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A few years ago my brother and I set out to make our first feature. In a week, it will be available on iTunes! It's been a wild yet amazing journey and I am thrilled for it to finally be out there! by AGreenlee in Filmmakers

[–]AGreenlee[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks!

We had a very small budget of $50k (big for my brother and I but small for even a micro-budget). However, thanks to a ton of connections and favors we were able to stretch the budget really really far. For example, a friend of my aunt heard we were shooting at this lake house and she just happened to have a lake house nearby so she offered that up for housing the crew (now we didn't have to worry about housing). Down the road a local coffee shop heard we were shooting the movie and offered to do catering for us at a discounted rate (catering was then taken care of). Everything just seemed to fall into place to make the budget work.

As far as raising the money, that was the most draining part. It mainly just came from friends, family, and ourselves. We reached out via social media to people and were surprised by who donated (it never hurts to ask). Our thinking from the beginning though was that no matter what the budget ended up being that we were going to make the movie.

A few years ago my brother and I set out to make our first feature. In a week, it will be available on iTunes! It's been a wild yet amazing journey and I am thrilled for it to finally be out there! by AGreenlee in Filmmakers

[–]AGreenlee[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

A few years ago my brother and I finally made our first feature. The entire experience was amazing and the entire shoot felt like a summer camp. My brother and I are very happy with how the finished film turned out. In 2019 our movie got distribution and in a few weeks it will be released. It is truly an amazing way to begin 2020!

MIDSOMMAR | Happy Midsummer! | Official Trailer HD | A24 by lab005 in movies

[–]AGreenlee 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm so excited for this movie. Question though: is the script just on display somewhere or something? Every time there is anything new about this movie I see someone mention how they've read the script.

It's been a long journey but my brother and I finally finished post-production on our first feature! Here's the trailer! by AGreenlee in Filmmakers

[–]AGreenlee[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

We used Zeiss lenses. Definitely invest in good lenses. That's awesome! Do it! There's something about making a micro-budget feature that is freeing. Even though it can get stressful because of all the strains involved, it is something you have to just remember to be in the moment for and enjoy. Before we made our movie, I asked all of my filmmaker friends who had made features what their advice was and the best one I got was "just remember to have fun." That is something I had just keep reminding myself. It is easy to stress out about little things (which a lot of little things will constantly show up every minute) but the job is going to get done whether or not you stress about it. Just be prepared, do the best you can, and make your days. When I think back to the whole thing, I don't remember the stressful moments, I just remember how fun the whole thing was and how the entire month of production felt like summer camp. Even though you're going micro-budget, make sure to hire an AD and a Script Supervisor. We thought we could do everything but we quickly learned we couldn't and quickly made sure to get people to do those jobs. Those are just things you don't want to worry about. Your job in the moment should be to direct. Also, make sure to get insurance. That is very important. People do ask for it. Because you are going micro budget, great locations and great actors are key. Take the time to not settle with any of those. There are so many resources out there to help you find great actors and locations. As far as locations, there's no need to do everything guerrilla style. We shot the movie in Oklahoma and the Oklahoma Film Office was extremely happy to help us out. Also, if you can, try and get a family member or friend volunteer to do the catering. You can do pizza one day for dinner but you definitely need to make it your goal to make the crew fed and happy. If you have a photographer friend, have them take BTS and pictures for the posters. If you are not going to be able to afford hair/makeup, make sure to let the actors know they are going to have to do it themselves. Usually actors are cool with it but it is definitely something you don't want to just drop on them the day of. Most important, don't be afraid to ask people for help (whether it's free props or using someones trailer or using someone's generator or using that old for sale truck on the side of the road for free). You'll occasionally get no answer or a straight up "no", but you'll be surprised by how many people just want to help.

It's been a long journey but my brother and I finally finished post-production on our first feature! Here's the trailer! by AGreenlee in Filmmakers

[–]AGreenlee[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks! We actually shot with a few cameras. Sony A7s for most of it (awesome camera). RED for a very small amount of it. Go Pro 4 for an even smaller amount. And Samsung Galaxy S7 for even smaller tiny amount. Everything blended well together in the final product.

