How to Make a Short Film by Yourself
I recently finished a new short film called Balloon Man. It stars three hugely talented actors I’ve worked with in the theatre – David Morley Hale, Amanda Daniels, and Patrick Toomey - and the process of making it has easily been the most rewarding creative experience I’ve had to date.
Why? Because I challenged myself to shoot it without a crew and without a script. Ordinarily, this kind of freeform approach to filmmaking would have most people’s alarm bells ringing – No cameraman? No sound recordist? No carefully pre-planned story? Are you sure? – but I couldn’t recommend it more highly to people out there who, like me, simply want to march ahead and make things.
In the course of shooting, editing, and working with the actors to evolve characters and dialogue I’ve learned more about storytelling and filmmaking than on all my previous work put together. Although the film was absolutely a collaboration, it was more like a devised piece of theatre than a film.
Once upon a time, such an approach would have terrified me (or at least left me deeply suspicious). Certainly the “writing” part of my brain has thusfar always insisted upon on careful pre-planning and worked-through dialogue.
But I’ve come to learn that film directing – or at least my version of it – is about responding to reality, rather than faking it. Reacting to the location, the people, the world in front of you is far more invigorating than conceiving a notion of “INT. RESTAURANT - DAY” then trying to recreate exactly what was in your mind. With some extremely patient actors, I’ve found it is possible to gradually evolve a story on the fly that not only holds together but is far more exciting - and, crucially, real - than anything I’ve done before.
Is this approach for everyone? Probably not. It’s certainly not a process I’d use for a larger-scale work, or anything with any kind of budget – naturally, when people are funding your work it makes sense to avail oneself of the streamlined possibilities of a well-oiled crew, and to surround yourself with fellow creatives with whom to collaborate.
But if, like me, you’ve been frustrated by the dearth of funding recently but have thusfar hesitated to go out and shoot because you’ve grown used to a certain way of working, then know that it is absolutely possible to shoot a solid, 15-minute, sync-sound dramatic film totally by yourself. You don’t need money. You don’t need a crew. All you need are basic shooting skills and some amazing performers; a little skill with Final Cut and a lot of patience.
Having realised that this way of working is possible, I’m already planning my next no-budget, no-crew short. It’s a pretty exciting feeling: when you empower yourself with the means of production, suddenly anything seems possible and a whole lot of nonsense becomes totally irrelevant. Which is pretty darn liberating.
So go. Make short films. It really is as simple as picking up a camera. Don’t ask for advice, assistance, or an air-conditioned Winnebago: just do it. In the words of Steve Jobs, “real artists ship”. So get shipping.
