Cheap Movie Tricks

How to Make a Movie on a Tight Budget

Today’s indie film market is growing by leaps and bounds and filmmaker Rickey Bird and screenwriter and novelist Al Guevara are on a mission to help indie moviemakers everywhere.

Bird and Guevara want to show aspiring filmmakers how to overcome common movie and video production problems:

• Not enough money for crews
• Over budget and likely making the wrong movie
• Can’t get the attention of an indie studio
• Should have started with a short film to gain attention

Amateur Movie & Video Production. Thousands of aspiring filmmakers are learning how to use cheaper, widely available filmmaking technology, and the craft of making movies from books pulled from bookstore and library shelves. Their work is totally DIY and they are the most creative people you will ever meet. Rickey Bird’s Hectic Films is a Southern California enterprise building a filmmaking empire on a budget. His short films, feature films, micro docs and tutorials have landed in some of the biggest American film festivals and been seen online worldwide. The result? Millions of views worth of exposure from films online, in festivals and creative marketing literally on the street. His many projects have seen leading B actors like Hulk Hogan and Vernon Wells (Mad Max Road Warrior), make-up artists from the TV show Grimm, and stuntmen from the Call of Duty games.

What you’ll learn in this book:

• How planning and shooting a short film today can lead to a feature-length project tomorrow
• Everything you need to know about writing a movie project on a burger budget
• Tips on how to find locations and not get arrested
• Shooting tips galore for building exciting scenes
• Sound and film editing tips and all kinds of special effects wizardry, including puppetry
• Screenings, promotions, and juicy tips on film festival strategy

If you liked books such as How to Shoot Video That Doesn't Suck, The Filmmaker's Handbook, or Rebel Without a Crew, you’ll love Cheap Movie Tricks.

Rickey Bird of Hectic Films is building a filmmaking empire on a budget. His short films, feature films, micro docs and tutorials have landed in some of the biggest American film festivals and been seen online throughout the world. The result? Millions of views worth of exposure from films online, in festivals and creative marketing literally on the street. His many projects have seen leading B actors like Hulk Hogan and Vernon Wells (Mad Max Road Warrior), make-up artists from the TV show Grimm, and stuntmen from the Call of Duty games.