Film shot on 5D mark II makes 200k on iTunes

roguey

Twin filmmakers Michael and Mark Polish, whose previous credits include Twin Falls, Idaho and The Astronaut Farmer, have released their latest feature through iTunes — with zero advertising. Joining the advertising budget is the production budget itself, which officially clocked in at $0 (they didn’t count food and transportation, though even if you do, we’re still talking “no budget” filmmaking). Instead, social media — chiefly Twitter and Tumblr — have led to the film generating word of mouth online, and as a result For Lovers Only (iTunes link) has already made over $200,000. Shot on a Canon 5D Mark II, here’s a clip of the black-and-white, French New Wave-inspired feature

I think this is brilliant. They filmed it on location in churches and what not and nobody said anything, they thought they were just taking pictures for a wedding! Really goes to show how big DSLR filmmaking has become and how good it can be used.

Also it goes on to say that it made 200,000 with zero advertising. It was all through twitter and the like. They even made up a poster for the film out of the comments about it, instead of the critics!

Articles:
http://nofilmschool.com/2011/07/latest-hdslr-success-story-no-budget-for/

http://www.thewrap.com/movies/column-post/polish-brothers-new-movie-no-budget-huge-profit-exclusive-28989?page=0,0

CamperMan

low budget film!...

ScumLord

they can't really say no budget when the camera alone costs two and a half grand.

roguey

ScumLord wrote: »

they can't really say no budget when the camera alone costs two and a half grand.

well yes true, but i'm sure they had that camera before the film, I doubt they went out and bought it for the film. So in that sense, nothing was spent on the film

Renn

And two and a half grand is no budget anyway.

Quazzie

What about the editting suite that was presumably used to edit the film?

roguey

Quazzie wrote: »

What about the editting suite that was presumably used to edit the film?

Well if you're going to be like that then why not count the clothes and shoes they're wearing and the petrol of the motorbike and the electricity for the computer to edit it. Come on, I think the "no budget" means that they didnt spend any money because they already had cameras, editing software, computers etc. I have all those myself, if I went out and made a film tomorrow and spent no money doing it, that is no budget film making, as is this.

Galvasean

roguey wrote: »

Well if you're going to be like that then why not count the clothes and shoes they're wearing and the petrol of the motorbike and the electricity for the computer to edit it. Come on, I think the "no budget" means that they didnt spend any money because they already had cameras, editing software, computers etc. I have all those myself, if I went out and made a film tomorrow and spent no money doing it, that is no budget film making, as is this.

You sir, are correct.
I hate when people get pedantic about the concept of 'no budget' film making.
"Ah sure, they spent money renting an apartment when they were in film school, ergo it's not no budget, booo hiss!!!! rabble rabble..."

Quazzie

Galvasean wrote: »

You sir, are correct.
I hate when people get pedantic about the concept of 'no budget' film making.
"Ah sure, they spent money renting an apartment when they were in film school, ergo it's not no budget, booo hiss!!!! rabble rabble..."

So if a production company owns all the equipment it uses, and has actors, dirctors etc already on contracted salary then it's a no budget film as its costing them the same if they made it or not. There are some no budget films out there but it seems to be the buzz word of the day at the moment, so therefore some people say no budget instead of low budget, and it does a severe injustice to the sometimes great and genuine no budget films.

ScumLord

Any professional company would track every single cent they spend. When they say no budget it means one or two people covered the cost of everything and didn't keep track of it, I'm sure if they went back over the money they spent they would find it was a lot higher than zero.

Renn

When they say no budget it means it was pretty close to zero. No one believes it was zero - the people getting worked up over it need to realise that