Go to: “How to Make Your First Professional Short Film: A Step-By-Step Guide,” for the introduction to the article series and the table of contents.

The main thing you and everyone on your crew should know is this:

❗️NEVER, EVER, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES LEAVE YOUR EQUIPMENT UNATTENDED❗️

Never leave it in the street, never leave it in the car, during the day or overnight, never leave it without a pair of eyes to watch over it, and a pair of legs ready to chase down anyone outside your crew who dares to touch it. The moment you stop paying attention, it will be gone, and it will cost you an arm and a leg or a kidney to replace it.

Always have INSURANCE. Someone told me that when you use insurance on your film once, the next time the insurance company charges you ten times more. Even if that’s true, it doesn’t matter. Film equipment costs an insane amount of money, and if something gets damaged or stolen, you will have to pay for it, and it can easily cost more than your film’s entire budget.

What you will need to achieve a professional look and sound will depend on your story and vision. There’s no universal list that will apply to every story, but here are some of the questions to answer before you decide what you need.

TABLE OF CONTENTS:
∘ 1. CAMERA PACKAGE
∘ 2. AC KIT
∘ 3. SOUND
∘ 4. LIGHTS
∘ 5. HARD DRIVES AND COMPUTERS
∘ 6. RENTAL HOUSES AND INSURANCE

1. CAMERA PACKAGE

The main question to ask here is:

Which camera and lenses will best capture the style I want for this film?

If you don’t know (I didn’t), figure this out with your cinematographer. Collect stills and scenes from other films that could fit your story. Ask yourself what about them works for your story: the colors, the composition, the angles, the lenses, the camera movement, etc.

1.1. Camera Body

How do I plan to distribute the film?

Am I going to try to sell this film to the major streaming platforms?

Am I going to submit my film to major film festivals?

Will I only show it to my friends and family?

If you want to sell your film or show it at film festivals, consider researching their technical requirements and adhering to those. For instance, Netflix has a Partner Help page, where they list the requirements (technical, legal, and other) your film has to satisfy for them to even consider it.

Can I edit the footage from the camera?

Some cameras, like RED and Alexa, will produce files that can only be processed on powerful computers. It might become an issue in post-production. Other cameras, such as Sony FX6 (which we chose for our film), will go easy on you and you’ll have 4K footage that modern computers with decent specs and gaming laptops/PCs should be able to process. With the right cinematographer, lenses, and post-production team, you don’t need to shoot on top-notch cameras to get amazing, clean footage. Go over the camera specs and confirm your editing computer can handle the files.

We used:
Camera body
Sony FX6 Full-Frame Cinema Camera
$155/day

1.2. Camera Lenses
Look at your storyboard and reference stills and see what your story needs. Some questions to ask yourself here are:

What focal length options does my story need?
Do I need prime or zoom lenses and why?
Do I need anything unconventional like a telephoto lens or anamorphic lens and why?

Be practical and frugal with your lens choice. If your DP (director of photography) says, “I want the 28 and the 35,” ask them to show you the difference and decide if you really need both. However, if you can afford a little extravaganza, go for it. I asked my DP to have a telephoto lens that we would only use for one or two shots. But these were shots that established how one of the main characters felt about the other main character, and THAT was what the movie was about. It was worth $50 for a day’s rental.

We used:
Lenses
Zeiss Jena 20mm f2.8 lens for Sony E mount
Zeiss Jena 45mm f2.8 lens for Sony E mount
Zeiss Jena 85mm f1.8 lens for Sony E mount
$110/day
Sony FE 70–200mm f2.8 GM OSS Lens
$50/day

1.3. Tripods and Camera Stabilizers
Go with a fluid head tripod. It does not have to be expensive, but the fluid head makes a huge difference for narrative work.

If you have any shots where your camera needs to move around instead of being on a tripod, you might need a gimbal, a Steadicam, or a slider. Make sure you know what kind of movement you want your camera to do because which stabilizer you choose will depend on this. When deciding which stabilizer to use, ask yourself:
How does my story need the camera to move and why?

