Joined: 14 Oct 2002 Posts: 4107 Location: Sheffield, UK
Posted: Mon Sep 13, 2010 4:55 pm Post subject: Pontypool
This one was a rare, out of the blue, really cool tv movie on the horror channel. Now that is a RARE statement, most of the films on the horror channel seem like pornos where the cast forgot to get undressed!
Anyway, it reminds me of quality tv dramas from years ago, you know, the ones where they had no budget and no CGI so they just had to get good actors and a good script. It's a zombie flick unlike any I've seen before. The whole thing is shot inside a radio station, there are only about 5 actors and they never leave that location. Must have been a cheap film to make. So why aren't there more like it?
The answer, I suspect, is 'there will be'. Digital filming has come on a huge amount in the last couple of years, and DSLRs are finally starting to present a plausible option - in particular, some recent models can shoot good video in very low light. Once you can get by with a technical/post-production budget of a couple of thousand (for the camera, plus a decent mic and recorder, plus a huge pile of SD cards for your data and a cheap PC for editing), it gets a whole lot easier to make a film with just a good script and some good non-star actors for less than the amount of money needed to get James Cameron out of bed in the morning.
Making a good film cheaply used to be hard. It still isn't trivial (locations are a problem, although only having one does help on that front ), but the barriers have gone down a lot recently.
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum
), but the barriers have gone down a lot recently.