RESEARCH: Low Budget film making

A low-budget film is a motion picture shot with little or no funding at all from a major film studio or any other private investor. Many independent films (e.g. One Day) are made on a low budget. In addition to this, films with inexperienced or unknown filmmakers can also have low budgets. Many young or first time filmmakers shoot low-budget films to prove their talent before doing bigger productions. There are five key stages that take place throughout film production; development, pre-production, production, post-production and distribution. Directors have very varying costs depending on their reputation within the industry. Factors that influence the budget of a film are:

CAST AND CREW: Actors are categorized into lists depending on whether they’re popular or unpopular movie stars. They will be put into one of the following lists; into A+, A, B+, B, C, and D listings. A-list is a term associated with major movie stars, or the most bankable in the Hollywood film industry or to major recording artists of successful film directors. Less popular persons and current teen idols are referred to as “B-List” or “C-List”. D-List is the lowest rating. Many actors who are unable to achieve or maintain a solid acting career find themselves on the D-List. Some celebrities and actors begin their careers in this way and eventually rise in fame to upper levels of the B-List or even the A-List. Low budget films are less likely to have A-List actors such as Leonardo DiCaprio and Ryan Gosling, as it would be impossible for them to have these actors in a film as well as have a low budget. Low budget films are more likely to have less known actors and directors for the film as these will be within their budget.

PROMOTION: The promotion of a film is one of the most important aspects that take place before the film is released and distributed into cinemas and onto DVD's. When a movie is made, the film crew start promoting it through various means such as advertisements, websites, TV etc. which includes spending lots of money. Promotion involves ‘paid for above the line’, which will be funded as part of a project, such as billboards, posters and various spin-offs which are of mutual benefit to the film and another commercial agency. Promotion also includes ‘paid for below the line’ this is not paid for; this includes promotion such as word of mouth. It is crucial not to see the film promotion as a helpful stage in the life of a film whereby distributor’s treat all films equally and ensure fair play in getting films to the public’s attention. It is a lot easier for larger distribution companies as major companies can afford to produce far more prints, knowing the expensive outlay of funds at this stage will be worth in relation to the box office returns.

A small company producing a less commercial product cannot afford to do that, so people who do want to see ‘alternative films’ often have to wait until their local independent cinema has a print, and often there is little choice over when and where to see it. However, this dynamic technique of distribution does show a studio control industry that has forced smaller directors and production companies to find new ways to try and compete with the studios marketing and distributing, this therefore proves that a large proportion of a film’s success is reliant on the production, marketing and distribution of a film. However, films with big budgets are not always successful. An example of this is when Disney produced and distributed the film “Loan Ranger”. The film had a big budget because it was distributed by Disney they expected it to be successful but it failed. The film made a loss of $190 million. Their distribution company was not successful in reaching their target audience because it was a niche film made for a global audience and they were aiming their film at the wrong target audience. This gives hope to smaller distribution companies producing less commercial films that their films can be successful, if they are marketed in the right way within their budget and they aim their films at the right target audience.

LOCATION: The more locations you want to film, the more expensive the film will be. The more days you want to film over, the more expensive the film will be. If you are filming in more than one place, it is going to be more expensive. For example, Skyfall was filmed in many different countries and therefore they had a bigger budget. Low budget films are more likely to have their film set in one location or one city as these costs less money. In addition to this, you also have to pay for all the crew to travel, which would cost more money.

EQUIPMENT: The more cameras, crew and equipment your story requires, the more expensive the daily filming costs will be.  Equipment would include cameras and tripods etc. This is an important aspect because without these you can’t effectively produce the film. Low budget films are more likely to have lower quality cameras than high budget films as they need to keep within their budget.

PROPS: Depending on the genre of movie that is being made, all of them will have props in them. This also includes actual sets.  

SCRIPT WRITERS: Reasonably good screenwriters will be needed in order to increase the chance that the film will be a commercial success. Script writers will probably cost a lot more for a low budget film because although it is low budget to produce the film, the story line still needs to be good in order for people to want to go and watch the film.

