Film Courage: What are some of the things that independent filmmakers skip over thinking Oh
I don't need to spend a lot of money on that? But actually that's dangerous for them to do?
Shane Stanley, Filmmaker: I always say there's five things that really make a film look
low or no budget and it's it's cinematography it's the sound it's the actors you choose
it's the editing and it's the locations and if you can step up in those five arenas and get the best
that you can and then really try to get better you're going you're going have a project that is
just a step above I spent a lot of years judging different film festivals obviously the workshops
and things that I do with different schools so I see it all and when you start a film and it's shot
just so bad and there's no thought to framing or composition or anything it's it's just you're done
and the sound it's bad sound is is so easy to get and it's one of those things that
I i watch more people chance on and getting a good sound sound recording on the set everybody likes
user friends and lovers in their movies chances are your friends and lovers are not good actors
there are so many film schools there are so many acting classes that you can call
and say I'm doing a student project I'm doing a spec film I want actors that are good and know
their craft and what they will sign up to do it because they need tape you you ask your girlfriend
or your friends either because you're afraid to ask real talent and they may not like your work
or want to do it and that's where you're wrong or b because you're afraid your girlfriend will leave
you if you don't put her in your movie and that's I read about that in the book it's kiss of death
I mean if your girlfriend's a good actor give her a role but I would be very careful in in casting
and editorial is important editing is everything I spent many years in the edit bay before I
considered myself a filmmaker and I learned what not to do in the edit bay and it really it makes
me sad when people I think about his writing or their their cinematography real or the end
result without thinking about the most important result in the filmmaking process which is really
the editorial and also the cinematography I think they work very much hand in hand locations are key
because anybody can shoot in their house anybody can shoot in their kitchen anybody can shoot in
their car our job as storytellers to take people places where they can't go where they wish to go
or where they're afraid to go and if you give them locations that are just interesting
and break break the monotony of every other low-budget film I think you'd be surprised how
much more success you can have with your film I had a wonderful drama teacher and
I always quote him Mr. Kilpatrick from high school and his favorite saying was come up with three
ways to do something and go with the fourth and I wish I remember that more often I'd probably have
better movies that were more successful if I did but especially young filmmakers hey I can shoot
this at my house okay scrap that there's one idea you're not doing it I can shoot it in my garage
okay that's even worse it's still at the house but no you're not going do it shoot it in the car why
does I'm all for keeping dialogue scenes moving so putting them in a car is a good way to do that
but where can you do this that's different that's just going to make the viewer feel like
they're watching something fresh and I think locations are key the most important thing
is where people put money where they shouldn't is it seems to be the wrap parties.
I'm a big anti-wrap party guy it's just money that's never going on a screen it's money that
you're more interested in the social media aspect of people cooing over you wrap party and I think
it's important to have a gathering of the people that have worked hard for the film but do it smart
it's like when we do a film we try to schedule our biggest cast days on the last day and something
centrally located so people who aren't involved in the last day can come visit the last day and we'll
spend a little extra money on the catering we may go and buy 10 bottles of champagne for the day
not expensive ones but and put a simple day for the last day so we can end early no stress
and then party right there we don't need to go rent out bowling alleys we need to go rent out
all these places it's just money that doesn't go on the screen and when you're making especially
independent films every dime counts why are you going to blow it in one night that's never going
to go on the screen think about it I know people that have spent 25 grand on a film
and they'll spend five grand on a wrap party and I'll watch the film and say why didn't you get a
real editor we couldn't afford one really you could have gotten so and so for three grand to
do that look at so-and-so's resume oh they've cut 15 studio films that went number one they've cut
18 sitcoms that are like top tier sitcoms that on their off time will happily moonlight and gladly
get involved and get their hands dirty for fun for a little money
and that's always the excuse well we couldn't afford it but it's always something else that
they can afford that just doesn't matter and I think they just have to re-prioritize
sadly I think social media has become the driving force but behind what people do
I look I know when I'm shooting a movie 18 months later when the movie comes out
nobody's going to care about our set pitch look people want to post on instagram and facebook
hey we're on set look at us great it's not going to sell one ticket it's not going to sell one
dvd it's not going to get one download it's about how you build up to the end and it's release and
there's something you don't want to give us you don't want to give people overexposure you don't
want to make people punch drunk on your pictures of the same same same with no results or no
output so we try to be very careful when we promote our films and not do it for
years of social media hype and and likes it doesn't sell any movies it's not going to work
I want to go back to something that you said that was really interesting you said you wrote about
it in your book and that is using a girlfriend you could also fill in boyfriend family member
co-worker cousin right whoever how do you have that conversation with that person because you
want to keep the relationship with the person or maybe you don't but let's suppose you do want to
keep the relationship how do you say listen do you audition them the way everyone else does
I think it's a lose-lose I say if you're a young filmmaker don't date an actor
I'm married to an actor and we have a great relation she did four years on
general hospital she's been in a lot of fun movies and there's never a person like for me
I always try to put my wife in and and just have her there to be a ball but she produces with me
she's involved in the post-war we work on a film together for eight to twelve months
having her be a part of it on camera is something I like to let her flex that muscle and have fun
and she's good she knows her crap she's good at what she does but she doesn't have expectations
for me either she understands it's a business I don't like having her in front of the camera as
a director I just I am not as gracious with her as I probably could be I could be better as a husband
