I will be happy to help, acting, with the script, music, make up.....whatever!
I just need to know when. :-)

Consider yourself in. I will suggest some times for a meeting for everybody who is interested.

Great! ;-)

I was an Extra in a film last week.

About 2 weeks ago, there was an Article in "20 minuten", that Extras were needed for a film, and just for the fun of it I signed up. Monday last week, I got an email, if I was available thursday. I signed up, and got a confirmation email, and was asked to bring 2-3 sets of clothes, and accessories like sunglasses etc.

We arrived at Cafe Sprüngli 7.15 in the morning, were welcomed, and they told us how it works what we should pay attention to, dont look in the camera etc. Then we showed what we had brought, and the Stylist selected which clothes we should wear, and what we should change to later.

Then the long wait began, as I was not needed until after lunch. Then the fun started. My "role" was to sit in the background in a suit and work with my laptop. If I look up to see whats going on, I disturb the recording, so I kept my eyes glued to my laptop screen and scrolled a bit with my mouse, as if I was reading something. I was trying so hard, not to look up, that I actually dont know, what the main character was doing in that scene.

Later, I was a random person in Bahnhofstrasse, turning round the corner while a Taxi pulled over, and the main actress got in. This Scene had 3 camera perspectives so we had to repeat it many times, as they recorded with just 1 camera. I was assigned a starting point, and we would all start walking at the same time. This got additionally complicated, because we recorded first part, third part, second part, and had to get our positions right, so we dont pass the same spot twice when they cut it together.

It was a great experience, and fun to see behind the scenes how a film is made. While I speak good german, I dont speak swiss German, but that was not a problem at all, as we did not speak in the background, only mime. We spent 14 hours, and they expect to get ca. 6 minutes film out of that time. We were ca. 35 extras and with all the other film crew, we were around 100 people in total. They record in May and June, but the film will not be ready until next spring.

I can only recommend you go for it. It was a great experience, and I will do it again, as long as it does not get in the way of my work.

The film was "Lovely Louise". http://www.hugofilm.ch/filme.php?id_...elfilm&lang=de

The Regisseur was Bettina Oberli, who also made "Die Herbstzeitlosen" which was the most succesful swiss film in 2006.

Doc.

Porno?

If so, I'd like to be the casting director!

Tom

Hi all,

I am from Zurich. My main aim during this summer would be to gather crew/cast and to direct a no-budget feature film based on a screenplay on which I am working at the moment. Maybe it would be possible to raise some money for it to call it low-budget and to have more freedom. Final result would be submitted to international film festivals.

So I am very interested to meet you all. To collaborate on interesting projects and to know you better.

Now it's hard to say what kind of team we might end up with. IMHO we should organize a meetup to see how many people would be interested. Than to do a short film all together and to see how it goes. If everything goes fine we a have a green light to produce a feature film.

nigelr, count me in for a meetup!

You have a big enough budget to afford a couch? On the other hand I bet you could source all your prop from the Free Stuff section of EF. Give or take some beer stains and cat scratches.

Sounds like fun!

I'd love to do some acting or help out in general as well.

I've directed both film (many, many years ago [but it won a prize in a local film competition ]) and theatre (albeit amatuer...) I also have quite some experience in writing scripts for theatre.

I love (good) Science Fiction and would love to see what could be done on a limited budget with blue screen and modern "home cinema" CGI.

I also have some short stories (SciFi) sketched out, a number of which could serve as "concept" for a short film

Excellent, more and more talented people and eager amateurs (including myself in the latter) are jumping on board.

Thanks to all of you for the support, I will now try to organise a meetup for next week and the week after in case people are not available.

I will post possible times here and also PM several of you.

The idea of the meetup(s) is to define what we will do (I think a short film first) and see what scripts we have, assign roles/tasks etc. If there is a specific role that you want (female lead, director, producer, makeup etc) please let me know and we can sort out some sort of committee to oversee everything (then I can sit back and hide in the background while you guys and girls take over :-) )

Looking for ward to it.

Is there something around like an idea of what it shoul be? A romance? Horror? Suspense? Historic? Porn?Comedy? Drama?

Maybe!

But I definitely ain't no more nude scenes with Salma!

I think the one you crossed out was the most popular :-)

No decisions have been made because so far we have only suggested scripts. Until we see a script or two it would be wrong to decide, but I'm open to suggestions. Anything with too many props or special effects may be beyond us for our first attempt.

I've got no expertise but would also like to help out, possibly with some script ideas. It sounds a bit like an episode of the Apprentice!

As long as it doesn't end up like an episode of the apprentice I'll be happy

Heya, well for years i always wanted to be an editor, got my a levels and had all intention of going to uni after my gap year. However things changed when i came here for my gap year and stayed here. I work for a financial company doing admin so nothing like editing! When applying for editing/runner jobs in the UK i found it wasnt what you knew, it was who you knew or if you were just lucky enough to get your foot in the door. I got told different things from different people. Some say you need the qualifications, others said you just need the enthusiasm and others you need experience. how are you supposed to have all that at 21?! I would love to get back into it again, i got the majority or the editing software but no inspiration to film (or people to film with!) what do you do over here at the moment?

