Insecurity Insecurity

Insecurity was not shot conventionally, by any stretch of the imagination. Some trivia follows.

The film cost a grand total of aproximately $250 Australian dollars to make. This covered the cost of the raw tapes and some of the props and set-construction materials from fabric & hardware stores.
The script was written in aproximately three days, based on a short film concept developed some months previously. Few changes that were not 'fixes' to the narrative were made.
The film had only four days of principle photography.
Post-production and editing took about two months. All editing, sound-postroduction and music placement was done at nights, and usually in a highly caffeinated state.
14 hours of raw footage was shot for the film.

We're quite proud of our accomplishment - our shooting style can best be described as "El Mariachi style, done digitally".

We've devoted two commentaries and a making-of featurette to the methods we've employed to make this film with such speed. A brief run-down of the style is:

Almost every single scene was only shot in close-up. Several scenes break this by using two-shots. The use of tight locations helped reduce the need for master shots.
Frequently, close-ups were taken without other actors present. Lines were repeated by the actor until the delivery was right, and then moved on. With the exception of some of the story scenes, which were learnt and rehearsed by the actors, this Mariachi-style technique was stuck to.
Often, the same corner or wall was used by changing the dressing and lighting, then re-shooting from a slightly different camera angle. Notably, the club was shot in this way.

A few technical details about the shoot:

The film was shot using a small Sony HDR-HC3 consumer HDV camera.
No professional lights were used. Only 60-100W traditional light bulbs were used for most scenes, with a small 200W workman's flood light used for a bit of fill in some scenes.
The audio was captured using a R0DE boom microphone lead through an Azden mixer directly into a Macbook Pro through the 3.5mm line-in.
The audio was recorded into Soundtrack Pro and stored in raw AIFF files.
Editing and post-production was done using Final Cut Studio 2 on the very same Core Duo-based Macbook Pro.

Some final comments:

Film-making is the single most fun thing I've ever undertaken, and these days, in the age of HDV, firewire, hugely powerful home computers and astoundingly cheap professional-grade software, it's possible to make films for almost literally peanuts. Had we not constructed a few sets, we'd have probably made this film for about $100 less again.

There's no reason not to hit film-making on your own terms, and hard. Learn to edit, find a cheap DV camera and a copy of any editing suite you can.

If you're interested in filmmaking, just do it. Buy or rent your kit and get started now. When you aren't filming, listen to audio commentaries from directors like Robert Rodriguez and Kevin Smith (the latter with a few beers). Read books like Rodriguez' and the awesome Digital Filmmaking by Mike Figgis.

Just do it!

-- Rohan Harris

	Expect Problems Productions - Insecurity: The Movie - Dead Man Drinking - Rohan's Blog




		about the film watch the film making of Insecurity was not shot conventionally, by any stretch of the imagination. Some trivia follows. The film cost a grand total of aproximately $250 Australian dollars to make. This covered the cost of the raw tapes and some of the props and set-construction materials from fabric & hardware stores. The script was written in aproximately three days, based on a short film concept developed some months previously. Few changes that were not 'fixes' to the narrative were made. The film had only four days of principle photography. Post-production and editing took about two months. All editing, sound-postroduction and music placement was done at nights, and usually in a highly caffeinated state. 14 hours of raw footage was shot for the film. We're quite proud of our accomplishment - our shooting style can best be described as "El Mariachi style, done digitally". We've devoted two commentaries and a making-of featurette to the methods we've employed to make this film with such speed. A brief run-down of the style is: Almost every single scene was only shot in close-up. Several scenes break this by using two-shots. The use of tight locations helped reduce the need for master shots. Frequently, close-ups were taken without other actors present. Lines were repeated by the actor until the delivery was right, and then moved on. With the exception of some of the story scenes, which were learnt and rehearsed by the actors, this Mariachi-style technique was stuck to. Often, the same corner or wall was used by changing the dressing and lighting, then re-shooting from a slightly different camera angle. Notably, the club was shot in this way. A few technical details about the shoot: The film was shot using a small Sony HDR-HC3 consumer HDV camera. No professional lights were used. Only 60-100W traditional light bulbs were used for most scenes, with a small 200W workman's flood light used for a bit of fill in some scenes. The audio was captured using a R0DE boom microphone lead through an Azden mixer directly into a Macbook Pro through the 3.5mm line-in. The audio was recorded into Soundtrack Pro and stored in raw AIFF files. Editing and post-production was done using Final Cut Studio 2 on the very same Core Duo-based Macbook Pro. Some final comments: Film-making is the single most fun thing I've ever undertaken, and these days, in the age of HDV, firewire, hugely powerful home computers and astoundingly cheap professional-grade software, it's possible to make films for almost literally peanuts. Had we not constructed a few sets, we'd have probably made this film for about $100 less again. There's no reason not to hit film-making on your own terms, and hard. Learn to edit, find a cheap DV camera and a copy of any editing suite you can. If you're interested in filmmaking, just do it. Buy or rent your kit and get started now. When you aren't filming, listen to audio commentaries from directors like Robert Rodriguez and Kevin Smith (the latter with a few beers). Read books like Rodriguez' and the awesome Digital Filmmaking by Mike Figgis. Just do it! -- Rohan Harris



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