Guidlines for Guerrilla Filmmaking?

**Generic Skinhead** · May 25th, 2006, 08:32 PM

Originally posted by nate_dog:
Allow me to list my own rules for no-budget guerrilla filmmaking:

1. Must be shot on video
2. Must not pay cast/crew (feeding them I suppose is...fine)
3. Use real locations
4. Never pay for permission of anything (music rights, locations, etc.)
5. Use natural light or given light (i.e. street lamps)
6. Writing and rehearsal is free, therefore 90% of the filmmaking process should be just that.

Can a feature be made for under $100? Have you ever seen a good one? Please include a link to where I may find something like that.

I disagree.

Pi (Aronofsky), Following (Nolan) and Primer (Carruth) are just 3 examples of guerilla films shot on film.

[img]graemlins/film.gif[/img]

**eidde** · May 26th, 2006, 08:22 AM

[ May 26, 2006 05:31 AM: Message edited by: eidde ]

**Patriarch** · May 26th, 2006, 10:35 AM

Originally posted by eidde:

[ May 26, 2006 05:31 AM: Message edited by: eidde ]

You sure?

**eidde** · May 26th, 2006, 10:42 AM

ha..
Its all said by nate_dog up there.
I think following some of the dogme 'rules' can help streamline your production, and free you up to concentrate on stuff like performance, and story.

As far as film and Video are concerned. Personally I think a 'Film' has more 'Guerilla' kudos, since the effort to source and use filmstock (effectivley for nothing, or on the dead cheap) is enormous compared to the effort to shoot on video and home edit on a computer.

Anyone who has gone through the experience of shooting on FILM will know the extra effort involved. And to do so without a bugdet means that they must have pretty spectacular 'Guerilla' filmmaking skills.

All the same, some people may prefer to channel this 'extra effort' into some other aspect of their movie. (can of worms....anyone?)

imho :-)

[ May 26, 2006 07:44 AM: Message edited by: eidde ]

**Nigel** · May 27th, 2006, 01:48 PM

I hate it when I get hired to shoot a film and we sit down and talk about what we can do to get the look that the director is after and I spend a ton of time and effort only to hear the director/producer cut things because of money.

If this project is your kid and you have spent years of your life getting ready to shoot writing and rewriting. Working and working things until they are just right. Shouldn't you spend at least that much time trying to find the cash to do things up to your own standards from the get go??

If you want to bang out projects on the cheap and often then go for it. Do it.

To me it seems like if you spent X years forming the idea then you need to spend at least that much time in finding money.

Your movie is made before I even get hired. Everything needs to be in place before you even pick up the phone.

Preproduction is where you need to spend the time, effort, money.

1,000,000USD isn't that much these days. Yes, it is more than I have but it seems like it is well within reach for someone with a good script and motivation.

Good Luck

somedeadguy · May 27th, 2006, 04:40 PM

Someone made a good point in the difference between an indie film maker who's hoping to eventually get studio backing, and the guerilla film maker who blows up his own car for the chase scene.

My problem is I do care about the story. Usually once we get the idea together to make a movie, my freind and I just start making it. No script, no storyboard, we just allow serendipity to do it's work. And a lot of times things look more emotionally charged on film than they would have if we had scripted it. I love it! There was a scene where my freind blows his brains out because he just got done watching "The Pest" with John Leguizamo. I was behind the camera and I said "Okay buddy, just start crying like there is no more meaning in life left." He's no actor so he was trying to cry, but kept giggling because he was kind of embarrassed to cry. At the time I was a little pissed that he couldn't keep a sad face going, but in post, I actually ended up leaving the giggling parts in. After adding some tragic soundtrack, and slowing it down, it was one of the creepiest most disturbing suicide shots I've ever seen!

I really enjoy it when it turns out like that, but it doesn't always. So I've had times when I want to film an idea, and I have no resources, so I change the plot to work around the resources that I have available (like change "day" in the plot to "night" because I don't want to wait 8 hours to start shooting). THIS NEVER WORKS. It always turns out like crap, and if you ask me, makes me a bastard for losing sight of my idea just because of financial shortcomings.

