Easy Pre-Production Cost Saving Tips p.4

I once worked with a great DP on a short film where for sake of saving money, he agreed to do the camera test with the film stock on a still camera instead of the motion picture camera. This was supposed to save our 35 mm film for the shoot and would also save us a weekly rental fee on the camera package. Well the film developed beautifully so our lighting and film selection was correct; however, after we watched the first day of shooting's dailies, we noticed a blur on the film. After inspecting and checking everything, we realized that one of the lenses was damaged. By trying to save a few hundred dollars in our film budget during pre-production, it ended up costing us thousands of dollars during reshoots and post production. I have always found that when I tried to cut corners to save money in my movies that it always ended up costing more. However, if I often saved money by planning and coordinated as much as I could.