In this installment of Film Making tips, I want to go over budgeting.
Like it or not, nothing in this world is free. Well, almost nothing. You can breathe the air for free but that’s about it. Point is, it costs money to make a movie.
Now, having said that, we live in some great times. Technology has made it so that we can make movies for under $200. Digital movie cameras today are very cheap and the software, even cheaper. In fact, some of the software you can get for free.
Point is, you don’t want to start making your movie without a budget. You need to sit down and figure out what you need and how much it’s going to cost. See, here is what’s going to happen if you don’t do this. What follows is a very simplified example but I am sure it will get the point across.
Let’s say you want to make your first movie and don’t give any consideration to budget or cost. You run out and buy the cheapest digital video camera that you can find and start shooting your movie. Great…now what?
Well, you later find out that because you bought a cheap camera, it doesn’t have certain features that allow easy downloading to PC. So you have to buy some kind of accessory to do this. You later find out that the movie format is only compatible with certain kinds of software that is VERY expensive.
Do you see where I am going with this?
By trying to take the cheap, quick, and easy way out, you can end up spending more money than you would have spent if you planned everything out in advance. That way, you would have gotten a video camera that is compatible with all kinds of software, even free software, and without the need for other accessories.
There is an old saying…haste makes waste.
It is especially true with making movies.