Those of you who have been to ‘proper’ film schools and who have learned the art of film making over a period of some years, obtaining your lifelong skills ‘the hard way’ will no doubt argue and rail against the likes of The Doc, who learned TV and video production skills and is now classed as ‘a film maker’!  But don’t hang the messenger!  Even The Doc knows that there’s nothing can beat learning the art ‘the correct way’, as taught by masters of the craft.

  But whether a true maker of films, as in on celluloid, or a ‘videographer’, as The Doc prefers to be known, everyone must surely acknowledge the fact that there are easier ways to make a film than spending several millions of dollars on actors, locations and fancy-schmansy gear.

  Most of the productions created and executed by The Doc and company, were made with no budget and no crew – just a team of two: one on camera, the other on sound.  Now Doc’s not saying it’s at all easy; but it’s still possible to be prolific and to produce something worth its salt.  Should one choose to employ crew – like a runner/gopher, just make sure that everything you need to get done is listed and that you know which bits this runner is going to be responsible for.  The Doc learned early on that you can’t always rely on other people, so the more you can do yourself, the better.  However, there are drawbacks.  You can’t be everywhere at once! RELINQUISH SOME POWER AND RESPONSIBILITY! It hurts, but ‘no pain- no gain’.

  The Doc has, in the past, paid crew with sandwiches and production credits and often local actors will work for travel expenses, a copy of the production and a good feeding!  Cheap, if you know where to shop!  The more conscientious actor had been known to bring their own outfit for a simple role, but you can make your own costumes from charity shop offerings or sweat-shop crud from your market.

  As for location: use any empty space you can find, cheese it if you need permission for public spaces, like shopping malls(not always easy to do, but video cameras are so much smaller these days). This is risky but be sensible, should you accept the challenge! Use your mates’ houses, garages or anything and lean on people you know with skills to help create sets.  Go to your local art school and offer a student a meal in exchange for some prop making or painting of backdrops.  Go to scrap yards and pick up bits of tat that you can use to make interesting sci-fi weaponry or Bond style gadgets.  Make miniature sets out of old boxes and leftover cans of paint and film ‘stock footage’ of this set so you can create establishing shots without the need of actors.

  Don’t let yourself be bound by what you can’t do.  Think outside the box and let the imagination that you’re using to create that ‘film’, help you to create interesting solutions to what could otherwise prevent you from completing that possible blockbuster.  No excuses now!  The Doc has spoken.