Digital Filmmaking 101: An Essential Guide to Producing Low-Budget Movies

by Dale Newton, John Gaspard

Digital Filmmaking 101 reveals the secrets of making professional-quality ditial moviemaking on ultra-low budgets.

Genres: Film, Reference, Nonfiction

291 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

Reviews

[DW]

First off, I'm not actually interested in producing a low-budget movie myself (especially not after reading about how you probably want to set up a non-profit company to deal with the taxes and stuff) but the book was an interesting read anyway. I skipped most of the stuff about film formats and editing because I'm pretty sure that's all out of date. Since I'm making a simple stop-motion short, the chapter on "special effects" (really just "camera tricks to save money or get the shot", not "how to show big explosions and car chases") was the most inspiring for me, especially their mantra "don't be embarrassed about how you kludge things together as long as you get your shot).

Most of the book is quite readable, and it talked about a lot of things I hadn't thought about (feed volunteer cast and crew good food and they'll be happier working for you, have extras come between mealtimes so you don't have to feed them, check the circuit breakers and fuses where you're going to film because you'll probably blow them out). So all in all an interesting read.

[LMS]

Some great tips and advice on creating low-budget films. I know independent filmmaking seems to be something that people advise you to learn as you go along (i.e., getting out there and doing it rather than learning from a classroom or book), but I do appreciate the shortcut of learning from people who've done it before.

[Dwayne]

A so-so book on budget filmmaking.