HOW TO MAKE A LOW BUDGET HORROR MOVIE. (Some fundamentals’, tips, advice and list of horror film festivals)
Bruce Bisbey
- Know your audience. ...
- Know your subject. ...
- Watch a lot of horror movies in the style and genre you want to make your film, good and bad. ...
- Find talented people who are willing to help out for credits, exposure or a stake in future profits. ...
- Be creative. ...
- Manageable Script. …
- Casting and Crew. …
- Find the right locations. ...
- Guerrilla style of shooting. …
- Decide your style. ...
- Raise as much funding as possible, but be real. …
- Give credits and thank you for those business that support the project through production placement or financial assistance. …
- Determine your delivery vehicle. …
- Keep it fun, make it an adventure. …
KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE. Know who you are make the film for. This I'd think is most important. If you are aiming at the artsy fartsy crowd with a low budget gore fest, then your film is going to fail miserably. Is the project light and funny? More of a thriller or gore feat?
KNOW YOUR SUBJECT. It won't do you any good to rehash a story line that won't scare anybody in your target audience. Some people like slashers, with lots of gore, and some love atmospheric ghost stories. But one thing you don't want to do is mash a whole bunch of shit together and hope for the best. Stick with one or two genres, and don't stray.
Watch a lot of horror movies in the style and genre you want to make your film, good and bad. Decide what you liked about them, and what you didn't. Pacing, acting, framing, etc...
Pick the right music. Horror film scores seems to feature low stings, children singing or amplified heart beats as in The Blair Witch Project.
FIND TALENT AND CREW. Offering credits and the exposure. You'll need lots of different people, and you can always offer them a stake in the future profits. Set decorators, sound, lighting, painters, cosmetologists, hair stylists, photographers and filmographers, etc... Local college and film school are a source of excellent up and coming talent, who usually love to build their resumes/CVs.
BE CREATIVE. When Gene Roddenberry was producing Star Trek, he didn't have much of a budget to start with. Look at some of the sets on the early episodes, and you might just find things like purloined bike handles or things he "borrowed" from other sets. George Miller, the guy who made Mad Max (1979) would steal ad signs from the local bar at night, then return them the next day (and paid many of his extras in beer). Don't be afraid to go to the junkyard, or browse the thrift stores. You can also check out yard sales at the end of their run, they might be willing to give stuff away that didn't sell.
MANAGEABLE SCRIPT. Does your script give insight into each character? Locations? Hero props? This is what pre-production meetings are fore. Is it a strict script to be followed to the letter or is it open for the director and talent to give input and/or change as required? (Final Draft is an excellent program for writing your script.)
Pick a universal moment
A universal moment is an event that many of us will have experienced and when in a story becomes something your audience can relate to. For example, being alone in a house (Paranormal Activity, Night of the Living Dead).
An inciting incident is an event near the beginning of the story that creates the drama and kicks off the story. Inciting incidents can be macro (like an epidemic in Shaun of the Dead) or micro, like the death of a daughter (Don’t Look Now).
Many horror films are filled with traps. Saw, Buried, Phone Booth, and the first Evil Dead are all stories with traps where the unwary perish.
CASTING AND CREW. Local or state Film Commissions. Local or state film schools. Look at the credits of local or state filmed TV or feature films. Chances are most of the crew and some of the talent are available in your region. Most people loved to be asked if the know anyone. You don’t ask you will never know.
Pick a main character – hero
Your hero should be an average person but part of a typical social group. The typical hero is a college student (Nightmare on Elm Street, Scream). They usually work on their own, like a babysitter (Hallowe’en).
A good story has a hero (the main character) and a sidekick. The sidekick starts the story as the heroes’ best friend, but part way through the story they betray their best friend and oppose the hero and what they want. Horror films also have creepy children (Children of the corn), or children who are corrupted by creepy characters (Mama).
CONTRACTS. You can download from the internet any number of types of contracts. For talent, crew, locations, extra’s, clearance for signage and photos, likenesses etc. (YOU SHOULD NEVER SHOW SOMEONES FACE/LIKENESS OR ANY SIGNAGE ON SCREEN WITH OUT PRIOR PERMISSION). You can usually shoot products if they are in light of public domain, (like a grocery store) and not centering on any one brand name. But be careful, most brand name products and companies do want to be associated with a horror movie. If you highlight a hero prop like a can of pop, example: Coke Cola or Pepsi, I recommend you get clearance and permission from them.
