No-budget film

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A no-budget film is a film made with very little or no money. Actors and technicians are often employed in these films without remuneration. A no-budget film is typically made at the beginning of a filmmaker's career, with the intention of either exploring creative ideas, testing their filmmaking abilities, or for use as a professional "calling card" when seeking creative employment. No-budget films are commonly submitted to film festivals, the intention being to raise widespread interest in the film.

Contents

No-budget films are financed out-of-pocket by the director, who typically takes on multiple roles, or else uses a crew of volunteers.

Examples

In 1960, Ron Rice released The Flower Thief , starring Taylor Mead, to positive reception. The film was produced for less than $1,000 [1] using black-and-white 16 mm 50' film cartridges left over from aerial gunnery equipment used during World War II. [2] In the early 1960s, filmmaker Jack Smith used discarded color-reversal film stock to film Flaming Creatures . [3] John Waters' 1964 black-and-white film Hag in a Black Leather Jacket reportedly cost $30 to make, though Waters has said that he stole the film stock. [4] Craig Baldwin's Flick Skin is entirely made from discarded film, or "found footage", retrieved from a projectionist's booth. [5] The No Wave Cinema movement of the late 1970s, represented by filmmakers such as Vivienne Dick, produced many notable no-budget films shot on Super 8, [6] such as Beauty Becomes The Beast. In 1996, Sarah Jacobson's first feature film, Mary Jane's Not a Virgin Anymore , was made with "one camera, one tape recorder, one mic and, like, four lights". [7] G. B. Jones took 13 years to film, direct and edit on Super 8 film the feature film The Lollipop Generation (2008), which was filmed whenever she could afford to buy a roll of film. [8] In 2012, first-time director Shawn Holmes shot his debut film Memory Lane with non-professional actors and a budget of less than $300. [9] In the same year, Goodbye Promise became the first film distributed online directly to its audience via a crowdfunding platform. [10] The 2013 sci-fi Hyperfutura by James O'Brien employed found footage married to a live action narrative to create a dystopian future on an inventive no-budget scale. [11] The budget for Brian Patrick Butler’s black comedy Friend of the World was so small that it was said to cost less than a monthly spend on coffee, relying on its black and white images and stage play setup. [12]

Footage for no-budget films is often shot on location, either with permission, or without permission (i.e. "guerrilla filmmaking"), using sites such as the filmmaker's home, backyard, or local neighborhood. Jonás Cuarón spent a year taking photographs of his friends and family which he then compiled into his fictional film Year of the Nail (2007).

No-budget films have often been made in the past using Super 8 film or video, but recent films have taken advantage of low-cost digital cameras and editing programs. A notable example of this could be found in the work of ASS Studios, a no-budget film studio founded in 2011 by Courtney Fathom Sell and Jen Miller on the Lower East Side of New York City. [13] [14]

No-budget films can be distributed at film festivals that focus on independent and experimental films, [15] such as the Flicker Film Festival [16] and No Budget Film Festival [17] in Los Angeles, The 8 Fest in Toronto, and the Trasharama A-Go-Go festival in Australia. [18] The Polish brothers distributed their no-budget film For Lovers Only on iTunes and relied on social media to publicize it. [19]

Examples of well-received no-budget films are Kevin Smith's Clerks , [20] Christopher Nolan's Following , [21] Jafar Panahi's Taxi , [22] Shane Carruth's Primer , Robert Rodriguez's El Mariachi , Bruno Stagnaro & Israel Adrián Caetano's Pizza, birra, faso , Nabwana I.G.G.'s Who Killed Captain Alex? , Jörg Buttgereit’s Nekromantik , and Cyrus Frisch's Why Didn't Anybody Tell Me It Would Become This Bad in Afghanistan .

See also

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References

  1. ↑ Dixon, Wheeler Winston, "Performativity in 1960s Experimental Film", Film Criticism Vol 23, 1998
  2. ↑ Dixon, Wheeler Winston, "The Exploding Eye" Archived 2006-12-19 at the Wayback Machine
  3. ↑ Strother, Annie (2011-11-23). "MOMA Pays Homage to Experimental Filmmaker Jack Smith". PBS . Retrieved 2014-11-15.
  4. ↑ Grow, Kory (2014-09-05). "John Waters Looks Back: 'I Was Worse Than Ed Wood'". Rolling Stone . Retrieved 2014-11-15.
  5. ↑ Cox, David. "Media Meltdown". Sensesofcinema.com. Retrieved 29 November 2021.
  6. ↑ "Luxonline". Luxonline.org.uk. Retrieved 29 November 2021.
  7. ↑ "Sinagra, Laura, "Grrrl, Interrupted", City Lights, 2004". Archived from the original on 2007-09-30. Retrieved 2006-12-16.
  8. ↑ Liss, Sarah, "The Lollipop Generation", Eye Weekly, 2 Apr, 2008 Archived 2008-05-17 at the Wayback Machine
  9. ↑ Courtney, Hannah. "Ferry filmmaker's 'Memory Lane' hits U.S." Times Leader Online. Retrieved 25 April 2015.
  10. ↑ "David Branin & Karen Worden from Film Courage Release Feature 'Goodbye Promise' for $1 on IndieGoGo". No Film School.
  11. ↑ "James O'Brien's HYPERFUTURA, the controversial cult sci-fi feature film with Eric Kopatz gets cable VOD premiere". Filmfestivals.com. Retrieved 29 November 2021.
  12. ↑ Rockwood, S. (2021-10-07). "Friend of the World – Film Review". Set The Tape. Retrieved 2023-03-15.
  13. ↑ "COURTNEY FATHOM SEll's HI-8 HIGH LIFE | Filmmaker Magazine". Archived from the original on 2017-12-10. Retrieved 2015-03-23.
  14. ↑ "COURTNEY FATHOM SELL: SO YOU WANNA BE AN UNDERGROUND FILMMAKER? | Filmmaker Magazine". Archived from the original on 2015-06-27. Retrieved 2015-03-23.
  15. ↑ Nelms, Ian; Nelms, Eshom (2013-05-29). "Film Festivals: A Firsthand Account From the Front Lines of 21st-Century 'DIY' Distribution". The Wrap . Retrieved 2014-11-15.
  16. ↑ Corrigan, Mike (2004-09-16). "Fall Arts Film - Flicker Fest". The Pacific Northwest Inlander . Retrieved 2014-11-15.
  17. ↑ King, Susan (2013-09-25). "No Budget Film Festival, in 4th year, to feature screenings, panels". Los Angeles Times . Retrieved 2014-11-15.
  18. ↑ "Trasharama Home page". Trasharama.com. Retrieved 2021-11-29.
  19. ↑ Macaulay, Scott (2011-07-13). "Polish Brothers Release Successful No-Budget Movie On iTunes". Filmmaker . Retrieved 2014-11-15.
  20. ↑ Kelly, Christopher (2014-09-29). "Kevin Smith says 'Clerks III' is finally a go". NJ.com . Retrieved 2014-11-15.
  21. ↑ Andrew, Geoff (2002-08-27). "Christopher Nolan". The Guardian . London. Retrieved 2014-11-15.
  22. ↑ Sexton, David (2015-02-17). "David Sexton: How to make a great film with no money or professional actors". London Evening Standard . Retrieved 2015-12-03.
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