So, here comes the guerilla part. There is no way that I can afford to build a fake jail cell. There are no convincing enough places in my town that I could hope for an audience to believe to be a jail cell. How can I get my actor into a cop car and then a jail cell so they his character can start to learn the error of his ways? Do I can the jail scene?? No way.

Get him arrested. Simple as that. Now I haven't done this yet, we are still working on a way to get him cleared of all charges, and a way for me to get in the jail with the camera, but in a few weeks, I'll tell you how it goes. We are also considering becoming freinds with the judge.

The point is, I do care about the story. I care enough about the story to do whatever I have to do to make it work. I think there should be a distinction between Low Budget Filmmakers and Guerilla Filmmakers. A parralel exists between Guerillas fighting a war, and a General ordering the troops to go fight a war. I don't consider myself a Guerilla Filmmaker, I consider myself a kid with a camera who wants to be a Guerilla Filmmaker, and is trying to learn from people who post on the Guerilla Filmmakers Forum. Unfortunately for me I assumed that Guerilla meant we help eachother out like a family of poor people, not that we bitch about how we are purists and try to keep out the trash who want to make video look like film. I've never known anyone so elitist and pretentious as someone posting in the Guerilla Filmmakers Forum about how I'm just an amatuer who has no right to call themselves a filmmaker because I use 24p.

**Patriarch** · May 27th, 2006, 05:53 PM

Originally posted by Nigel:
I hate it when I get hired to shoot a film and we sit down and talk about what we can do to get the look that the director is after and I spend a ton of time and effort only to hear the director/producer cut things because of money.

If this project is your kid and you have spent years of your life getting ready to shoot writing and rewriting. Working and working things until they are just right. Shouldn't you spend at least that much time trying to find the cash to do things up to your own standards from the get go??

If you want to bang out projects on the cheap and often then go for it. Do it.

To me it seems like if you spent X years forming the idea then you need to spend at least that much time in finding money.

Your movie is made before I even get hired. Everything needs to be in place before you even pick up the phone.

Preproduction is where you need to spend the time, effort, money.

1,000,000USD isn't that much these days. Yes, it is more than I have but it seems like it is well within reach for someone with a good script and motivation.

Good Luck

Wow.. I'm glad someone else feels that way [img]smile.gif[/img]

Boy do I get many people who approach me to do music, yet they haven't bothered trying to get a budget for their movie, little less for music.

If your serious about what you do and beleive in it - then take it as far as it can go.

**Generic Skinhead** · May 27th, 2006, 10:58 PM

Originally posted by The Imaginable Sean Moss:
Do I can the jail scene?? No way.

Get him arrested. Simple as that. Now I haven't done this yet, we are still working on a way to get him cleared of all charges, and a way for me to get in the jail with the camera, but in a few weeks, I'll tell you how it goes. We are also considering becoming freinds with the judge.

I can only hope you're joking, because otherwise...thats not "guerilla" thats just hairbrained. It doesn't even make sense. If he got arrested how would you shoot a scene? You gonna hide the camera in a cake?

Honest to god.

Write a story based on what you have access to. It really is that simple.

[img]graemlins/sure.gif[/img]

somedeadguy · May 28th, 2006, 03:17 PM

Well it is stupid, but it works. I am leaning towards the becoming friends with the judge idea, but seriously, how genuine would the drunks and gang members in the cell be! It would be awesome. Writing a story around what I have access to would be a dishonor to my work, not that I'm some artist who's work is divine, but still. Putting shackles on my ideas is, well, bullshit. If I have a vision I want it to be seen the way I see it.

Which brings up the other definable characteristic of indie or guerilla filmmaking. I am making films for myself. I want to share my ideas with other people. I DO NOT want to mold my idea around what other people will like. That's the problem with Hollywood is they cater to the largest demographic, also known as the lowest common denominator. Screw that. I make my stuff for myself, and hope that people like me enjoy it. If the average moviegoer doesn't like it they can piss off.

So no, I won't make a story around what I have, because then all I would have is a crappy John Waters movie.

Post Script

Also, the local jail let me film a small mockumentary back in highschool, and told me that as long as I blurred the faces out I could film the overnight cell. So I think I could pull it off if I time everything right.