All language subtitles for MasterClass - James Cameron Teaches Filmmaking 07.The Art Of Low.Budget Filmmaking Eng

[MUSIC PLAYING]

The art of low-budget
filmmaking is the art of being

thoroughly prepared and
maximizing what you have.

And your preparation is at every
level of design storyboarding,

technical scouting,
selecting your locations,

trying to get the most bang
for the buck out of a location,

versus having to build a set.

You'll sacrifice some control.

You'll sacrifice
some design elements

that you might have if you'd
had the budget to build

a million dollar set.

But it's okay.

The essence of the story
will come through regardless.

And you're going to select
a crew for their ability

to move fast and
take no prisoners,

but still generate
images of high quality

that are punching
above their weight,

so that the film that you
end up with looks great,

and you don't see and
feel the compromises

that you know you've made.

You're not going to
have a movie star, which

can be a blessing in the
sense that it forces you

as a filmmaker to
earn the audience's

interest in that character.

So I think it builds craft.

And maybe you have to make two
or three films at a more modest

budget to prove--

to prove yourself, and
to learn the craft,

and to prove that the craft
that you have learned to,

you know, the powers
that be, that sign--

that sign the checks.

Pick a subject that can be done
within the budget constraints

that you have.

And let me give you an example
from my own experience.

When I was breaking in,
I made "The Terminator."

That was my first
directing credit.

And I knew when I
was writing it that I

had to write it for a budget.

So I knew I was going to
be on location, so I wasn't

going to be able to build sets.

Now, the difference between
building a set of a castle

and going to a castle or a
large building or large mansion

and using the location is
a difference in control.

You can knock out a wall.

You can go back
on a longer lens.

You can stylistically do things
in a set that you cannot do

on a location.

Does the audience care?

Probably not that much.

You might not win
an Academy Award

for cinematography or design
because of the limitations,

but you'll still make
a damn good film.

So it's a question
of, when are you

getting diminishing returns for
where you're spending money?

And so with "The
Terminator," the idea

there was to be very everyday,
very commonplace, not exotic,

for a specific reason, then
drop the exotic element into it.

And that was really a motif
throughout "The Terminator"

films, for the most part.

Certainly, the first
film was about,

this is everyday Los Angeles.

This is a restaurant.

This is a nightclub.

This is a city street.

And the extraordinary
elements came into it

from the future, Kyle
Reese, and the terminator.

And even then, they
were forced to deal

with contemporary elements in
terms of weaponry, and so on.

And that was done by design
for a very simple reason.

We couldn't afford
anything else.

That script was
carefully written

to be something
that was affordable.

Because I knew I was coming in
as an entry level filmmaker.

I knew that I was
going to have to pick

my battles with the
visual effects in a very

controlled way, so that it was
manageable within the budget.

So we'd do a few
prosthetic effects.

We saved up all our big guns for
the end, where the endoskeleton

is revealed by the fire.

We had a few prosthetic
gags along the way,

and we had a couple of future
sequences that could be bigger

or could be smaller, that
the film didn't hinge on,

where I could do some
of the effects work

that I had learned how to do.

Because I asked myself, what do
I bring to this specific story

other than that I created it?

Well, I know
tactical filmmaking.

I know visual effects.

I've done a bit of action
second-unit direction.

With an early project, you want
to come in with something that

speaks to the strengths that
you've already developed,

or it better be the best
damn screenplay in history.

It's really more
important, I would say,

than the technical understanding
of the art of photography

and lighting, is to have that
communication with the director

of photography.

If you're working with
someone you've never

worked with before,
spend a lot of time

with that person looking at
films and saying what you like

and what you see and
what's important.

And ask the director of
photography, how do I do that?

How will we do that?

How will we get that--

that sort of highly
directional soft cross light

coming in through the window?

How can we get that?

How can we get that richness of
tone based on your experience?

How have you done
that in the past?

And what will that
involve for me technically

during the shooting day?

And if I want to
change my angle--

let's say I'm going to
go outside the window,

and the person
comes to the window,

how does that not
suddenly look very flat?

Because I'm literally-- I've
got the lights right behind me

at that point.

Well, how will we cheat that?

How will we manage
window reflections?

How will we shoot in cars?

How will we do all these things?

So get that dialogue going
as early as possible.

When I made "Terminator,"
I hired Adam Greenberg.

And I sat down with him, and
we watched two films together.

One was "Blade Runner," and
one was "The Road Warrior,"

so "Mad Max 2."

And we watched both those films.

And I said, I want both of
those films put into a blender.

And he said, but they're
completely different.

I said, exactly, exactly.

