I am a Film Student here in the UK and I am starting the second year of my course at University. I realize that without doing something myself outside of University, I will not get anywhere.
So me and friend have talked about producing a film over the past month. We have a storyline and I will start writing the script soon.
We plan to go all out with around a 80min running time and hopefully filming on film rather than DV.
Issues I have so far:
Funding - We can probably get a ?900 grant at most, plus maybe ?750 from each of us. Giving us (best case scenario) a budget of ?2400.
Is this anywhere near enough? We would like to film using Kodak 35mm (if I can source a 35mm camera from University). At ?160 for 400ft this is not cheap. I have sourced lots of cheaper 35mm film stock but it is expired.
Also how many minutes of footage will 400ft of 35mm provide?
Another question about film. If we do go ahead with 35mm (or even 16mm) is it possible to telecine the footage to digital and edit it on a computer? Will this give a lossless result? Telecining is not a problem but I would like to know what outcome it will achieve.
We also plan on getting actors from drama departments of my University and his college. What is the usual deal with this? How much will they want to be paid?
I have access to TV broadcast quality DV cameras and even a HD camera but I really would hate to film using DV.
Have we bitten off more than we can chew? Is the budget anywhere near enough to produce a film of this scale?
Thanks!
I book I am reading right now quotes that 400ft will get you approximately 11 minutes of film time, meaning you would need 8 roles if you were somehow able to get every shot in one take. It is more likely that you will at least want a 3:1 ratio, meaning for every three minutes you will shoot, you will get 1 minute of actual footage that will be in the film, meaning you would need at least 24 cans of film. From your price, that would cost ?3840, which would only be the film stock. That doesn't include all the money you need to develop the film after you shoot.
You also haven't mentioned how you will be recording sound when filming(I guess this doesn't apply if you are shooting a silent film).
Obviously, if you want to be daring, you could shoot at a 2:1 ratio which would cost ?2560 for just the cans of film.
As for actors, you can usually find a surplus of acting students around universities that will be willing to work for free just to get a film credit. And with the type of budget your talking about, you will not be able to afford to pay anyone anything unless you get investors who will back your film.
Personally, I would write a great script, find some good actors who will work for free, rehearse them a lot, get a director of photography or cinematographer who has a lot of experience shooting DV (ask to see some of their work and choose a person whose work seems to somewhat coincide with the look you want your film to have) and then just shoot it with your DV or HD cameras.
While shooting with film may make people give you second to tell them about the movie, if you don't have a quality script and decent actors, it won't matter anyway.
A long time ago I was a film school student too. Back then, we shot on 16mm film but there were a couple of video classes as well. I still remember the first time we saw how beautiful our color film dailies were. We were just as crushed when we saw that fully half the footage was out of focus. Film is a very expensive but rewarding medium that can teach you a lot. The thing I value the most from the film-based part of my education was learning to be very careful with your resources: rehearse A LOT to save footage, get coverage because you can't edit the story without every line and every action, be very careful setting up and blocking your shots. These all great lessons to learn, and I think young filmmakers in the digital age miss them, but I got to learn them on someone else's dime in the form of scholarships and film allotments.
I would have to agree with MovieMagicMan, shoot digitally. You are on the border to even being able to fund this project with 35mm. Shooting digitally gives you a lot better chances for successfully completing your project.
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