"BAGHEAD"

Budget: Low Enough

"MOMMA'S MAN"

Budget: very low

"IN SEARCH OF A MIDNIGHT KISS"

Budget: $15,000

"TRIGGER MAN"

Budget: Very Low

"SEVERED WAYS"

Budget: very little

"AUGUST EVENING"

Budget: a bit over $40,000

"OWL AND THE SPARROW"

Budget: on credit cards

"LOW AND BEHOLD"

Budget: low!

One of the highlights of the 2007 Sundance Film Festival was the little-talked about Spectrum feature LOW AND BEHOLD. Set in post-Katrina New Orleans, this comedy/devastating drama (you just can't call a film like this a "dramedy") wowed the packed screening I attended near the end of the Festival. Though not officially produced by David Gordon Green, his influence is all over the film and his name was mentioned about 17 times during the Q&A afterwards.

Director Zack Godshall got the initial idea to shoot a fictional film in a non-fiction environment with his UCLA film school graduate thesis film, which was set at a musical festival in his hometown of Lafayette, LA. He kicked around the idea to make a low budget fictional story with documentary elements with his buddy Barlow Jacobs, who he had cast in his thesis film. After Katrina, they discovered New Orleans would be an ideal real-world environment, with plenty of (free) production value found in the events going on following the hurricane. Barlow, who was living in New Orleans when the storm hit, got a job in Florida as a claims adjuster and soon after realized it would make a great basis for a script--the stranger in a strange land who becomes the eyes and ears of the audience, guiding them through all the madness. When some free high def equipment fell through, Barlow used the $25,000 he had made claims adjusting to buy a Panasonic HVX200, three 8GB P2 cards, a Mac G5 editing system, an HD monitor, and several external drives. The script was written around things they had available to them and crew who were willing to work for next to nothing were recruited. Barlow took out a loan to pay for other production expenses, of which food was the biggest, of course.

Barlow played Turner Stull, the naïve claims man, and Barlow's fellow cast member from "Great World Of Sound," Robert Longstreet was coaxed into playing his uncle who runs the firm. Green was instrumental in getting Eddie Rouse, one of his actors from "George Washington," to come down and play Nixon, who recruits Turner to help him find his lost dog amidst the rubble. The initial 25 day shoot began in May 2006 with a crew of more or less 9 people. A smaller 3-man crew spent another two to three weeks getting unscripted things that would be potentially interesting. The SAG Ultra Low Budget agreement was used to govern the few SAG actors they had, but many people who appear in the film are actual residents, telling their own stories of devastation and destruction. One of the keys to success was getting good performances from non-actors and natural performances from real actors and making it all seamless. Zack knew from the beginning that he wanted an understated, truthful performance that would blend in to the reality of the real-world backdrop. Much effort was given to sculpting this kind of performance and anything that was unauthentic was cut from the film. Working with the non-actors, Zack discovered that you couldn't direct them too much or they would become self-conscious and give a phony performance. A hands-off approach was the best method.

DP Daryn Deluco had very little time to test the relatively new HVX200, but he compared 720p with 1080p and felt like there was enough of a difference to go with the higher resolution but less efficient 1080p, giving them only 8 minutes of footage per 8 GB card. Much of the film was shot in natural daylight and there was no crew or gear to control bringing down the ambient light levels, though a large silk was used in one scene. Mostly a single bounce board was used to bring up the level in the shadows. Interiors were lit with natural light or with a Kinoflow and a small light kit that one of the producers owned, with a china ball used extensively. There was a designated person on set downloading the material off the P2 cards onto a G4 laptop with a built-in card slot. The footage was imported directly into Final Cut Pro and was therefore automatically copied onto an external LaCie drive. At the end of each day, that drive was backed up onto another larger LaCie. Seeing the film projected on HD at the festival, I imagined it was made with one of the new, small HD cameras, but I couldn't find any of the tell-tale signs of a 1/3" chip, like noise in the lowlights. The film looked so amazing that I just assumed it was shot with a full-bore HD camera like a Sony F900. I was exceptionally pleased to see it was shot with the camera that I have been recommending in my classes. People, don't waste your money shooting on film or HDCAM! You cannot believe how good this camera's image can look.

Editing started in earnest in July with editor Travis Stittard (an assistant editor on Green's "Snow Angels") splitting time in Los Angeles and New Orleans. Godshall utilized two mirrored sets of hard drives when the two were in different cities. Green's producer Lisa Muskat helped Godshall find finishing funds through a company called Sidetrack Films. That money helped pay for the post sound work--which was done at New Orleans' Swelltone Labs, Steven Soderbergh mixer Larry Blake's company--color correction and conversion to HDCAM at Deluxe Digital Media, and other sundry items like website design, posters, and postcards.

The film premiered in the Spectrum section and my first question at the Q&A was, "why was this film not in Competition?" Playing only three times in Park City and mostly near the end of the festival when everyone had left, "Low And Behold" was one of those films that quietly plays Sundance. It happened to be my favorite film of the festival: wonderfully realized, tonally pitch perfect, simultaneously hilarious and brutal, beautifully shot, and exceptionally well-acted. The subject matter is timely and relevant, with Godshall capturing the devastation and the spirit of the area and its people better than any documentary I've seen on the subject. "Low And Behold" is no-budget filmmaking at its finest.

"GREAT WORLD OF SOUND"

Budget: low!

