My movie, Rebecca, was posted today. I had a budget of 0 dollars, and according to Michael, I need to spend thousands of dollars to buy more equipment in order to make my movie better. That is why he rated my movie so poorly. I made this movie when I was in 8th grade, using my old cheap video camera. PLEASE...In the future, can we look deeper into the film itself instead of whats on the outside: millions of dollars wasted on professionsal new video equipment?? Movies...well, my movies at least, are supposed to be a mirror into my soul...expensive crap shouldn't matter.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: shmoodles17,

I saw the movie... and it wasnt so bad. Its almost identical to a movie I made once. I also so think they were a little harsh on rating your movie. Save your money for equipment...and your fine. But we both know money cant buy talent.

You're absolutley rite! There are great films that have low/ or no budget at all. For example...the movie Halloween was so low budget that they had to resuse used leaves for later scenes. Yes, good equipment it good to have and it may make the quality of the picture or sound better, but a good film doesn't rely on good equipment. A good film is good b/c of a solid story, great acting, great camera movements, good lighting(even if its just household lights) and a good vision.
Piccaso didn't spend thousands of dollars to make art. He just used what he could afford(which wasn't expensive). He made something that is a wonderful piece of art.
Just added some of my 2cents.

who is michael anyways?!?!?

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What the? Why was that posted and why are you looking up piglet. He's a loser. Tigger was cool. And the rabbit. And the gopher. Christopher Robin is such a girl. Who gave piglet his own film anyway???

Yeah that whole "you need to spend more money" thing is crap. Use what you can afford. A good camera does not equal a good film.

I would have to disagree... money does matter but in an indirect sort of way.

Money indirectly makes the quality of the movie betterWith money you can hire people that know a lot more about lighting/special effects/set building/etc. Instead of having to buy all this software/lighting equipment/etc. yourself you can just hire someone else to do the job for you. They know what they are doing and how to do it. Because they know a lot more than you know and have equipment you dont have, the movie is a whole lot better quality. Money hires good actors that can connect with the audience and make the performances and characters believable. With money you can make the huge, expensive set you need. Money makes movie production faster and more efficient. While the director, actors, crews, etc. (who are getting paid) are filming one scene, there are sound technicians (who are getting paid) recording sound, and editors (who are getting paid) editing the previous scene, and there are advertising agents (who are also paid) who are working on a movie poster design. Instead of one person trying to work in every department because they dont have the money to hire other people, so they do the work themself and it takes considerably more time.

If you can get good quality without spending any money, than go for it. But most of the times, people with not a lot of money write huge, special effects-ridden scripts for movies that would require large budgets. So when they try to create these huge movies with a small budget it usually ends up looking fake and frankly sometimes bad. Again, if you are capable of making a quality movie without spending any money... I commend you. Sometimes its better to do something simple and do it perfect, than to do something complicated and not do a good job on it because it is beyond your financial or experiential capabilities.

Im not saying small budget is bad. My productions generally have relatively small budgets (somewhere around $1000) But I can still get good quality, because most of the things that people spend money on in films, I get for free. Ive made contacts. I have free acess to lighting/gaffers, sound studios, computer animation/editing machines, set designers, and others. Instead of me paying for my own lighting equipment, and my own sound recording equipment, and my own software, I have made contacts with other people that have that equipment. So I manage to stick with a small budget, but if instead I bought all that equipment for myself, I would be spending a considerably larger amount of money. All this is just to say that if you can make something quality with a small budget, go for it.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: braininabox,

But you have to remember brain, that this is a student site. Alot of the members can't afford such things.

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Originally posted by filmmakerfromwv:
But you have to remember brain, that this is a student site. Alot of the members can't afford such things.

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What is there that they cant afford? Its just making contacts with people that have things that you do not have. There is someone out there who owns a really nice camera, but does not have any other equipment. There is a person out there who knows a band that has a recording studio. There is an student editor out there who owns all the software and has a lot of skill, but he doesnt have a nice camera. There is a writer out there who has no place to send his ideas. There is someone out there who has a father that is a photographer and owns a lot of lighting equipment. None of these people can do very much on there own. But if they all join together, they can make something many times better than what they can accomplish by themselves. Too many times in the credits of student films I see: the director, editor, screenwriter, gaffer, producer, cinematographer, lead actor, be all the same person. My point is that an alternative so spending a lot of money is making mutual contacts with other people that have something you dont.

