Formula for Making Low-Budget Movies
Last night I promised to reveal the secrets of making a successful low-budget movie. The movies I have based it on are all from the 1930's through the 1960's, because those are primarily the movies I watch. But this formula would work for movies made at any time.
Basically, there is a main character who is either a psychopathic murderer, a nymphomaniac, or a witch. The victim has a certain sympathy and even psychic connection to the killer, who is often a young good-looking person who appears to be normal. The attractiveness of the psychotic character draws all suspicion away from them until it is too late and there have been some grisly deaths. If the victim is a female, usually there is some older woman who is oppressing her, and who is her enemy. She has to deal with this tribulation as well as with the menace of the killer. She is hated because of her innocence, but in the end it is her innocence that saves her.
The audience has a sense of the dread of the situation far in advance of the characters, which creates a great deal of terror and suspense. The sense of impending doom is often enhanced with fog, deep shadows, stark interiors. There are few sets, but the sets that exist are very atmospheric. Usually these films can get by with 2 or 3 interiors and 2 exteriors, as long as they are very good ones. Typical settings include a castle interior, a motel interior, a nightclub or bar, a store or other place of business, a diner or restaurant, a manor, a library or study, an underground coven, an apartment building, a churchyard, the lonely highway, the main street of a town, the moors, the deserted beach, or the forest.
Good examples of the form include Psycho, Repulsion, Night Must Fall, Peeping Tom, Phantom Lady (psycho killers), and Horror Hotel, The Virgin Witch, Day of Wrath (witches).
When the character is a nymphomaniac or an otherwise sexually aggressive woman, havoc and destruction are wreaked from the moment she makes contact with a forbidden male who is either above her station, or not her husband. Examples include The Birds, Vertigo, Butterfield 8, Suburban Roulette, Niagara, In This Our Life, Gone to Earth, Strange Woman, Beyond the Forest, and countless other noir films. Although some of these were made with large studio budgets, the story elements are simple and don't require the fancy trappings you would need for, say, a comedy.
The reason you can get by with very low budgets, especially with the killer/witch types, is because the sense of horror and doom distract the audience away from the visuals, and keep them focusing on the psychology. The limited number of sets actually works for these films, because it increases the feeling of being trapped and not being able to escape. Also, you can get away with a lot of symbolic camera work, in which a close-up is often more effective than showing a whole set.
A variation on the witch theme is the wicked stepmother theme, as in Snow White and Cinderella, and many other fairy tales. Snow White is actually a classic example of the witch story. A variation on the psycho killer theme is the young man so tortured by ambition that he destroys himself and everything he touches, as in Nightmare Alley, The Man with the X-Ray Eyes, or Treasure of the Sierra Madre.
The psycho killer/witch may be replaced with a vampire or other monster, but this is much harder to pull off without resorting to clichés, and tends to be more expensive, mainly because more spectacular visuals are needed in order to keep it interesting. But with a little ingenuity it can work very well too. And a really good combination is the insatiably ambitious man combined with the monster, as in Frankenstein and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
I really love making comedies, but if I am to continue in film and not kill myself with the design and brutal budgets, I have to go with this thriller/ horror formula. It actually sounds very exciting. But already I'm jumping ahead of myself, and imagining horses on the moors before thinking of my plot. While coming up with the thriller formula I got some more ideas about the comedy/ action form as well. More on that next time.
Basically, there is a main character who is either a psychopathic murderer, a nymphomaniac, or a witch. The victim has a certain sympathy and even psychic connection to the killer, who is often a young good-looking person who appears to be normal. The attractiveness of the psychotic character draws all suspicion away from them until it is too late and there have been some grisly deaths. If the victim is a female, usually there is some older woman who is oppressing her, and who is her enemy. She has to deal with this tribulation as well as with the menace of the killer. She is hated because of her innocence, but in the end it is her innocence that saves her.
The audience has a sense of the dread of the situation far in advance of the characters, which creates a great deal of terror and suspense. The sense of impending doom is often enhanced with fog, deep shadows, stark interiors. There are few sets, but the sets that exist are very atmospheric. Usually these films can get by with 2 or 3 interiors and 2 exteriors, as long as they are very good ones. Typical settings include a castle interior, a motel interior, a nightclub or bar, a store or other place of business, a diner or restaurant, a manor, a library or study, an underground coven, an apartment building, a churchyard, the lonely highway, the main street of a town, the moors, the deserted beach, or the forest.
Good examples of the form include Psycho, Repulsion, Night Must Fall, Peeping Tom, Phantom Lady (psycho killers), and Horror Hotel, The Virgin Witch, Day of Wrath (witches).
When the character is a nymphomaniac or an otherwise sexually aggressive woman, havoc and destruction are wreaked from the moment she makes contact with a forbidden male who is either above her station, or not her husband. Examples include The Birds, Vertigo, Butterfield 8, Suburban Roulette, Niagara, In This Our Life, Gone to Earth, Strange Woman, Beyond the Forest, and countless other noir films. Although some of these were made with large studio budgets, the story elements are simple and don't require the fancy trappings you would need for, say, a comedy.
The reason you can get by with very low budgets, especially with the killer/witch types, is because the sense of horror and doom distract the audience away from the visuals, and keep them focusing on the psychology. The limited number of sets actually works for these films, because it increases the feeling of being trapped and not being able to escape. Also, you can get away with a lot of symbolic camera work, in which a close-up is often more effective than showing a whole set.
A variation on the witch theme is the wicked stepmother theme, as in Snow White and Cinderella, and many other fairy tales. Snow White is actually a classic example of the witch story. A variation on the psycho killer theme is the young man so tortured by ambition that he destroys himself and everything he touches, as in Nightmare Alley, The Man with the X-Ray Eyes, or Treasure of the Sierra Madre.
The psycho killer/witch may be replaced with a vampire or other monster, but this is much harder to pull off without resorting to clichés, and tends to be more expensive, mainly because more spectacular visuals are needed in order to keep it interesting. But with a little ingenuity it can work very well too. And a really good combination is the insatiably ambitious man combined with the monster, as in Frankenstein and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
I really love making comedies, but if I am to continue in film and not kill myself with the design and brutal budgets, I have to go with this thriller/ horror formula. It actually sounds very exciting. But already I'm jumping ahead of myself, and imagining horses on the moors before thinking of my plot. While coming up with the thriller formula I got some more ideas about the comedy/ action form as well. More on that next time.
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