"THE SIGNAL"

Budget: Low

"SHOTGUN STORIES"

Budget: low

"BLOOD CAR"

Budget: $25,000

Think a filmmaker's lucky if he can get his crew to so believe in his movie that they work for below their rate? Or better yet, for free? Well "Blood Car" director Alex Orr got the ultimate sacrifice from his crew--they invested cash in the film! After finishing the script for his first feature, the comic horror film "Blood Car," Orr figured he'd use the $5000 he'd saved and try to shoot it on DV. After showing it to several filmmaker friends, they thought he had something better and convinced him to raise more money and shoot it on high def. And then they put their money where their mouths were, investing in the film and working on it for free to get it made. This close-knit gang of Atlanta-based filmmakers, many, like Orr himself, who would later work on the hit Sundance film "The Signal," went to film school together at Georgia State and were itching to do a feature after paying the bills working local commercials and industrials. Orr used his experience in production to get great deals on gear, including a 3-ton grip truck loaded to the gills from local equipment house PC&E and a Sony F900 package out of New York. Shooting for only 12 days in chilly December, when business is slow, he managed to get through production for only $14,000. But there's nothing chinzy about the way "Blood Car" looks. The opening scenes include amazing crane shots, courtesy of a free 30 foot jib they managed to snag for a day. Orr also figured out a way to feed his crew for free--he convinced the cast and crew's families to each pick a day to cater the show.


Telling the story of a car that runs on blood instead of gas takes plenty of, well, blood, and Orr and his crack team of mechanical effects guys made plenty of it, from Karo syrup, food coloring and flour, with ramen noodles, small balloons, and bits from the butcher to chunk it up when necessary. But rather than use it for sadistic thrills like so many recent horror flicks, "Blood Car" puts it to great comic effect, with a little subtle political "preaching" thrown in for good measure. Set in the not-to-distant future (perhaps two weeks from now?), "Blood Car" depicts a world where gas prices have gotten so high that no one can really drive cars anymore. Mild-mannered elementary school teacher and vegan Archie is working on an engine that will run on wheat grass, but after accidentally cutting himself, he realizes his new invention works much better on blood. Morally opposed to killing anything, he tries to find innocuous sources of fuel, like his dead neighbor, at first. But he soon discovers that having the only running car in town is scoring him big points with the local slut in town, and I do mean SCORE. To keep her interested, he quickly has to resort to more radical measures to keep his car, and sex life, humming. Throw in some bumbling government types and you've got a hilarious, raunchy romp. The theme of course, as echoed in the indie feature "Tao Of Steve," is that men can rise to great heights when properly inspired.


Orr was able to finish his film soup-to-nuts on HDCAM for a scant $25,000 total. He was rewarded for his efforts at his very first festival, winning the New Vision Award at the 2007 Cinequest. The film has played a slew of other festivals and is now available on Netflix and Blockbuster.com.

"CRASHING"

Budget: $10,000

Think no-budget filmmaking is only for newbies? Not so! Sometimes talented veterans get tired of the high-budget runaround and they retreat to the creative freedom and control that no-budget filmmaking affords them. Gary Walkow, director of the 1987 Sundance Grand Jury Prize winner "The Trouble With Dick," got frustrated with the way movies were being made following the production of his Sundance film "Beat," (starring Courtney Love and Kiefer Sutherland)--the multiple Executive Producers (several of which he had never met), the escalating budget, the subsequent cutting of funds, the unwelcome changes to the script, etc. He remembered a simpler time when he made "Trouble With Dick" for next to nothing on 35mm and yearned to get back to basics, and re-experience the joy of making movies for the movie's sake. Fortunately for Walkow, technology had come a long way in 20 years and he was now able to make something that looked a lot like his $200k 35mm feature on a fraction of that budget. His buddy and producing partner Alain Silver owned a Panasonic DVX100 and they decided to write a feature they could shoot with that camera and no crew. They set most of it in Gary's apartment and utilized their connections to nab several name actors, most notably, lead actor Campbell Scott. Of course, they had to be flexible to work around Scott's schedule--he doesn't live in LA where the film was shot and there was no money to pay him to fly. They would shoot his scenes when he was in town doing publicity. The crew started out just Gary, Alain, and DP Andrew Huebscher, (a guest in my May 2006 class). Realizing they weren't getting the sound they needed, they asked my producing partner (and two-time Academy Award winning sound mixer) Ron Judkins if he would be interested in running sound, and intrigued by their methodology, he agreed. I visited the set and if you didn't see the tiny camera, you'd never know there was a movie being made. Well, there was a movie being made and it premiered to an enthusiastic audience at the 2007 Slamdance Film Festival. One benefit this incredibly intelligent and literate film gained from its stripped-down production style was that the strong script and exceptional performances really stand out. And for the majority of us at festivals, those are the elements that appeal to us the most. There's a great feature story by the LA Weekly to read. Quoting from that story, Scott Foundas writes, "It is, I think, the best thing Walkow has done; funny and sexy, but also honest and lived-in and knowing of the way writers draw upon (and sometimes exploit) the people around them for inspiration. It's also, unlike a great deal of what passes for "independent" filmmaking nowadays, a movie independent not just in its financing, but in its thinking; a highly personal vision expressed without a second thought given to box office, audience expectations or career advancement." Read the full article: www.laweekly.com/film+tv/film/the-sundance-kids/15430/
The film was released on DVD through Image.

