We came into this course knowing that some scripts will never receive big-budget, Academy-Award winning, Hollywood blockbuster levels of funding – but we are learning that this doesn’t mean the film is ineffective. Far from it, films with microbudgets can go on to win many awards, and be extremely popular. Take the original Mad Max film had a total budget of AUD$200,000 (TheNumbers) and created a franchise – with the most recent film having a budget of USD$150,000,000 (IMDb).
We have already explored a variety of ways that a microbudget film can still be effective while adhering to strict budgetary constraints. The Rider (2017, directed by Chloe Zhao) had a budget of only USD $80,000, and went on to gross $4.2 million at the box office, as well as scoring 97% on Rotten Tomato’s Tomatometer¹. Though there were many ways Zhao managed to reduce the film’s budget practically – including filming scenes in a ‘documentary style’ rather than paying for stunts and safety, using real people instead of actors (who were unpaid) and using locations, props and costumes that already belonged to the actors – creative decisions during conception meant that the film lent itself to a microbudget. Part of this was the themes that Zhao chose to explore – poverty, loss of identity, proximity to nature and disability. As discussed in a previous blog post, none of these themes demand a polished aesthetic, so it is clever for Zhao to utilise them to work with her production. As an example, using natural lighting developed the theme of proximity to nature, old clothing the theme of poverty, and genuinely disabled people to develop the theme of disability. None of these themes are restricted to a low budget – take Stephen Chbosky’s Wonder (2017), which had a budget of $20 million (IMDb).
Likewise, Danish film The Guilty (2017, directed by Gustav Möller) had a budget of approx. USD $570,000 and scored 98% on Rotten Tomatoes. A typical crime drama would follow the action, with tense scenes of cops creeping down dark hallways, gruesome scenes of dead bodies, and alarming moments where the a hostage is injured. However, Möller sticks with Holm, his only connection to action being down a phone line. This means it doesn’t look like a conventional film of its genre – but crime-drama fans aren’t going to feel cheated. Möller Holm’s physical isolation and separation from the action put the audience on a journey with Holm, feeling every part of his frustration and helplessness.
And these are not the only examples of successful films produced on a microbudget – nor are microbudget films limited to the above genres and themes. Other examples include the Blair Witch Project (1999), with a budget of USD $300,000, which was a hit horror/mystery film. Another film produced on a microbudget is Napoleon Dynamite (2004) – a coming of age teen comedy.
It’s becoming increasingly apparent that while not all films can be produced on a microbudget (imagine The Great Gadsby (2015) on a budget of $200,000) and that it is important to consider budgetary constraints right from conception, many concepts are possible to film on a low budget.
To explore this further, I played with a couple of story generators to find a random, rough plot that I could work with. In the end, I used Reedsy (https://blog.reedsy.com/plot-generator/) to generate the following narrative. I then restricted the script to three or less pages so this post wouldn’t be depressingly long.
The first script was written with no regard for budget and is attached below.
Though this isn’t an excessively expensive scene to film, it does have some costs that can be avoided. A brief analysis of the costs…
Scene One
Set up(s) (minium) – four
Lyndall emerging from the cabin – interior of cabin is dark, so needs minimal set up.
Lyndall walking down the rows of tents.
Tree stump – Lyndall talking to the owl.
Lyndall walking into the forest.
Location
Must be a campground with cabins, and a tree line to one side and a tree stump.
Props
Uniform light blue tents.
Animals
A tawny frogmouth.
Scene Two
Set up(s) (minimum) – one
Lyndall walking through the tree trail.
Location
Flexible location – anywhere there’s a path through trees.
Scene Three
Set up(s) (minimum) – three
Rocky clearing with low river as Lyndall emerges from the tree line.
Further up the rocky clearing by bigger pools of water, at the sloped rock face.
Up the rock face – difficult as camera must be kept stable at an angle.
Location
Location must have a long river of various sizes as it goes along, sloped rockface at one point.
Props
A book.
Special effects
Lyndall burning and smoking.
Additional personal
Safety – likely additional safety for the crew. Potentially also additional grips to ensure equipment safety.
Other
Quote from Enid Blyton is still under copyright.
All scenes
Weather
The script requires it to have just rained. Tents and the camp ground can be showered with a hose, as can other areas, however this is time consuming and may provide additional safety risks.
