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Instead of getting a bundle of financing from dentists and realtors, we’ve been forking whatever pennies we can into this project from our four meager pockets; the estimated final budget will be around $6k - $7k. It might sound like a lot for a self-funded project, but in film terms, that’s about equal to the daily rider for Terry Hatcher’s assistant. To get started, we took a week’s vacation from work and filmed for 9 days straight to get one-third of the film done. Since then we’ve been weekend warriors. Over the years, I’ve learned that originality, preparation and stamina are the keys to filmmaking. Beastie and I have written screenplays with Final Draft; a program that lets you easily keep within the screenplay format. I’ve also read about fifty biographies on different directors to help me understand what others have gone through. I suggest |
that you practice writing in the proper screenplay format and after some practice, write something that you can shoot yourself and doesn’t require you to blow up the Eiffel Tower. We started out about ten years ago by making skits for friends and family (most of which were limburger bad). Then we moved on to the short film format where we honed our skills a bit more. After a few of those, we finally felt confident enough to tackle the “Thunderball of Media” otherwise known as the feature film format. As far as tools go, I bow down daily before the gods of Apple. Without Final Cut Pro and its amazing digital gadgets, we wouldn’t have been able to do this very easily. With color correction, audio editing capabilities and |
postproduction effects tools, your computer really can help make your dreams become reality. Since you’ll be working with very limited resources, you can’t afford to cut corners when shooting or editing. With a low (or no) budget, you’re already asking the audience for a lot, so don’t settle for shots and edits that are just “passable.” I know that it’s 2:23am, the paperboy just tossed The Daily Bugle on your porch, there are animal cracker crumbs all over your Hello Kitty PJ’s and you have two more scenes to lay audio into, but stick it out – it will all be worth it in the end. |
Last rule of Indy Film Club is never let yourself believe that you’ll sell this pill. Be selfish; do it for yourself. Of course I’ll break my back trying to sell this film, but at the end of the day, I’ll be happy to just sit there and look at a copy of “The Karaoke Brothers” on my DVD rack, tucked in between “Bottle Rocket” and “Young Frankenstein.” So there it is. Please go to our site, see some of our teaser clips, befriend us on Myspace and keep in touch. We anticipate hitting the festivals just after summer 2008. Stay Gold, |