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"THE DEATH OF MICHAEL SMITH"

Budget: $541

A recent award winner at this year's Slamdance and Silver Lake Film Festivals, "Michael Smith" is a bona fide no-budgeter. Multi-talented director (and writer, cinematographer, editor, sound designer, and colorist) Daniel Smith spent $541 to completely finish his genre film, then another $400 to make a Digibeta to play at the festivals. This is nearly impossible to believe once you see this stylish and extremely well put-together feature. Shot on borrowed Panasonic DVX-100's in Detroit with an all-Detroit cast and crew, Casey was able squeeze every bit of production value out of his tiny budget by writing for things he had available to him, like a couple of cop cars he had access to for an hour from a friend or a snowy property outside of town he had for a day. A second year fellow at AFI, Casey knows the basics in all areas of filmmaking and used this knowledge to maximum effect, planning color schemes and sound design patterns prior to shooting. He wrote parts to maximize the talents of his actors and the performances are uniformly excellent. Shooting on weekends and employing a unique narrative structure, it would not be a stretch to compare this film to another similarly-made film that I'm intimately familiar with, Chris Nolan's "Following." "Michael Smith" firmly establishes the 24 year old Casey as a young talent to watch.

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"BANGKOK"

Budget: $20,000

Years ago when people talked about making no-budget films, there was this idea that to keep the budget down, you had to set your film in one location. I used to hear it all the time at Next Wave Films--"we've got this great idea and it's all takes place in one room!" Of course, there are two problems with this idea: 1.) with very few exceptions, these films are pretty stifling, boring even to the most ardent indie film fan; and 2.) the idea that to save money you have to shoot in one location is utter nonsense. The truth is there have been a whole host of wonderful, vibrant no-budget films that have saved money AND given their films higher production value by leaving that one room and getting out into the world. Recent examples of films that have used real-world backdrops to enrich stories, heighten production value, and lower budgets are "Cavite," (set in the Philippines); "Conventioneers," (set during the 2004 Republican Convention); "Low And Behold," (set in post-Katrina New Orleans); "The Pool," (set in Panjim, Goa India); "The Blossoming Of Maximo Oliveros," (also set in the Philippines); and Colin Drobnis' new film, "Bangkok," set in Southeast Asia, namely Cambodia.

Of course, the secret to making this kind of film work is to utilize documentary techniques--small, inconspicuous crews; semi-improvisational dialogue; use of real people as actors--to enable one to tell a fictional story in a non-fiction environment. Where Hollywood has to "create" the reality of a place, (I've often said in my classes that Hollywood is the Reality Factory, not the Dream Factory), no-budget filmmakers can sneak into the real place and get something more real, more authentic, and pay absolutely nothing for all that production value. Well, except for the travel costs. The reported budget of "Cavite" was two expensive plane tickets to the Philippines. Most of the budget of "Bangkok,"--which director Drobnis estimates to be around $20,000 but really has no idea--was spent on travel, (and to purchase the equipment--a Panasonic DVX100a, three wireless mic systems, and some other gear). The film, about a troubled ex-army corporal, Paul, who travels to Cambodia in search of his long-lost father, who was pronounced MIA during the Vietnam War, was set in the U.S. (Los Angeles doubling for Alabama), Japan, Thailand, and Cambodia. Paul picks up two unlikely travel companions in Bangkok and the three travel into the interior of Cambodia in search of Paul's dad, cheap hookers, and new dinner alternatives, (mmmm, fried grasshopper!). The crew was director Drobnis, who plays Paul; actor Daniel Miller, who plays the bon vivant Reubin; actor Aaron Smith, who plays the good-hearted, but annoying The Guy; and DP Ilya Lyudmirsky, who has a hilarious cameo as a shady Ukranian arms dealer. Actually none of the three leads are real actors; they all work together creating visual effects for the studios. Drobnis is finishing the effects for "Spiderman 3" while his little film plays festivals. This tight-knit team spent 5 weeks in Asia shooting more than 55 hours of footage, and then Drobnis spent the better part of two years piecing it all together on his Mac at home. This work included some subtle special effects, plenty of sound design and repair, and color correction.

The director tells production stories about how they had to pay off one guy $150 to get a massage parlor for the day, then pay someone else $50 for a hotel. They were fortunate to run into Somchai Santitharangkun, who was Oliver Stone's location manager. In return for some free tennis lessons, "Chai" found them locations to suit their story and negotiated with the locals. Much of the film's dialogue was improvised and there are some hilarious moments that come out of this work. Daniel Miller, in particular, is a natural, giving an engaging and humorous performance as the petty thief who is enjoying all the luxuries of Southeast Asia, but clearly has left some responsibilities back home in the States. Of course, the real star of the film is Thailand and Cambodia. These are streets and people we really haven't seen before. Even when nothing is really happening, the film fascinates with the sites, sounds, and customs of a foreign land not often depicted, (or depicted poorly) in American movies. Director Drobnis got tired of typing his name in the credits, so he made up several names for himself, (Abel Johnson, the actor; John Penmar, the editor) and came up with a very official sounding production company, World International Filmed Entertainment. "Bankok" premiered at the 2007 Slamdance Film Festival and played several other festivals throughout the world.

NOW AVAILABLE ON DVD!