We used:
Tripod
Sachtler DV8 SB fluid head with Flowtech carbon fiber legs
$52.25/day
Gimbal
DJI RS3 Pro Gimbal Stabilizer with remote follow focus
$40/day

1.4. Camera Accessories
A mattebox and a monitor were the basic accessories we equipped our camera with.

We used:
Mattebox
Tilta MB-12 4x5.65 mattebox
$23.75/day
Monitor
Andycine X7S 7" Ultra Bright 4K monitor HDSDI/HDMI BPU
$20.90/day

2. AC KIT

What kind of AC (assistant camera) kit you need for your film will depend on your budget and your DP’s needs. For sharp focus, you need a good follow focus system. You need an external monitor for your director (you?) to see what is going on in the shot. Our AC had a monitor with built-in LUTs. A LUT is a color preset that allows you to see the image as it might look once color-corrected, instead of seeing it in unprocessed, grayish colors. For an untrained eye, it’s very difficult to tell what a shot will look like just by looking at the ungraded footage. So get a monitor with LUTs.

We used:
Follow Focus System
Nucleus-m 2 motor kit+FIZ, Small HD Cine 7
External Director’s Monitor
Small HD 1303 HDR Production Monitor
External Follow Focus Monitor
Small HD 702 touch
A wireless transmitter/receiver for video output to the director’s monitor
Teradek Bolt 6 LT 750 3G-SDI/HDMI Transmitter/Receiver Kit
Basic Tool Kit
Additional SD cards
Monitor Stands
$1000/day

3. SOUND

You will need equipment that captures movie-quality sound. While our phones and some video-recording mics can record good-quality sound, they will just not make your film sound professional. Usually you’ll need a film-quality boom mic, mixer, and lavalier mics, along with all the accessories, bags, poles, and batteries.

What are all the sounds that I need to capture on the set for my story to be fully told?

Discuss what you’ve identified with your sound recordist. They’ll know what setup captures it. You’ll assemble the final sound in post, but don’t over-rely on ‘fixing it later.’ Your goal on set is to record as much as you need to minimize the sound hunt afterward.

We used:
A Recorder
Sound Devices MixPre-6 II Audio Recorder (Sound recordist’s own)
A Shotgun Mic
(1) Sennheiser MKH 416 w/ Screen & Case
(1) 15' XLR
(1) 25' XLR
(1) Coiled XLR
(1) Rycote Pistol Grip
(1) Rycote Softie
(1) K-Tek 102cc Boom Pole
$57/day
Wireless Mic
(2) Sennheiser SK100 G4 Tx
(2) Sennheiser EK100 G4 Rx
(2) Sennheiser ME-2 w/ Gator, Screen, Case
(2) CL100 Output Cable
(1) Camera Mount
Audio-Kit Harness
(1) Lectrobag
$44/day
Power Distro
(1) Battery Cup-Hirose
(1) MX Powersled
(2) Inspired Energy 98WH Batt
(1) Smart Batt (Single) Charger w/ AC Cord
$15/day

4. LIGHTS

Lighting is one of the most important aspects of your film’s look. It affects how the audience feels when they see your film just as much as sound and acting. Which lights you need will depend on your locations, your taste, your impossible requests, and your DP’s whims. With your gaffer and your DP, check what lighting is already available in the space. Most likely, you will need a particular lighting setup to get the look you want, but always use (at least get inspired by) what the location has to offer.

What do I want my audience to feel when they see the shot?

How can I convey it with lighting? Dread (blues, grays, and darkness)? Cozy (oranges, yellows, spotlights and warm glow)?

Changing the lights from one setup to the next takes the most time on set. On the one hand, you want those transitions to be quick, and on the other hand, you don’t want to rush so much that you compromise the artistic quality of the film.

How much time will the gaffer need to set up the lights?

How much time will each transition take?

Whatever length of time the gaffer (the head of the lighting department) tells you, multiply by two, and that is how much time they actually need.
My biggest advice here is KEEP IT SIMPLE! keep it simple! k e e p i t s i m p l e ! Insist that your DP and gaffer keep the equipment to a minimum. If you have any piece of equipment set up anywhere outside, you have to have someone paying attention at all times. Remember❗NEVER, EVER, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES LEAVE YOUR EQUIPMENT UNATTENDED❗️ The fewer lights you have, the less likely they are to find their way into the shot somehow, the less it will cost you, and the less time it will take to set them up. My film was mostly shot in a bar called The Honeywell in Harlem. I loved the interior design and the lights the place already had. My goal was to bring out the already existing vibe of the place and stylize the atmosphere a little bit with a green tint.

