Feature Filmmaking at Used-Car Prices : How to Write, Produce, Direct, Shoot, Edit and Promote a Feature-Lenth Movie for Less Than $15,000,9780140291841

Feature Filmmaking at Used-Car Prices : How to Write, Produce, Direct, Shoot, Edit and Promote a Feature-Lenth Movie for Less Than $15,000

by
Edition: Revised
ISBN13: 9780140291841
ISBN10: 0140291849
Format: Paperback
Pub. Date: 2000-06-01
Publisher(s): PENGUIN
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Summary

In this revised and updated edition of Feature Filmmaking at Used-Car Prices, Rick Schmidt shows aspiring filmmakers step-by-step how to create a feature film for the price of a used car. Featuring extensive new material on using digital video technology and making the most of Internet resources, Schmidt's practical, no-nonsense handbook reveals the insider secrets to:
-- Selecting and writing a story that can be produced on a tight budget
-- Rallying a filmmaking team through creative contracts
-- Shooting and editing with an original style
-- Marketing the finished film and dealing with agents
-- Making a collaborative feature

Fully revised and updated to cover the new technology that continues to revolutionize low-budget filmmaking, Schmidt's guide is as useful and relevant as ever. Complete with checklists, technical information, and sample budgets, this essential guide offers both inspiration and instruction for anyone who has the yen to make a film without breaking the bank.

