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Truly Free Film

Open Calls vs. Closed Doors

Over the past years I directed two no(?)-micro(?)-low(?)-budget (what’s the latest on who qualifies?) features and a dozen short films and almost every time I held open community meetings seeking the public’s support.  I didn’t think this was anything special but the producers on Free in Deed asked me to describe the rationale for running ‘Open Call Info Sessions’ to the community on low-budget projects instead of traditional ‘closed-door auditions’.

FreeInDeed_Still

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Truly Free Film

BondIt: The Difficulties & Realities of Producing Films at $1M & Below

By Luke Taylor & Matthew Helderman
 
UploadAs every facet of the film industry has experienced, the digital era has drastically shifted the economics of how films are produced, marketed, and distributed. Camera technology has reached a level that provides filmmakers at any stage of their career the ability to produce content with the potential of landing a fruitful distribution deal as the world has witnessed with films such as Beast of The Southern Wild, Like Crazy, Another Earth, and Martha Marcy May Marlene – all produced at 1M or under and distributed theatrically through studios. 
  
The financial ease of production that has developed over the past decade has increased the volume of films produced on an annual basis from 2,000-8,000 – creating a financial ripple effect in the production industry as labor rates, rental rates, and talent salaries continue to decline.

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Truly Free Film

BondIt: The Rise of Entertainment Union Deposits/Bonds & A New Solution to the Protocol

Ted’s notes: Today begins the 3rd in our offerings of detailed glimpses at how filmmakers are now looking beyond themselves to find solutions for all of us (the others being the Kinonation and IndieStreet columns). I spoke with the BondIt team and was very impressed with what they are offering and the path they’ve taken to launch it.  We will all benefit and learn from their efforts. We can build it better together ( (and now ARE).
 
By Matthew Helderman & Luke Taylor
 
UploadThe shifting of the global economy in 2008 changed the film business in obvious ways — budgets were slashed across the board, distribution outlets faltered internationally and multi-national conglomerates that owned and operated studios no longer saw a viable risk in the intimate, quirky and character centric independent films of the 1990’s and early 2000’s.
  
As the recovering economy slowly progressed towards the “new economy”, the film business saw smaller productions at the $500,000 and below range begin sprouting up intensely. From a few thousand films produced per year in the early 2000’s to nearly eight thousand feature films produced in 2013 — there was a major increase in content creation and with it a slew of production issues.

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Truly Free Film

Filmmaking with a Crew of One: Paolo Benetazzo’s Study

By Paolo Benetazzo

Push  The  Boundaries  of  Your  Creativity: How I Made the Film Study

Filmmaking  is  my  day-long  obsession,  joy  and  torment

When  you  can’t  see  the  line  between  fiction  and  reality,  filmmaking  becomes  your  lifestyle.

I  was  a  psychology  student  when  I  came  up  with  the  concept  behind  my  feature  film  directorial  debut  Study.  During  my  final   year   at   university   I   was   involved   in   a   number   of   film   projects,   including   short   films   and   documentaries.   I   didn’t   have   full   artistic  control.  I  had  to  compromise  my  vision  for  the  sake  of  the  team  and  that  was  the  only  way  to  get  it  done.

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When  you  don’t  want  to  share  your  vision  with  others  I  think  you’re  ready  to  make  your  full-­length  film,  no  matter  what  your   budget  is.  I  would rather  make  a  low  budget  film  instead  of  collecting  short  films  or  waiting  for  the  great  opportunity  that  might never  come.  It’s  going  to  be  risky,  painful  and  insane  but  that’s  how  real  indie  films  are  made.

I’m  a  self‐taught  filmmaker,  I’ve  never  attended  a  film  school.  Watching  films  along  with  real  life  experience  represents  the  film   school  par  excellence  in  my  opinion.  Films  are  the  greatest  teachers  of  all;  they  are  an  endless  source  of  learning.

The  Open  Screenplay     

Fascinated  by  the  study  of  psychology  and  its  impact  on  modern  life,  I  decided  to  explore  my  studies  in  a  feature  film.  Once  I graduated  in  Psychology,  I  moved  to  Ireland  where  I  started  writing  the  script  in  English.  

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Truly Free Film

How I Learned to Stop Whining and Love the Game

by Katherine Bruens

I work professionally as a Producer and Production Manager in the advertising industry and independent film world here in San Francisco. I am also one half of a partnership that has produced three micro budget features here. Rather than become frustrated that the market in San Francisco has demanded that I spread my attention between these three worlds, I’ve embraced this hybrid.  This market gives me a way not only to maintain my freedom to usher forward new personally driven works, but it also allows me to produce media through a broad spectrum of strategies, sometimes with vastly different amounts of money. What’s more, in the end these projects are all trying to achieve a similar result.

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Truly Free Film

Just The Start — Microbudget filmmaking in the UK

by Tristan Goligher

In the UK micro budget films are often sneered at, often derided, and often rightly so. It is a fair criticism that many of these films can be high in over indulgence, and low in technical execution. But increasingly, over recent years, micro budget film makers are proving to be amongst the most exciting and innovative of emerging talent. In the states this grass roots creative movement has been evident for some time, giving birth to film makers like Kelly Reichardt, Andrew Bujalski, and Joe Swanberg, to mention just a few. Now it seems that we, the British, are catching on too. Change is in the air, and momentum is gathering. 

 

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These Are Those Things

Gareth Edwards’ MONSTERS Is A Microbudget How To Model

I recently had the great pleasure of watching MONSTERS.  I enjoyed the movie on many levels, including that it is just good fun.  But what I really loved was how well micro-budget production techniques enabled good story telling.  In my raving about this, Jonathan Stromberg responded and pointed me to his far better articulated post on the same subject.  What follows is his first two paragraphs in CineSpect , but check out the whole post here.

The following review is partially adapted from a workshop I gave to film students at the State University of New York at Purchase College on 6 October 2010.

“Monsters”, the debut feature of writer/director Gareth Edwards, is, from the point of view of a spectator, an imperfect film. It is, however, from the point of view of a filmmaker, one of the most exciting releases I’ve seen this year. Edwards’s production reads like a map for young filmmakers, marking pitfalls with his struggles and showing a way forward with his successes. “Monsters” is one of the clearest case studies yet for the challenges—and advantages—of micro-budget filmmaking.

The ostensible auteur Edwards approached his first feature from his background in visual effects and documentary television. In some ways, this spelled destiny for the production style of “Monsters.” The narrative is basically theatrical, but the shooting style is strongly influenced by the production necessities of non-fiction television. For example, the film has no script per se. Edwards shot using scene outlines and necessary plot points but allowed his cast, Whitney Able and Scoot McNairy, to improvise freely within the scene. The apparent production doctrine was for Edwards, also the cinematographer, to shoot the scene multiple times from different angles to get broad coverage of every beat. The film in this way develops a signature somewhat different from more traditional narrative constructions. Edwards foregoes the “establishing wide then punch in for medium shots and close ups” archetype for something that ends up more like a multi-camera shoot. The angles in any particular scene are more varied, but also less predictable. In documentary television we—I work in non-fiction television as well—often shoot this way. In this way, a decision regarding the mode of production has significant impact on the film’s aesthetic, for better or worse, in a way that contrasts it to traditional productions.