We used:
Lights
(1) Litegear Litemat
(1) Amaran 600c
(1) Amaran 600x
(1) Amaran 100x
(1) Amaran 200x
(4) Nanlite tubes
(6) C-stands
(2) Combo stand
Miscellaneous grip
Miscellaneous electric
$1000/day

5. HARD DRIVES AND COMPUTERS

Having good quality, reliable, and fast hard drives is very important. This is where you store your film. I suggest purchasing two hard drives and keeping them in different locations. In case you delete the footage from your computer, or, God forbid, your house burns down, you’ll still have your backup footage somewhere else. I keep my footage on Google Drive for $9.99 a month. One hard drive is in New York, and another one is with my editor in Tbilisi, Georgia. You also need a decent computer and enough storage to transfer the footage from SD cards to hard drives.

We used:
Portable SSD
(2) Samsung T7 Portable SSD, 1TB External Solid State Drive, Speeds Up to 1,050MB/s, USB 3.2 Gen 2.
$170-369 each
Computer for footage download
MacBook Pro 2023

6. RENTAL HOUSES AND INSURANCE

A lot of people working in the industry have their own equipment, and they will rent it to you for the same or a better price than a rental house. Some cinematographers have long-established relationships with rental houses or private renters and will get you a better price. For my film, we rented the camera kit, some lenses, and the gimbal from www.sharegrid.com, and the sound equipment from Gotham Rentals. The rental houses add taxes and fees to their original prices. The AC and the gaffer brought their equipment, and the AC also rented us the lenses. For insurance, I used www.athosinsurance.com. You can reach Athos through ShareGrid, and they were pretty fast with email communication.

Get only what is necessary for your story plus a little bit of luxury if you can afford it. Keep the logistics of having to transport all the equipment in mind. Leave any questions in the comments. Have fun with your shoot!

Previous Articles in the Series:

• How to Make Your First Professional Short Film: A Step-by-Step Guide
• How to Crowdfund Your First Professional Short Film
• The Basic Team You Need for Your First Professional Short Film

The Basic Equipment You Need For Your First Professional Short Film was originally published in Practical Filmschool on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Go to: “How to Make Your First Professional Short-Film: A Step-by-Step Guide,” for the introduction to the article series and the table of contents.

It takes a village to make a good film. I will always advocate involving as many masters of their craft in your production as the film needs and as you can afford. If you can afford to, hire whoever you think your story needs to become the best film it can be. However, if you can’t afford a team, don’t let it discourage you from making a movie. Some of the most beautiful films have teams as small as a couple of people. (The Dark Glow of The Mountains)

I decided that I needed to find people for 10 positions. The set needs to be a safe space physically and mentally. So you want to work with people who are respectful, patient, and positive toward every member of the team. Here’s how I made my decisions and what I suggest for you to take into consideration when putting a team together:

∘ 1. Cinematographer/Director of Photography
∘ 2. Sound Recordist
∘ 3. Actors
∘ 4.Producer/mentor/support
∘ 5. Gaffer
∘ 6. Assistant Camera
∘ 7. Assistant Director
∘ 8. Grip/Electric
∘ 9. Production Assistants
∘ 10. Hair and make-up

1. Cinematographer/Director of Photography (DOP, DP)

If you don’t have a person operating the camera, you don’t have a movie. I was looking for a cinematographer who would satisfy the following:

• Had work that I liked (I was specifically looking at the way they see the world through a lens.)
• Was an effective communicator.
• Understood the cinematographer’s part in storytelling, as I understand it-meaning every artistic decision is in service of the story.
• Was pleasant to work with, not just for me but for the whole crew and especially the camera department.
• Understood the principles of “poor” filmmaking. (Making the best of the budget provided.)

I had already worked on a project with my cinematographer, and I liked how he showed spaces and people. His style reminds me of Nestor Almendros'. He knows that the cinematographer’s work is also in service of the story, and has a talent for really noticing the space and emphasizing its unique traits, rather than blindly following popular film trends and making every location look the same.

Still, I considered others. Ultimately, it came down to choosing between a more experienced cinematographer, with multiple projects under her belt, and him. The communication with the first one didn’t work out. I only wanted to work with people who were good communicators. The cinematographer doesn’t only talk to you. They are the head of the camera department. They will be working with at least two people: Assistant Camera and Gaffer. They have to be able to communicate effectively and respectfully with their team. Imagine a scenario where the DP and the AC have a conflict; the AC, who is also pulling focus, walks out. You are at least halfway screwed, if not completely. Pick someone whom you can trust to be respectful, professional, and patient on the set.

2. Sound Recordist

I will assume that you already know better than to just give your friend a microphone and have them record sound. But if you don’t — please, please, please don’t do it. Hire a professional sound person. They have to know what they are doing just as much as your cinematographer does. As I said, if you don’t have a camera person, you don’t have a film. The image is the essence of a film. However, if you don’t have proper sound, you still don’t have a film. It is UNBEARABLE to watch a film and struggle to hear what the characters are saying. A well-written, well-performed, well-shot story will end up being trash if you don’t have the right sound. Do not compromise the sound quality of your film. Get to know your recordists’ previous work, ask them what their work practices are, and what they think the film might need based on the characters and the locations.

3. Actors

Now my bias will come out the most. My primary artistic identity is… an actor. Many people will not like what I’m about to say. In my experience, it has been true both when I’m directing and when I watch other directors work that most directors don’t know how to work effectively with actors, how to bring out their potential, or how to communicate what they want from the actors. I guarantee you that more often than not, a decent actor will come up with a better interpretation of the scene than you have. If this is, in fact, your first professional short film, it probably means that you don’t have decades of experience working with actors.

When casting, try to look past your first idea and perception of what the actor should look like and how they should play the part. In rehearsals, let them try different approaches to a scene, listen to their ideas even when you know you’ll decide otherwise, create a work environment where they know that their artistic input is welcome, and they are free to experiment. You will be pleasantly surprised by what they can deliver. Actors are part of your overall team, and you want your team to know more about their respective professions than you do. You will learn a lot by working with more experienced filmmakers than you.

4.Producer/mentor/support

The reason I’m putting these very different roles under one category is that it is very hard to get a producer to invest money in your first professional short film. Your best bet is to find a producer who loves the story as much as you do. If they only have artistic interest in your film and are helping you bring your vision to life, they play the part of a mentor or supporter for you. Finding someone like this takes time.

If you don’t have such a person, ask around, reach out to people via LinkedIn or Social Media. I asked a friend of mine who also worked in the film industry if she knew anyone who might be interested in producing my film or helping me produce it. She suggested the person I ended up working with. During preproduction, I checked in with her almost daily on how the preparation was going and what I needed to do next. I even called her panicking when my gaffer didn’t respond for two days. It’s important to have someone you can check in with on crucial aspects of the process. On the set, she was thanking people for helping, asking them what they needed, and encouraging everyone.

When you have a producer who makes a financial investment in your film, the relationship can be entirely different. Based on the agreement, they might have a lot of artistic input, suggest cinematographers, be involved in casting, and be more hands-on throughout the whole process. It’s up to you and your producer to decide how you want this relationship to work.

Regardless of your agreement, work with someone who inspires and gently pushes you forward, whose feedback is constructive and makes the story better, not destructive of your artistic self-esteem. Don’t let anyone fool you into believing that things are done a certain way. They are NOT! Things are done however the parties want and agree to do them.

5. Gaffer

Phil Meheux, the cinematographer of Casino Royale, says that a cinematographer-gaffer relationship is like getting into a cab. You’ll tell the driver where you wanna be, but you don’t necessarily tell them which route to take or how to drive a car. Gaffers have a lot of technical stuff to figure out to bring the cinematographer’s ideas to life. They have to be very knowledgeable.

Your DP and Gaffer need to work well together. If they are a good match, you won’t have to say anything besides Hello and Thank you to your gaffer. This will save you time, worry, and energy. (And if you are like me, potentially some embarrassment because of how little you know about lighting.)

If your DP can double up as a gaffer and deliver the results that you want for your film, it will save you money, but it will cost you more time. It will depend on your particular project and the complexities of the lighting setup whether you need to hire a gaffer.

6. Assistant Camera

The Assistant Camera is the main support system for your cinematographer. Our AC had his own equipment, quite a bit of experience, and was fast with shot-to-shot transitions. Here’s what he did:

• Camera setup for the cinematographer.
• Video village setup for the director.
• Focus pulling.
• Rig a camera for tracking shots using a gimbal.
• Lens swap.
• DIT (digital imaging technician) duties include transferring the footage.
• Arrive an hour and a half late to the shoot and fall asleep for a little bit (I did have an insane filming schedule).

