Posted by Michael Raben at 63.239.234.7 on March 08, 2001 at 14:54:07:
In Reply to: Question for Kevin posted by dade601 on March 08, 2001 at 13:40:08:
: Getting to the point I was hoping for your expertice, advice, etc. on putting together an indie film of my own.
Kevin & the View Askew crew are a bit busy right now, and while there are some folks here who can definitely help you out (including me, natch) I'd first recommend checking out and posting any questions over at Film-411.
: I wanted your opinion on what would be the best way(economically and visually) to get this done. Any ideas or opinions you might have on such things a cameras, film, editing, sound, blah blah blah would be greatly appreciated.
Whoa. Okay, it looks like you're asking for most of the kit-and-kiboodle without having done any research of your own. One of the things with independent films is that they're generally labors of love on a small budget. Each one has it's own details that will affect the overall budget and production (like geographic location, shooting on film vs. video, size of crew, # of shooting locations, etc.) These important details and plenty of others get fleshed out in pre-production, by YOU and anyone else who wants in on the production-side of things. Once you start to break things down and run into 'lack of knowledge' issues (eg You've decided to shoot on video and wanted to know if anyone has any experience on a Canon XL-1 and what they thought vs. other cameras etc. etc.) that's where you're likely to get detailed responses to specific queries. Generic "Advice" posts like this one get a nice, fat generic "responses" like this post.
: The script is centered on the dialogue as opposed to flashy visuals(I'm sure you of all people can appreciate that).
Most indies are dialogue heavy, due to budget constraints, but you can still spice up your flick visually if you plan it all out. Certain things just can't happen (like big explosions, "real" car chases, etc.) but you'd be surprised what you can "fake" and accomplish visually on the cheap when you plan it all out in advance.
: I'm hoping that i can turn my friends into actors...
All right, here's some true advice: Your friends ARE NOT ACTORS. Some may be passable, but the project is really best served by holding an actual audition and choosing from those "actors" that come by. By all means have your friends in the flick in small roles, but I've seen more disasters that successes in casting non-actors vs. actors with even the meagerest of experience.
: and get this done but wanted to consult a knowledgeable source before I begin my assault on the movie industry.
Keep in mind that filmmaking is not an impossible task and certainly not above anyone. It's just a very detailed process with many pieces - the task can seem daunting, but remember that it all breaks down into small, manageable questions with tons of work to set it all up.
And if it were easy, everyone would be doing it.
Always,
Michael Raben