Film Makers Handbook: Create a Feature Film on a Limited Budget

Ialways wanted to be a film director,  However, in "Film Makers Handbook" author and filmmaker Walter Werner, puts the basics down in simple terms for the beginning director, producer, or anybody who wants to make a film on a limited budget.

The Film Makers Handbook is about making your very first feature film from scratch. It covers topics such as pre-production, as well as getting set up and creating your movie on a limited budget.

Also covered is the production process and everything that goes along with that massive project. The production section really helps the listener to get a grasp on how to efficiently and affordably produce his or her own feature film.
Lastly, the book goes over postproduction and how to finalize your project to turn it into a full-blown feature film.

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The book closes with a brief synopsis of starting distribution of your independently created film and where to start getting the word out. Overall this is a book about how to create a feature film and do so on a budget, which would be ideal for students or first-time filmmakers.

While not the only book that I have read on this subject. Lord knows when I was younger, I had piles upon piles of books ranging from visual style, cinematography technique, to acting, sound effects, visual effects (I was infatuated with Star Wars and how Lucas and Dykstra changed filmmaking). This book is a great beginning for today's new filmmakers.





Here are the obligatory purchase links, the book goes for less than $6.95 USD

To purchase from Amazon http://amzn.to/2kYID4J
To purchase from Audible  http://adbl.co/2lvYq9d
To purchase from ITunes: http://apple.co/2kYwywF

Robert Barbere Audible Page

Peter Jackson And His Schlock Horror Roots

L ooking back, I wasn't much of a Peter Jackson fan until "The Lord of The Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" came out in 2001, then I started taking notice.  When he released the second epic chapter of the J.J.R. Tolkien's saga, I took notice and looked into his career up to that point.  Jackson is now at a stage in his career as an established director, and can write his own ticket, I thought it would be interesting to delve into Peter Jackson's early career as both a writer and a director.  Audiences have seen Jackson's style developing over the years in the screenplays he writes, the films he directs, and the movies he chooses to produce.  As of this writing, the directorial helm of the prequel to Jackson's LOTR trilogy is still up in the air; as audiences wait in anticipation of Jackson, hopefully, taking over the reigns of the film.

Have Camera Will Travel

Like many of us who were born in the early 60's, Jackson was able to get hold of a Super 8 movie camera.  He stared, wrote, directed, and acted in his own films.  Those were the days of free-range kids who had a hobby were free to go forth and conquer.  The thing about Jackson is that he didn't give up those childhood dreams; he pursued them.  In 1987, when Jackson was 26, he wrote, directed, and acted in "Bad Taste," a science fiction, horror-comedy.  When watching "Bad Taste," the first film that comes to mind is Sam Raimi's "Evil Dead" from 1981.  Although "Bad Taste" still looks amateurish when compared to "Evil Dead," you can see the direction that Jackson is going, in regards, to film direction and style.  Making low-budget films is an art of economy and imagination.  When little or no money is available to produce your own films, camera tricks from the early days of filmmaking are put to good use.  Not having any actors, Jackson, doubles in the part of Derek and as Robert (the alien) and with some camera placement trickery fought with himself on the side of a cliff.  Bad Taste is one of those bad films that people tend to love because of the low budget gruesome effects.  Jackson submitted "Bad Taste" to the Cannes Film Festival in 1987 where he was noticed and started to make international deals.

Cult Classic Fodder

Peter Jackson makes no bones about creating a bad film; "Bad Taste" is admired for the cheesiness and camp factor.  Unlike some directors who make terrible films by accident, Jackson's "Bad Taste" was meant to inspire the gag reflex and the funny bone.  Jackson's next film took the audience in a different direction.  "Meet the Feebles," is Jackson's social commentary about sex, drugs, and what Jackson considers the dark side of Hollywood filmmaking.  Watching "Meet the Feebles," you wonder if you are watching a film from the same Peter Jackson that brought Tolkien’s "Lord of The Rings" to the world.  The tag line went something like this, "From the director that brought you Bad Taste come a movie with no taste at all."  Following a troupe of life-size animal puppets, the ridiculous suits are unnerving as the characters portray human emotions, needs, and desires.  The violence in "Meet the Feebles" is done with in a cartoon style and lit in muted oranges, blues, and greens.  Various scenes that show Feebles puppet characters doing drugs, having sex, and in one scene, the machine gun toting Heidi the Hippo exterminates the other puppet characters.  The puppet's that Jackson uses are creepy versions of the "Star Wars Muppets. "  Watching scenes of Meet the Feebles are hints of improvement in camera technique, acting, and overall production values that one will see later in 1996's "Frighteners."