While the AC does all this work, your DP has a moment to take a breath, sip coffee, pee, and talk to you about what’s next. (Hopefully, not at the same time) These small breaks let them rest their eyes, brain, and feet… but not their tongue. My DP and I considered seriously whether or not we needed an AC and, if we did, whether or not to pay him as much money as he was asking for. He was worth every penny. We had a very limited time to shoot, and if the AC had not been there, all this work would have fallen on my DP. That would extend our shooting time by so much that we would lose access to the location. In my case, it might have ended up costing double what we paid for the AC.

7. Assistant Director

As an AD, you need a person who will have a mindset of “I can solve anything”. Of course, they won’t be able to solve everything unless you enlist the Almighty as your AD, but they need to have that mindset. They should know the script, the schedule, who does what, when, why, and how; they should know what YOU want and need. Kinda crazy, right? Yes. That’s what it takes to be a good AD. My AD made the call sheets, managed the set, helped wherever help was needed, and even doubled up as our props master. A lot of what he did was not his responsibility, and on a small production, an AD like him is gold.

He is an incredibly polite, respectful, positive, and patient communicator. On a set full of sleep-deprived, underpaid people, most of whom are there either because they love the story or they love you, you cannot have an asshole in charge. You need an AD who will make everyone feel safe and APPRECIATED FOR THEIR DEDICATION while doing all the work. In short, it’s an impossible job. And that’s what you want your AD to do for your project — the impossible.

8. Grip/Electric

I saw a post on Reddit that listed all the things grips do on set, and the last item was “Also, keep the camera department from dying.” That might be true, and it might be true on both big and small productions. However, if your budget is tight, you might, after all, survive without a grip. What you need to consider when deciding if you need a grip is:

• How fast do you need to go from shot to shot?
• How much help do your gaffer and camera need?
• Who will have to do all the work that a grip does, and are they able to do it?

Ask your DP and your gaffer to answer these questions with you and explain when they would need help. My grip was a relative beginner, didn’t charge too much, and I wanted the gaffer and the DP to have support, so, weighing the pros and cons, I decided that it was worth it.

9. Production Assistants

Quite an overlooked position, though crucial for smooth operations and peace of mind of the director and the AD on a small set. On a short film, you need at least two dedicated PAs. You will need someone to do all the things that you don’t have a designated person for. PAs work under the AD, so they inherit all the impossibilities of the AD’s job. PAs do everything from catering to firewatch to running to the dollar store to get extra tape to pouring coffee for your DP. EVERYTHING. On small productions, PAs are often friends or people who are willing to work for free to get a glimpse of what filmmaking looks like. Be grateful that you have someone who wants to support you for free. Feed them well, make sure they are safe, and credit them accordingly.

10. Hair and make-up

Make-up artists know how to work with different skin tones, skin types, and hair types, and they do it specifically for a camera. If you can afford a make-up artist or can find someone who will do it for free for credit, do it.

• Do the same actors play older or younger versions of themselves?
• Do your characters have bruises, cuts, or anything that requires special knowledge of applying makeup?
• Do you need period-specific, historically accurate hairstyles?

If you answered yes to any of these, you need a make-up artist. If you don’t need special skills and know how to do basic makeup, you should be good without one. But if you have money, hire one anyway. Having someone who can look at the camera and notice what is going on on your actor’s face (literally) helps a lot.

Takeaways

These are the basic roles that I think you need to make a professional short film. This is my list. Again, people have done it with less or tripled up as a director, cinematographer, and producer. Ultimately, everything depends on what your story needs, what you can afford, and what style you are going for.

Trust is crucial when collaborating on a film. Be careful who you put your trust in. But once you’ve made your decision, let them do their work. In my experience, people perform better when they have agency and aren’t micromanaged on every step.

If you make a mistake and trust someone who holds you or the process back, makes you doubt yourself, doesn’t give you constructive feedback, isn’t kind and patient, cut them off sooner rather than later. Filmmaking is hard enough without people who are supposed to be supporting you making it harder.

Film is a collective art, so invest time in finding a good team. Good luck!

I haven’t said anything about directors because I assume that, since it’s your first professional short film, you are the director. If you are a screenwriter, a producer, or just a gal wanting to make a film, keep an eye out for an article about directing.

