A Filmmaker's Guide to: Independent Cinema

In this chapter of ‘the filmmaker’s guide’ we’re actually going to be learning about literature and film together. I understand that many of you are sitting in university during difficult times and finding it increasingly hard to study and I understand that many of you who are not at university or not planning on it are possibly stuck of what to do, need a break or even need to catch up on learning film before you get to the next level. This guide will be brief but will also contain: new vocabulary, concepts and theories, films to watch and we will be exploring something taboo until now in the ‘filmmaker’s guide’ - academia (abyss opens). Each article will explore a different concept of film, philosophy, literature or bibliography/filmography etc. in order to give you something new to learn each time we see each other. You can use some of the words amongst family and friends to sound clever or you can get back to me (email in bio) and tell me how you’re doing. So, strap in and prepare for the filmmaker’s guide to film studies because it is going to be one wild ride.

Independent Cinema

What is it?

A film made by a small-time or independent organisation which is outside of the mainstream blockbuster studios. These can either be student-made, low-budget or even arthouse. There are many to choose from.

When it comes to independent cinema, the screenwriter and director are normally the same person. This is because it is not only cheaper to write the movie yourself, but as a director starting out in the independent industry, it would make more sense and you would be able to envision better how it would work on the screen if you were the one who wrote it and you were the one who was directing it.

For example: if we were to look at "Donnie Darko" we would find that the film is both written and directed by Robert Kelly. At the time, the main actors were fairly unknown and the budget was under five million dollars. Produced by the independent film company, Flower Films, it was released at the Sundance Film Festival and this is a plus.

The one way to get an independent film watched by a bigger, more film-savvy audience would be to put it out at a film festival and Sundance is normally the one that subversive independent filmmakers choose because it is more open to different types of submissions.

Another film we can look at for tips on how to stay low-budget would be the horror classic of the seventies, "Halloween". The budget for the film was around three hundred and fifty thousand dollars whilst at the box office it made nearly seventy million dollars. Why? Well, this film was not released at a festival, it just happened to be in the right place at the right time and so, there we have a film that made it on its own. Compass International Pictures did have a part in it, but with the low budget it had in comparison to other films of the seventies, I have to say it not only did pretty well - but there is a chance it was probably one of the biggest selling independent films of all time.

When it comes to independent cinema, we need to look at not only the budget but the genre as well. I have personally noted that independent cinema has more horror films because of the fact that more risky or gory films will end up being produced by lesser known studios as the big studios will not really take the risk. Let us have a look now at some further reading that you could do on the subject of independent cinema and what you could look at in order to learn more about it.

Further Reading: