Customer Reviews

How to Shoot a Feature Film for Under $10,000 (And Not Go to Jail)

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Ultimately, a Director is really a Manager whose employees are artists and technicians instead of clerks and accountants. S/he is all that stands between the lunatics and the asylum. A beginning filmmaker, then, is by definition terrified. S/he is seeking guidance. Naturally, s/he turns to Amazon.
This book offers something which is incredibly important to those setting out down the mine strewn road of film: encouragement. No one ever needed to be discouraged from filmmaking, that will take care of itself. This book is most valuable as evidence that you're not alone, and that as insane as this job is, you may just be up to it. It does this chiefly through an irreverent tone, maintained throughout the book.
But what about the technical advice? Well, this is mostly sound, but a lot of it is too general to be much good to someone who hasn't spent alot of time hanging around film sets and equipment. As far as his cost saving measures, they mostly boil down to "make a lot of friends" and "hand out around movie sets". That way you can get film remainders, finagle hard-to-get rentals, etc. All well and good if you live in an area with a lot of filmmaking going on, but this isn't always the case. Not a lot of detail on editing theory, how to set up and capture the shots you want, or how to effecitvely light for a certain scene. Okay, yeah, there are crew specialists to handle that stuff, but a director should know how to do them, and when you're an indie director shooting your own thing on your own resources, you can't count on getting a DP or a pro sound guy. Also, the irreverent tone can be a little annoying, as there are a few spots where you can't tell if he's joking or not. It also seems to obscure whether or not he knows the answer to a problem: is he kidding to be funny, or to hide a gap in knowledge? On the other hand, his advice on dealing with actors and the audition process was good.
Finally, a suggestion to all of you who are contemplating writing a book like this: if you're going to include a snippet of your original screenplay, make sure that you're Orson Welles. This author uses a few short excerpts from the screenplay he was shooting, and they're really not impressive. Come on, the guy made a movie about making a movie, and he's surprised that he can't get distribution? First lesson of filmmaking: the only people who care about the lives of filmmakers are other filmmakers. The old saw about "writing what you know" (terrible advice, in a way) is an exhortation to go out and live a little, not to hunker down and write about yourself.
Final analysis: This book does have some useful tips and handy information, and I would recommend it to people just starting out and who have no one to guide them. I would also recommend that they supplement it with more serious, techinically focused books. Despite what people say, film is a highly technical art; you can't grab any old camera, start filming, and have something watchable. And it takes more than one film to understand how to effectively structure a tale at feature length. Still, I did get something out of this book that others don't give: a laugh, and some encouragement. Good to read at the outset.

Bret Stern's book is funny, useful, and true, which makes it better than 90 percent of the filmmaking books out there. Stern breaks down the filmmaking process into small bits, all of which you can perform without spending a dime, and then, when money is involved, he shows you how you can somewhat legally avoid paying any. Unfunded or underfunded filmmaking is a dicey business, and Stern's book reads like it was written by a true junky. Fortunately for us, Stern's takes on everything but visual technology are dead on and never will out of date, at least until we can simulate actors on our home PC's (its coming, if not already here). Where Stern's book goes awry, for me, anyway, is that it hasn't been updated since 2002, and misses the DVX revolution. Every point of filmmaking has altered in favor of the ill-prepared since then. Running around with an ARRI SR3 or a BL required a platoon. Running around with a DVX-100a or, sigh, an HVX-200 requires a much smaller group. You still need a good script, and good lighting, all of which Stern discusses, and of course cheap food for the cast and crew. Stern supplies some nasty receipes which all have promise.

I hope that a revision is planned, since many people will dismiss this book. There is a lot to learn here, and a lot of good ideas. As Stern says, Skip the film technology parts.

This book WILL teach you how to make movies but I would suggest that it would be hard to follow the advice in this book without going over your $10,000!!

Bret offers advice on how to get people to work for free by offering film credits. But why not just do it all yourself aka. 1 man band Robert Rodriguez?

Also the rear blurb reads "Rent a camera for 2 weeks and pay for only 2 days..." but inside all you'll find is a way of scamming your rental house by renting for a week but picking it up the friday before (hoping they wont be open and wont charge you for the weekend) and then wanting to drop it off on the following Friday hoping to be told to bring it in monday. And then timing it so Monday is a holiday and you get it until Tuesday!! Thats 11 days and you'll sill have to pay for 5 if it works!!

