So today we were introduced to the concepts and ideas behind low budget filmmaking and its ethos. Starting with a short overview on film history and the “Low Budget Ethos” which as we learned, is about problem solving and providing a message primarily. Thinking outside the box is a HUGE part of low budget filmmaking.

Robert Rodriguez, director of what seems like 712 grindhouse films, the best predator film and Sin City, did a short documentary about one of his earliest films in which he talks about the problems and subsequently, the solutions to filming with little to no budget. One of the loopholes he found was substituting cast and crew. So any of the cast that were not in the scene and were just waiting around, were put to work either as technicians, runners and anything else Rodriguez needed them to be. This providing a valuable lesson in using what little you have, to make a big impact, and that there is no problem that cannot be overcome with a little outside the box thinking.

After this we quickly moved onto shot types and storyboarding, arguably one of the more vital part about any sort of filmmaking, let alone low budget. We covered a variety of simpler shot types, things like; over the shoulder, tracking, profile, close up and extreme close up, establishing, long shot. After we went over these shots, we were given the task to create our own 10 shot short film, using as many of the shots we had learned about, and once we had finished, we were then going to use IMovie software on the IPad’  to edit them.

The actual filming of the short film isn’t what interested me, what really caught my attention from the whole process was the editing, while I knew IMovie is a very limited editing software, I still had a lot of fun with it and seeing as I had never done anything similar to this before, was a great introduction. After today’s session, I think editing and technical skills is something I really want to focus on.