All of these people only have one thing in common...they don't know each other. Other than a friend who knows a band and whatnot. Do you really think that if this friend that you know of who knows of a band that has a recording studio will allow someone they have no clue who they are to use it? Now if it was a company, that is different b/c a company has the permits and the wavers to fill out. Do you really believe that there is someone out there who has a father who is a photographer who owns lots of lighting equipment would allow a student filmmaker who he has no clue who he/she is to let them use HIS equipment. Even if its a friend of his daughters/son, most likely not. If everyone knew these people, why would we need rental places? Why would we need studio's? Just saying that it is hard to find someone that will ALLOW you to use all of their software. That will ALLOW you to use their lighting equipment. That will ALLOW you to use their recording studio. Even if they would ALLOW you to use it, i'm sure there would be some type of cash involved.

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Originally posted by filmmakerfromwv:
All of these people only have one thing in common...they don't know each other. Other than a friend who knows a band and whatnot. Do you really think that if this friend that you know of who knows of a band that has a recording studio will allow someone they have no clue who they are to use it? Now if it was a company, that is different b/c a company has the permits and the wavers to fill out. Do you really believe that there is someone out there who has a father who is a photographer who owns lots of lighting equipment would allow a student filmmaker who he has no clue who he/she is to let them use HIS equipment. Even if its a friend of his daughters/son, most likely not. If everyone knew these people, why would we need rental places? Why would we need studio's? Just saying that it is hard to find someone that will ALLOW you to use all of their software. That will ALLOW you to use their lighting equipment. That will ALLOW you to use their recording studio. Even if they would ALLOW you to use it, i'm sure there would be some type of cash involved.

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Actually... all the examples I gave were personal examples. True stories that have happened to me. They let me use their possessions because they know me on a personal basis.

Dude, you make movies and keep making movies. I applaud you for having a pretty good story and shooting on a crap camera. I wish i started off like that. i just wrote and wrote until i got a good camera.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Studentfilms.com,

I still feel "El Mariachi" is Rodriguez's best film, and it's because of the low budget. The way he had to shoot and edit it showed a tremendous amount of preperation and planning that is better than any sized budget. If anything, I wish he would go back to doing his films in that style and fasion.

Who really cares what kind of equiptment you have. If you're having fun that's all that really matters.

EXACTLY!!!!!!!!!!!!! THANK YOU

Its one thing if you are filming for fun, its another thing if you are filming for a specific purpose.

i think that all filming SHOULD be fun, even though I know that's not always the case. sometimes it's something that can't be helped, but other times it just trying to be over professional. i tried writing scripts, getting people involved, it wasn't that much fun, cause people generally aren't all that interested, so it didn't work out that great at all, then i realized "wow i just missed a whole freaking step in the filmmaking process." I had completely tried to skip the go out and shoot and edit step. i just got done reading "rebel without a crew" last night (even though i realized my error far before that), and i wished that i had read that book right as soon as i was getting into filmmaking. so my new plan is go out and shoot as much crap as i can. it's all about experiementation, if you skip that step you're lost. i was lost. don't do it, not much fun.

But fun should not be the purpose of all filmmaking. There have been movies where the director gets 2 hours of sleep then gets up at 3 in the morning to shot for 8 hours without a break in the scorching heat. Not necessarily fun. Theres a big difference between filmmaking for fun and having fun filmmaking.

Yeah i know, that's why i said "that's not always the case". But at the stage in the game that most people are at right now, i don't see the importance of trying to be super professional, sure you want the best movie you can make, but being "professional" is not always the best way to get the best movie you can make. i love watching movies on this site that you can tell people really put work into, moreso than a "emo" love story that was well shot, lit, edited, whatnot.

i'm not at all trying to condone anyone that is trying to make professional films, just trying to state the importance of having fun while you make your movies. if you're not having fun, you're going to get burnt out eventually.

i'm sure those directors don't have "fun", but i do think those directors still love what they do. and the ones that don't, they're the ones that are making the crappy hollywood movies.

Now that we are on the same page... I agree with you. Obviously you cant go from "no experience amateur" to "experienced professional" in a day. Basically my whole point in this thread (though filled with rabbit trails) was that money does matter. Hollywood uses money to make more money. Its hard to make money without having any money to start off with.