Next up:

The Basic Team You Need for Your First Professional Short Film was originally published in Practical Filmschool on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Go to: “How to Make Your First Professional Short Film: A step-by-step Guide,” for the introduction to the article series and the table of contents.

Let’s talk about how to crowdfund your first professional short film. You only need money for the resources you don’t already have.

Think about the resources that are already available to you. Does your aunt own a restaurant, and can she provide catering? Does your uncle have a tire shop, and can he provide a location? Is your friend a graphic designer, and can they design your social media posts?

You need the money for human talent, skill, and material resources.
You don’t need money if you already have access to any of them.

∘ Crowdfunding Platforms
∘ Crowdfunding Campaign For Your Short Film
∘ 1. Social Media
∘ 2. Pitch Video
∘ 3. Campaign Page
∘ 4. Email Outreach
∘ 5. Incentives
∘ BONUS

Crowdfunding Platforms

There are three very popular crowdfunding platforms:
Indiegogo — you get to keep whatever you raise.
Seed&Spark — you keep what you raise only if you hit at least 80% of your goal.
Kickstarter — you can only keep the money if you raise the entire amount of your goal.

I chose to hold my campaign on Seed&Spark because the platform was created by filmmakers for filmmakers. They know exactly what kind of ride you are in for, and they provide great support — both educational and in the form of feedback — to make your crowdfunding campaign a success. Their website is an amazing resource to help you learn everything you need to know about leading a crowdfunding campaign.

Crowdfunding Campaign For Your Short Film

Much like the film itself, crowdfunding is a big project that you need to break down into multiple smaller steps. I was producing, directing, and acting in my film. On top of that, I made a big mistake of leading the crowdfunding campaign and pre-production at the same time, while also having a survival job. It was like having two big projects happen at once with extremely limited resources and time. Every free second outside my survival job went into managing the campaign, planning pre-production, or rehearsing. It also ended up taking away some of the creative preparation time I needed. So, plan ahead!

A good plan for me would have taken two months and included the following steps:

𐩒 Familiarize myself with all the resources Seed&Spark offers.
𐩒 Start building the crowdfunding email list.
𐩒 Write the campaign email outreach text.
𐩒 Build the social media pages for the film.
𐩒 Reach out to other filmmakers who have already led a successful crowdfunding campaign and learn from their experience.
𐩒 Create a pitch video.
𐩒 Create a crowdfunding page.
𐩒 Submit it for review to Seed&Spark. (They take only a couple of days to get back with feedback.)
𐩒 Make the necessary changes.
𐩒 Launch the campaign.
𐩒 Set tentative dates for the shoot.

1. Social Media

Start here, because you need time to build a following, even if it consists of your existing friends and acquaintances. Take all the typical social media advice into consideration.
𐩒 Figure out a look that matches the tone of your film.
𐩒 Post consistently.
𐩒 Engage your followers.
𐩒 Share just enough information. (Ideally, your audience gets the information the way Hansel and Gretel got breadcrumbs, and follows you through the campaign launch, ultimately landing on your crowdfunding page.)
𐩒 Ask your friends to share. (As many of your posts and stories as possible. You’d be surprised how supportive people can be.)

Which social media?
Whichever your target audience uses the most, and whichever you can use best. I only used Instagram. I should have had some Facebook presence as well, but I didn’t have the mental capacity left to tackle that platform, too.

What I did well: I worked on my film’s Instagram with my DP, who also does graphic design. Social media is a lot of work, and if you have support, use it.
What I could have done better: I stopped posting after wrapping the shoot. However, I intend to pick it up and keep updating my existing audience about post-production. After all, they are the audience for the film as well as the contributors who made this film possible.

2. Pitch Video

In the crowdfunding video course, the founder and CEO of Seed&Spark, Emily Best, and co-founder Erica Anderson talk about how to make the most engaging video, even what language to use to entice people to contribute to your campaign.

My first pitch video was dark, gloomy, and clashed with my intention of making a romantic comedy. I submitted the video, got feedback, and decided to reshoot it.

What I did well: When I realized that I had to remake the pitch video, I decided to make it easy on myself and my collaborators. I dropped the perfectionist attitude and opted to do my best in the moment. We made a straightforward video that communicated the message, was upbeat like a romcom should be, and showed a glimpse of the characters.
What I could have done better: I could have allocated more time for the preparation of the video from the beginning.

