Filmmaking / Directing : Today's Blog- Making Your Own Super Micro Budget Feature by Ashley Renee Smith

Thanks for the reminder Ashley! Great article

Great share!

Thanks for sharing this Ashley, @stephenfolker has some awesome advice in this blog!

Nice article, thank you, Ashley.

@Ashley thanks for reminding us we can do it without studio bucks. El Mariachi was a stepping stone for greater enterprise to hop on board for next two films making up a trilogy. Carlos Gallardo & Robert Rodriguez had upfront 7,000 dollars for El Mariachi but after it won Sundance distributed by Columbia a sequel “Once Upon A Time In Mexico” took a staggering 30 million! In first film actors were free, women did own makeup, lighting cost 40 bucks from hardware store, for blood condoms were used under clothes attached to weight lifting gear so when pressured it caused them to burst. Explosives came on a federal express which nowadays we cannot do, (lord mayor granted armoury.) SOUND was intriguing! On old fashioned 70s/80’s type cassettes & Sony could hardly believe it. Mixing cost £15,000 dollars over 2 days but studio picked up bill. Carlos’s turtle in film he just found on the road & dog was his. LOL I know all these Nerdanian facts cos Carlos came to Goldsmiths University in London for film student seminars in 2014. Speaking in general there are so many ways to cut the budget & still make a film look cool as Stephen points out in his blog. EG Get permission to film outside of a fixed location such as a mansion but use another free location posing as the interior, I am doing that one myself now for a script. Thanks @Stephen for the blog.

Thanks for reading my blog post and thanks Ashley Renee Smith for putting it up for everyone to see.

Yes, the studios came in and really put some dough into it. But if they hadn't, it just goes to show if he could do it 30+ years ago with sub par equipment, we have no excuses today, considering subpar equipment today is legions above what was available the everyday filmmaker back then.

Thank YOU for writing a fantastic and inspiring blog, Stephen!