- Hi, I'm Eden. - And I'm Shola.
And we're going to talk to you about our biggest filmmaking tips...
...for when you're on a really low budget.
A very low budget. (laughter)
When you're making a movie, I guess the first thing you have to do
is come up with a story.
Some people write a script, some people don't.
What do you usually do?
I've done films with scripted dialogue,
which personally I found quite difficult
because I think, being a young person,
it's really difficult just to come up with that kind of stuff.
I found it really difficult, personally.
So I decided just to strip away all the dialogue,
and my script was mostly notes about what you can see
if you were to watch the film.
I did one which was with no dialogue for my film studies A-level,
and a lot of the script was just description
of the way that she's walking and the place that she's in.
And then when I did films that had dialogue in it,
I don't know if it's different for you,
but I generally didn't write script for that
because I feel like when you're using young people,
which you do have to do a lot of the time
when you're making a film with no budget,
sometimes it's easier to give them the idea
and then let them ad-lib and improvise,
because I think that that can usually be a little bit more natural
if you're not using proper actors.
Exactly, it's a lot of fun just to be able to ad-lib a script,
especially if you're around mates who are helping you make your film.
Yeah, you can get some little gems there as well.
When someone finds something funny and then you catch that
and it's like a proper genuine reaction, it looks really good.
I did a one-man film once,
one-woman...
(cheering)
...film, I made one by myself, and that was actually-,
it's relatively difficult when the only person doing it is you.
I feel like a small crew's nice, but one is really quite difficult
because you have to think it through rather a lot.
But if you can do it, it's amazing,
because you have complete creative licence.
Everything is you, and you can do it whenever you have free time
and you don't have to work around other people's schedules,
which can be a little bit difficult.
But I would say that it's nicer to have slightly more people
when you make a film.
Schedules is another thing as well, especially if you have crew involved,
making sure that everyone's available at the same time
and that everyone can work together.
That's why it's quite good to do it with mates,
because you know when they're free.
In terms of the films I've made on my own,
I've mostly used a DSLR that I got from my college
with a tripod I got from my college,
also my own iPhone,
and then I've got the experience of working with the BFI,
where we use huge broadcast cameras and massive boom mics and stuff.
But I often find that the simplest thing is better,
just because you know how to use it and you can take control of it.
What was the difference between the two, did you feel?
I think the biggest difference was, because I only had a limited time
using the bigger, more expensive equipment,
I wasn't really sure how to use it,
so I don't even know if I got the best out of it.
But I guess things like picture, but I don't actually think
there was that huge of a difference, if I'm honest.
When you are making a film, there are a lot of things the first time
you might miss out, and things that you don't often think about.
Things like, how bright is it outside?
What time of the day is it? Where are you?
Is there going to be traffic?
Are you in, for example, a coffee shop,
and will there be loads of people talking in the background?
Just little things that-,
Things you would never think that you would have to think about,
but the more experience you get, you realise how important they can be.
Continuity is a big thing, which is basically,
I think the best way to describe it is
if someone's licking an ice cream in one scene
and you cut to someone else and come back to them,
the ice cream needs to be the same level as it was before.
It can't have just disappeared.
So if you've got two shots that are supposed to be one after the other,
you can't have one which is super bright
and then one where there's loads of clouds, because then everyone
will know that you're not filming it at the same time.
Exactly, so you have to think about those kinds of things
when you're planning.
When you're planning, you've got to know that if you're going to be
shooting outside and on location all the time,
that those could be some problems.
But it might be a cooler location if you're going outside,
rather than staying inside a room where you might be able
to control the light and control what's going on.
And another thing as well,
think about how warm and cold it is if you're outside,
because we had loads of people and we were all outside
and it got really cold, and then we had to take a break.
- Freezing shoots, yeah. - We had to take a break,
go and get everyone hot chocolates, and make sure that everyone was okay.
Yeah, there's just things...
I would say, I made a film recently where I shot some stuff on a train,
and I didn't think about the fact that the background
was going to be constantly changing.
That's one of the times when I really wish that I would have
thought that through beforehand, because it was about two shots
that ended up taking, like, five hours
because we had to keep on going back on the train
and then forward, and back and forward.
So yeah, I think pre-production is very important
when it comes to things like that, and just,
if you're doing something on something that's moving or outside,
you need to think about those things.
How do you feel about doing a storyboard
if you're going to make a film?
Well, I think that when you look at the traditional filmmaking,
you always feel as though you have to do it
and you have to draw all these people in these weird positions,
which is very stressful if you can't draw.
Yeah, I can't draw to save my life. (laughter)
And also very, very time-consuming.
If you really want to do it and you're good at drawing, go ahead,
or also there's online things where you can
place people in the positions.
But for me, it's always been easier to do a shot list,
which is essentially, you just write down the shot types
that you're going to do.
It's really helpful to just have an outline of what you want to do.
You can change it up on the day.
Exactly, and a shot list, really,
if I was to think of a shot list, I create a table,
and then literally write lines
or write little pieces of the script, possibly,
and then write different types of how I want it to look.
But I think it's just for people-,
if you feel like you're more artistically driven
and you like to visualise things, I think a storyboard would be great,
but if you're like me and you find it really hard to visualise and draw
then I'd say a shot list is great too, or even just a simple script.
Just to have something to go by,
and then you can throw it out the window if you want to.
Exactly, and with a shot list, it's almost like a checklist,
because while you're filming it and going through the day,
it's nice to be able to tick off what you've already done
and then see how far you've got. - Yeah, and not forget anything.
Yeah, because then when you go back to edit it
and you've forgotten something, it's like, oh,
you can't go back and do it or you might not have the opportunity
to go back to the location and do it.
It's nice to be organised, just for that reason.
I had a thing once where I shot a film with one of my friends
and I realised in the edit, about a month later,
that I had missed out a whole section,
but I couldn't do it anymore because she dyed her hair blue.
(laughter)
So it would just be completely different,
so even though it's great to improvise
and be really creative and stuff,
it's nice to have some kind of organisation
just to save yourself the hassle at the end.
Yeah, no hassle. (laughter)
Our top three tips?
Stay organised and do your research,
because it just makes your life a hell of a lot easier
when you actually come to making the film.
Second tip is to not put down any of your ideas.
Any idea is a good idea, and even if you don't have any ideas,
just use that for inspiration.
Yeah, and the third one kind of links into that.
The most important thing is just don't be afraid.
Just do whatever you can.
It could be bad but that's fine, it doesn't matter.
Just get out there and try and make as many films as possible,
get involved as much as possible,
and I think that's the best thing that you can do, really.
It sounds really, really, really corny,
but you learn from your mistakes,
and you can only feel like you're getting better
if you keep on making loads of films.
So, go out and make some films.
If you want to enter a film festival,
make sure that you're well-informed on what you're actually entering.
Sometimes they require for you to pay a lot of money,
and just make sure that it's a legit festival.
And also, there are loads of free festivals as well.
There's easy ways to find free festivals,
whether they're local or national or international,
it's really good just to find those too.
Yeah, and I think the main takeaway is just do your research
before putting a film to a festival.
Okay, right, right.
There are loads of useful websites you can use
when making your own films, and we're going to put
all the links down below.
If you have any more advice or helpful tips,
put them in the comments.