• Budget Analysis and Rationale

It’s a short film that’s completely manageable with a $5,000 budget.
As we can see from our scene breakdown document, we only need two fixed shooting locations. One is a pool area in the backyard and one is a bedroom. As mentioned in the second week of reading, ‘the best locations are the ones you get for free’. If we have no money, the easiest way is to set the location in our home. For this short film project, I will borrow a house with a swimming pool from my friend to complete the shooting. It also could save the budget for the props needed in the bedroom space, such as a bed with beddings, a desk, and a chair.
In the final script, we can clearly read that there are lots of various animal skeletons hanging on the walls of the room. This is not the part of the budget to worry about. I have a taxidermist friend, as an artist, who is willing to lend me the taxidermy as props for free, just by agreeing to add her name and studio at the end of the film.
The shooting times for this project are scheduled during the day and at dusk, so we only need a reflector and no additional lighting is needed. I plan to shoot for two days, one day for the bedroom storyline and one day for the swimming pool scene.
Regarding the main behind-the-scenes personnel post requirements, in addition to photographers, props, and site designers, we also need to hire a wardrobe assistant (Level 2 – $24.3 per hour), an assistant art director (Level 5 – $29.1 per hour) to create artwork, and two effects and sound editors (Level 6 – $31.4 per hour) for post-production.
‘Food can have a serious effect on the morale of a crew’. According to the MPPA, employers shall provide meals or pay allowances as required. And combined with the two shooting periods of this project, we only need to be responsible for the breakfast and lunch of the staff, which is a $38.25 allowance.
WHO KILL ME only requires two kids and two voice actors, no more extras. Convincing my friends to record the voice off-screen is an effective way to save on budget and time costs. Due to the needs of the storyline, this project has to cost $80 per hour to hire a lifesaver. This is a guarantee for the personal safety of the actors.
In addition, this is a short film shot by iPhone. The choice of shooting equipment contributes to a successful microbudget. After analyzing many short films in the past few weeks, we can see that there are many excellent cases of micro-budget shooting with the iPhone. For example, the homework film appreciation TANGERINE in the fourth week.
Overall, the budget for this short film is manageable.

• Creative Statement

Who Kill Me is a micro-budget short film plans to be shot on the iPhone. It will be presented in a flashback narrative structure. In post-production, I will enhance the visual layering of the film through various editing techniques, such as flashback, dissolve, superimposition, slow motion, etc. And the tone of the video is as the reference imagery I showed. The overall style is a dark, suspenseful crime.
In the pre-production schedule, I plan to shoot for two days, one day for the bedroom scene during the day, and one for the swimming pool storyline at dusk. Post-production needs enough time to cross-cut the storylines of the two scenes into flashbacks. In addition, the shooting time is full of light, we do not need additional lighting assistance. The makeup and costume designs are both routine and simple. It is not a bad thing, simple costumes and makeup can make the movie more realistic.
However, in addition to the normal logic scene props, such as a bedroom needs to have a bed and bedding, etc. I add three clue props to extend the space and specificity of the story. That is a variety of animal skeletons hanging all over the wall, an old rabbit doll in a dress, and the water elements, including boiling water and water flowing into the crack of the bedroom door. In the script, the boiling water wets the rabbit doll, to implicitly tell the audience that the death of the character LILY is related to water.
In this micro-budget short, voice actors are a creative setting. It does not need to appear on the screen, but it has the role of narrative, helping the audience to understand the story. And because it does not require superb acting skills, we could get friends to help with dubbing for free.
Sound design dominates this short film. A lot of the sound settings are required for off-screen. That is, the audience cannot see what is happening and can only imagine and understand the source or element of the sound. It adds to the difficulty of sound production, which needs to convey exactly what is happening to the audience. But it cannot be denied that movies with imaginative space are interesting. If the sound can be displayed to the extreme, it will be a practical and creative expression method.
This is a micro-budget short film with special effects. The film tells a story about a boy with a dual personality mental illness who kills his sister and suicide. I have investigated many real stories of people with dual personalities. Most of them can see or hear things in reality that others cannot feel, which is why sound is so important in this short film. In order to highlight the clue of mental illness, I add the need for special effects. Although VFX production costs more money, according to Media Entertainment & Arts Alliance (MEAA), VFX editors are only $31.4 per hour, or we also could just hire $24.3 per hour for animators (level 2).

• Reflection

I hope this micro-budget short film will cause audiences to reflect on domestic violence. While we are scripting around the purpose of microbudget, it should have dissemination implications. Positive positioning of the value of our works is the point for each producer should consider in the early stages of a project. Whom am I speaking for, why me, and what the thought or emotional value do I want to bring to the audience. It is no doubt that the main purport that this studio encourages, is how to achieve a script that is both practical and creative on a limited budget. It is a valuable challenge and necessary learning for producers without financial support.
If there is enough budget to continue developing this short script, I will add some warm memories of the characters in flashback editing. For example, the character has a nice dinner with the family. This can contrast with the plot of the parental characters quarrelling, and the feeling to the audience may be stronger. I will also hire a visual designer to change the tone of the short film. The tone of the current micro-budget short film is a bit monotonous, the visual experience is not strong, and the sense of suspense can only be enhanced by props. But I will still keep the voice actors because the variety of representations enhances the space of the film.
The challenge I faced during the creative process was that the story idea was limited by budget constraints. In the beginning, through brainstorming, I refined the storyline through different lens representations. For example, the scenes of quarrels are expressed off-screen, and what happened is expressed through dialogues and a drawing book. These approaches successfully overcome the underfunding situation. But also because of the budget, I became cautious when I developed the plot deeper, and only dared to use one scene to develop the story. As a result, I received feedback from my tutor and classmates that “the storyline is puzzling and unclear”. To complete the storyline, I used flashback editing techniques to create more scenes and detail the memory line. The script still has flaws in the connection between the storylines, but I have challenged myself and I believe that Who Kill Me is creative. The content presentation of this micro-budget short film is spatial and layered.

 

Referecnce

Hardy, P (2012), Filming on a Microbudget, Oldcastle Books, Harpenden, Herts.

Baldridge, Aimee, 2015,  A Feature Film Shot On IPhones, PDN, Photo District News, United States, New York, Vol. 35, Iss. 7, P 84-86.

Media Entertainment & Arts Alliance, 2021, Motion picture production certified agreement 2010, Media Entertainment & Arts Alliance, viewed 25 May 2022. < https://screenworks.glueup.com/resources/protected/organization/1311/event/40195/2f61ee24-13ff-4822-8a21-bb6ac0b077da.pdf >