So although a fun book to read a lot of it needs to be taken with a pinch of salt!! Do yourself a favour and read Robert Rodriguez's "Rebel Without a Crew" before you read any other film making book. If you still need advice and inspiration then get this book too!

For those not interested in film, this is a good purchase for the humor quality if nothing else. But hey! You're supposed to be taking notes youngins, this is an informative book, not glossed-over half-hearted duty work. I do mean informative - for those wanting a sense of the industry and film-making processes without textbooks/one-on-one instruction/film school, here is a great overview and inspiration at the same time, covering every detail from film formats to exploiting Sears' return policy.
The only hazard I found was the author's gender bias; female readers be prepared to have "your girlfriend" referred to often, and to skim over advice about not using direct lighting on girls' faces, etc.
Yet also be prepared for a treat in the how-to publishing world: an author who has genuine knowledge to share, who doesn't refrain from enumerating the specifics (or so I think...), and who doesn't seem like the type who would need to be writing for money.

The book opens with a classic 'real life' scene from Stern's life, written as a screenplay, and gets better from there. I highly recommend this book. The writing alone is well worth the purchase -- even if it weren't chock full of great info.

"How to Shoot a Feature Film for Under $10,000 (And Not Go to Jail)" by Bret Stern was a great jaunt. This book is loaded with tips about what to do or not do, and how to do things cheaply and without permits -- and not go to jail.

While the book may be a bit out of date in terms of 'the DV revolution', the tips are not. The guerilla shooting style presented in this book CLEARLY is among the best approaches to knocking out a movie on DV, perhaps even better than a film.

The upside to shooting on DV vs film is cost, the downside is quality of image ... so subtract the cost of buying film ends and renting some film gear, and you STILL have costs for making a movie. So bottom line, Brent's book can still help broke movie-makers out AND have a chuckle at the same time.

(threewaysmedia.com)

This is a good history book on how things were before, DV video is the more modern way to go, it is cheaper (Less then $3.00 per hour to film versus over $450 per hour with 16 mm film) DV video lasts 60 minutes before you have to change it out of the camera and 16mm lasts only 11 minutes before you have to change it. A 16mm camera costs over $25,000 while a decent Prosumer DV Camera costs $3,500. You can edit DV Video on your high powered PC much easier then on film, plus you need special equipment to edit 16mm film. If you would like to get a history lesson on how film is made this is the book for you, otherwise buy the book "Digital Filmmaking 101" and learn the more modern and affordable way to get into being a producer.

This book is more funny than informative. Good for some leisure reading but not for anyone that is trying to find some serious insight on the subject.

This book was wonderful! I purchased it at the same time as "What They Don't Teach You at Film School" by Camille Landau and Tiare White. I'd really recommend that you get both of them. This one has more information, and was more fun to read, but the other gives you a more serious approach to making a movie.

If you only have money for one or the other, however, go with this one! There's some really great information in here. If you judge this book by its cover, then you'll probably make the mistake of thinking that it's for those kids next door who want to make a prequel to Clerks. It might work for them, but it also loads of valuable stuff that will make you sound a lot more experienced most people you know who think that they know what making movies is all about. Check out Bret's credentials on imdb.com, too.

This books is hands down the best book I've read on independent filmmaking. You should buy this book even if you're not interested in filmmaking. That's how funny the author is.

If you're an independent filmmaker, know this, you're going to have to work a lot with people. Stern does a fantastic job of psychoanalyzing the various kinds of people you will be dealing with in your quest to directing that blockbuster. He analyzes their reasons for being, and tells you how to deal with them. Dealing with human beings is the most important thing on set and as you prepare for production. This book prepares you for the potential interactions/outbursts that you will surely face and tells you how to handle them with the touch of an expert :)
Buy it! I got two copies. I constantly loan one out to new filmmakers I meet.

Bret's books is full of funny thoughts and inspiring ideas to get one's butt off the couch and out making films despite hollywood backing! I already have a plan developed to do my own feature film this year, and this book really helped me focus that plan! Thanks Bret (PS where is that check? j/k)