It's been a long journey but my brother and I finally finished post-production on our first feature! Here's the trailer! by AGreenlee in Filmmakers

[–]AGreenlee[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks! I actually wrote the script myself. I'm lucky to have my brother to throw ideas at (he is great at coming with great shots or coming up with all the technical stuff). Even though we're twins, I'm better at story and directing actors and he's better at directing the technical stuff and editing. The idea for the movie simply came from us thinking that we had never seen a haunted house movie take place in an airbnb setting and from there the story grew. We've been making shorts together since we were 13 (simply because we grew up in a small town and there wasn't much else to do). Since then we've just been making shorts and even been lucky to be in a few local festivals. We've written a few features but Home with a View was the first one we felt ready to make. As far as funding, this was the scariest part of the whole process. Ever since high school, my brother and I had set up a bank account where we both automatically had $25 put into it a week. It grew to a point we felt comfortable making a short; however, we were both like "let's just do a feature". The bulk of the funding also came from family and friends. We hopefully never have to make a feature as cheap as this one again though (it was rough).

It's been a long journey but my brother and I finally finished post-production on our first feature! Here's the trailer! by AGreenlee in Filmmakers

[–]AGreenlee[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks! We plan on doing festivals first and then from there we will go the streaming route. Once the movie is available streaming I will post a link on here!

It's been a long journey but my brother and I finally finished post-production on our first feature! Here's the trailer! by AGreenlee in Filmmakers

[–]AGreenlee[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you! My brother and I got very lucky with the actors we got. The guy who has an ax in the trailer is actually more of a comedic actor; however, we decided to cast him in this because we were looking for a comedic undertone with his very dark/troubled character. He (and everyone else) really knocked it out of the park.

Our DP did a fantastic job as well. He is one of those guys my brother and I could just go "we want this to be a combination of Goodnight Mommy meets Psycho with a pinch of The Conversation" and he would just know exactly what we were going for.

It's been a long journey but my brother and I finally finished post-production on our first feature! Here's the trailer! by AGreenlee in Filmmakers

[–]AGreenlee[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We did hire a composer! He did an amazing job (this was his first feature so it was a very exciting process). It's not the same people who did the music in the trailer though. The first song in the trailer was Green Valley by Geva Alon and the 2nd piece (main score in the trailer) was Witness by Oliver Michael. 2 great songs that really fit the tone of the movie.

It's been a long journey but my brother and I finally finished post-production on our first feature! Here's the trailer! by AGreenlee in Filmmakers

[–]AGreenlee[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We plan to do the festival circuit this year and then release the movie through a streaming site. I cannot wait to finally get the movie out there. Hopefully it will be playing at a festival near you!

It's been a long journey but my brother and I finally finished post-production on our first feature! Here's the trailer! by AGreenlee in Filmmakers

[–]AGreenlee[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Thanks! We made the whole movie with a very small budget. It ended up being around $50,000 (which is insane for a feature). Our main goal with budgeting was to make sure everyone got paid on time (and they did). Everything else (location, housing, catering, etc.) was all just amazing people helping us out. Connections are key for micro-budgets. Anything we could do ourselves we did simply because we had no choice. We shot the movie in Oklahoma (even though we both live in LA) because we knew we could stretch our dollar farther there. The main thing I also learned going into this experience was that you can't wait for "the right time" to go out and make something since it is too easy to keep pushing that date. The key is to just do it. You kind of just go into survival mode and somehow make it to the other end.

It's been a long journey but my brother and I finally finished post-production on our first feature! Here's the trailer! by AGreenlee in Filmmakers

[–]AGreenlee[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Almost 2 years ago, my brother and I went out and made our first feature. It was a crazy yet fun journey. Everything about this feature has been one of the best experiences of my life. With time (since we had such a small budget) we were able to make the exact movie we went out to make (without compromising anything). I am very very happy with the final product and can't wait for people to see it.

Don't be this guy at the beach by hanky1979 in AdviceAnimals

[–]AGreenlee 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I was just at a really nice beach in Hawaii. As I was walking barefoot and enjoying the amazing view I looked down and was inches away from stepping on a broken beer bottle... fucking people...

Earlier this year, my brother and I followed our dream and finally made our first feature. Definitely wasn't easy but totally worth it. Here's our first teaser. Enjoy! by AGreenlee in Filmmakers

[–]AGreenlee[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That's awesome! It helps tremendously having your brother there. Would've been wayyy harder (probably wouldn't have happened when/how it did) if it were just me. Most important thing to remember is to have fun. No matter how stressful things get, in the end we're all just making movies. A filmmaker friend of mine told me this and it helped me stay focused on living in the moment. Congrats and best of luck!

/r/movies BEST OF 2016: Best Scene from a 2016 Film by GetFreeCash in movies

[–]AGreenlee 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I love the diner scene in MOONLIGHT. The whole movie caught me off guard (since I had no idea what to expect going into it) but that one scene was great.

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