Making Movies is Expensive...Usually. Every now and then, you meet creators who figure out how to tell stories with small teams and no money.
I’m Eric Villa, the CEO of
Stuudeo.com, a newsletter platform that features the best bootstrapped short films in the world. I’ve interviewed hundreds of film school students, indie filmmakers, and YouTube creators.
One of those filmmakers has become friends;
20-year-old Boston-based filmmaker, Deniz Aryuek.
I sat down with Deniz to learn about:
- His best movies
- The gear he uses
- How to shoot award-winning movies with a 3-person team
Using Limitations
Watch The Projectionist Here 👀
The Projectionist (2022)
💰
Budget: $0
Crew: 2
🎥
Camera Used: Blackmagic Pocket Cinema 6k
🌊
Locations: Collidge Corner Theater
🖥
Editing Suite : Adobe Suite
The Projectionist is being screened in high-school film classrooms across the United States.
The Projectionist is a simple documentary portrait of Tom Welch, the lead projectionist at the Coolidge Corner theater in Brookline, MA.
Deniz, and his co-director Noah Matalon, had their work featured across multiple short-film features online.
Deniz used the story to motivate style.
When I asked him about the visual style of the film, he said:
"I really like how our limitations let us play with style."
"We were staring at our low-light footage and my co-director, Noah, was like “what if we made it look like it was film being projected."
"I honestly think that realization is what made the movie work."
Creating Fantasy Worlds With $0
Watch The Mirror And The Ring Here 👀
The Mirror And The Ring
was the finale in a series of 5 horror movies Deniz
wrote and directed in the pandemic. Each film was shot
with a minimal crew with 6-8 week turnarounds.
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The Mirror And The Ring (2021)
💰
Budget: $50 (for fruit snacks)
Crew: 4
- 💡Gaffing & Camera Operator
- 🎨 Art Director & Makeup Artist
- 📣 Director
- 📢 Co-Director
🎥
Camera Used: Blackmagic Pocket Cinema 6k
🌊
Locations:
- Green-screen
- 1 Beach night shoot
🖥
Editing Suite : Adobe Suite
With a crew of 4, he was able to create a stylistic pastiche of The Lord Of The Rings.
When I asked Deniz’ advice on shooting big-concept movies with no budget, he said;
"When you’ve got no budget, you need to be fast. Fast on set, fast to edit. If your advantage isn’t money, it’s gotta be speed."
"I think the key is to have people you trust on your crew, because you’re going to end up writing your project on set and in the editing suite just as much as on paper."
🗣 Do You Have Your Own Advice? 🗣
I’m sure everyone reading this has had to fly by the seat of their pants on a shoot.
**Reply To This Email With Your Advice on Shooting with Limitations.**
We’ll feature our favorite answers in our next issue on Gear Focus. Stay Tuned...
