Bigger-budgeted films have more restrictions and less freedom to create. Because of this, I try to find freedom in the people I work with. I often work in ways I don't want to. It's more about controlling the situation. Lower-budget films are freer.
I usually make films with $2 and a paper clip.
The cool thing about those small-budget movies is that there's a tremendous amount of freedom the filmmakers have since there's less money at stake.
Somehow, even though you have less time and less money, the thing about making indie films is somehow you have another kind of resource: a human resource, where you can really look to your creative colleagues and actually ask questions that are honest.
When you do a low budget movie, you get a little over-ambitious.
I did a film that I shot in 24 hours that was self-financed for $5,000. It was a feature called Looking For Jimmy that I shot with a bunch of friends. I spent eight months editing because we had 24 hours of footage that made no sense and I learned a lot about directing while editing that film.
I didn't go to film school; I studied fine art - I learned how to be a filmmaker on everybody else's money.
When you only have $15 million, you have to talk about something interesting. You can't just cut to a helicopter exploding.
I didn't have the kind of budget to compete with the big studios, therefore I had to make my films more outlandish, more outrageous.
When I started, we had just the camera and the person, mostly. And if you wanted to do a dolly shot, particularly working in Chicago where I began, you'd get in the back trunk of a car, and you'd have a friend drive the car, or you'd get in some kid's little wagon that he plays with and have someone pull that for dolly shots.
I've made movies that cost less than one car chase.
There's a strange sense of accomplishment in making an independent film. Everything's against you; there's no time, and even less money - you bring a bottle of glue, chip in twenty bucks, and hope you all make it through the day. If you manage to finish it and it actually turns out to be pretty good, it's thrilling.
When you're shooting super-low-budget - we had 20 days to shoot 'Diary,' and a little over $2 - time is money.
Independent films now, they want to give you $2 million to make it, 21 days to shoot it and they want 10 movie stars in it.
I love films that are made with almost no budget.
Any asshole can make a good movie for $100 million. I think it's way harder to make a movie with no money, and to start with no contacts and work your way up to international productions.
I'm interested to see what happens to Spike Lee with limited resources, you know? I love Spike Lee's movies. But you know what? I kinda liked his movies when he used to scramble and fight more for them.
I really am passionate about making low-budget movies. You can try new stuff and unusual stuff, and you can break the rules.
With horror movies, a bigger budget is actually your enemy. You want to feel the rough edges, the handmade quality to good horror films. It's a genre that benefits from not having everything at your disposal.
If you're going to make a movie for ten thousand you can talk everybody into doing it for free. You could make a really good-looking movie right for ten grand, if you have an idea.
I think that there's a lot more freedom in the low budget, the independent films where, unfortunately, you don't have the money, necessarily, to get the orchestras in there to play a lot of stuff. But, you have a lot more freedom, very often.
From a production point of view, I still have one foot firmly planted in the independent film world, and much of the shooting on 'Jumper' was done 'Swingers'-style because that was the only way we could afford to do it.
I produce some of my music videos on a $200 budget. But I produce most of my videos on zero budget. I have a studio in my apartment - which is actually just a green screen I have tacked on my wall and some lamps to light everything.
I can't speak for other people but the budget of my films is super tight to an extent that people can't even imagine.
After 'Maryada Ramanna,' I wanted to make a quick film on a shoestring budget.