God Defend New Zealand

Choosing to stay in his native New Zealand, is a major decision that Jackson makes early in his career, and an important one.  During "Meet the Feebles," Peter Jackson had the fortune to work with Richard Taylor.  In this collaboration, audiences start to see a significant jump in the quality of filmmaking in Jackson's films.  The mark of a good director is the ability to work closely, with great people.  Taylor and Tania Rodger formed the special effects company Weta Workshop in 1987; and ever since are key contributors to Jackson's filmmaking look and feel.  Like Lucas, Jackson’s Weta Workshop works on every Jackson film since "Meet the Feebles," and continues with Jackson in the making of 1992's "Dead Alive," a horror comedy about a guy trying to keep his zombie mother under control.  Like the "Meet the Feebles," Jackson takes on mature subject matters with zombies having sex, the usual gratuitous violence, and extreme gore.  Still honing in on the craft of directing B grade horror movies, "Dead Alive" is pure camp that appeals to fans of bad movies. Working closely with Taylor and Rodger Jackson continue building Weta, as they move into production of their next film, "Heavenly Creatures."

Moving Toward Mainstream

Telling a true-crime story, Jackson, and wife, Fran Walsh wrote the screenplay focusing on the events leading up to the 1954 Parker–Hulme murder.  Instead of cheap, comic horror, Walsh and Jackson go into the relationship of Pauline Parker and Juliet Hulme prior to the murder of Parker's mother.  Developing characters and building tension in the story rather, gives "Heavenly Creatures" a more professional look that Jackson later displays in LOTR and King Kong.  Jackson's use of Taylor and the newly formed division of their Weta Workshop, Weta Digital to create the special effects 1994's "Heavenly Creatures."  Using the bright, colorful palette of Christchurch New Zealand, the film is bright and cheery contrasting with the dark subject matter.  Slipping between reality and the world of illusion, Weta and Jackson together creates a controversial film without going over the boundaries of good taste.  The film is notable in the fact that it received a nomination for an Academy award, but also that it starred the 17 year-old Kate Winslet in her first feature film.  As Jackson directs new films, the quality of his filmmaking improves and Jackson gets better at his craft.

A Brief Sidestep

Returning to comedy, in 1995 Jackson co-directed "Forgotten Silver" along with fellow New Zealander, Costa Botes.  Detailing the life of an unknown New Zealand filmmaker, Jackson and Botes developed an elaborate history for the fictional Colin McKenzie.  Done in documentary style, Jackson and Botes star as filmmakers rediscovering McKenzie, and even include film critic Leonard Maltin in segments giving the audience the sense of realism. Like Orson Welles's "War of the Worlds" 1938 radio broadcast, New Zealanders were shocked to find that McKenzie was made up.  More of a side project, Jackson's return to feature filmmaking was about to break wide open.

The Big Time, Almost

The "Frighteners" was Jackson's first film to have a well-know actor starring in his film.  Six years after his success with the last "Back to the Future" films, Michael J. Fox, was starring in less than financially successful pictures. Although "The Frighteners" was about a guy in a Midwestern town, Fox flew to New Zealand, where Jackson wanted to shoot.  Released during the Summer Olympics in 1996, "The Frighteners" only grossed $29,359,216 in its worldwide release.  After "The Frighteners," Fox went back to television, starring in "Spin City" until his retirement from acting.  Again, Jackson's style of filmmaking improves, and while still making a horror comedy, "The Frighteners" doesn't come off as campy or low budget as his previous horror movies.  Utilizing Weta Digital for the effects, he maxed out the company's resources with the number of effects needed to produce all the ghosts.  In many cases, the effects seemed overused, and in many ways, the visual effects crowd out the storyline.  While watching "The Frighteners" for the first time, my immediate reaction was to double check who the director was, because the film seemed to be done in the same style as "Beetlejuice."  Until watching the end of the film did, I notice that it wasn't Tim Burton but some guy named Jackson from New Zealand.  Danny Elfman's soundtrack heightened the confusion and the dark comedy seemed more like Burton as the plot developed.  Although I thought "The Frighteners" was good, I did think the ending was too good to be true.

