An issue-oriented short movie is one that has a style of social relevance at it's core. Drug abuse, poverty, the environment, homelessness ... these are all examples of a smaller movie with a socially pertinent style. This is significant as it is A LOT EASIER to get donations of time, equipment and materials when there is a "source" behind the movie.
In the mid 90's I was able to get a 12 minute 35mm movie produced for under a thousand dollars, a definitely unusual amount. Catering, places, movie stock and processing, misc materials, devices - almost every little thing was covered with generous donations because the movie had two major social problems as the primary styles - kid abuse and it's resultant connection to drug abuse later on in life.
The strategy? Go through production directories and cold call until you cannot talk anymore. A normal pitch went like this: "we're working with a film that deals with some pretty extreme social concerns and we're asking yourself if there's somebody we can speak with about making a contribution of ..." It takes a lot of calls, but it works.
Getting contributions is in one sense rather easy as lots of production business want to contribute. The difficulty that originates from this option to smaller film financing is in the added sychronisation efforts required, for you'll should adapt your schedule to the donors. An example of this is that we needed to cancel a film shoot two weekends in a row due to the fact that the 35mm camera that was being contributed to us became not available as it was reserved out on a paid shoot (a truth that needs to be accepted taking this method). However as soon as the rental company's schedule cleared, the camera was ours and we were able to shoot, saving hundreds of dollars in rental fees.
An additional concern with taking this path is manufacturer coordination. It's much better if you have an unique producer working with obtaining donations as it's a full-time task in and of itself. It's best to have one manufacturer to handle shooting logistics and another to manage contributions. In the end, while our team was able to achieve a lot with very little funds, the film suffered because the director/producer (myself) was overworked with handling logistics and had less time to invest on innovative shots, acting, and so on. Having an one-of-a-kind producer to manage donations will solve that problem!
In the mid 90's I was able to get a 12 minute 35mm movie produced for under a thousand dollars, a definitely unusual amount. Catering, places, movie stock and processing, misc materials, devices - almost every little thing was covered with generous donations because the movie had two major social problems as the primary styles - kid abuse and it's resultant connection to drug abuse later on in life.
The strategy? Go through production directories and cold call until you cannot talk anymore. A normal pitch went like this: "we're working with a film that deals with some pretty extreme social concerns and we're asking yourself if there's somebody we can speak with about making a contribution of ..." It takes a lot of calls, but it works.
Getting contributions is in one sense rather easy as lots of production business want to contribute. The difficulty that originates from this option to smaller film financing is in the added sychronisation efforts required, for you'll should adapt your schedule to the donors. An example of this is that we needed to cancel a film shoot two weekends in a row due to the fact that the 35mm camera that was being contributed to us became not available as it was reserved out on a paid shoot (a truth that needs to be accepted taking this method). However as soon as the rental company's schedule cleared, the camera was ours and we were able to shoot, saving hundreds of dollars in rental fees.
An additional concern with taking this path is manufacturer coordination. It's much better if you have an unique producer working with obtaining donations as it's a full-time task in and of itself. It's best to have one manufacturer to handle shooting logistics and another to manage contributions. In the end, while our team was able to achieve a lot with very little funds, the film suffered because the director/producer (myself) was overworked with handling logistics and had less time to invest on innovative shots, acting, and so on. Having an one-of-a-kind producer to manage donations will solve that problem!
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