Pre Production Unit - Budgeting Research

Through research, I understand that one of my main responsibilities as a producer is budgeting the project. I, first of all, sat down with Andreya and we worked out how much money realistically we were able to contribute towards the production. After some consideration, we found that £1500 was a good amount split between us to ensure we would have some funds to put towards key important areas.

In order to make sure that I was putting this money in the right areas, I wanted to do some further research on this. The first website I came across was a website called Webfilmschool. This was a really useful site that gave me a lot of information on the different types of budgets a film has. It first starts off with a 'No Budget Film' which is anything from $10,000 - $40,000 explaining this is ideal for a 1 to 4 week film shoot. Although we only have £1500, this category is the one we fit into the most. The second was a mini-budget priced at $41,000 - $80,000, followed by a micro-budget right up to number 7 which is a classic low budget of $700,000. You can see a screenshot below:

This was really useful for me to understand the different types of budgets there were and what is expected for each bracket. I continued to look on this site and there was a really interesting article that explained how to budget a film on a budget under $10,000. It broke down all the areas I need to look at and how much to spend on them. The first was scripting. It explained that scripting can be free as long as it looks like a script and is formatted correctly. The only thing you need to pay for is the paper and ink as there is free software online called Celtx that will help to format it for you. This is something that I am going to use when I write my script, I have used the software before so I am already familiar with it and the fact its free to use means it wont affect the budget. The next thing the article talked about was casting. It explained that most of the money towards actors will go towards travel, food and lots of coffees. For such a small budget film the actors should be ok working for free as long as the expenses are paid. Although you could use friends for free, the site exclaims that this is a really big mistake as it can really cheapen the films look. You need to hire people that have acting experience but are willing to work with just their expenses paid. 

The next thing the article talks about is equipment. It explains that the best way to do this on no budget is to hire it. Buying cameras that produce the quality that you want for the film will cost thousands and thousands to buy. You could use a phone for no cost but the footage may not produce the look you are after so its important to a bit of money aside for equipment hire. It also says keeping the shoot days as tight as you can will minimise daily rental costs. For locations, the article explains that if you are really at a push, use your own houses or friends houses but if you really want somewhere bigger and better, set a bit of money aside to rent a place. It can take some research to find somewhere at the right cost but there are places out there that will allow you to shoot in the house for $200 - $400. Finally, it suggested costume and music. In order for the film to look the way you want it to, you need to put a little bit of money aside from costume. Clothing can say so much about a character and buying some pieces that represent them can really reflect their personality just by looking at them. You could borrow some pieces of clothing from friends and family if it gives the right look but setting some money aside to focus on wardrobe is something that should be highly considered. With music, they also suggested putting a couple hundred aside for licencing. You can get a really great copyright free material so its good to start there but you can also get great professional tracks at a low price by contacting record labels and explaining your financial status. 

Overall This article has really taught me a lot. Its explained different areas I need to consider and how I can do things that are cost-effective but still create the look I want to achieve. I really wanted to explore this further so I had a look at another website called Filmmaker freedom. You can see a screenshot of this website below: 

This article was all about managing locations when having little money in a budget. The first thing it explains is, "Whether you like it or not, the locations in your film are powerful storytelling tools". It says that the background and the scenes on which your characters are placed have to make sense in order for your film to work. It needs to match up to them and saying they are poor and struggling and then having them in a nice semi-detached house with a Bose sound system would defeat the object of the narrative. It suggests if you need fancy big locations, try and ask for favours first. Asking around may navigate you in the right direction. If no luck there, do a lot of research and explain the situation you are in and someone may bend in letting you shoot at a location for a much lower price. 

All this information has been really useful to me and I will now have a go at drawing up my own budget sheet to see how I can split the money that we have got.