to a wife who's acting and that's just probably my fault it's just I just it's not a dynamic that
I love but we found a way to make it work and she's been in every film I've done over the last
15-20 years and it's worked but to get back to your question I think you have to decide are you
in this to showcase a whole bunch of friends or are you here to make a career and if you're
going to become a doctor you're going to become an architect if you're going to become a lawyer
are you going to spend all those years in college and bring your friends along with you
while you're studying taking your tests and learning the craft of medicine I don't think so
so I think filmmaking communities are important and yes relationships build you're going to meet
women in film school or actors on the set that you're going to fall in love with but I think
you really have to think above the shoulders and think what is what is the purpose of this
project and what do I hope to gain out of it and selfishly you have to build what's best for the
project there's nothing harder than when you've got somebody you love who's in front of the camera
that is just atrocious and they just sink the ship what I always try to do coming up is I would
I would find ways to utilize people's gifts in ways that wouldn't sink the ship I always say
to somebody well you want to work in the industry anyway if you weren't going to act what else would
you want to do well why don't you produce this with me I need somebody to handle sag paperwork
I need somebody to handle our locations and then what throw them in under five throw him
something expendable or if god forbid it's awful get rid of it and I'm sorry to talk so
so straight the only way to get rid of a problem is to not have a problem or to be able
to get yourself out of a problem and if you're starring your girlfriend who can't remember a
line or hit a mark or understand the the craft of the the respect the craft of acting enough
to know it why are you wasting your time it just doesn't make sense I don't have much much
grace or I'm not very soft harder when it comes to that I say just don't even don't even go there
yeah I think it's not just girlfriends though I think if there's friendships that are built
around people whatever it is being in films together that's great and I think it could
just be a really difficult thing for people to handle yeah I mean Ed Burns was very lucky with
Brothers McMullen I mean he had some very talented friends but I mean that happens once in a while
Shane Black he grew up at that coming off overland in west la and he kind of lived in that famous
house with writers and actors and storytellers and these guys all kind of helped each other
out and built the machine it's very rare the Wilson brothers Owen and the other one got
him blanking Luke! Yeah I mean talented and they ran did Bottle Rockets and all their friends and
there's ways to do it Napoleon Dynamite did it too but by and large you think about how many young
filmmakers are out there and we always go for hey mom do you want to play the mom in my short
when you were Steven Spielberg and Seven that worked but when you're in film school you're
trying to make a career for yourself again call the acting schools there are a lot of
acting schools that have some decent talented people that would sure love to be a part of your
film and they will take it seriously and they will learn to learn the role and the craft is
there and the talent is there and uncle Vinnie planned dad is not always the best idea just it
I mean now look I'll often use an owner of a location if I know they're a sag actor and they're
good like I have I have friends that own locations that are actually working good actors I'll say hey
I'll trade you off I want your location but I'll give you I'll give you a few lines in this movie
like oh yeah sign me up but they're working actors also so I think you always have to try to put the
right people in when you can with the exception of with locals in certain films especially if it's
like a certain region of the us or other part of the world there's just people that you just
can't you can't get that from central casting it's too good and and you can you can definitely tell
but it works in the film so we're talking about getting some some people that you just you
just find just the gems oh it's casting is it's interesting I say as filmmakers you want to make
friends with a lot of different agencies to this day I will reach out to friends that own boutique
agencies you've never heard of and say I'm doing a film I need a cashier at a country store I need a
hipster who can play guitar at a campfire I need somebody who can be a drug dealer on the corner
or I'll call a drug dealer on a corner and say hey you want to play yourself in a movie I'll give you
50 bucks I mean sometimes you got to do that I find the people that are the best together the
people that do what it is you want them to do if you're not hiring an actor again to me it's always
about getting the best person you can in front of and behind the camera so if you need something
and you're not getting it with what you're auditioning go find somebody who does it
and tell them I just need you to be yourself I want you to be a part of this I'm not going to
embarrass you I just I need and you'd be amazed I mean I learned that from my dad we worked with
probated youth for a lot of years and we had a lot of of kids in our life that we knew that had done
a lot of crooked stuff and I remember one time we got a pilot for I think it was Time Warner
Television or Warner Cable Court TV something like that and they wanted a bunch of reenactments of
burglaries and assaults and all that and at the end of the day we ended up I think hiring
eight or nine of the kids that we worked with that had done time in real prison to play parts
and they did better than anybody they knocked it out of the park because it's who they were
and look at Homeboy's Industry, Inc. is that Father Boyle yeah I mean you got Father Boyle
at Homeboy Industries I mean we I first learned about that when we were shooting great iron gang
half the extras you walk around you go you just know when you've worked around real inmates most
your life like I have the the swagger the way they walk the way they talk the way they move
and I remember saying at one point I said where'd we get all these guys because I know they've done
time and said oh this great thing going on called Homeboy Industries, Inc. you've got to check it
out all these kids have done time and I was like that that makes sense that's so cool and
so I'm a big fan of that yeah sure yeah there's nothing worse when someone is supposed to play
someone in the underworld let's say and they're so squeaky clean and it just
takes you out and and there are these there's mannerisms there's just different signs and
yeah watch a lot of music videos from the 80's because they would put a lot of the rock stars
girlfriends in when they were supposed to be down without homeless girls and you'd see these like
not Tawny Kitaen on the Jaguar hood but you would see supermodels literally with like
shoe polish on their face digging through a bin looking for food and you're like, Oh come on man!
Questions For The Viewers: What's the sixth thing that makes a film look low-budget?