EDITING: Editing and post-production is the longest part of film production. Many more hours are put into editing the film than filming it, so they need to consider carefully how complex their story and editing needs are.

COSTUME AND MAKEUP: For low budget films, not many designer labels would be used, if any. The film would still need to pay for clothes and make up for the actors. 

I decided to compare a high budget and a low budget film. The films that I am comparing are Harry potter, which is a high budget film and monsters, which is a low budget film.

Production Costs:

Harry potter- 125m (estimated), Warner bros, HeyDay Gilms, 1492 pictures. All three of these production companies are massively successful and have each produced 25+ films. This really says something about the scale of the first harry potter film, it shows how much money was put into the film, and how large they wanted / Expected the series to become.
Monsters – 500k (only 15,000 of that money was spent on filming equipment)Vertigo films. Although this company has produced over 45 films, all of them had budgets under 1 million and all of them were British. The budgets of all other films produced by this company combined adds up to less than the budget of the first harry potter film, this puts the difference between the two films into perspective. 

Staff Involved:

Harry Potter-Production companies (3), Distributors (57), Special effects (13), Unlike most films with a huge budget, the three main characters in the first harry potter film were not widely known at the time, this was because they were all young actors, this instantly changes once the film was released all over the world. Monsters- production Companies-(1), other companies (13)The actors who played the main characters both has a history of acting before this film, although neither of them starred in many big films and if they did they were far from main characters. Almost all of the extras seen in the film were people who happened to be at the location, a lot of them did not give permission for filming. 

Even if a film does have a low budget, they can still be successful. Two examples of this are Paranormal Activity and The Blair Witch Project

The Blair Witch Project:

Directed by- Daniel Myrick & Eduardo Sanchez

Produced by- Gregg Hale & Robin Cowie

Production Company- Haxan films

Distributed by-Artisan Entertainment

Budget- $22,500

Box Office- $248, 639, 099

The Blair witch project is a 1999 American found footage horror film. The film relates to the story of three student film makers who disappeared while hiking in the Black Hills near Maryland in 1994 to film a documentary about a local legend known as the Blair witch. The viewers are told the three were never seen or heard from again. However, their video and sound equipment was discovered with most of the footage they shot. The film received enormously positive reception from critics, making it one of the most successful independent movies of all time. The improvised performance added to the unsettling realism and also saved money in the $22,500 budget. Sánchez and Myrick were aiming for a cable movie at most and after grossing a surprising $248,639,099 million worldwide, they had brought found footage-style films to the mainstream. Overall, The Blair Witch Project had the second highest return on investment of any film. The publicity campaign for The Blair Witch Project was simply the most inventive, terrifying and successful campaign in film history. Part of the reason for its success was the first film to be widely marketed online. The website provided point of reference for people to refer to. Another reason for its success was that it created a feeling of uncertainty in people’s minds. Were they actual people?  Had they really disappeared? At this time fake documentaries were uncommon and unknown to people, whereas today due to the developments in technology a simple search online would reveal in minutes that the events were not real.  

Paranormal Activity:

Directed By- Oren Peli

Produced by-Oren Peli

Production Company- Blumhouse Productions

Distributed By- Paramount Pictures

Budget- $15,000

Box Office- $193, 335, 800

Armed with a standard home video camera, $15,000 dollars, two actors, and no script, Oren Peli created a supernatural sensation in 2007. The first-time filmmaker shot Paranormal Activity in his own home over a seven-day period and screened it at a horror film festival where it gained industry attention. Before he knew it, his little movie about ghosts haunting a young couple in their home was picked up by Paramount. It became the first major motion picture to utilize viral marketing and has since replaced the Saw franchise as the theatrically featured Halloween series. To date, Paranormal Activity has grossed over $190 million worldwide. The film grossed more than $500,000, the weekend of October 2^nd, after being shown exclusively at midnight in 12 markets, including five sold-out screenings in Los Angeles. They used social media as a marketing vehicle as well as a market-research vehicle, which was a major advantage for them.