Easy Film Production Cost Saving Tips p.1

The decision to shoot with a second unit requires taking many aspects into consideration. The impact of shooting with a second unit can have tremendous cost saving or cost creating effects on your film budget.

When deciding to shoot with a second unit, you need to consider whether a second unit would speed-up your shooting schedule or bring it to a grinding halt. A second unit has the ability to cover multiple shots simultaneously. Consequently, the amount of time it takes to film a shot could be reduced. This could result in weeks being shaved off your shoot schedule. However, you must realize that if the crew is not experienced enough, a second unit will get in the way of the first and slow down production. Orchestrating a second camera requires experience and planning to capture what the film shoot needs and avoid "crossing cameras". "Crossing cameras" is a term that means that a camera is in the shooting sight or picture frame of another camera.

If a DP is not good at orchestrating a two camera shoot, then production could grind to a halt and negate any time savings. In theory, shooting with two cameras should have no effect on the amount of film used since the second camera would have been used to shoot the scene even if there was only one camera. There is also a cost increase to your camera package that needs to be taken into account.

One more benefit to a second camera unit is that towards the end of production, if the scene does not require two cameras, the second camera unit can work on insert shots and pick-up shots.

This decision should involve the input of the producer, director, DP, UPM and 1st AD. The bigger the movie budget, the more probable that it would benefit from multiple camera units.

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.

Cinematographer

Choosing a cinematographer is a complex decision that is based on artistic taste and budgetary constraints. For example, it would make sense that if you are producing a slapstic comedy, that you would hire a DP who had worked on other comedies as opposed to a DP who had only worked on sad dramas. The lighting of a scene contributes tremendously to the emotional response of the audience.

The other consideration is your budget. DPs who have only worked on big studio budget films, may not know how to effectively a light a shot on a short schedule and smaller lighting budget. Studio films generally film 1-3 pages of a script per day as opposed to an independent film which usually needs to film 3-6 pages per day. Sometimes, you may find a DP with experience in both worlds and the ability to light on any size film budget (Keep those DPs as close friends!)

For a guideline on how much to budget for a cinematographer and his lighting equipment, check out www.QuickFilmBudget.com