Archive for the ‘Screen Writing’ Category
Saturday, November 7th, 2009
If it doesn’t sound natural, cut it. If your character is a teenager from a small town in the Midwest, it’s likely that he’s not going to walk around speaking in lengthy scientific phrases. Unless it’s part of your plot (perhaps he’s River Phoenix’s character Wolfgang in The Explorers?), change or cut the dialogue.
Make sure your dialogue is easy to understand. It’s one thing to have a character with a weird accent or feature to make him interesting; it’s another to make him incomprehensible. (more…)
Tags: character dialogue, dialog, dialogue tips in filmmaking, film dialogue, making cheap movies, movies on a budget
Posted in Film Actors, General Film Making, Screen Writing | No Comments »
Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009
You want your characters to sound as natural and human as possible–without being boring–right? This doesn’t mean that every word that’s said must be golden words of infinite wisdom, grasshopper; what it does mean is that your characters need to be believable.
Here are just a few tips to follow when guiding your actors through their dialogue.
Maintain consistency. If your movie takes place in Ireland and your actors have their Irish accents down perfectly, great! (more…)
Tags: character dialogue, dialog, dialogue tips in filmmaking, film dialogue, making cheap movies, movies on a budget
Posted in Film Actors, General Film Making, Screen Writing | No Comments »
Thursday, October 29th, 2009
Looking for even more tips for a Hitchcockian feel? Here are even more ways to twist your movie to fit your budget and the big screen.
Walk a mile in your lead’s shoes. Or rather, make your audience walk in them. If your character is a serial rapist in jail, your audience may not have much empathy for him; engage the audience by showing things from his point of view, such as in flashbacks of a difficult life or in a current abusive situation while in prison. (more…)
Tags: alfred hitchcock, cheap movie making, directing movies, hitchcock films, hitchcock themes, making movies, movie twists, movie writing
Posted in General Film Making, Screen Writing, special effects | No Comments »
Tuesday, October 27th, 2009
If you want to really add some cinematic appeal to your movie without adding more money to your budget, look no further than twisted tale guru Alfred Hitchcock. There was a man who knew how to draw in an audience! Here are a few tips on adding some Hitchcockian style to your film.
Give your characters plenty of scene time. (more…)
Tags: alfred hitchcock, cheap movie making, directing movies, hitchcock films, hitchcock themes, making movies, movie twists, movie writing
Posted in General Film Making, Screen Writing, special effects | No Comments »
Tuesday, September 29th, 2009
Before filming your movie, you’ll probably want to create a storyboard to visually conceptualize the scenes together. That way, you can move things around for dramatic effect and have each scene ready to film before you begin. Remember, your scenes can be flexible; for the sake of art, don’t feel as if they have to remain in the order they were originally written. (more…)
Tags: drawing storyboards, filmmaking, how to make a cheap movie, storyboard, storyboard tips
Posted in Film Paperwork, General Film Making, Screen Writing | No Comments »
Thursday, September 10th, 2009
If there’s one thing that every creative person hates, it’s paperwork. No writer likes to log his or her budget in a spreadsheet; no painter likes to record hours spent on a project. To artists, it’s all about creation; the rest is just a boring (though necessary) afterthought.
Filmmakers, like their other fellow artists, are also required to keep a mound of paperwork. Unfortunately, it’s often a lot more than the poet or concert pianist must keep.
(more…)
Tags: cheap movie making, Film Paperwork, free movie making advice, free movie paperwork, low budget movie
Posted in Film Actors, Film Paperwork, Getting Funding, Screen Writing, Technical Crews | No Comments »
Thursday, September 3rd, 2009
The last thing you want to do when making a cheap movie is to blow your entire budget on a good location. The odds are not in favor of you getting high-traffic, high-profile areas with a budget under ten grand.
That said, you can still film on a great location for cheap–even for free. Here are some tips to keep in mind when you set out on finding your perfect location. (more…)
Tags: cheap movie making, free movie locations, location permits, low budget movie, making a movie, movie location
Posted in Director of Photography, Getting Funding, Screen Writing | No Comments »
Friday, August 21st, 2009
Many first-time movie makers start with horror or sci-fi films. It could be because they’re appealing to a large crowd; they can be a big success even if they’re not considered “quality films.” Of course, it could also simply be because they can be very cheap to make!
As we’ve seen in so many horror movies, camera quality is usually not a big issue, so you don’t need to spend your budget there. (more…)
Tags: cheap movie making, horror, making movies, sci-fi
Posted in Film Actors, Makeup & Wardrobe, Props, Screen Writing | No Comments »
Thursday, August 13th, 2009
Remember that the key to keeping a movie cheap is to keep your script simple. Simple does not, by the way, mean less powerful, meaningful, or interesting; it simply means less razzle-dazzle effects and more plot and good direction. Movies like The Shawshank Redemption, Rocky, and Misery did not require special effects to be successful films.
Here are some more tips for keeping your script simple during writing or editing. (more…)
Tags: cheap costumes, cheap props, directing, plot, scenes, script writing, special effects, writing screenplays
Posted in Makeup & Wardrobe, Props, Screen Writing | No Comments »
Monday, August 10th, 2009
The first thing to do in creating a movie on the cheap is to make sure your script is simple enough to budget for. If you are shooting an alien movie, a script akin to Signs with its simple location and effects is much cheaper to do than, say, one in the realm of Independence Day.
There are plenty of tips and tricks you can use to sidestep high-budget effects and intricate scenes without skimming on plot. (more…)
Tags: car chases, cgi, cheap props, directing, plot, script writing, special effects, writing screenplays
Posted in Screen Writing | No Comments »