The False Economy of Low Budget: Why it always costs more than you think!
Turnpike Glow – ’1986′ (Music Video) from Mazin Power on Vimeo. Last week I finished up work on a music video that I directed, edited and colour graded for Turnpike Glow, a cool little rock band in London. The budget of the video was about £450. But the actual cost was much higher. What do I mean by that? Well, our budget broke down roughly along these lines: Location: £100 Cinematographer: £150 Equipment: £150 Food and Transport: £50 All that was a one-day shoot. Sounds great, right? Yes, BUT… had... Read The Rest →
Filmmaking Tip: To Find Your Audience, Either Make Your Film Extremely Good or Extremely Bad
A good friend of mine often says that “it doesn’t matter if you’re good at what you do. If you want people to notice you, then be extreme!” Last night, those words were rattling around my head. I had gone to see a film called The Room, which was preceded by a Q&A / merchandise flogging session by the Director / Writer / Star of the film. If you haven’t heard of this film before, please watch the trailer now. Go ahead, I’ll wait. Looks pretty awful, right? The trailer doesn’t even... Read The Rest →
Tips for Making an Awesome Film on a Shoestring Budget!
Yesterday was utter madness. Indie band Turnpike Glow asked me and a colleague to make a music video for their new single ’1986′ (listen here), but having very limited resources meant we had to improvise a lot of what we were doing. This morning, it’s got me thinking about some of the techniques we used for maintaining high production value on a tiny budget. These are skewed towards music video, but can also be applied to any other form of filmmaking. Here they are, in no particular order: A little... Read The Rest →
Coming Next : My Super Secret, Super Awesome Plan for World Domination!
My good friend and writer Ari Abraham recently came back from a three month stint in Los Angeles and New York, bubbling with ideas. We’re both extremely self-motivated and driven people, never happy to wait for success to fall into our laps – we chase in constantly. However, I had been feeling somewhat despondent lately, as I just couldn’t see how making short films was worth it. They don’t make money, they don’t lead directly to features or commercials work – they’re really only good for practicing your craft. Ari, on... Read The Rest →