Sounds to me like nigelr really wants to do this, but wants to get the ball rolling and then hand off the reigns to someone else.

Thats fair enough but I think this project needs a bit of leadership if it is going to get off the ground. Sure, a meetup would be fine but it is all rather vague and no real progress seems to be happening... for example, someone who is "possibly" interested in doing some editing or sound design making the effort to travel and turn up to discuss potential scripts...?

Just from an outsiders point of view, it seems that having a workable script seems to be key starting point? Therefore one exists or one needs to be written. If someone here has something suitable, then the project can get off the ground much more quickly, or?

Therefore I would suggest that the question should be, who here has a suitable script that could form the basis for a low budget collaborative effort from users on this forum? If so, they should send it to nigelr or whoever would be a good judge of such things. If several such scripts are submitted, they could be distributed to interested parties in advance of a meetup.

In advance of the meetup, such scripts could then be meaningfully discussed in the context of what needs to be done and who could do what. With that done, the meetup itself would likely be much more productive... discussing the chosen script in more detail, who could contribute what, how, when, and at what cost.

So...
1. who has a potential script and are they happy to submit it?
2. who, apart from nigelr, should read it?

regards,
Cecil B DeMille.

I've been thinking about this thread and the enthusiastic response from various people (with varying degrees of experience) and I'd like to throw some ideas about the whole package into the ring:

1. Who Does What. Before doing anything (even sketching out ideas) get agreement as to who will do what and then keep to it.
2. Sign Here. It may be helpful to document, upfront and on paper, who does what and (in case the improbable happens and the resulting film get "snapped up") who gets what. This would save on a lot of aggro (not to mention lawyer's fees...)
3. Go Pro. Anyone can point a video camera and capture movement, but with only a little discipline and preparation I think you can achieve professional standards (I read somewhere that one of the main differences between pro and non-pro film making is the amount of time the pros take to set up a shot). Following what the pros do (storyboarding, continuity checks, setting up sets and shots, etc) will be of benefit to the project. which leads me to say
4. Amateur not Amateurish. I believe there is a big difference between the two. The first denotes someone who does something to the highest achievable standard but does not get paid for it, the latter has associations with play-acting, faffing around and "having a laff". I contend this exercise in low budget film-making should be amatuer not amatuerish
5. Be Creative: on a limited budget this is critical. When Kubrick made Barry Lyndon he shot in natural light and was able to persuade companies to design cameras, lenses and film stock for his ambient light film making. This project obviously won't have anything like that option so creative "work arounds" will be the rule...
6. Bums on Seats: Lars von Trier and Andy Warhol can get away with being experimental, but low budget filmakers rarely can (the Blair Witch Project perhaps being the exception). Telling a story with wide appeal in a straight forward manner increases the probability of a second low-budget film from the same crew.
7. Pray for An Angel: people who invest in film (and other high risk) projects are sometimes known as "Angels" and as a source of some funding should not be ignored. Who knows, maybe someone with a big bonus might want to invest some pennies in a long-shot project?
8. Be Realistic. In moving forward it is important to know the limitations of equipment, people and budget.

• Equipment - what are the limitations of the software and hardware. Is acceptable CGI possible? Are the videocameras available up to recording to broadcast standards? What post production facilities (editing, laying down sound tracks etc.) are there?
• People - Behind the camera: do they have/can they acquire necessary skills to the needed standards? In front of the camera: do they have the necessary ability, skill and talent? do they film well? Casting non professionals is fraught with challenges, but effective casting of non-professionals incorporates matching skill, ability, talent and looks to the character being cast.
• Budget - be realistic not only about how much can be spent but also where that money should be spent. I would argue that the majority of monies spent should go into what's going to appear on screen. Given a choice - say - of providing a post-wrap party or providing an extra day in the editing suite, of course it's the editing suite (although it'd be nice to have both!)

Anyway, just some food for thought.

All being well, I'd be happy to direct and be involved in post production

^^ all good, if you have a script.

At least 3 scripts have been written but not submitted, plus a handle full of script ideas. I think people involved should read them through and then a group decision can be made as to which film gets made (first).

Choosing a script and then arranging a meeting is another way of course, but not democratic, but I don't mind if this is the way to go.

I'm not so sure we need a budget as such. I have many thousands of francs worth of music gear, somebody else had really good editing software and yet another has some good video cameras. If we need a budget we can decide how much and what for etc.

I want to get the ball rolling but I am not looking to produce or direct, I would like to write the music and have some artistic say. I am not looking to hand over the reigns because I can't be bothered, it is more that I want the right people to volunteer for these roles.

I am happy for somebody to take over the organising role now if they want to and organise the meetings, as long as I get a chance to pitch for the music role I'll be happy.