How The Camera Has Shot the Big budget!

In the days of the big budget everything was shot on actual film stock. Also, the industries high-quality equipment was slow to become available. Back in the day, cameras were expensive, lighting costs were astronomical and you needed more lights to make the camera look good because they weren't amazing with low-light. These things combined made for a hefty budget.

Now cameras have become standardized. They have become easier to make and more readily available as well. And the quality they can shoot just keeps getting better and better! The fact that these cameras are so available, means that the average joe can either buy them, or rent them for very cheap. This creates a world that didn't recently exist, a world that explodes with content professionally-shot. This, in turn, floods the market and devalues the industry. And just like anything else, when something becomes standard, it becomes cheap. Now when a true professional tries to sell them-self for the prices they used to, they are laughed at and some one cheaper is hired.

With a market that was once eclectic and  shrouded in mystery now becoming mainstream, is the artistic side dying or thriving? Is it good to have everyone make a story? Or should we leave it to the professionals? What's your opinion?

It's been a while!

Hello all,

It's been a while since my last post but I hope everyone enjoyed the series of how to create a great film. 

I was thinking about what my next string of series should be about and my wife suggested a great one, "The age of big budgets is dead!"

In this series we will look at what are some reasons people can do the same quality for less, and how the economy has affected the way business is done and looked at! What are some way the industry has had to change to stay alive when there isn't any money to be had! And what does our future look like!

I look forward to discussing these things and more with you In the next string of posts.

About Our Company

 

About Us

 

We are a company that is determined to produce great videos for our customers. We produce professional videos for client's websites, YouTube pages, TV/Cable commercials and more. Additionally, we also produce music videos, feature films, and the like. We have been producing videos for 5 years and have a very experienced crew. We cover all aspects of production from start to finish. We have many connections with the marketing world to follow up on the backend as well. We also host major events for the entertainment industry, from concerts to film festivals.  We are presently hosting a business networking event/concert at Dave & Busters on June 22^nd. Our next major event will be a film festival this fall.

 

Philanthropy 

 

* We pride ourselves on giving college students the opportunity to work right out of school. Most companies want students to have 3-4 yrs experience when they graduate before they would consider hiring them. This is nearly impossible. We have set up a program to remedy that. We hire students straight out of college and give them the training they need in the areas they are most passionate about. We give them the stability of a job, allowing them time to get themselves on their feet and into the big world. With the opportunities we present them with, they are able to better establish themselves so that they don’t become one of the many graduates in this field that end up working at a pizza parlor for the rest of their lives.

 

* Our heavy involvement with our community makes us a name people recognize and trust. Lees Productions LLC sponsors and contributes to events that help better the community, promote commerce, and encourages the collaboration of businesses. We support events and foundations dealing with animal care, adoption, and education about animal abuse. As a company we believe in the idea of spreading opportunities to everyone and promoting the well being of a strong economy.

 

* Our company is a part of Rotary International and we are involved with a lot of charity work in our community. We are helping with scholarships for high school students and Sandy Relief for people at the shore. We are always looking for ways to be more involved.

Creating a Great Film: Shooting

When you finally get to the shooting part of the film it is important to remain organized and flexible. You need to be able to keep moving while not sacrificing quality. And you need to roll with the punches should something go wrong.

Always make sure that everyone, even the PA's have heard what the shoot schedule and plan are before the shoot dates. Make sure each head, Director, DP, and AD, all know who is on their team. This helps avoid confusion and stress on the set. Avoiding as many problems as you can by planning early helps when the inevitable problems begin. Have back up plans and procedures in place before the shoot so everyone knows what's going to happen if a certain problem ensues.

Another thing to remember is to know your job and do just your job. Don't try to tell other crew members how they should do their job. Concentrate on what your position is so everyone can run together like a well oiled machine. This will help avoid crew members being out of position when their needed because someone told the person to do something they weren't supposed to.

Many mishaps can't happen on set, but being well prepared and at the ready will help you overcome anything.

Creating a Great Film: Producing

After the story has been written it's time for a producer to come in. There are many things for a producer to consider but if they have no budget, then these tips will help.

First figure out the hardest part of your script, a big location, a certain actor, a certain prop. This will help you see where any money you do have needs to go. Simple, but just sitting down and figuring out where what money you have needs to go Is very important.

Next they need to come up with a grand plan of what to do with the film after it is finished, this will help when convincing people to help out with the film for free. It's always a hard thing to get people to work for free. Some tactics you can take are to have a great post production plan so crew and cast could get paid later. Or you can convince a person with lots of experience to help out so that you can sell the experience of working with this guy as the pay for helping on the film. There are lots of people out there looking for help moving forward in their career so they are willing to help out for free.

The next thing to consider as a producer is to be very creative. A producer must be able to come up with ways to save money everywhere without killing a film. A major way to do this is with location. Remember that the viewers can only see what's in the frame, nothing else. If you need to be in a bunker, put your actor in front of a piece of Sheetrock and play the rest off with lighting and sound affects. The mood can be created without grand sets. Be willing to for go grand cover shots so you can shoot a island woods scene in the backyard of someone's house. Be willing to concentrate on sounds and acting to pull off the feel of being at a club when really your in someone's dark basement. Don't forget that creative lighting, sound, and camera angels can save you tons of money in the location department.

Creating a film with no budget as a producer can be stressful, but it will help you see things in a new way. It will make you have to be creative and new and look at things like you never have before!

Creating a great film: "Writing"

A great film starts with a great story. As much as people think they know this part, there are still tons of writers forgetting what makes a story watchable. They worry to much about putting in jokes or special effects. They think to much toward production value instead about what the story truly is about or how it is progressing.

The first thing a writer should do Is outline their whole story. Sounds simple but so many writers just start writing without knowing where their story's going. By outlining your story you can always keep a clear idea of where you story is going, this eliminates the possibility of useless scenes that don't make the story move forward. Eliminating these scenes that don't do anything but maybe make a joke or kill someone will instantly make the story more effective.

Next a writer will want to make sure the characters change over the film and to make sure the progression of that change is spread out over the course of the film. This simple change keeps the audience interested over the whole film because they watch the character change more in each scene. This makes the characters more relatable and more real, because No one in real life would change right away so making the characters change over time makes them realistic.

Another thing a writer can do is write their story to the purpose they have. Meaning if they are planning on putting the script in a film contest or know they will have a huge budget, write a story that has many characters, outrageous locations, or even other planets. However if you know you will be pitching your script to independent film makers or someone who will only be able to raise a small budget, write a story that has minimal actors, one to two locations, and simple shots.

Writing a great story is always hard but if you keep all these things in mind when you write, you will be selling your scripts and winning contests everywhere.

Creating a great film!

Over the next few blog posts we will be talking about what makes a great film and how to do it on a small or a lot of times non-existent budget. The many topics we will discuss will include writing, camera, lighting, sound, and many many more.

Stay tuned for the blog posts that will change how you create your films.