Tips for Zero Budget Short Filmmaking Nobody Will Tell You

If you are reading this, you must be someone who wants to make his first short film; however, an expensive budget stops you from making one. Yes, this is a common problem which first-time filmmakers face. Even when I started making short films, I had this problem. I have made five short films. All of them had zero budget.

In this article, I will share tips to make a short film without incurring any expenses. So, let's start.

Film Budgeting

Budgeting is an important aspect of film production. During script development, filmmakers produce a rough budget to convince film producers and film studios to give them a greenlight for production. When and if financing is secured, a more concise film budget is produced. This document varies in length and depends largely on the scope of size of the project.
A budget is typically divided into four sections: above-the-line (creative talent), below-the-line (direct production costs), post-production (editing, visual effects, etc), and other (insurance, completion bond, etc).

Production Terms

- Jibbing: - In cinematography, a jib is a boom device with a camera on one end, and a counterweight and camera controls on the other. It operates like a see-saw, but with the balance point located close to the counterweight, so that the camera end of the arm can move through an extended arc. A jib permits the camera to be moved vertically, horizontally, or a combination of the two. A jib is often mounted on a tripod or similar support.


- Storyboards :- Storyboards are graphic organizers such as a series of illustrations or images displayed in sequence for the purpose of previsualizing a motion graphic or interactive media sequence, including website interactivity.
A film storyboard is essentially a large comic of the film or some section of the film produced beforehand to help film directors, cinematographers and television commercial advertising clients visualize the scenes and find potential problems before they occur. Often storyboards include arrows or instructions that indicate movement.
In creating a motion picture with any degree of fidelity to a script, a storyboard provides a visual layout of events as they are to be seen through the camera lens. And in the case of interactive media, it is the layout and sequence in which the user or viewer sees the content or information. In the storyboarding process, most technical details involved in crafting a film or interactive media project can be efficiently described either in picture, or in additional text.


- Screenplay: - A screenplay or script is a written plan, authored by a screenwriter, for a film or television program. Screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing works such as novels. The major components of a screenplay are action and dialogue, with the "action" being "what we see happening" and "dialogue" being "what we hear" (i.e., what the characters utter). The characters, when first introduced in the screenplay, may also be described visually. Screenplays differ from traditional literature conventions in ways described below; however, screenplays may not involve emotion-related descriptions and other aspects of the story that are, in fact, visual within the end-product.


- Film Budgeting:- Budgeting is a very important part in filmmaking. Film producers often receive a rough estimate on the budget that will be needed during scriptwriting and an exact amount on the budget will be determined during pre-production. Afterwards, the movie budget will be documented to secure the film expenses. Honestly, film budgeting alone is a hard thing to do aside from making the actual movie.

- Film budgeting is usually divided into four sections and these are the following:
• Above the line (Creative talents)
• Below the line (Production expenses)
• Post-production (Special visual effects and editing)
• Insurance