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"THE DOGWALKER"

Budget:: under $100k

Filmmakers Alliance (FA) (www.filmmakersalliance.com/) founder Jacques Thelemaques' feature debut "The Dogwalker" has traveled a long way.  Conceived years ago, the film was shot on a Sony DVX-1000 in 2001 and started its successful festival journey in March 2002, winning a Best Feature Film Award when it premiered at Cinequest.  Distribution, however, proved illusive for the high-quality but commercially-tricky film about a woman's journey from abused wife with no self esteem to empowered, independent dogwalker.  Advances in technology and innovative distribution strategies have finally given the deserving film a theatrical life.  "Dogwalker" will open in several cities through Truly Indie beginning August 11th.  The filmmakers (which include lead actress Diane Gaidry, FA co-founder and wife of Thelemaques), have put together an inventive release plan that includes building online communities of groups with an interest in the subject matter of the film, including animal rescue and welfare groups, cancer relief organizations, and women's shelters/domestic violence organizations.  Organizations will create reciprocal links with the "Dogwalker" site, help put on charity screenings that benefit the organization, and share in the DVD revenues by helping market to their member base.   "The Dogwalker" played theatrically in several cities during the Summer of 2006 and is now available on DVD through their site.

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"LOVE & SUICIDE"

Budget: the cost of tape

Wanna know how to make a no-budget film? In my class, the answer to that question is "Refuse to spend money." Luis Moro, the producer of "Love & Suicide" has another answer, "Raw not giving up!" Certainly both answers are true, and "Love & Suicide" is perfect evidence. A dream of Moro's since he was a kid, shooting in Cuba is verboten for Americans since the Cuban embargo of 1960. So how did this tiny production with no money and no influence manage to become the first American narrative feature shot in Cuba in 47 years? The story behind the making of the film is as interesting as the film itself. Moro and director Lisa France applied to the Havana International Film Festival with their earlier film "Anne B. Real" back in 2003. Secretly, they knew that if accepted this would give them the only opportunity to make Moro's dream a reality. The film was accepted, but the filmmakers were told only 3 weeks before the festival started. They quickly assembled a tiny group of friends and actors, wrote a script, and traveled to Havana with DV tapes, 2 wireless mics, a reflector and a DVX-100. Once there they had only 3 weeks to prepare AND shoot their feature, (and only 9 days with their lead actor, "One Life To Live" star Kamar de los Reyes). Changes to the script were made on the fly, without the convenience of a printer or a copier--everything was hand written once in Havana. Discoveries were made, (like Kamar's admission that his father was from Cuba and had given his house away to his best friend), and became part of the story, and the filmmakers shot every interesting thing they saw--most of which never before seen by American audiences. The 25 or so DV tapes were sent back with one of the crew members who was flying from Havana directly to JFK. If they had gone with the crew flying through Miami, there probably wouldn't be a "Love & Suicide" today; US Customs in Miami confiscate most everything taken out of Cuba.

Shooting and getting home were only the beginning of the process. The story you see on screen was created in the editing room. The entire film was re-thought based on the happy accidents the filmmakers were lucky enough to film, and nearly 70 pages of script was thrown out to come up with the current cut that you see today. The film was released in theaters without a distributor. Moro, who is utterly convincing as "Albert" the Cuban cab driver in the film, started calling theaters around the country in an effort to get the film booked. AMC bit and booked "L&S" in one of its Miami theaters on a trial basis. The film ended up playing 10 weeks and expanded to 5 theaters around the city, and ultimately to other cities across the country. The Cuban community came out, of course, and other Latino audiences, but so did general arthouse audiences excited to see the real Cuba, beautifully and honestly rendered in a moving film that is not about politics, but rather about the affirmation of life, something for which Cuba is the perfect backdrop.


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FORGIVING THE FRANKLINS

Budget: $100,000

One of the most striking things about Jay Floyd's feature debut "Forgiving The Franklins" is the final credit sequence, namely, how few people are in it. It's pretty much Jay, Rob Houk who assisted, some post folks, and people who helped along the way, like the person who baked the prop apple pie. In other words, this was pretty much a one-man show--Jay wrote it, directed it, produced it, lit it, shot it, ran production sound, picked out wardrobe, dressed the set, found locations--you get the picture. This achievement is even more impressive when you recognize that the film that comes before the end credits doesn't carry any of the hallmarks of a typical no-budget, one-man crew type of movie. This is a testament to Jay's skill in all the various departments (he's worked professionally in just about every area of filmmaking over the years) and to the emergence of high-quality, low cost tools like the Canon XL2 camera he bought to shoot the film. (The XL2 is the standard definition, 16:9, 24p camera that is being eclipsed now by the new HDV line of Canon cameras).

Comprising numerous locations in both North Carolina and Los Angeles, "Forgiving the Franklins" was shot in 20 days over a 3 1/2 month period. Floyd used 40% of his $100,000 budget to buy equipment: camera, editing system (FCP), Mini Mole light kit, microphones (two Sennheiser wireless mic systems and an Audio Technica omni-directional and Audio Technica shotgun mic, which were connected directly to the camera), a Hollywood Lite vest-supported camera stabilizer, and other assorted items). Another 30% of the budget covered location rental (some impressive Victorian homes in LA; North Carolina locations were borrowed or stolen), sound design and mix, high-end color correction on D5, and title sequence. The remaining 30% went to actors' expenses: salary (he worked under the now-defunct SAG Limited Exhibition contract), travel and food. Actors were responsible for their wardrobe for each day (they were given Polaroids and a breakdown sheet to keep track of continuity) and Jay took them to thrift stores for most of their clothes (the entire wardrobe for "Franklins" cost $300). Floyd would typically rehearse the blocking of a scene, light it, place his microphones, (often hiding a wireless lav or his wired omni-directional mic and mounting his shotgun to the camera), then bring his actors in and shoot the scene, with the first take being the "throw-away take." An essential piece of equipment when you're running the sound yourself, Floyd notes, is a Y splitter for the mic cable. With this adapter, he could run one mic into both channels on the Canon and set the channels to different levels to prevent peaking. Because the shooting days were relatively short--he never went over 12 hours--he would come home and do an assembly edit of that day's material each night. This might sound like a lot of work for one person, but Floyd prefers the extra effort to working with a crew that is stained with the idea that you can't make your own movie. He didn't want or need a list of why he couldn't do it by himself.