Peter Jackson dropped off my radarscope until the beginning of a new century.  After 9/11, the world was in need of some good escapist alternatives to the terrorists’ attacks that preceded the release of "The Lord of the Rings." Jackson's hard work for the last ten years paid off.  From the low-budget horror pictures, that marked Jackson's attempt at feature filmmaking, to the grand vision that is the LOTR in 2001 is a worthy achievement.  While still using camera tricks to create the illusion of Hobbits and Dwarves, he is now part of filmmaking history for doing so.  Jackson’s use of the breathtaking green landscape of his native New Zealand echoes in the bright blue of Cameron's Pandora in "Avatar."  The special effects of Weta Workshop rival Lucas's Industrial Light and Magic and in many ways, they are equals.  Jackson's skill at telling dramatic stories and interjecting comedy into a picture is superb.  Serving as executive producer for upcoming projects like "The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn," which is in post-production and will be released in 2011, Jackson holds the key to the future of science fiction and fantasy filmmaking.  In many ways, he has become the master of fantasy filmmaking and as the producer of "The Hobbit," he must decide if he should take over the project, and direct it himself.

Sources

IMDB
Peter Jackson

Wikipedia
Peter Jackson
Weta Workshops
Weta Digital

Drag Me to Hell: Director Sam Raimi, Not a Horror Director

Sam Raimi by Gage_Skidmore

Sam Raimi is a multi-talented director who can direct Horror, Fantasy or any genre that Mr. Raimi wants to, and he can do it well.  With Guillermo Del Toro's departure from "The Hobbit," Sam Raimi is one of those directors that Hollywood insiders are buzzing about taking over the reigns.  Raimi's outstanding success with the "Spider-Man" series leaves him as one of the top contenders for the fantasy genre prequel to Jackson's "Lord of the Rings" trilogy.  Raimi, also pulled out of directing a fourth "Spider-Man" leaving Sony and the film's new director, Marc Webb to come up with a reboot of the franchise, that I think is too soon for the audience to forget Toby Maguire and Kirsten Dunst's faces as Peter Parker and Mary Watson.  Raimi, on the hand is bringing the Warcraft universe to theaters scheduled for a release sometime in 2013.  In a press release dated July 22, 2009, Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. announced that the reason they picked Raimi was because, "... in the course of his career, clearly demonstrated a genius for developing and adapting existing fictional universes for mainstream audiences while staying true to the spirit of the original content."

Horror and Fantasy 

Starting your career making horror films tends to stereotype a director early in Hollywood.  People have a tendency to go with stereotypes until proven otherwise.  Returning to his roots in 2009's "Drag Me to Hell," fans thought Raimi was back in the horror directing business.  "Drag Me to Hell," starring Alison Lohman as a woman cursed to be dragged to hell by a Dybbuk, a devil-like creature.  Fans and critics alike chanted "Evil Dead," while watching Drag Me to Hell, and considering it his best horror film since The "Evil Dead" trilogy.  I tend to agree.

The 51-year-old writer, producer, actor, and director works in all genres well, but does an even better job with the fantasy genre than anything else.  Starting with the classic "The Evil Dead" in 1981 the then 22-year-old director already had several short films under his belt.  Three short films dealing with subject of murder ("Murder" - 1977), horror ("Within the Woods" - 1978), and more horror ("Clockwork" - 1978), gave Raimi a resume that would eventually get him the financing to create the film that got the young director noticed.  Staying busy between the release of "The Evil Dead" in 1981 and his break away from the horror genre film Crimewave in 1985, Raimi was busy appearing in small roles like 1985's "Spies Like Us," the Chevy Chase, Dan Akroyd spy spoof, and in buddy Josh Becker's Cleveland Smith: Bounty Hunter in 1982.  Returning to his horror-child in 1987, Raimi wrote, produced and directed Evil Dead II, providing even more horror and adding some comic slapstick to the Dead franchise.  Always with his friend Bruce Campbell, Raimi continued in 1992 with Army of Darkness, taking Campbell back to the Middle Ages for cheesy fun.  Financially, The Evil Dead Trilogy is an resume of increasing financial success not only in horror but also in the fantasy genre.  Making only $2.4 million on "The Evil Dead," Raimi's production budget was $375,000.  "Evil Dead" II had a production budget of $3.6 million and grossed $5,923,044, not quite doubling their money but enough to call the film successful.  The third film in the series, "Army of Darkness," made the most money with $11,502,976 and $21.5 million worldwide while generating a cult following.

Comedy

In 1985, Raimi directed the Cohen Brothers' film "Crimewave."  During release, the film was not only a critical but also a financial failure.  Raimi and friends were not used to having a studio breathing down their necks and making decisions for him.  The major financiers of "Crimewave," Embassy Pictures, held creative control over Raimi's head on choice of actors, actor's salaries, and script changes.  Sam Raimi learned that, as a director, one needs to have ones act together when dealing with major studios in the production of a film.  If the film was a financial failure, then it was Raimi's greatest opportunity as a director to learn the art of dealing with the studios.

