1. Write about what you want from this studio. What do you think this studio is? Outline your goals and desires. Consider the Studio Prompt, Brief and Aims.
When this studio became available to me, I instantly got excited about its content and teachings. Often we only see the final product of a film which always left me wondering how much work had been done behind the scenes? ‘Production on a shoestring’ as a studio is here to help me understand the process of making a film on a ‘microbudget’, everything from pre-production, production to post production.
From making my own little short films here and there I already knew the reality of making a film to a degree and have some lost self esteem to take on new projects of a bigger scale because of the amount of elements and problems that arise when doing everything on your own. That’s why the aims of this studio really drew me in, promising to teach us the processes and steps to create a script that can be created on a ‘microbudget’ in full confidence.
For me I’m working towards a career in a creative industry and leaning towards producer type roles, therefore I want to expand my knowledge and be inspired on how to make quality projects without the fear and limitations of costs. I think this studio will inspire some great outside the box thinking in order to create successful projects. I really want to know the reality behind filmmaking, therefore, I want to go through all the processes and elements behind filmmaking such as outlining all the costs, scheduling and understanding what is plausible to make. A big desire that I have coming into this studio is to get a vest for filmmaking again. I have somewhat lost this over the course of my degree and I feel like this class has the potential to inspire as well as show the reality of filmmaking and its challenges. Therefore, I feel like this studio will really push me to be more creative, especially when I will have a ‘microbudget’ script to show for it at the end, something that I could potentially create into a future project!
2. Reflect on the findings from class exercises and homework (choose 2)
2a. The class exercise we did on ‘microbudget’ short films was particularly insightful. Our group chose the short film “Wake Up” dir. By Olivia Wilde to respond to the prompt; what might’ve been the costs and why? As a group we sort to organise and identify each element of the short film into different categories such as locations, actors/extras, props/costume, production and post production. After that we explained why each of these identified elements would cost money and why. This exercise was relatively simple to do but since it was a high production short film there were many elements to list, however, the really important part of this exercise was sharing our findings to the rest of the class. By sharing our findings it invited our classmates to offer any things we had missed or not accounted for. This is when I became aware of the hidden costs and things I haven’t considered. Some of these findings included some admin costs such as liability insurance, council permissions and working with children’s check. Some classmates also drew my attention to safety consideration for small scenes in the short film that involved the actor leaning over the railing, riding the carousel and the more obvious stunt car accident. Another realisation is that night time scenes would require a huge cost to lighting and that this was a compromise made in comparison to costs that would’ve had to be made in traffic control and crowd control.
There was another group’s analysis of a short film shared that compared to ours had a very low ‘microbudget’. It stuck out to me cause I didn’t understand how such a low budget film could be the most engaging for me compared to the higher cost films? This is where I discovered the importance of being creative to deliver high production value. The short film had a minimal set up and was able to get away with this but using extreme close ups which keep the other elements of cost down all the while creating great engagement and intensity of emotion. Therefore my main discoveries from this exercise is that filmmaking is all about balancing and weighing up costs in conjunction to production value. In many ways I am inspired to rethink how I can creatively use production elements to my advantage in order to reduce costs and begin developing my own creative voice.
2b. The second exercise I’m reflecting on is a group task where we were given the following prompt to plan our approach in making this a successful micro budget short film:
Prompt: A person is trapped inside their apartment while a war rages outside. They must figure out how to escape by trying to contract the outside world, and confront the threat of evil outside their door.
With production value and costs in mind our group quickly jumped at the one location, one actor approach. Limiting the location to one room or setting and needing only one actor helps to kept transport to location, technical and production design setups and wages to a minimum cost. Another big focus was on sound design where the war didn’t necessarily need to be seen instead it could be heard, therefore a important part of the budget would need to be given to potential rights and a good sound tech. Another idea discussed was creating a very controlled lighting set up with an almost basement type setting with free lamps or fluorescent lighting resources used. Although lighting could be a potential cost if not sourced free, the controlled set up would allow for shorter scheduling production costs with shots not having to rely on natural lighting and instead give perfect continuity. Lastly, a consideration was given to creatively using extreme to medium close ups in order to evoke suspense. Not only does this add to the genre of the short film but means that there can be minimal set up costs as not many props will be in frame.