The controversial film, which deals with a deeply Christian family's change of faith following a near-fatal car wreck, was a hit at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival. Most in the audience got its unique blend of simple proscenium shooting style (a la influence Luis Bunuel) coupled with an outrageous situational humor, that crosses the line more than a few times. Floyd warns indie filmmakers not to make Hollywood-type stories on a small budget--they'll just turn out bland. To Floyd, studios are no longer in the business of storytelling, they're in the busy of product-making. All the creativity in Hollywood these days is spent on the style of a film, not the story. That creates an opportunity for independent filmmakers to provide audiences something they're not getting from the studios. Floyd set out to make a movie that doesn't assume that the audience is stupid.

NOW AVAILABLE ON DVD!

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"CHALK"

Budget: under $100k

A bona fide crowd favorite at each festival it plays, "Chalk" was one of the first Competition films to sell out at the 2006 LA Film Festival, where I joined a packed house that was in fits. Told in a verite, documentary-like style complete with interviews (but not a conscious mock-documentary), "Chalk" follows several young high school teachers and a first-year Assistant Principal during a typically tumultuous school year. Director Mike Akel and Writer/Actor Chris Mass were actual high school teachers and the film was shot in the Austin school at which they taught, and includes many actual students and teachers. This verisimilitude, along with some finely tuned comic situations that came from real-life experiences, give the film an honesty and truthfulness seldom seen in studio-produced school-set films. "Chalk" was shot on a DVX100 in a loose, almost improvised style that found the action as it occurred. While most of the film was scripted, it has a very natural, improvisational feel that can be attributed to the filmmakers ability to create situations on the spot, whispering instructions or lines in characters' ears unbeknownst to the other actors in the scene. Some of the best moments came out of this kind of seat-of-your-pants creativity. The final budget may have tipped into six-figures, but to me it qualifies as a no-budget film--production started with just $10,000. While the film missed the Audience and Target Filmmaker Awards at the 2006 LA Film Festival, it did snag an Outstanding Performance Award for the ensemble cast. And the recent Austin Film Festival turned out to be a gold mine for the film, where it snagged both the Grand Jury Prize and the Audience Award. This must have caught the eye of the Spirit Award Nominating Committee--the film has just been nominated for the Cassavetes Award. The filmmakers can add these prizes to their already-crowded mantle, which includes the Grand Jury Award from the Independent Film Festival of Boston, the Audience Award from Cinequest, and another Special Jury Award for Acting from the Florida Film Festival. The film opened theatrically in the Summer of 2007 through Morgan Spurlock's new label, Morgan Spurlock Presents. It is now available on DVD.

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"HEAD TRAUMA"

Budget: $125k

Director Lance Weiler, co-director of the amazing "The Last Broadcast", took his time with the follow-up and it shows.  After 3 1/2 years of work, which included 90 days of shooting in over a year's time, Weiler World Premiered "Trauma" in the 2006 LAFF's Dark Wave section, which was an appropriate venue for the creepy, often frightening, psychological thriller.  Weiler shot over 220 hours of footage on a Panasonic DVX100, constantly asking himself how he could make the film better and not being afraid to chuck things that didn't work and reshoot.  Because he could do so economically, he wrote a lot of the script with the camera,  improvising on the spot and changing his plan often.  The project developed therefore in a very organic way and Weiler was extremely pleased with the process.  This kind of filmmaking represents one of the big advantages of a no-budget production technique.  While there were days where the crew was as large as 15-20 people, some days there were just Weiler and his lead actor.  They finished editing on FCP in the middle of last year, but spent several months working on the music and sound.  Through connections, Weiler was able to do a 5-day mix at Skywalker sound.  Color correction was done in a 4:1:1 color space on FCP because it would have been too expensive to redigitize the material.  They bumped to HD for the LAFF straight from their hard drive.   In all, it cost him $70k to put the film in the can and to date, Weiler has spent $126,000 total, which has gotten him all the way to an HD master, a final DVD, and all the materials he needed to deliver for domestic distribution. The money was well-spent--the film is impressively put together with high production values in all departments.

Weiler used his LAFF premiere the way a studio would use it--as a launching pad for his own self-distribution. His experience with self-releasing "Broadcast" gave him the knowledge to do the theatrical himself.  The film played in 17 cities across the country.  The venues were all independently-owned and are capable of video projection (there was no film print of "Trauma"). None of the venues were four-walled; Weiler negotiated a box office split with each theater.  He was with the film for at least one night in every city, doing interviews for newspapers and radio, and selling merchandise all along the way.  The DVD was released through Heritage Films and Weiler managed to negotiate incredible terms, including the right to sell the DVD himself off his own website.  Like many enlightened filmmakers, Weiler thinks conventional distribution is broken and is intimately familiar with the kinds of bad deals filmmakers make with distributors.  He believes in the power of filmmakers to be able to greenlight and distribute their own works.  To help with the distribution part, Weiler has launched a number of exciting initiatives: an incredible web resource for DIY media-makers, (The Workbook Project), a film festival, (From Here To Awesome), a traveling speaking series, (DIY Days), and numerous articles he has written for Filmmaker, MovieMaker, and the like. The DVD for "Head Trauma" also has many helpful extras.

