Producing a short film isn't easy. Producing a self-funded short film in only 6 weeks is even harder, but it was possible, and the outcome is looking amazing! You can watch the teaser trailer for our new film Echoes of Delusion here (the film will be out in mid-2024).
We are still growing as a production studio yet one of our strengths is in the excellence of our organization and pre-production phase. Today we want to share with you our process of producing a short film and opportunities for collaboration :)
1. Finding the right script
There are incredible writers creating incredible scripts out there. But not all of them are suitable for independent, low-budget short films that want to be of high quality. For example, sci-fi and futuristic films require a lot of special effects and animations while period pieces and historical dramas require a lot of detail in props and wardrobe and all of these can be difficult to find and fund.
We're not saying that we stay away from these genres, heck, our first film was based in the 1950s! :D But the first step in creating a good short film is finding a script that you can produce with the resources available to you.
For Echoes of Delusion, we went through many fine-tuning phases of it to make sure it was going to get the best production value possible!
2. Get organized
In our previous blog post, we shared our pre-production outline and what our creative director, Adri M., thinks about before bringing people on to the project.
Once that outline was filled in it was time to:
3. Crew Up
Once we have an idea of the timeline, places, and people, we start recruiting the team that will work on the film. Most crew members in the film industry work as freelancers and it's all about who you know and how much you can pay them. If you're doing a low-budget film then some people might work for free but it's always nice to compensate people for their hard work right?
Our key here is to recruit people who are truly passionate about the work and who know what they are doing so that each person can take ownership of their role in the production.
Our go-to DOP Mihir Kulkarni always finds us the right assistant cameras, gaffers, best-boys, sound mixers, and more, while our director/producer Adri Méndez loves to work with creative and passionate producers, assistant directors, script supervisors, and more.
4. Pre-prod
Once we have a set date and crew we start meetings and delegation. Adri works closely with the DoPs (Director of Photography) and ADs (Assistant Directors) of the projects to create schedules, call sheets, shot lists, budgets, and more.
Location scouting, food, transports, locations, wardrobe, these are all important things to be specific about. Being meticulous about details is the most important part of this phase because on set you want to worry about the least amount of things possible and focus on the shoot.
This phase was what took the longest out of the 6 weeks for us on Echoes of Delusion.
5. Final prep
The week before filming is always the busiest but this is when delegation really comes in handy, that's why we work with various PAs (Production Assistants) to help us put everything together.
Ideally, you'd have a few months to put a film together, but when the time comes to produce something in a short period of time and the pressure is on, you know you can count on us to help you out with it :)
If you have any questions about our process of filmmaking, would want to be a part of our future projects, or even have a project that you'd want our help on, reach out on productions@mendezco.studio and let's get talking!
Thanks for reading ;)
MZC Team