How do we create a common
ground between those two films,

the kinetic, moving camera,
wide lenses, hauling ass before

and following cars, very
dynamic, but at the same time,

that moody, sort of almost
noir, film noir quality,

German expressionist
quality-- strong shadows,

deep blacks, hard
edge lights, where

you need very precise lighting
control to get that effect?

I said, we need to figure
out how to do that.

And we talked about it a lot.

And we even went out and
drove around the town

with a light meter to find out
what streets were bright enough

that we could shoot essentially
natural light at night

or available light at night.

Because we wouldn't
have to bring

in condors and lights and
things that we couldn't afford.

So we just found
mercury vapor lights

on streets that were brighter.

And a good tip there is
car lots, used car lots

or new car lots.

They always have bright lights.

In every city, there's a row
of, like, car dealerships.

Just shoot on that street,
because everything's all

lit up.

And you won't need
any additional lights.

Of course, these
days, the cameras

are much more sensitive.

But we were shooting on
negative at the time.

So you know, we had to--
we had to find a way

to shoot without
a lot of lights.

And Adam said, we're going
to be shooting wide open.

We'll be shooting at
F1.4 on prime lenses.

So you know, I had
schooled myself

on the nature of lenses
and photography enough

by that point to understand
I won't have a zoom lens.

So if I need to change lenses,
that's going to take us time.

I have to factor that
into my shooting day.

And you know, I
wanted a Steadicam.

We couldn't afford a Steadicam.

So the DP made a rig
with some speed rail

tubing to drop the
camera down into it,

like a Steadicam
low-mode type position.

And he just kind of wore it with
some straps over his shoulder.

And he happened to
be an extremely good

handheld operator.

So he created, essentially,
low-mode Steadicam shots,

and we just did it that way.

And so you know,
you have to use--

you have to use every trick in
the book and invent new ones.

The whole film was
shot in about 42 days.

And when I got it done, when I
got that body of shooting done,

there were still
some shots I needed.

So I snuck back out
with five people

and shot for a
week, five people.

And I operated
the camera myself.

I lit it myself.

I did all that.

So you have to be prepared
to accomplish your goal

in ingenious ways and know
where it's okay to compromise

and where it isn't.

And rehearse the crap
out of it ahead of time.

Because rehearsals are cheap
or free, and they pay off.

And have very, very
good communication

with your director
of photography,

so that you know
exactly how you're

going to shoot everything.

And be prepared with a plan
B and a plan C, in case

it's raining, or there's
something else that

stands in your way on the day.

Because at that kind
of budget, you're

not going to be able
to get to go back.

And you know, I go on for
hours about all the cheap house

tricks that we used on
"Terminator" to tell that--

to tell that story.

But the important
thing is to serve--

is to serve the story.

Find a way to serve the
story and give it some style.

If I were shooting a very
low-budget film right now,

and I need to get a
lot of setups a day,

I would have a game
plan for every day

of shooting that involved
the nature of the lighting.

Because you lose a lot
of time to lighting.

And it's technical.

It's understanding it's
going to take time to move.

If you've designed the
scene in such a way

that you have a big lighting
change, that lighting change is

going to take time, you know.

Typically, people call
it turning around.

You've shot the scene
in this direction,

and the same lighting
can't be used.

If you bring the camera
around to do your 180

reverses or your reverse
over the shoulders,

it's going to look flat.

It's going to look horrible.

And the lighting has
to be all cheated

so that that reverse actually
looks pleasing to the eye.

I remember once, just to
prove the point to myself,

after I had made "Titanic" and
done these big films, "Titanic"

and "True Lies" and
films like that,

I did the last
episode of a series

that I was producing
called "Dark Angel."

And just to prove
that I could do it,

I did 117 setups in one day.

And I did it in
the following way.

I said, you will not
bring a C stand or a flag

or a sandbag or any lighting
instrument into the set.

We will light the set
from across the street

with four 10k Xenons, and I will
move every shot to the light.

We won't move the
lights to the shot.

And it was a big kind of
suspense action fight scene.

It was 117 setups in one day.

I shot it all handheld.

It was myself and
another operator.

We kept the crew out
of the workspace.

We had the stunt
people standing by

to pop in for the actors
at a moment's notice

within the fight choreography.

We had all our multiple takes
of our effects breaking glass

and breakaway wood
doors, and things like

that, all set up in advance.

I never did a second
take of the same gag.

But I did have five takes of the
gag ready of somebody getting

thrown through a window.

We threw them
through one window,

and then we threw them
through the next window,

and we threw them
through the window.

And I made sure that it
would all cut together.

So there are tricks like
that that you can do.

And it was a little bit of
a competition with Robert

Rodriguez, because I
think he had done, like,

105 setups or something in
one day on one of his films.

And Robert, of course, has
written much and done much

to disseminate his ideas
for how you do low budget.

So the point is it
can be done, and it

can be done with relatively
low level of compromise.