Amazon’s 49 Cent Low-budget Filmmaking Guide Big Hit with Would-be Filmmakers and is Already #3 Out of All Amazon Shorts
‘How To Make A Low-Budget Digital Movie’ the 13,460 word, 49-cent, how-to mini book, showing would-be filmmakers how to make a film for a few thousand dollars instead of millions is already the number 3 bestseller out of 1446 Amazon Shorts.. With 35 photos and charts, and links to sample scripts and videos on how-to-do special effects, this book encompasses over 200 pages of valuable material for budding filmmakers.
(PRWEB) May 26, 2007 — If your dreams included a making a feature film your chances used to be pretty slim. But now, more and more people, from teens to seniors are by passing Hollywood and making their own films, even feature films due to advances in and the lower costs of digital cameras. Perhaps that explains the popularity of this recent (April 2007) Amazon.com short.
How to Make a Low-Budget Digital Movie, an Amazon Short by David Curran. Published by Amazon.com it is already one of their best-selling shorts. (Ranked 3rd out of 1,446 as of May 24, 2007)
According to the author:
More than just a short article, this mini eBook (64 pages online and 13,460 words) with 35 plus photos and graphics is the reference I wished I had when I first made a low-budget digital film. The primary focus of this book is how to produce a movie for a few thousand dollars. And since there is more than one definition of what “Produce” means (Especially in Hollywood) what I mean here is start from scratch and get your movie completed. Whether you are 12 or 103 or somewhere inbetween, if your dream is to make a feature length film on a low budget, this tells you how to get it done.
Equipment: without going into specific equipment recommendations (most are out of date before books are in print) this mini eBook tells what you need to know to determine what equipment will work for you. It discusses, cameras, microphones, and lights and talks about determining what you will need and how you can best meet those needs with as little an investment as possible.
Scripts: Although “How to make a Low-Budget Digital Movie” doesn’t go into script writing in detail it does, give the best references and shows how to set up your scripts so that you’ll best be able to go into the next phase getting your completion charts done. It also has links to completed scripts for examples of a feature film and shorts of different lengths.
Completion charts: The section on completion charts is worth the price of the mini-book alone. This shows you how to organize your shots so that you can film them most economically in terms of time and money.
Props: The discussion and examples of how to be creative with props (for example, we built a mini cemetery) will save you money in your own film. This is how-to problem solve without throwing money at the problem.
Special effects: As with props the idea is to the best job at the lowest cost. But that does not mean you cannot get the special effects you want. Links point to how to do blood shots without dangerous squibs. And the author’s free ongoing effects tutorials include a video on how to do safe explosions for movies.
Stunts: Safe stunts can be done easily. For example I explain how we did a hit and run without a stunt person. Rather than show a person walking and then cut away to a body in a road, we actually showed the car hitting an actual person. The trick was we never put anyone in danger.
Personnel: Both unpaid and paid casts and crews are covered. Learn why you should have workman’s comp, etc.
Casting: Casting goes with personnel but needs to be considered very carefully. One poorly chosen cast member can cost untold time and bring a picture down.
Counting the links to example scripts “How to make a Low-Budget Digital Movie” has over 200 pages of information. It even has a free link to the full script for The Mailbox, which was one of the most watched movies on thelot.com for many weeks. (The Mailbox movie itself is now available on veoh.com https://www.veoh.com/videos/v473430nkdemEJF as a rental.)
Many of the suggestions are in a format you can use as a checklist on your own film.
Best of all examples are given in anecdotal form. Even the footnotes have stories including how the author got his first big break and sold a story to Hollywood that appeared on the television show Wiseguy.
So even if you hate this book, chances are you’ll find at least one idea that will save you more than the Amazon shorts price of 49 cents. So you can’t loose.
