How to create a low budget short film

“The Sound of Baseball” - A short film

Want to know the secret to creating short low budget films?

Well, I was going to say something trite, but better to actually ask and answer the question sincerely. Because I’ve thought about this a ton.

I think the time it takes is much more valuable than the budget - or more accurately than what you may spend out of pocket. The time to shoot and edit the short film that potentially takes you away from other work. I think things like a crew, hell even talent, could be overrated. I don’t even think your story needs to be completely novel.

I think the key to creating a short film is:

A. Not caring about how good/great it is.

B. Just thinking about a character and following, or rather writing, that character a basic story arc.

That’s it! If you can detach yourself from it needing to win some short film festival, get you a laurel, go viral…you’re off to a good start. And if you can just follow one of the many story structures - think Save the Cat or Hero’s Journey - 50% of the work is done for you. Check out the simplified version of a basic character arc story structure below.

Now don’t get me wrong, it would be great to have a lot of liquid funds for a short film, a crew that wants to help, a great story no one has ever written. If you have those things, you’re off to a better start than me haha.

So without further ado, check out my most recent DIY low budget short film project below.

*Clocking in at under 3 minutes, for a total cost of $2,250.

The Sound of Baseball is a short DIY low budget film about a baseball player struggling with committing to a NCAA baseball program.

If you watched that, hope you enjoyed it! If not, feel free to leave a comment with any criticisms you might have. *I have many, and I made it!

But the point is, I/we did it. I wanted it to be great, but I was okay with it being “done” and “pretty good.” That’s not to conflate that with “done is better than perfect” or it being good enough and me embracing mediocrity. What I mean is, when creating a short film like this…again a DIY, low budget, small crew, fast turnaround, etc. and so on…you have to just get it out there. Experiment, flex, shoot it, edit it, get it out there, and move on to the next thing.

At the risk of boring you with all the lighting/gear lists, other pertinent “how we made it” bits, and similar…figured it’s better to just put the Making Of/Behind the Scenes video below.

At the end of the day, if you’re a filmmaker, aspiring or otherwise, my hope is that you/I can continue to just get out there and create. It’s so cliche but it’s the truth, the journey is the reward…and growth happens throughout the process by making mistakes, experimenting, having fun, and just creating.

Thanks for stopping by.

Check out this behind the scenes breakdown, “Making of”, how we made this short film.