Overall the main discovery from this exercise was understanding the power of sound design, how it can create images within the audience’s imagination without necessarily needing to show them what was happening. Also from other classmates comments it seemed apparent that sound can be the biggest make or break of a film if you don’t invest in a good sound person.
3. The initiative post – This post is for you to research and write on anything related to the aims of the course.
When looking into my research component I wanted to focus on the studio’s aim of creating a ‘microbudget’ film without decreasing a film’s production value. With a microbudget you often need to be quite realistic on what can be achieved and prioritise certain elements of your film. So with that in mind, I wondered where is it important to save costs and how you can creatively succeed under such constraints?
In looking to answer these questions I decided to take a closer look at the Danish film The Guilty (2018) dir. By Gustav Moller. Many critics have recognised this 85 minute film as ‘a master class of tension’ that ‘thrives off its single-location premise’. This film has a great concept crafted from a microbudget that was skilfully structured around a well thought out narrative and script. It won multiple awards including audience awards at the Rotterdam and Sundance film festivals.
Moller stumbled upon his idea when he came across a YouTube clip of a real 911 call and straight away was gripped by its suspense, stating that “ I felt like I [had] seen images by only listening to sound… and then the real fascination started when I realised that everyone would have seen different images”. Already Moller had realised the power of sound, from just a few audio clips a whole scenario had played out in his head, realising this is something that could be utilised in his own debut film. It comes back to the understanding that from the previous exercise that things don’t necessarily need to be seen, they can be heard. Since this was a ‘microbudget’ film, the crew had to get creative, confining their film to the walls of a small office and while the voices from the calls explained the events that were unfolding. I was very impressed on how this works to incite active participation from the viewers by getting them to imagine the scenario in their head.
The whole basis of his film was centred around the need to make it fast and on a low budget which ultimately became the strengths of this film. So how was this film shot and what would have cost the most? The director disclosed that the production was shot over 13 days, with a longer time frame used for the sound in post-production with rerecording of voice. It was shot in chronical order often with 5 to 35 min takes at a time. This had the ability to be done quite quickly with the use of real calls being coordinated by the director through multiple monitors. Therefore it is safe to say that a lot of the budget focus would’ve been in the sound tech and sound design, as well as the cost of their main actor with the long takes of screen time and rerecording of voice. However, by using the all ‘reliable’ Jakob Cedergren (an actor that is pretty well known) they were able to focus on delivering a very intimate suspenseful performance to their audience. Personally, I also believe the pre-production of the film would have been quite costly with the director’s co-writer and producer (unless they were working for free or on a small wage) because a lot of time would have been docked into the creating and planning of this film. However, a cost well spent considering the film’s execution on scheduling and high production value.
In conjunction to this, many costs would have been saved by the one location used. Its drab lighting and set design of the call centre office helped to create an atmosphere that didn’t detect from the performance of Cedergren. The “peering, invasive close ups… with tight-nerved physical and vocal intensity” performances allowed for a minimalist set up. Lastly, the lighting was also very controlled with artificial lighting sources giving space for very long takes with perfect continuity and a quick production schedule.
On a side note Moller mentioned that he also sourced a lot of his inspiration from true crime podcasts in learning how to structure his narrative with good pacing and plot twists. When I heard this I was very inspired to pick specific genres and listen to podcast stories, to learn how they structure narrative and utilise voice in order to incite the audience’s imagination. Overall from this research I have learnt to really consider the power of sound within my own script and how I can make it work on a microbudget. This research has also shown how you can make a one location, one actor type film really work to your advantage and is a good premise to consider in my microbudget script. However. If I am to take anything away for this it is to always get creative with production elements and think outside the box!
References:
Film At Lincoln Centre, ‘The Guilty’ Q&A Gustav Moller 2018, YouTube, 18 April, viewed on the 16 March 2022 <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jhk3bq-2rpk>
The Guilty 2018, film, Magnolia Pictures, SBS on demand, dir. by Gustav Moller, viewed on the 11 march 2022
Reuters 2019, ‘The Guilty’: High-Concept, Low-Budget, Muscle-Tensing Thriller, SBS article, viewed on the 17 March 2022 <https://www.sbs.com.au/movies/article/2018/01/20/guilty-high-concept-low-budget-muscle-tensing-thriller>