NOW PLAYING IN THEATERS!

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"WHAT IS IT?"

Budget: $150k

Crispin Hellion Glover's aptly titled "What Is It?" isn't exactly a no-budget film--it was finished to 35mm for between $150,000 and $200,000--but it certainly qualifies as an authentic DIY (do-it-yourself) production--it was just made by someone who had some money to spend on their film. And it's a good thing that Glover was willing to invest in his own movie, because "What Is It?" is not the kind of movie that corporate Hollywood, (or anyone else worried about getting a return on their money) would ever invest in. And that is really Glover's point.

So, yes, most of you know Crispin Glover (he uses his middle name when he's the creator of a work) as the enigmatic actor who played McFly in "Back To The Future," and more recently had parts in "The People Vs. Larry Flint" and the "Charlie's Angels" flicks. He has a tradition of playing strange characters and a reputation for being pretty strange himself. "What Is It?" will certainly not tarnish this reputation. Premiering in the Frontier section of the 2005 Sundance Film Festival, the film is correctly categorized as "experimental" or "avant-garde," but more so, it is a tour de force in strangeness, and most importantly, uniqueness. It's a film less about narrative and character development, and more about ideas. And while Glover isn't interested in telling you what it all means, (just like most serious artists), he is interested in discussing the experience of watching it, and how it makes you feel. The film is an exploration of taboo, in an era where corporate-controlled media companies have excised any objectionable material out of their programming. Glover is asking what is taboo, what does it mean that we can't process a taboo. As an audience, we're constantly asking ourselves, "is this right?"--is it right that I'm watching this, is it right that he made it?

The film has an interesting production history that dates back to 1995. Glover shot what was intended to be a short film promoting the concept of working with actors with Down's Syndrome. He shot for 4 days on 16mm and edited for 6 months. He realized that his 85 minute short had taken on a new life, so over the next 2 1/2 years he shot another 8 days here and there between acting gigs, adding an antagonist--played by himself--and another character played by screenwriter Steven Stewart, to go along with his mostly Down's Syndrome cast. After 4 years he locked picture, interestingly enough, using a very early version of Adobe Premiere, making it one of the first features edited in this way. He paid dearly in headaches and cost overruns for riding the bleeding edge. He then spent years working on the sound design himself and trying to figure out a way to do all the expensive film opticals cheaply. Ultimately, technology caught up with him and he was eventually able to do them digitally, utilizing a DI process and transferring to 35mm for his Sundance premiere. The film is part of a trilogy and Glover's second movement, "It is Fine. Everything Is Fine!" just got into the upcoming Sundance Film Festival. That script was written by Stewart, who suffered from cerebral palsy and died in 2001.

Glover has been touring with the show around the country to sold-out audiences. The evening features a screening of the film, a discussion afterwards by Glover, and a unique dramatic reading of excepts from Glover's books with an accompanying slide show. Glover has been doing the book-reading thing since 1992 and it has become very popular. The film is an excellent complement to the slide show and you will definitely want to ask questions after a screening of this film.

And it is a hoot--at once violent, sweet, pornographic, crude and always endlessly provocative. While most experimental films, to me anyway, become boring, "What It Is?" is continually fascinating and often hilarious. It's an exploitation film made by a filmmaker who's exploiting our perception of what exploitation is. More importantly, it's a lesson in thinking creatively out-of-the-box. I stress the importance of uniqueness in my classes and I've said that uniqueness trumps talent. As aspiring no-budget filmmakers we can't all be talented, but there's no excuse for us to be derivative. No-budget filmmaking gives us the opportunity to create unique works, which are what programmers at major festivals like Sundance and critics are looking for. "What Is It?" is an inspiration in this regard. It's a lesson plan for pushing away the walls that confine our ideas.

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"MUTUAL APPRECIATION"

Budget: $50,000

From Andrew Bujalski, the director of the underground, indie hit "Funny Ha Ha" comes the new film, "Mutual Appreciation." "But wait, I haven't heard of either of these films," you say! Well, you better get out and buy the first (available on DVD from Wellspring) and go see the second, which is opening across the country as part of IndieWire's Undiscovered Gems Series. And a gem it is. A throwback to the low-budget indie film halcyon days of the early '90's, the film was shot on B&W Regular 16mm. It says a lot about where indie cinema has gone since then to realize that neither "Funny Ha Ha" or "Mutual Appreciation" ever made it into Sundance. "Mutual" is the kind of film that would have been a hit at Sundance in 1993, and Bujalski would be a name as common as Jarmusch or Hartley to indie film audiences. To critics, who have consistently compared the 28 year old to John Cassavetes, the name is well-known. Working in a simple style and with a tiny crew, Bujalski is left to concentrate on one thing--the performances. And the words, which seem to emanate and stumble out of the character's mouths, rather than get put to page, memorized, and then "performed." The cast here is in fine form, including the director himself, who was such a revelation in "Funny Ha Ha." Also back in a smaller part is "Funny Ha Ha" lead Kate Dollenmayer. But the stars of "Mutual", besides Bujalski, are Justine Rice and Rachel Clift. The three form a certain kind of threesome, nearly sexual, but not quite, the way old friends who have often wondered what it would be like to kiss each other form a bond. Not that there's anything kinky going on here, I'm telling you there's not. This film's edge is its lack of edge, its throwback style, its utter honesty.

