Make an Award Winning Short Film with no Budget

Resource filmmaking can be defined as using the resources that you have available to you in order to create a short film or even a full feature film. In the past I used to think up complex ideas for films and script out extremely complicated screenplays and was always frustrated by not ever being able to bring them to life on film because of my lack of money and time. But resource filmmaking takes you on a different creative path, so instead of letting your imagination go wild and writing out a complex script for a film that requires a lot of money and resources, you work in reverse, where you look at what you have available to you, you assess your resources and what you can access, and then you write a story around that.

In this class we use our resource short film Rocket Girl as an example to show you how to come up with a concept by using your available resources, how to find actors, locations and props, as well as how to direct actors and in a lot of cases non-actors. We will discuss how to come up with ideas, how to plan your short film, including scripting and storyboarding. We'll also cover some recommended cameras, camera settings, basic lighting, sound design, some filmmaking rules to follow, and then we'll dive into the editing and talk a little about cutting, colour correction, grading, sound design, using a green screen and some basic special effects.

This class is for anyone who wants to learn a little more about basic filmmaking and in particular those who don't have a large budget to make their film, so coming up with creative ideas to tell a story with a DSLR or mirrorless camera or even using your smartphone all within the constraints of your available resources. So join us on our journey as we make our resource short film and discuss the principles and ideas that helped to guide our project's conception, implementation and final creation.