’t take the piss.
At the end of the day this is a very peculiar industry where you really can achieve miracles on a tiny budget but you have to treat people right. Be respectful, feed your crew, finish on time, and look after your sponsors. People don’t mind working for no money but you have to do your part too. Good will is the foundation of all indie filmmaking and once it’s gone, it’s very hard to get it back. So don’t waste it!