Certainly this style evokes that of the man known as the "father of independent cinema"--a raw, artless look, 16mm grain, naturalistic, improvised performances. But it doesn't give Bujalski his due to make the easy comparison. If it helps to get people into the theater, and sets up the proper expectations for his work, then great--he will certainly need that. Because the one trait that Bujalski most significantly shares with Cassavetes is his uncompromising search for the truth. The truth he is after, and where he chooses to find it are very different, but in a day and age where cinema, certainly U.S. cinema, has lost its desire both to be uncompromising and to search for truth, Bujalski's work is like a breath of fresh air. His films are deceptively engaging. His narratives, if you can call them that, sneak up on you. Just when you think that nothing is happening, you look back and realize you've been on a journey, a journey hidden by all the normal, natural things people do when they talk. And that's what people do in Bujalski's movies, they talk. They talk like you and me, or they probably don't, but they seem familiar, comfortable, and real--no one "flubs a line" in these movies, they stammer. In "Mutual Appreciation," they also sing, and very well. Justine Rice is actually the lead singer of the successful band Bishop Allen. But the film is mostly a series of interior-shot scenes of people talking, being themselves, and slowly, cumulatively, the film creates a certain truth. In the case of "Mutual," it's the truth about friendships, and relationships. Nothing too dramatic or melodramatic, but ultimately honest in a way that Hollywood has long forgotten how (or maybe never really has been able) to do.

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"The Puffy Chair"

Budget: $15,000

The Duplass Brothers, Jay and Mark, shot this in a few weeks with a 3-man crew on a Panasonic DVX-100.  Jay shot it and Mark plays the lead, alongside his girlfriend, who plays his girlfriend in the movie.  The brothers' parents also appear (as parents) and financed the film, making it a truly homemade, family affair.  Much of the film's hilariously droll dialogue was improvised, as was the camerawork used to capture the action.  "Puffy" premiered at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival and was later nominated for two Spirit Awards.  Roadside Attractions and Netflix picked up the film for distribution, and it played theatrically across the country, and it is now available on DVD through Netflix. With the success of "Puffy," the Brothers Duplass scored a deal with Universal Studios, but that didn't stop them from making no-budget films, (See "Humpday" above)--creative control and artistic freedom are hard to give up.

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"Room"

Budget: Under $100k

University of Texas alum Kyle Henry's feature debut, "Room" premiered at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival and then played in Cannes.  Shot with the DVX-100 in Austin, Houston, and New York by P.J. Ravel (who shot recent LAFF Jury Prize Winner "Gretchen"), "Room" was nominated for two Spirit Awards and played in selected theaters in 2006 as part of IndieWIRE's Undiscovered Gems Series. It's now available for rental through Netflix.

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"Cavite"

Budget: 2 expensive plane tickets

A classic no-budgeter (the reported budget was "two expensive plane tickets") shot with a two man crew:  the Co-Director/Camera Operator/Co-Editor/Co-Writer Neill dela Llana, and the Co-Director/Co-Editor/Co-Writer/Sound Mixer/Lead Actor Ian Gamazon.  That's right, one guy shot the movie and the other guy starred in it (and ran the sound).  The title refers to Cavite City, a city outside of Manila, Philippines.  The majority of the film takes place in a series of slums in this area of the country and it is eye-opening.  To my knowledge, this part of the world hasn't really been captured in a feature film before.  Without giving too much away (you should see it!), the story is a kind of political thriller, very timely and very provocative.  Many ideas I stress in my classes are in evidence here.  Read their Production Notes (http://www.cavitemovie.com/production_notes.html) and see just how they Embraced Their Limitations.  They also chose to own their equipment, buying a Panasonic DVX100 24p camera with a credit card to shoot the film and then selling it to purchase their editing system to edit it.    Cavite premiered at Rotterdam and SXSW and won a Spirit Award. It was released theatrically through Marc Cuban's Truly Indie and is now available on DVD.

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"SLEEPING DOGS LIE" (formerly "Stay")

Budget: Under $100k

This hilarious comedy directed by comedian/filmmaker Bobcat Goldthwait was a hit when it premiered at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival, (under the title "Stay").  Roadside Attractions and Samuel Goldwyn snatched it up fast--just don't get it confused with Roadside's other Summer movie, "Lassie;" this is not for the kids!  Film was put in the can and made it to Sundance for under $100k.  Shot on a borrowed Panasonic Varicam by a DP Producer Marty Pasetta, Jr. (a speaker in No Budget Film School's May 6, 2006 class) found on Craigslist, the idea was conceived, script written, and shooting begun in a 6 week period.  It opened theatrically across the country in October 2006.

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"The Conventioneers"

Budget: way below $100k

Made for nearly nothing and shot on Panasonic DVX100 miniDV cameras, Conventioneers  is a clever romantic drama that follows two former Princeton classmates, one a married delegate attending the 2004 Republican National Convention in New York City and the other a lefty Democrat planning a big protest during the convention.  Shot against the backdrop of the actual convention--and in many cases, right smack in the middle of it--the film captures the energy and authenticity of politics and an illicit love affair in a way that much bigger films usually miss.  This is all the more remarkable when you consider how the film came together. 