Science fiction, a tortured superhero, and a spaghetti western. 

After completing "Evil Dead II," Raimi creating his own tortured superhero, filmed "Darkman" and released it in 1990.  Starring Liam Neeson and Frances McDormand, "Darkman" is less horror and more of a sci-fi crime thriller.  Faring better than any of Raimi's films to date, "Darkman" made $48,878,502 in worldwide ticket sales, "Darkman" was what Raimi needed.  Now known as a director of horror, fantasy, and comedy, Raimi moved on to a new genre for him, the western.  1995's "The Quick and the Dead," starring Gene Hackman, Russell Crowe, and Sharon Stone.  Receiving lackluster reviews and attendance, the film, however, is noteworthy for performances by Russell Crowe and Gene Hackman.  "The Quick and the Dead" had a $35 million production budget the film only brought in $18,636,537 domestically.

Mainstream ventures

 An adaptation of Scott Brown's novel, "A Simple Plan," is neither horror nor comedy and a new direction for Raimi.  Starring Bill Paxton, Bridget Fonda, and Billy Bob Thornton, is a story about three men who find several million dollars in a crashed airplane.  The film is a character study of how decent people do terrible things when money comes into their lives.  Well received by the press, "A Simple Plan" didn't fare as well at the box office.  The film's reported budget of $30 million, only made $16,316,273.  By the end of the decade, Raimi added romance to his range of directorial competence with "For Love of the Game" in 1999.  Kevin Costner stars in Michael Shaara's ("The Killer Angels"/"Gettysburg") adaptation of his novel of the same name.  Raimi directed this drama of love, of baseball, and the coming to terms with one's priority in life; the film didn't fare well at the box office with only $46,112,640 in worldwide sales, despite the film 80 million dollar budget.  Directing Billy Bob Thornton's "The Gift" in 2000, closing out the century with a mystery thriller with a touch of horror, Raimi and Thornton garnered little success financially or critically.  "The Gift" received less than favorable reviews from critics and made $44,567,606 at the box office.

Comic book action hero

During the 80s and 90s from a profit and loss statement, Raimi's horror pictures make more money than his mainstream films; however, Sam Raimi is just getting started.  In 2002 through 2007, Sam Raimi directed the phenomenally successful "Spider-Man" franchise through three films reaching a combined total of $2,496,346,518.00.  With each "Spider-Man" film averaging around $832 million each, the franchise is Raimi's most financially successful films to date.

Television Executive Producer

Since attaining a level of prominence in Hollywood, Raimi has kept his attentions on many genres as producer, and writer.  During the 90s, Raimi was the executive producer for TV series like "Hercules: The Legendary Journeys"  and "Xena: Warrior Princess," and two direct to video "Darkman" films.  During the last decade, Raimi served as executive producer on science fiction shows as "Cleopatra 2525" and was the producer of 2004's "The Grudge" and in 2006 "The Grudge 2."

Real Horror Directors

Compared to Wes Craven, Sam Raimi's resume as a horror director comes up short. Craven with 29 directorial credits and only 2 films that stray entirely outside of the horror thriller genre, Wes Craven is a better contender for the horror director title.  Craven's films include the "Nightmare on Elm Street" franchise, the "Scream" franchise, and the 70's classics "The Last House on the Left," and "The Hills Have Eyes."  

Director John Carpenter has 30 directorial credits; however, one can discount "Dark Star" (1974), "Assault on Precinct 13" (1976), "Elvis" (1979), "Big Trouble in Little China" (1986), and "Starman" (1984) as horror films, leaving 25 films still in the count. 

A director with only one film of the 19 he directed in the last 40 years not listed under the horror genre, a true horror director is George A. Romero.  Starting like Raimi with the low-budget "Night of the Living Dead" in 1968, Romero has consistently put out three horror films in the last four decades.

Sam Raimi is not horror director but a brilliant film director who can make horror films, along with any genre that producers wish to hand to him.  Raimi is commercially better at the action fantasy genre than he is with the horror-thriller genre.  When it comes to horror films, Raimi and friends inject a unique humor that make his horror films stand out from directors like Craven and Carpenter.  "Drag Me to Hell" was an exception to his typical campy "The Evil Dead" style of horror film, as "Drag Me to Hell" was truly scary proving that when he wants to Raimi can do horror just as well as the next horror director

Originally published on 6/15/2010 on Associated Content by Robert Barbere.