Wind & Sky ProductionsCommissioning Advice
Producing a Micro-Budget Documentary
How a Micro-Budget Documentary is Produced
By Jary Nemo and Lucinda Horrocks.
The glamorous world of film-making gets somewhat less glamorous.
When people think of the film-making process, most think of the way dramatic feature films are made, with a big crew and a celebrity cast and a splashy cinema release. But films, especially documentary films, are often far more humble in scope and use a leaner film-making process. This article outlines common elements in the production process for documentary films made on a small budget. (We’re not talking David Attenborough here.)
How Much Does a Documentary Cost to Make?
We outline four factors which can influence documentary film production costs.
A question we often get asked is ‘I want to make a simple 5 minute film about X. How much would that cost?’
Our answer? ‘It depends’.
For organisational and online video production, a common costing rule of thumb is often said to be ‘$1000 for every finished minute of video’. However, we find this costing rule to be wrong more often than it is right, possibly because the rule seems to have been around for aeons.
For documentary film-making at the lowest-budget level, ‘$1000 per finished minute’ is the cheapest starting point for costing. We recommend using $2000 – $4000 per finished minute as a beginning point or ball park. And you should expect that even a ‘simple film’ may cost more. Why? There are many elements which come into play when costing a film. In this article we detail four factors which can influence cost, and provide some tips on how to reduce costs if your budget is really pushed.
Image attribution: Svilen.milev
5 Tips to Preparing a Film Brief
How to prepare for your first meeting with a production company.
Film making is a complicated business. Sometimes clients feel a little intimidated on their first meeting with us, the production company, because they don’t know how to talk ‘film’. They needn’t be. If you are thinking of commissioning a film, there are certain things the film-makers need to know, but these things aren’t tricky and they don’t involve technical film talk. Here are five things you should prepare for your first meeting.
Feature photo by Nick Macco.
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