When Limitations Are Liberating
Or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Micro-Budget
For any Cinenation podcast superfans out there, you might recall episode 47, in which Ben Goertz interviewed Brandon Sparks and me about the short film we had just shot, Brandon’s grad school thesis titled Camp Nichols. Brandon and I had just returned from a wonderful experience in Brandon’s home state of Alabama, where I produced the film while Brandon wrote and directed. If you haven’t listened to that episode yet, it’s worth checking out. At its best, it’s an interesting look at two young filmmakers reflecting on their biggest project yet. At its worst, it’s me ranting about Alabama rainstorms, which is still pretty entertaining.
The point is, Camp Nichols is a project that has taken up much of our creative time for over a year; Brandon started the first draft of the script last January, and we’re planning to screen our final cut this coming May. Around the same time Brandon and I were returning to Los Angeles and decompressing from prep and shooting, our friend Chris was going through a very similar process. Having just finished shooting his thesis, a dark, bizarre comedy set in an alternate 1990s called Wyrm, Chris was also looking for a break from the larger productions we had just staged.
I, personally, was hoping that break would come in the form of no more early morning call-times to set for a while, but Chris had a different idea. He sent me a script for a weird little dramedy he had just written about a couple going through a breakup. I came on board to produce, and we set out to shoot Break Down in the exact opposite method we used for our thesis films: very little prep, even less shoot-time (1 day) and the smallest, tinsy-tiniest micro-budget the world has ever seen.
What resulted is one of my favorite experiences in filmmaking (even though it only took about 12 hours). The key to making something that small, that quick, is to find quality everywhere you can. We put together a wonderful skeleton crew, with Brandon coming on to help light the gorgeous craftsman home we were graciously allowed to use, and our friend and regular collaborator Youthana taking time out of prep for his own thesis to serve as sound mixer/production designer/creative consultant extraordinaire. Even our composer and sound designer, the brilliant David Boman, stopped by to lend a hand lugging equipment. That doesn’t often happen on a set. Finally, our biggest goal was to bring in a cast we really respected and worked well with, and we couldn’t have done better than Davey Johnson and Kate Freund.
With this tiny crew and cast, along with the limitations of a single setting, we were restrained to the point that we were completely set free. Collaboration flowed easily; everyone on set had a chance to propose something new and fun. David and Kate, who are regular collaborators, had a chance to cut loose and improvise, and some of my favorite footage in the film comes from them just riffing off each other.
I guess my point in putting this together is that we don’t talk much on here about filmmaking, even though it’s something a lot of us do and/or aspire to, so I’d like to share a little insight I’ve gotten from my experience. Between commercials, school projects, Camp Nichols, etc…I’ve been on sets with crews of all shapes and sizes, but I think we can often lose sight of how important open, creative collaboration can be. Especially as producer, I tend to get so caught up in scheduling and planning that I‘m afraid I don’t always create a collaborative environment where anyone can suggest new ideas. That’s a crucial part of filmmaking, and sometimes you just have to step yourself all the way back, strip the project down to its bare bones, to remember that. That’s what Break Down helped reteach me, and I couldn’t have asked for a better cast and crew to learn it with.
Plus, I don’t know, maybe there’s a life lesson in there somewhere for everyone, not just filmmakers. Stop and smell the roses. Be open to the opinion of others. Don’t spend too much time planning. Stop, collaborate and listen…
Take of it what you will.
Break Down premiered today on Short Of The Week. We’d be honored if you checked it out.
