– English Lyrics

Lyrics & Translation

[English]

why it is better to make a short film for no money than some money.

If you were to watch any of my short films made between the year of

2017 to 2021, you would have seen that

they all began with a same production company credit.

Young historian collective presents.

You might be surprised to learn, though, that this production company

paid me zero dollars to make any of my short film films.

And that is because this production company was made up.

It was as much a fiction as the short films themselves.

I was inspired to start my films off like this for two reasons.

One, when I first got into making short films, I noticed

that a lot of high quality films began with the production company credit.

And so I thought it would make my films seem fancier right off the bat.

The second reason was inspired by the movie Fargo.

If you've ever seen the movie, it begins with a statement, this is a true story.

But that statement is in fact not true.

It was a narrative device created by the Coen Brothers to intrigue their audience.

And I thought that was a very clever and playful way to bend the rules of fiction.

And so I created my own production company that

never really existed because the reality was I wasn't

going to wait until a production company gave me permission to make my short films.

Oftentimes, filmmakers let their ideas die

on the vine by thinking one day I will make my short film real.

I just have to wait for a film grant or a production company to give me the money to make it.

But that has never been my approach to filmmaking.

Instead, I took the approach of wear as many hats

as possible to make your film ideas real.

And you should too.

Back in 2016, I watched this South by Southwest

keynote speech from the filmmaker Joe Swanberg.

That really inspired me a lot.

I think that it's actually better to have no money when you're making a film than some money.

I would define it as

could you look a restaurant owner in the eyes and legitimately say to that person, I don't have any money.

Can I shoot in your restaurant for free?

If you're lying about it and you have some money, they're

going to be able to tell and so is everybody else on your movie.

And some money I have found to be incredibly dangerous and difficult to navigate

because if you have some money, everybody wants some of that some money.

If you have no money, everybody just knows it and then they're there to work.

And then in a best case scenario, which I've had a few of these best case scenarios,

you sell a movie and then you're able to pay people afterwards

better than you could have paid them if you had some money.

I tried my best to live out this quote when I started to make short films.

Each project was made with either no money or

I actually lost money on when you take account gear

that I rented. and buying people meals.

But I was lucky enough to have a group of friends who were not

only supportive of my film ideas, but were down to actually be in them.

So I guess consider this step one.

Make sure to collaborate with people who are actually up for collaboration.

Early on when I started to make sure films, I would make a mental

note every time I was at a party or out somewhere and someone

told me that they were interested in acting and would be up for being in one of my short films.

I had this mental roster of potential actors in my head and

I would begin to dream up ideas for short films specifically written with these people in mind.

And all these friends like had real jobs.

So I tried my best to create a production schedule that was realistic, quick and doable.

So consider this step two.

Make sure your idea can be done in the shortest amount of time for your crew.

How can you make this possible?

Shoot in only one to maybe three locations.

Take my short film, Following Phillip, for instance.

This was a film that was truly made with no money.

I asked two friends, Richard and Nick to

act in it, and we filmed almost the entire film in one evening.

This meant I had to be both the director and the cinematographer

for it, and I shot it mostly on

a handheld Sony A7S2.

The film is shot in essentially three locations, a parking lot

at night, a car sometimes parked, sometimes in motion, and a house.

This is all filmed between six and 9 pm, which

looking back is pretty wild that we were able to pull it off.

And the reason we were able to get so much covered in such a short amount of

time was the fact that the film is pretty voiceover

driven, which required a second evening with just Nick to record the voiceovers.

Before the shoot, Nick and Richard actually had never met before.

Nick is a musician, and earlier that year, I

had made a music video for one of his songs for the fun of it.

So when I had this idea, I pitcd to him and he was 100% down.

As for Richard, Richard is one of those friends who,

at one point in time at a party, told me that he would be up for acting in one of my short films.

So I wrote this part with him in mind.

Both of them absolutely crushed it, and Nick is just such

a funny dude that at one point when we were trying to

film one of the scenes, it took like ten takes because he kept on making Richard laugh.

After we are done with the production, I begin the editing process.

So consider this step three.

Learn to edit and edit your own short films.

Editing will always take the longest amount of time and I honestly believe that.

It is one aspect where it's not really that fair to ask other people to volunteer their time for.

Every short film I've ever made has taken way more time than I thought

it would, and at the time of making follow Philip, I had a full-time job and

so I basically edited the film on my lunch breaks or late at night once my family was asleep.

It took about a month or two of the schedule took to complete.

I had high hopes for this film, but it got rejected by all the film

festivals and short film websites I submitted it to.

And that's okay.

It was really good practice and like every project I've made before

and after, I learned a lot from the experience.

It's also one of those films that I made where years later,

you know, once people found me through TikTok or Instagram, people from time

to time will reach out to me and be like, hey, I really loved following Philip and

that's really cool. that has that like second life to it.

Anyways, this is just one example of how you can make a short film with no budget.

I have to say, though, I've been pretty bad about taking my own advice over the last couple of years.

The more I have focused on mixed media animations,

the less brain space I've had for thinking up new short film ideas.

In 2024, though, thanks to creator camp, I got to make

two short films with some really talented video careers.

In May, I got to make a short film in the woods of upstate in New York.

that had to be filmed and edited all within 90 minutes, which was

a wild and fun experience. and then in September, I was sent out

with this like wild dream team to go and make a film up in the mountains of Switzerland.

In 2025, I do have this one idea for a short film that I would really like to make.

This time around, though, I was hoping to get a film grant to make it.

Because,

honestly, if you can get a budget and pay everyone to be there, take it.

But the film grant didn't work out.

So maybe I'll take my own advice and just go out there and make it.

Should I do this?

And if so, should I document the process here?

Key Vocabulary

Vocabulary	Meanings
film /fɪlm/ B1	noun - a motion picture; a movie verb - to record moving images with a camera
budget /ˈbʌdʒɪt/ B2	noun - an estimate of income and expenses for a particular period
grant /ɡrɑːnt/ C1	noun - a sum of money given for a particular purpose verb - to give or allow something formally
short /ʃɔːrt/ A2	adjective - brief in length or duration noun - a short film; a brief video work
shoot /ʃuːt/ B1	verb - to record video or photographs
edit /ˈɛdɪt/ B1	verb - to prepare a film or text for final presentation by cutting, arranging, or revising
director /dəˈrɛktər/ B2	noun - the person who supervises the artistic and dramatic aspects of a film
cinematographer /ˌsɪnəməˈtɒɡrəfə/ C2	noun - the chief over the camera and lighting crews; the director of photography
collaborate /kəˈlæbəreɪt/ C1	verb - to work jointly with others, especially in an intellectual endeavor
production /prəˈdʌkʃən/ B2	noun - the process of creating a film or other media work
company /ˈkʌmpəni/ B1	noun - a business entity; also an organization formed for a particular purpose
money /ˈmʌni/ A2	noun - currency or a medium of exchange used to buy goods and services
fiction /ˈfɪkʃən/ B2	noun - literary works invented by the imagination; not factual
real /riːəl/ A2	adjective - actually existing; not imagined or fictional
story /ˈstɔːri/ A2	noun - an account of imaginary or real events narrated for entertainment
scene /siːn/ B1	noun - a part of a play, movie, or book in which a particular action or setting occurs
schedule /ˈʃedjuːl/ B2	noun - a plan that gives a list of events or tasks and the times at which they happen
crew /kruː/ B2	noun - the group of people who work on a film or TV production