Non Linear Editing Video Services – How to Prepare a Short for Full Featurette for Funding
Professional Videography and Video Editing Services
A straight timeline fairly quick and simple video such as the one below are relatively easy to do.
But more advanced low budget video shorts require something more.
For instance, getting funding for developing a not for profit video featurette you would need to move in a direction similar to this by first producing a short trailer (then once the trailer is released and funding (hopefully) obtained, produce the actual featurette itself). You’ll need to have your script, story board and shot list nailed down first. You can do your trailer only if you’ve nailed the script in place and the actors are willing to donate their time for the trailer if you have limited or next to no capital. My recommendation for the trailer is keep it to less than 2 minutes. This is very manageable and can be shot in a weekend.
That said, you must be prepared ahead of time with the following in order to have any chance of making a success of your final efforts:
Full script.
Full story board
Full shot list
Scene ‘glue’ list. (What is needed in each scene to tell the story the way you want)
Source some actors that are talented and LOCAL.
Do a table read.
Record said table read with mics.
Scan in your storyboard and assemble it on your NLE (Non Linear Video Editing software) time line.
Add in your table read audio.
Render.
Watch on a TV with the actors and other crew you have interested.
Find out if the story makes sense as a VIEWER. If so, can you tighten or trim the story or dialogue. Make the necessary changes.
Re-edit the animation. Render and watch.
If it seems good, then take this to kick starter and set your goal for about 10% higher than your bare minimum. Explain why this featurette needs to be made NOW and now 2 years from now. Tug on the heart strings.
Start making videos about your cast and crew and why they are good at what they do. (Comedy for behind the scenes works wonders)
Then, when you finally do your short release on Kick Starter to ask for donations to fund your full video.
COSTS
So how much does it cost to shoot a video?
$10,000 is NOT a lot of money for a featurette. Just feeding people for 10 days on location can cost a lot (Minimum of $100 a day if you’re shooting eight plus hours a day) not including gear rental if needed. Then if you pay your actors minimum wage, that’s usually no less than $50 a day per actor.
Insurance is always recommended for anything that’s over 10 minutes long (after editing), so that’s another $300-$600 depending on the coverage. Props, costumes, location fees (if any), can easily cause things to go over $30,000.
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