3. Campaign Page

When I was working on my film’s crowdfunding campaign page, a producer I know sent me a Hollywood pitch deck. It was amazing! It was concise, clear, and as I was reading through it and seeing the design, I could see what impression the film would leave on me.

I used this pitch deck and other people’s crowdfunding pages as a guide for my page. I ended up breaking it down into:

𐩒 A logline.
𐩒 A mission statement, or why I’m making this movie.
𐩒 A synopsis (a paragraph or so).
𐩒 Theme and “Why support this film?” (Your target audience will. hopefully relate to the theme).
𐩒 Elements of the film (or how you are communicating the theme through the language of film).
𐩒 The budget breakdown.

You don’t need the exact budget down to a penny here, but an idea of what the movie will cost. Most people who support you through this will have no idea of all the things you’ll need to pay for, and it’s great if you let them know why you’re asking for a specific amount.

(If you are completely lost about this, as I was, an article about how to make a budget for your first professional short film is coming up…)

What I did well: I gave just enough overview of the story and the theme.
What I could have done better: I could have explained how I was going to translate the story and the theme into the language of film.

4. Email Outreach

Email addresses are the first thing you should start compiling, alongside working on your social media and researching crowdfunding tips on Seed&Spark.

𐩒 Compile the mailing list.
𐩒 Write your email text.
𐩒 Tweak your email to different groups of people in it. For instance, your boss and your college professor will probably not get the same text in their email as your best friend or your pot dealer (if you have their email).

My DP designed the email in Mailchimp, I wrote the text, and my friend’s wife, who does email marketing for a living, finalized everything, sent out the emails, and monitored the response.

What I did well: Even though email outreach is considered a very important way of targeting your audience, I had no knowledge or understanding of how it works. I had no time to learn about it, so I did what I could and didn’t drive myself crazy.
What I could have done better: I could have given myself enough time to understand how email outreach really works and perhaps gained more from it.

5. Incentives

Incentives are something you offer people in exchange for their contribution to your campaign. I really struggled here. I got all my incentive ideas from other campaigns. The main goal of incentives is to make something that will encourage the recipient to share information about your campaign while it’s running. While physical incentives like T-shirts and tote bags might seem great, delivering them takes time. You need something the donors can receive and share instantly on their social media. This way, your campaign gets more attention.

The most common amount of money people donate is $25, so your main digital incentive will be built around this.

For my $25 incentive, I offered custom movie posters I built in Canva. The poster should, of course, somehow relate to your film.
My film’s title is Don’t Talk to Milo, so I offered to make posters with the picture of their choice that would say: “Don’t talk to <insert name>.”

What I did well: I chose the $25 incentive that I could create easily, quickly, and for free.
What I could have done better: Come up with a more fun $25 incentive and made a bigger deal out of it.

Good luck with getting all you need from your crowdfunding campaign and some more!!!

BONUS

The Craziest Part of My Crowdfunding Journey

I got the biggest pledge through good old word-of-mouth. When you look at the educational articles and videos, you will find great advice on how to pace the campaign. If you know someone who’s guaranteed to pledge, ask them to wait until donations start slowing down — then have them contribute to boost momentum. The big donor for me was my ex-boyfriend from back in the old country. This guy was so completely broke when we were dating in our early twenties that every time we went out, I had to buy him a cup of tea. We had been broken up for almost 7 years at that point, and while we exchanged an occasional “Merry Christmas” email, I had no idea how his life was going. He ran into my mother in the street and asked her what I was up to. My mom told him I was running a crowdfunding campaign, and he offered to give me the money I needed. In full disclosure, I needed at least $10K for my film, and he gave me half of it.
I only had to put part of this money into the campaign during the moments when the pledges were thinning.

Next up:

The Basic Team You Need for Your First Professional Short Film

How to Crowdfund Your First Professional Short Film was originally published in Practical Filmschool on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Making a film, even a short one, is a big project. Like every big project, it requires breaking it down into smaller tasks. In this series of articles, I will show you how I broke my project down into smaller steps and how you can do it too.

Before I decided to make my first professional film, I had no idea how to tackle a professional production, even though I had gone to film school. But I learned by working with someone else on his film and seeing what he did every step of the way. Artistically, I disagreed with every decision he made, but I loved his just-do-it approach. I learned how to make a film. Just the practical part of it. What I mean by professional is that you work with people who are professionals in their fields, not amateurs. They might be beginners like you, but professionals nonetheless.

How To Make Your First Professional Short Film: An article series will be helpful to you if you:

• have a script that’s ready to shoot. This means you are done working on it, and you know 99.9% you won’t change it anymore.
• can’t shake the thought of shooting this script;
• feel like you’ll make your movie now or never;
• went to film school and made student films in a school setting, and are now trying to pull off your first professional production;
• need a step-by-step breakdown of how to turn your script into a film.

Before we dive into the nitty-gritty, a few words about the most important thing to consider. Something that played a crucial part in my making this film (besides money) was the mindset that I adopted. There were four parts to pushing through all the difficulties and hurdles I had to overcome to get to and through the film set.

1. I 100% stood by my story and artistic choices. Artistic choices included my cast and crew. This doesn’t mean I thought there was nobody better than them or me. I just knew we, collectively and individually, would do our best, and our best would be on the spectrum from acceptable to really good.
2. I would shoot this film, come hell or high water. Don’t have enough money? Adjust the budget. Someone doesn’t show up to the set on the day of the shoot? Use whoever does. Your main camera blows up? Have a backup (even a shitty one) and shoot anyway.

3. It’s not THAT important: Pope John Paul II said, “Amongst all unimportant subjects, soccer is the most important”. To me, that’s film. Don’t lose sight of what actually matters: health, peace, nature, fellow humans, joy. Filmmakers are not healthcare workers, we don’t fight crime, we don’t fight fire, and we don’t do anything that can’t wait. Nobody’s life depends on what we do. Nobody’s health depends on our films. Don’t forget that.

4. Have the audacity to call yourself a filmmaker.

Number four is, in fact, the first step to doing any art. The outrageous act of calling your mediocre self an artist and your little, unimportant stories — art. Especially in the face of filmmakers who inspired YOU. If you ask — Who has time to hear about my first kiss, my mother’s passing, my breast cancer, my boyfriend’s double life, my boring job when the world is on fire? I’ll respond — I do. “Unimportant” stories matter just as much as WWII stories. The story of a tramp working in a factory is as great as the story of the great dictator if it’s told well. There will always be an audience for a well-told story. Always! At the same time, don’t be afraid to make a bad film. Even Ingmar Bergman didn’t like all his films. Be the worst! But be the worst after giving it your best shot! Be the worst after being constructively critical of your artistic endeavor!

In the next few articles, you’ll find out what I learned from my experience of dragging this heavy but fun load for a couple of months. Here’s an overview:

• How to Crowdfund Your First Professional Film
• Pre-production — broken down into multiple steps, including:
  - The basic team
  - The basic equipment
  - The basic things
  - Other essentials
• The days of the shoot
• The days after!
• Post-production and all the pain of having to keep working after you feel like you are done working. I might break this step down further into:
  - Editing
  - Color Grading
  - Sound Editing
• Abandoning your film (in less dramatic terms just finishing it)
• Surprise Articles!

If by the time I’m done with these articles, I have anything to share about distribution and festivals, we’ll get into that too. But if you haven’t even started the pre-production, don’t even worry about distribution yet.

The world is at its limit when it comes to shitty films, so please do your best to tell a fun, engaging and meaningful story, but if you can’t — make a film anyway.

To quote Beckett: Ever Tried. Ever Failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.

Even though I mention some parts of my artistic process, I want to emphasize that this is not a creative guide to filmmaking, cinematography, or working with actors. There are many books written by established, experienced people such as Alexander McKendrick, Sidney Lumet, Judith Weston; video resources like Werner Herzog’s Masterclass videos, and a million other things that talk about film as art. If you want to make a good movie (or even a bad one that could at least be called a gracious attempt), I suggest you take a proper look at all of these, watch as many films as possible, and read as many scripts as possible.

I live in New York City, and some of my advice, such as equipment rental houses, will only apply to New York. Try to find an alternative wherever you are. It might be someone who has equipment and hasn’t even considered renting it.

Next up:

How to Crowdfund Your First Professional Short Film

How to Make Your First Professional Short Film: A Step-by-Step Guide was originally published in Practical Filmschool on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.