Shooting Super-16mm On A Low Budget - Page 3

Camera hire

Many camera rental houses have friendly people in them who are willing to lend cheapskates like us a decent 16mm camera kit for virtually nothing. Be completely honest with them - tell them you've done everything you can to raise the money and promise them a screen credit. Be very nice to them. A typical "low budget" package might be an Arri SR2 with a set of primes and a handful of glass filters. What you pay will vary from free to list price. Try to avoid shooting in the Summer as all the film schools will be using the kit for their final-year films. And remember to budget for transport - all those flight cases are bulky and heavy.

Don't forget to check every bit of kit at least twice: before it leaves the camera floor at the hire facility and right after you wrap. And I don't mean just check you've got the right number of boxes - look inside each box and tick off every cable, bolt and filter. I almost got myself in £35,000 of debt because the camera hire company claimed we'd forgotten to return the remote control for the dolly and the insurance company weren't going to cover it because we hadn't been burgled (in the end it turned out that the hire company had sent the remote control to the wrong warehouse - but I wasn't sure because we hadn't checked properly). If you don't have time to tick off every item then open the boxes and take a digital photo of the contents of each box - these photos could help you out if a bit of kit goes missing. Make no mistake: film camera equipment is very expensive.

If you're really low on cash then you could try to blag a 16mm camera from your local film society or school. Or find a DP who owns their own camera. If you've got an excellent script then the DP may offer bring along the camera if the production covers transport costs.

Finally, don't forget to budget for insurance! No camera hire company will give you the kit without insurance. Insurance for £100,000 worth of kit for a week should cost around £150 - 250. Shop around for insurance - the premiums can vary by about 200% between insurers. Also consider getting an annual policy - it can make great financial sense if you're going to be shooting three or more films a year. Also don't forget that, if you don't have it already, you'll almost certainly have to get "employees liability" and "public liability" insurance. Equipment insurance + EL + PL for a week will cost somewhere around £750 for a single shoot or around £1,200 for a year (again, the exact prices will vary dramatically depending on your specific circumstances). Finally: don't forget to leave plenty of time to arrange insurance - it takes a good few weeks to get the quotes sorted out etc.

Super-16mm versus Standard-16mm

Super-16mm has a native aspect ratio of 1:67 (a little taller than 16:9 which is 1:78) whilst Standard-16mm is 4:3 (1:1.33). In our modern wide-screen world, almost all "16mm" productions are actually Super-16mm. Most "16mm" cameras available at rental facilities will have Super-16mm gates but it is worth specifying "Super-16mm" when you shop around for camera kit. The Arri SR2, for example, is natively Standard-16mm and has to be converted to Super-16mm. For more information about 16mm, take a look at WikiPedia's article on 16mm and super-16mm .

All modern 16mm filmstock has sprockets down only one side and is compatible with both super- and standard-16mm cameras (except really old standard-16mm cameras which require sprockets down both sides).

Developing

8p per foot is probably the cheapest anyone will develop your 16mm rushes but most labs will charge more like 10 - 12p. As always, shop around. Also make sure that the service includes preparing the negative for telecine.

How much does developing cost in total? 400ft of Super 16mm = 11 minutes at 25 fps ... so, if your running time is 10 minutes and you're using a 10:1 shooting ratio, that's 100 min of stock, which equals 3636 foot of Super 16mm, which comes to a developing cost of £330.

Exposed and developed super-16mm

Telecine

Telecine is the process of transferring your developed film negatives into the digital or video realm for editing.

Phone your local telecine facilities and ask, very nicely, if they have any trainee telecine operators who might be interested in scanning your film during down-time in return for a generous volume of their favourite drink and a special thanks on the credits. Most will reply "no" or "sure, that'll be £400 per hour". But some will say "not a problem, come round next Tuesday evening and we'll see what we can do". As always, be on your best behaviour. Your poor telecine operator has probably already been at work for 14 hours and is doing you a big favour. If you can, please pay as much as you can.

One quick note about aspect ratios: Super-16mm has a native aspect ratio of 1:67 whilst 16:9 is 1:78 (i.e. 16:9 is wider than super-16mm). If you're planning to finish your film in 16:9 then make sure you ask your camera hire company for "16:9 ground-glass". The "ground-glass" is the plane onto which the view-finder image is projected. Asking for a "16:9 ground-glass" will ensure that your viewfinder is marked with a 1:78 framing.

Guestimate budget

So, let's work out a rough camera hire and filmstock budget for a week's shoot for a 10 min short. These prices WILL vary hugely, do not see these prices as "the going rate" - they are just a quick illustration of how cheaply you could shoot on super-16mm if you're lucky:

£100 dip tests + £400 camera hire + £400 insurance + £330 developing + £50 alcohol for TK opp = £1,280.

Of course, this isn't your final budget. You must also budget for your cast and crew, transport, art department, sound, editing, contingency, lighting etc.

Low budget filmmaking and your cast and crew

A final word about your cast and crew:

No matter what your budget, you must always remember that your script can only be made into a film with a huge amount of work from a lot of talented individuals. Always try to pay your cast and crew and treat them with kindness and respect. If you really can't afford to pay a wage for your cast and crew then at the very least provide them with decent food, transport expenses and do your best to not over-run.

If everything falls into place then making a film, even on a tiny budget, can be a huge amount of fun and extremely rewarding.

Best of luck with your project!

Jack.

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(updated 28/05/2006)

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