>>2574875>>2574879So, look to your scripts & films, and figure out how to make them for less so that you can choose exactly what the audience sees - not Producers & Investors. Amazing things have been done at extremely low budgets - and now there's even less of an excuse since the gap between what Big Budget Film Makers can do & what Low-Budget Film Makers can do is closing. Things that would cost in the multimillion range can now be accomplished for a fraction of that.
The tools are getting cheaper & better every day (the Ronin M for DSLRs costs $1400, that means an easy $50/day rental - that's a hell of a lot cheaper than renting a Fisher, Chaplin, or Panther Dolly & hiring a few grips to handle them). When I started out - you couldn't buy a Cine lens kit for less than $20,000 - Now you can own a full set for less than $5000 and they produce comparable images. You can build entire cities in After Effects if you're good enough (simulate explosions, muzzle flashes, squibs), and you can use software that used to cost $25,000 for Free to color grade your images (Davinci). You can even download free software to help you format your scripts properly (Celtx).
High Production Value doesn't mean High Cost anymore. How awesome is that?
So why not scale your budget back and just do it? you're only reducing your risk if it all goes wrong.
It only takes making 1 impressive film to make it, some can do it for a few million dollars - others for a few thousand. Everyone starts somewhere.
Hell, El Mariachi cost $7,000 to make and made $2 million, the first Mad Max film cost $650,000 ($2 mill adjusted for inflation) and made $8,750,000. SAW cost $1.2 million and started with a single actor in a short film.
So, Shoot your movie your way - Even if it's not the way that Hollywood would do it.