Table of Contents

A Preamble for the 2000 Edition ix
Foreword: How (and How Not) to Do It: An Open Letter to the Next Generation of American Filmmakers xxi
Ray Carney
Preface xxxv
Acknowledgments xlvii
Introduction to Low-Budget Feature Filmmaking 1(6)
Story Concept
7(19)
Where Do Ideas Come From?
8(3)
Selecting the Right Concept
11(1)
Eleven Essential Qualities of a No-Budget Movie
12(2)
Writing Your Concept in One Sentence
14(2)
Expanding Your Idea into a One-Page Treatment
16(3)
Improving a Treatment Through Detailed Characterization
19(5)
Registering Your Treatment
24(2)
Scriptwriting for No-Budget Features
26(19)
Writing Scenes on Index Cards
29(1)
Expanding Cards into Scripted Scenes
30(3)
Scripting by Collaboration
33(3)
Scripting with Software
36(5)
Finalizing Your Script
41(2)
The Shooting Script
43(2)
Beginning
45(28)
Defining Your Production Limitations
46(2)
Profit Sharing
48(1)
Deferred Payment
49(1)
The Contract
50(1)
Contract Checklist
51(2)
Budget
53(1)
Filming Costs
53(1)
16-mm Shooting Budget (Film Edit)
54(2)
Shooting Budget (for Computer Edit)
56(1)
16-mm Shooting Budget (for Computer Edit)
56(1)
Editing Costs
57(2)
Editing Budget (16-mm)
58(1)
Build an Editing Bench
59(4)
List of Materials (Editing Bench)
62(1)
Total Used-Car Budget (Film Edit)
63(3)
Shooting/Editing Budget (16-mm)
64(2)
16-mm Shooting/Editing Budget (Computer Cut)
66(1)
Raising Money for Your Feature
67(3)
Grants
70(3)
Emergency Self-Funding
71(2)
Preproduction: Preparing to Shoot
73(33)
People
75(1)
Casting the Crew
76(1)
Casting ``Real'' Actors
77(2)
Casting Nonactors
79(1)
Places
80(2)
Storyboarding
82(1)
Long-Distance Locations
83(1)
Things
84(1)
Camera Equipment
85(2)
Which Lenses?
87(1)
Sound Gear
88(3)
Lighting Kits
91(1)
Examples of Lighting on Rick Schmidt Features
92(1)
Selecting Your Lighting
93(1)
Hollywood Lighting
94(2)
Lighting for Low Budgets
96(2)
Natural Lighting with ASA 800 Filmstock
96(1)
Soft Lights
97(1)
Saving Money on Filmstock and Sound Track
98(1)
Renting Equipment
99(1)
Support Equipment
100(1)
Equipment Checklist
101(2)
Paperwork/Errands/Lists
103(1)
Preproduction Checklist
104(2)
Production: Filming and Directing
106(43)
Fifteen Rules for Shooting No-Budget Features
107(2)
Picking Up Rental Equipment
109(1)
Morning of the Shoot
110(1)
Loading Equipment, Picking Up Actors and Crew
110(3)
Organization on Location
113(1)
Loading the Camera
114(1)
Focusing the Eyepiece
115(1)
Shooting Wide-Screen 16:9
115(1)
Camera Maintenance
116(1)
Placing the Camera for Your First Shot
117(1)
Tips for Lighting on Location
118(2)
Using a Light Meter
120(1)
What to Shoot? How to Shoot?
121(1)
Supporting Your Story with Images
122(2)
The Long Take
124(1)
``Freeze'' Method of Shooting for Cuts
124(1)
Cutaways and Pauses for Transitions
125(1)
Shooting Without Sound
126(1)
High-Budget Effects
127(1)
Directing Actors on Location
128(2)
Directing from Behind the Camera
130(1)
Feeding Cast and Crew on a Budget
131(1)
Continuity
132(1)
Shooting Titles on Location
133(1)
Location Miracles
134(1)
Saving Film on Each Sync Take
135(1)
Benefits of a Tight Shooting Schedule
136(1)
Movie Stills/Videos of ``Work-in-Progress''
137(1)
Developing and Work Printing at the Lab
138(2)
Processing Without a Work Print
140(1)
Video Versus Film Work Print
141(1)
Money and the Lab
141(1)
Checking Your First Footage
142(2)
Checking Your Recorded Sync Sound
144(2)
Screening Footage for Cast and Crew
146(1)
Completing the Shoot
147(2)
Postproduction: Editing Your Feature
149(50)
Making the First Splice
150(6)
Syncing It Up
156(2)
Rick Schmidt's Secrets of Editing
158(3)
Edge Numbering
161(1)
Filing Your ``Outs''
161(1)
Viewing Your Footage as a ``Movie''
162(1)
Placing Scenes in Order of Your Story
163(1)
Cutting for Structure
164(2)
Testing Your Edit
166(1)
Beginning a ``Rough Cut''
167(1)
Discarding Your Favorite Scene
168(1)
Sound Effects and Music
169(1)
The ``Breakthrough Cut''
170(1)
The Missing Pieces
171(1)
Adding Narrations
172(1)
Photos as Transitions
173(1)
Shooting Additional Footage
174(1)
Final Tightening and Pacing
175(1)
Finalizing the Structure
176(2)
Preparing Sound Rolls for the Mix
178(4)
The Sound Mix
182(1)
Screening Your Sound Mix
182(1)
Conforming Original for Printing
183(1)
AB Rolling from a Work Print
184(7)
AB Rolling Without a Work Print
191(1)
Cue Sheet for Printing
191(2)
Lab Procedures for Printing
193(2)
Screening Your Answer Print
195(2)
Assembling Your Print
197(1)
Screening Your Print for Cast and Crew
198(1)
Promotion
199(40)
Preparing Your Promotional Package
201(7)
Video Copies for Promotion
201(2)
Promotional Graphics
203(1)
The Pressbook
203(1)
The Still
204(1)
The Poster
205(3)
Film Festivals
208(2)
The New York Premiere
210(2)
Promotion by Letters, E-Mail, and Phone
212(1)
Indie Fests
212(5)
WWW Digital Fests
217(2)
American Showcases
219(2)
Television Premiere
221(3)
The Film Market
224(2)
Distributors
226(5)
Agents
231(2)
Indie Cinemas
233(1)
Other Forms of Distribution
234(1)
Advertising for Alternative Distribution
235(2)
Setting Prices
237(1)
The Long Haul
237(2)
Reality Check
239(4)
Feature Workshops
243(25)
Rick's Feature Workshops
244(3)
10-Day Feature Workshop Budget (16-mm with Avid Cut)
247(2)
Collaborating in 35-mm
249(2)
35-mm Collaborative Budget (5-Day Shoot/2-Week Edit)
249(2)
DVCAM Movies by Collaboration
251(1)
Ten-Way Collaborative Features
252(3)
Collaborative Budget
255(2)
Film School Budget (16-mm)
256(1)
Ten Short Stories Versus Ten Segments
257(1)
Quality Control Agreement
258(2)
Writing/Directing en Masse
260(2)
Auteur Theory Debris
262(1)
Editing by Segments/Cinematic Jazz
263(1)
Consensus (or Not)/Final Cut
264(1)
Promotion Power/Pulling Strings
265(3)
Shooting in Analog Video
268(7)
Selecting the Right Video Format
269(2)
Lighting for Video
271(1)
Shooting and Directing in Video
272(1)
Saving Costs on Video Editing
273(1)
Promoting and Selling Your Video Feature
274(1)
Digital Video Workstations
275(54)
DV Websites
277(2)
Dogme 95
279(4)
The Vow of Chastity
279(4)
DVCAM Cameras
283(4)
Canon
283(1)
Sony
284(2)
Panasonic
286(1)
DV On-Location Sound
287(1)
Portable Lights for DV
288(1)
Editing by Computer
289(1)
Workstation Platform and Setup
290(1)
Becoming Computer Literate
291(2)
$10,000 Digital Movie Studio
293(1)
DV Editing Software
294(1)
Avid
295(2)
Avid Cinema
297(2)
Adobe Premiere
299(2)
EditDV, MotoDV, PhotoDV, and RotoDV
301(2)
Media 100
303(2)
Sony ES-7 EditStation
305(1)
Discreet
306(1)
Play's Trinity
306(1)
Apple's Final Cut Pro
307(4)
The Casablanca (Nonlinear Editing Without Computer)
311(3)
Website-Based Online Editing
314(2)
Digital Postproduction
316(1)
The Digital Sound Mix
316(1)
Digital Music for Movies
317(3)
Digital Printing at the Lab
320(1)
FilmLook: Video That Looks Like Film
321(2)
Video-to-Film Transfers
323(6)
Swiss Effects
324(1)
Film Craft Lab
324(2)
Four Media Company
326(3)
HDTV and the Future
329(12)
HDTV
330(2)
SDTV
332(1)
3-D Video and ``Camera's Perspective'' Software
333(2)
Twenty-four-Frames-per-Second Video
335(1)
PCMCIA Card Technology
336(1)
Univisium
337(1)
Wrap Up
338(3)
Appendices 341(57)
Appendix A: Collaboration Agreement
341(1)
Appendix B: Sample Contract for Deferred Payment and Profit Sharing
342(4)
Appendix C: Deal Memorandum
346(2)
Appendix D: Sample Investment Agreement
348(1)
Appendix E: Release
349(1)
Appendix F: Location Agreement
350(2)
Appendix G: Music Rights Agreement
352(2)
Appendix H: California Limited Partnership Agreement
354(32)
Appendix I: Purchase Offer (Limited Partnership)
386(9)
Appendix J: Collaborative Agreement (Feature Workshops)
395(3)
Index 398

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