• My short film is a suspenseful crime, which tells a story about a boy who is devoted to studying bone specimens kills his younger sister and eventually turns into a double personality and suicide.

• To make sure it was a microbudget I plan to borrow the venue from a friend who has a house with a swimming pool. This short film requires only two actors to appear on the screen, and the other two voice actors are off-screen. In addition, bone specimens could be borrowed from my friend who is an artist, just need to agree to add the artist’s name and studio at the end of the film. The cost is manageable.

• What I learned through this process is that voice has the power to tell a story, whether it is an off-screen performance or voiceover. It is also a great way to save on the casting budget. Another thing I’ve learned is that the number of scenes is not the only criterion for a micro-budget film. A single scene may not create a complete and clear storyline. Multiple scenes do not necessarily cost more.

Here is the link to the final script:

< https://drive.google.com/file/d/1JWg9JbysaQqqUGcfa31gJaAa2CDXX1Hh/view?usp=sharing >

“Hello Cherry” is a drama film that contains a thriller element. It is mainly about a weak girl Cherry, who meets a girl Jenny in a dream world, who is the opposite of her personality, Jenny is her second personality, in the dream world they have a dispute, and finally, Cherry was constantly verbally stimulated by the situation,  the main personality was occupied by Jenny.

To make sure this is micro-budget work, I try to shoot in the same location. Set up a simple office cubicle in the house as the shooting location. Followed by using public space as a location shoot. This weakened the cost of the location and also reduced transportation costs. Avoid special makeup and special effects for short films, so that makeup and editing can be done by myself. Because the extras do not need to show their faces in the shooting, so I can get the group member to play or I can play myself. In these ways, I can try to control the budget.

Through this production process, I got a concrete concept of some budgets, such as the cost of actors, 1.5 times the usual cost if overtime is needed, etc. I also gained an understanding of how to write a script. Since my script is related to dual personality, I looked up information about it and also learned a lot about other things. Overall, a micro-budget can also produce a lot of short films.

Here’s the link

Closet Script

My script is a suspense horror film called “Closet”. It describes a magical closet, but many people disappear into it.

I created the film based on the inspiration provided by the film “The Black Hole” and “Closet Space”, so I positioned the film in the genre of indoor suspense horror. Although this film is a suspenseful horror, the main genre I believe is still suspense, which has an open ending for the audience to think about. This film is different from some horror films in that there are no scenes of bloody violence, but more of a horror atmosphere created by the audience thinking as they watch. In addition, I have watched a number of microfilms and I found that the closet is very micro-budget film friendly and the closet is used throughout the film to make the audience think and look forward to what will come next in the closet. There is also a lot of sound to create a different atmosphere, and even without the bloody and violent scenes you can still feel the horror. There are no expensive props used throughout the film and the locations are mainly in the apartment, making it very friendly for micro-budget filmmaking.

Through the process of making this microfilm, I learned how to keep within the production costs of the film without limiting my creativity, and to judge and choose the ideas that are necessary.

Ebbs is a short film production that was written throughout the course of semester 2 as part of the Production on a Shoestring studio.

The short drama piece incorporates coming-of-age themes and political discourse as is follows the conversation of two young women as they discuss the life and career of their favourite musician, Ebbs.

In order to make this script suitable for a micro-budget, the piece is dialogue-driven as opposed to plot-driven or spectacle-driven. This allows for a minimalist approach to the film production and, thereby, makes the film feasible on a micro-budget.

Throughout the course of this semester the significance of the impact of the production schedule on the total budget required for a production was revealed to me. The day-by-day expenses lead to a rapid increase in the financial load of the production process on particular account of the rates required for employment of staff, equipment rentals and location rentals.

LINK TO SCRIPT & SUPPORTING DOCUMENTS:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1XA5ht5x628-CQi5vH8nPZ9AifMu2JwbW?usp=sharing

The name of the script is called ‘Unit 3026’. The script’s genre is fantastic horror. It usually represents those unnatural phenomena that the audience cannot rationally explain in the film. The script is mainly about things that happened in unit 3026. Alex and Bill, two young men, go to unit 3026 of the xxx apartment. Alex is the one that has to walk into the unit, as he loses the game when wrestling arms with Bill. Bill was going to lock Alex in the unit for an hour, but while Bill was going to open the door, he found out it was already unlocked, and Alex disappeared. He tries to walk in and finds out what happened. Soon, he is dragged into the unit and ends up like Alex.