Cast
Actors to play Lyndall and Campbell are needed.
Lighting
Shooting late at night – so lighting is going to be a challenge to get right. As sky is seen day-for-night is not possible in most shots. Additional safety risk; moving around at night.
Discussion
One of the major costs of this script is going to be time – there is at least eight set ups that need to occur, and for each equipment needs to be moved, as well as potentially props in the tent scene. The uniform tents will also cost a fair amount of money, as they may need to be purchased new.
A location with cabins, land to pitch the tents, with nearby bushlands that has a path going through it all in close proximity to each other might be difficult to find (many National parks keep camp grounds and cabins separate). If this cannot be found the proximity will need to be cheated, and equipment might need to be carried a greater distance. Again, this might increase time.
Using an animal – the tawny frogmouth – will cost money as a trained or tame owl needs to be used, and even if the owl is trained or tamed it will take longer to film with it as animals are unpredictable.
In addition to the above, the scenes shot on the rock face late at night will undoubtably be a significant safety risk, and equipment needs to be safely transported up and be able to be stored safely for the duration of the shoot. This might be difficult to do and may require specialist personal and/or equipment.
Finally, as it has been under 75 years since Enid Blyton died, her writing and quotes are still under copyright. Fees may need to be paid to her family. It is also one of Enid Blyton’s more popular quotes so this is likely to be high.
With this in mind, I rewrote the scene to work on a lower budget.
In this version, the costs are reduced due to creative decisions made early on. Some may add or subtract from the scene.
The first major one is the removal of Lyndall’s cabin and putting her in a tent – which is the only tent on the campgrounds. On one hand, this takes away from the cinematic rows of glistening blue tents, which could be seen as a symbol of her depression. However, her being alone at the campground also isolates her, as well as poses a question – why is she even there? This decision also makes her seem less wealthy and as though she’s been roughing it for a while – which possibly takes away from the ‘recently widowed identity’ (though that’s still not revealed until later on in the script). A bonus of removing the cabin is that it also removes a set up as the cabin no longer needs to be dressed. Additionally, only one tent needs to be purchased/borrowed, which could now be from an op shop.
The next major change is replacing the tawny frogmouth with a dollar store model owl. This decision makes more sense later as more is revealed – Lyndall is a (terrible) demon. Her failure to identify a plastic owl from a real one embellishes this – she is either unknowing that humans make plastic animals, or she is just unobservant.
The next change is that Lyndall doesn’t need to climb along wet rocks at night so the safety risks are highly reduced. This significantly reduces the costs, as the actors safety, as well as security of the equipment, is no longer a great concern. Equipment will still need to be placed on a (likely thin, depending on the location) dirt path next to a body of water, but this is still insignificant compared to the sloped rock face.
In the second version, Campbell comes into view instantly, rather than making Lyndall go to great lengths to get to Campbell. This is also an attempt to reduce the number of set ups. This has multiple effects on the scene – both good and bad. The scene gives Campbell power, as they have intercepted Lyndall early on in her journey. However, this reduces the suspense of the script. In both versions, Lyndall made the decision to go to Campbell, but in the second version she does not have to scale a rock face to get there – so Campbell’s presence has almost taken her agency away.
I also changed the quote from an Enid Blyton quote to a Lewis Carol one – as Carol died in 1892, it has been over 75 years since his death. His quotes are no longer copyrighted (though, you have to be careful as certain references may actually come under the Disney copyright), so can be used and referenced for free.
Aside from the quote, much of their conversation remains the same – until we get to the special effects. This time, Lyndall simply disappears in a flash of bright light – which is a significantly easier edit to make. If the screen goes totally white (whether this is using a light directly into the lens (with some post editing) or pure editing in post-production), a student film maker would be capable of achieving the special effect.
Other than those changes, both versions of the script are still set at night, so lighting will be one of the highest expenses. Additionally, as dialogue is being recorded beside a river, a decent sound recordist will be necessary, though a directional microphone will aide in capturing the audio.
This course is giving me new skills in identifying what will cost money as I write a script in the moment, rather than having come back and edit it later. This will be particularly useful in bigger projects as if changes are made in the first couple of scenes they will follow throughout the script in the first draft, rather than having to edit it later.
