Darius Khondji Quotes

If you're doing movies on a set... many times, I've shot the end of a movie in the first week of shooting. Because of locations or budgets or actors' availability.

I have a notebook, and I know what decisions will be made in pre-production. Everything is pre-determined in the pre-production period. I visually design the whole thing, and I know when things will happen.

The next movie I do is not going to be in school.

There have been movies like 'Paranormal Activity' or 'Blair Witch Project' in Hollywood that showed you could do movies with little or no money. It doesn't prevent them from creating larger than life spectacles as well.

I tried to film 'Leaves of Grass' in Oklahoma, but it was literally about a million dollars less to shoot in Louisiana.

The first prize for any production is, if you can find a location that means you don't have to build sets, that will serve, and is not excessively expensive to hire, then it can save you a lot of money.

The lowest budget U.S. films are ten times times better than shooting in Tibet.

I shoot reality-based movies, and in actual locations, shooting them with a star is next to impossible.

Newlyweds shooting budget: 5k for actors, 2k insurance, 2k food and drink. 9k in the can. We only shot 12 days. That's how to make an independent film.

You didn't have to go on location if you could just shoot down City Hall, LA.

I find that on most films it's very difficult to have a backlit movie in an exterior.

Filmmakers, they tell me they want to make movies. I say, 'Good, go out, buy a $500 camera, get some friends and make a movie. Don't go to Hollywood. Stay wherever you are.'

Coming from the industry and maintaining contacts with producers and directors, I am very well aware that costs associated with movie production are a major factor in determining where films get made.

As long as you keep your budgets small, there's a way of making films.

It would be nice to make a movie that other people want to make, because every one of these movies, I basically have to find the only company in the world that's willing to make it, and it's always a big challenge. I end up spending a tremendous amount of energy and time trying to get money to make these movies and it's exhausting.

It's pretty easy to make a film in China. A few years ago I just walked into the office and let them know I wanted to make a movie called 'Red Cliff' and they were so excited. They said, 'Let's do it!' It's that simple.

When you're able to shoot in Europe and internationally, those locations don't lie. The feeling doesn't lie, the quality of the light. You can always tell when it's shot in London.

Actors play a small part in all the things that go into the making of a movie. I want to know about pre-production, post-production, shot divisions - everything.

The truth of the matter is that it's not much less work to do a short than it is to do a feature. Particularly when you're running around different countries.

Every single discussion I have with a first AD, or producers, is time of day. I can't begin to tell you how many times I've fought for early-morning calls. The light is 90 percent of our job; we as humans respond to light and where it is at different times of day and not only in positive ways.

I think the larger productions in India are very methodical and pretty much on the ball in terms of work. When I say work, I mean pre-production and the homework that's required.

Most movies are too brightly lit. I think that may come from a lot of directors having watched too much TV.

Production is not an easy game and I would want to be prepared with the right team, script, etc before getting into it.

I revel in movies where the monsters tower more over the tiny budgets than the characters they threaten.

Shooting on location and dressing locations in Los Angeles is shockingly expensive, especially when you're talking about webseries-level budgets, so the opportunity to build our sets in YouTube's space gives us a lot more room in our budget in being able to create the world of 'VGHS' properly.