I have tried to replace a few things to keep it a low-budget script. At the end of the script, there is a scene where Alex’s phone receives two messages. One of them is from the social worker to illustrate that Alex has some life problems. He needs others’ help, whether it is physical or mental. I use plots that show the whole meaning in one or two scenes for other plots. And keep the entire storyline within one location to ensure that no additional costs are incurred due to changing areas, transporting equipment, etc. I have learned how to write a good script based on the actual situation, such as location, filming permission, funding, environmental factors and other issues and plots. Even if the plot can be restored 100% as written in the script, the actual shooting, including lighting and other issues, will affect the atmosphere of the final movie scene. 

Therefore, in addition to knowing how to think about reality, write the script. Learn more about the technical aspects of filming, such as controlling the lighting, shooting angles, etc., to maximize the creation of a short microbudget film and replace the plot in the script to achieve the purpose of a low budget. It is also possible to use the characteristics of the shooting location as much as possible and use a specific shooting angle to achieve this purpose.

In conclusion, I still need to learn more shooting techniques to restore 100% of my thoughts on the plots in all the scripts through my shooting techniques.

Link to script:

https://rmiteduau-my.sharepoint.com/:b:/g/personal/s3812609_student_rmit_edu_au/EVeYDpnCw6lHreaOZI_aHj0B_uEgs-NOfPvRtYOJwh5MxA

Ava Mia is a short drama film about a young couple trying to deal with the loss of an unborn child. The couples relationship and their emotional state has been off balance for a while now, unsure how to feel within themselves they are at friction with one another. Through a cascade of fragmented memories we watch as they attempt to reconnect and deal with the loss together.

Link to final script: <Ava Mia Script>

I wrote Ava Mia for a micro-budget by taking note of what I had on hand before writing the story, doing this I was able to take advantage of some of the resources I have access to, that others might not, in order to create a unique story. I am lucky to have access to a lot of film and audio equipment which dramatically reduces the cost of making a film, not needing to purchase or hire such equipment. With the available equipment in mind I also concentrated on writing a story based on a location I already know of and have access to, this way I had a location in mind and was able to conjure up imagery through focusing on the individual rooms and their decor first, which spurred thoughts that helped me develop the story of Ava Mia. With this order of thought I wrote the script within the confines of equipment I have, at a location I have, so the cost of making the film would be reduced before I began writing it. This along with other low budget techniques such as small cast and crew, little to no unique costumes and no special or visual effects, I was able to keep the costs considerably low.

One of the things I learned is that it can be quite difficult making a film for a micro-budget in that there are always costs you forget about or fail to consider. I often forgot about the catering for each production day, the prop acquisition and travel expenses. Once I started using a list, a proper budget document with almost all the possible costs of the production listed, it was a lot easier to keep track of in that the costs were there to remind me of them. If you didn’t concentrate on your budget and use a budget document I would imagine a lot of phantom costs would arise during a production and cause many budgetary issues.

–  Brodie Richards 5/2022

One day is a short drama film that tells the story of a vulnerable young woman who experiences a devastating miscarriage that further strains her relationship as they deal with the rollercoaster journey of infertility.

The process of writing a script, both creatively and practically, on a microbudget meant I had to understand what was easily accessible and available to me already before writing. With resources already at my disposal such as location, equipment, props and so on, I then had to write with considerations to cinematography, sound design, casting and shooting schedule. Here, I had to think outside the box in order to keep my costs down while still utilising these elements to the best of my ability in a way that could realise my creative vision and the overall tone of the film.

One of the biggest things I have learnt to do is write a script that is achievable to make into an affordable production. Previously, I was the type of person that would only storyboard my short films as scripting writing was completely out of my comfort zone, however this experience has pushed me to think creatively on how to communicate my vision to readers as well as learn how to create future projects that are well-planned and achievable on a ‘realistic’ shoestring budget.

The link to my script is here:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1nbiKtJc_UnrL9M2euxKxW18PugO0mWFI/view?usp=sharing

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