Conventioneers  was Director Mora Stephen's NYC graduate film school thesis project, and they were able to get a bunch of free stuff from NYU, including insurance, most of their grip and electric (which wasn't much--it had to all fit in their two cars), DAT machine, mics, 35mm lenses for their P + S Technik adapter, and most of their student crew.  The P + S and the G&E were used in their single-camera scenes, like those set in hotel rooms and apartments.  Much of the film, however, was shot out in the streets on multiple cameras, sometimes as many as six at a time.  The many cameras  amounted to 87 hours of footage captured on several different kinds of formats.  Most of their locations were borrowed or stolen, though they paid for the hotel room and the right to shoot all over the hotel.  The Tribeca Film Festival, where Conventioneers had its world premiere, helped them procure the Embassy Suites for a reasonable sum.  Their biggest expense was food (which is typical for a micro-budget project).  They used a SAG Student Film contract, though their leads were not SAG.  Shot in four weeks (2 1/2 weeks with the actors) on a loose schedule with never more than a 7-man crew, producer/editor/co-writer Joel Viertel found himself shooting, gaffing, and booming much of the movie.  He edited with Final Cut Pro 4 on a Mac G4 utilizing two LaCie 250GB drives.  Color correction was done in FCP and for Tribeca, a DVCAM master was upconverted to HDCAM for digital projection.  Motivated by the time limitation of the upcoming convention, the film was financed on credit cards and a locked picture came a week and a half before their Tribeca premiere.  Think that's harrowing, the crew was also arrested during one of the protests and their equipment was confiscated as evidence.   What some people have to go through for their art!

Conventioneers won the coveted John Cassavetes Award at the Spirit Awards.  The film opened theatrically in 2006 and is now available on DVD. A perfect film to see before any presidential election!

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"In Between Days"

Budget: $60,000

Winner of a special jury prize at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival and the FIPRESCI Prize at the 2006 Berlin Film Festival, director So Yong Kim's beautiful feature was shot with the DVX-100 with a four-man crew.  Working with her husband, producer Brad Rust Gray, the duo followed their first feature "Salt" with this festival favorite. 

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"The Talent Given Us"

Budget: $30,000

Andrew Wagner's dysfunctional family comedy stars his own family, playing themselves!  Shot with a two-man crew on the DVX-100, "Talent" premiered at the 2004 Cinevegas Film Festival where it won the Grand Jury Prize. It was subsequently invited to the 2005 Sundance Film Festival and was released theatrically later that year by Vitagraph Films. 

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"DEAR PILLOW"

Budget: $3,800

Director Brian Poyser knew from his experience working at the SXSW Film Festival what festivals wanted to program.  He used this knowledge, and some truths from deep in his soul, to concoct the story of a porn-obsessed, awkward  17 year old who befriends an aging homosexual who lives in his complex and writes tales for a Penthouse Forum-like magazine (called Dear Pillow, or course).  The unlikely pair are joined by the beautiful landlady of the complex in a very odd love triangle, of sorts.  Though not gratuitous visually, the frank and honest dialogue might scare off the timid viewers of say, The Lifetime Network, but is perfect for the more adventurous film festival crowd.  Put in the can for just $3800, which came from two film grants, and shot on a borrowed DVX100, Poyser and producer/editor/DP Jacob Vaughan (a guest speaker in No Budget Film School's Houston class) have fashioned a brutally honest, at times hilarious, alternative to studio coming-of-age films.  "Pillow" was shot with a 4-5 man crew in 23 days over a month and the budget broke down as follows:  $1000 to rent two apartments that were used as the main sets; $1000 for set dressing (they rented furniture from thrift stores for 20% of full value and returned it after the shoot); $1000 for meals and craft service; and $800 for miscellaneous. They borrowed grip and electric equipment (nothing more than would fit in a Toyota 4-Runner) from the Duplass Brothers in exchange for a co-production credit.  Shot with one of the first DVX-100's in 24p Advanced mode and edited on FCP, the film was color-corrected in FCP and mastered on DVCAM; a Digibeta dub was used for festival screenings.  "Pillow" premiered at the 2004 Slamdance and played over 30 festivals before being nominated for the prestigious Someone To Watch Award.  The success of "Pillow" allowed the duo to make "The Cassidy Kids", a $600k film for Burnt Orange Productions, "Cassidy Kids." "Pillow" is now finally available on DVD through Heretic Films.

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"Following"

Budget: $12,000

Before "Batman Begins"; before "Insomnia"; before "Memento", there was "Following", Chris Nolan's no-budget gem.  Shot on Saturdays for a year on 16mm B&W, Nolan put "Following" in the can (the old-fashioned way, on film) for $6,000 and finished it to 16mm for festivals for a total of $12,000.  Following its unassuming premiere at the San Francisco Int'l. Film Festival (which at that time was programmed by current LAFF head of programming Rachel Rosen), my former company Next Wave Films gave Nolan finishing funds to blow it up to 35mm and remix the sound. It next played Toronto, where it was a huge success, garnering domestic theaterical distribution (Zeitgeist Films) and selling overseas in several territories. Then came Rotterdam, where it won the top prize, the Tiger Award, and then many more festivals and prizes followed.  The success of "Following" allowed Nolan to make "Memento" for $5 million, and the rest is history.  There would be no sequel to "Batman Begins" if it weren't for the little film that Chris wrote, shot, directed and edited himself, and the help he received from a dedicated band of talented, unknown actors who rehearsed for 6 months before a single frame was shot; and a producer who later became his wife.  "Following" represents no-budget filmmaking at its best--working with available resources, embracing your limitations, and reinventing the movie-making process to fit your unique circumstances.