8 Steps to Your First Short Film

Making a low/no budget short film in 8 simple steps:

Step 1: Your phone is your camera. (The set up above cost my €300 - not include iPhone obviously. The monitor looking thing on the top is actually a power bank)

Step 2: Sound is important - buy or borrow an external mic.

Step 3: Light - us natural light, available light. You can get LED light cheaply and use a reflector. 

Step 4: Writing - keep your script short, 5 to 7 pages (less) and between two actors. Story should be simple, set in one location. A conversation. Something that means something to you. Take time to get it right, don’t rush to production, nows the time to make mistakes, they’re easy to change!

Step 5: Rehearsal - take the time to meet, talk to the actors, have conversations about the script, make sure everyone connects with it. Do a run through, don’t be afraid to rewrite it if needs be. This will help you hit the ground running on shoot day.

Step 6: Shooting - you can shoot anywhere, but think of production value, what’s the back drop. Maybe don’t shoot in your living room, or if you do, put some time into dressing it. Can you shoot with your town as a back drop? Or a mountain? You get my drift. That kind of value is priceless!

Step 7: Post - do have iMovie? That’ll work. There are other free editing apps out there, find what works for you. Do you have a musician friend who’ll lend music for credit? Maybe your can do it, record it straight to your phone and import it. It’s all about keeping it as simple and cost free as possible.

Step 8: Distribution - well, now that’s not an issue, you can publish it the second you finish it. Hit social, spread the word. But if you want to go a step further, get it out to festivals, go to filmfreeway.com, create an account, there you can set filters to find free entry festivals, or low entry fees, set your budget and get entering. If you want to sell it, rte short screen buys short films, email on website, or you can get a sales agent, the biggest in Ireland for short films is Film Network Ireland. 

Main things, don’t overthink it. Write something that means something to you. Keep it simple. Find local actors, in you community. Use your phone, two actors, one location, one day. And Have FUN!