FIND THE RIGHT LOCATION. Instead of getting permits and paying police to block off roads. Danny Boyle would film the deserted street scenes for his film 28 Days Later (2002) early in the morning, just as the Sun was rising, but while the streets were still empty (you can see people walking around on the sidewalks if you look close enough). Many old abandoned buildings are considered unsafe, but if you find one just recently closed, you can use that for your set, with permission, of course.
Low budget movies can be shot in one location. Pick a big house, ore factory, or any building you can get hold of cheap. Black out all the windows so it’s dark and evil looking. For added effect water down the floorboards so they glisten in the candlelight.
GUERRILLA STYLE OF SHOOTING. Then, there's the commando style of filmmaking. Very little planning, basically research on line and find the location, then hit the road. With a like-minded crew and talent, this off the wall shooting can be fast, done cheaply and if well edited can provide a unique and realistic scene (s) to your film.
DECIDE YOUR STYLE. While found footage films can certainly be cheaper, every wannabe director goes this route. It can be effective with the right material, but it's fast becoming overused. Consider a "traditional" style film, which can be just as cheap if done right, but allows more control over the material in some ways. Then, there's the choice of black and white or color. Black and white can be more forgiving in some ways, but requires a better understanding of light and shadow. Without color, you can utilize props that might not go so well, otherwise. Alfred Hitchcock, who had been doing films in color by the time he got to doing Psycho, decided to use the cameras from his TV show for filming, and in BW. For the famous shower scene, he used chocolate syrup for blood, because he felt it looked more "realistic".
RAISE AS MUCH FUNDING AS POSSIBLE BUT BE REAL. Determining the costs of fuel, catering and craft service, transportation for the talent and crew. What props will be needed? Cost and time of post, sound, music and editing.
Storyboarding is great, but can be time consuming and expensive. As well as CGI. But basic computer graphics and a descriptive script and ease the work of the director, talent and shooting team.
Set up a Kickstarter campaign and let your friends and family know about it. Buy boxes of candy bars from GFS and sell them on the street corner. You can do a lot with a little, but you still need the little you can get. Night of the Living Dead cost 114,000 USD (1968) to make, while The Blair Witch Project only cost 60,000 USD (1999).
You're not going to be able to do this with no budget whatsoever, but with the right props, sets, people and techniques, you can minimize the cost.
DETERMINE YOUR DELIVERY VEHICLE. Releasing a promo/short film on YouTube. Showcase your promo or film on a dedicated blog or website. Utilize Facebook, Linked In, Twitter and other social media. Film festivals, local colleges, independent TV, Cable/Satellite Networks, straight to DVD, YouTube… Contact local print and TV media and give them an advanced showing.
KEEP IT FUN, MAKE IT AN ADVENTURE. If it can go wrong it will go wrong! So smile, all things can be worked out. If your talent and crew are working on a stake of future profits, credit, exposure then step back and laugh it out. Leadership and a positive attitude usually carries the day.
SOME ESSENTIAL HORROR AND FANTASY FILM FESTIVALS (All festivals are subject to change without notice)
Fantasporto – Fantas
Frightfest
Bucheon Int. Fantastic Film Festival – PiFan
Screamfest
Sitges Int. Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia
Toronto After Dark Film Festival
A Night of Horror Int. Film Festival – ANOH
Imagine – Amsterdam Fantastic Film Festival
Atlanta Film Festival
Donostia – San Sebastian Horror and Fantasy Film Festival
Fantasia Int. Film Festival
Fantastic Fest
Fantaspoa Film Festival
Fantastisk Film Festival – Lund Int. Fantastic Film Festival
Festival Buenos Aires Rojo Sangre
Neuchatel Int. Fantastic Film Festival – NIFFF
New York Asian Film Festival – NYAFF
Ravenna Nightmare Film Festival
Telluride Horror Show
Abertoir Horror Festival
Atlanta Horror Film Festival
Bilbao Fantasy Film Festival
Bram Stoker Int. Film Festival
Buried Alive Horror Film Festival
Dead by Dawn
Dragon Con Independent Film Festival
Eerie Horror Film Festival
Grimm Up North Int. Horror Festival
Freak Show Horror Film Festival
Horrible Imaginings Film Festival
Killer Film Fest
Leeds Int. Film Festival – LIFF
Motelx- Lisbon Int. Horror Film Festival
New York City Horror Film Festival
Raindance Film Festival
Sacramento Horror Film Festival
Shriekfest
Yubari Int. Fantastic Film Festival
Sources: Google, IMDB, Wikipedia, Pinterest, Quora, Top Found Footage Films, Wired, Rain Dance, Reddit, The Guardian, Indie Wire, Wikihow, The Telegraph, Screen Rant, American Film Market
Very interesting article!
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