Making Short Movies In Chiang Mai

[Andreas84]

I have been considering to make some short movies in Chiang Mai, it could be of 5-10 minutes duration, kind of artistic, perhaps without spoken words, but with the combination of music, some text and moving pictures. It would involve both filming in and around CM, as well as using various clips i.e found on the internet, and then put it together on the computer. Perhaps more like a multimedia production than a typical short movie.

I have no experience with the practicalities of doing this, but would write the script and be the creative leader. I wonder if there are professional thais (or westerners) working in this field, who speak decent English, and who would not be too expensive to hire for such work. I would do this as a private person, without having economical rewards as the main intention, so the people involved should have an understanding of that. For professional thais working with film production, but on a small scale, what would be a typical monthly income?

I am not in Chiang Mai at the moment, but am interested to know which possibilities are existing within this field.

[richardt1808]

Sorry to burst your bubble mate, but I think that the income potential would be zero.

Who is your target audience ? Thai computer users, right ?

Even Hollywood A-list movies get sold for 50B each and you would plan to charge how much for a collection of your movies ? Who in their right mind would cough up even 20B to buy something which has had no publicity, no track record and no ability to pre-view before purchase ?

Besides that, there are websites like YouTube with a billion short movies available for download for free. There are also native Thai language portals with plenty of content available for local tastes, so I think that I would go back to the drawing board with this one.

[roger1999]

On the other hand there was very recently a guy (maybe from Argentina) who made a short film for $300 and sold the concept to Hollywood for millions. It was on the web recently and reminded me of Transformers.

I'm not even sure if the OP was interested in making any money of of it. Working with film can be a lot of fun.

I think your idea is worth a shot. I know a wannabe director here but he is only interested in making his own film.

[newbie001]

The OP did state that monetary compensation is not his goal. I think that you need to fully read his post before giving criticism.

Yes, there are many small production companies in the area. They are not cheap however. If this is just a whim of fancy and not a serious project, then I wouldn't bother doing it. If you are willing to pay for quality, then you can get quality.

I think that most production companies would probably pass though. You have no experience and no professional videographer/editor would want a director with 0 experience controlling the show.

SInce you state that you most likely wouldn't have spoken words, then what kind of "SCRIPT" would you be making? Perhaps if you spent some time researching about video production a little it would help. You will need to know the terminology and the field that they work in, so that you can tell them exactly what you want.

My suggestion if you don't have a video camera, is to get one and just start practicing yourself. You can get the software at local shops, like sony vegas, or adobe series with after effects. These will give you the results that you want. There are also countless tutorials on how to do special effects.

I say do it yourself if you really want to do something to be proud of and that doesn't cost a lot.

Ignore any negative comments about this not being worth doing. There are many small production shorts that have had great critical success. Follow your dream and just enjoy the journey.

[Blinky Bill]

Here's my two recent attempts at entering the Hollywood scene.........

and

Somehow I don't think I'll be getting an invite to the Academy Awards. A star or 2 may help.

Edited January 2, 2010 by Blinky Bill

[Nienke]

You can try Chris at Livingfilms: http://www.livingfilms.com/contact/

A very kind guy who most probably can answer your questions or lead you in the right direction.

[ollylama]

i made this film with some friends back in 2001:

http://oliverbenjamin.net/niceillusion.html

it was great fun. didn't make a dime, of course. nor did we expect to. but i highly recommend making a short film as a way to make memories. here's an article i wrote about the experience in citylife:

http://www.chiangmainews.com/indepth/details.php?id=1334

[Blinky Bill]

Interesting little film there, Olly. Without taking anything away from you, is that really how scumbag backpackers do it? If so, I'm rather thankful I don't hang around backpacker joints.

Edited January 3, 2010 by Blinky Bill

[Andreas84]

The OP did state that monetary compensation is not his goal. I think that you need to fully read his post before giving criticism.

Yes, there are many small production companies in the area. They are not cheap however. If this is just a whim of fancy and not a serious project, then I wouldn't bother doing it. If you are willing to pay for quality, then you can get quality.

I think that most production companies would probably pass though. You have no experience and no professional videographer/editor would want a director with 0 experience controlling the show.

SInce you state that you most likely wouldn't have spoken words, then what kind of "SCRIPT" would you be making? Perhaps if you spent some time researching about video production a little it would help. You will need to know the terminology and the field that they work in, so that you can tell them exactly what you want.

My suggestion if you don't have a video camera, is to get one and just start practicing yourself. You can get the software at local shops, like sony vegas, or adobe series with after effects. These will give you the results that you want. There are also countless tutorials on how to do special effects.

I say do it yourself if you really want to do something to be proud of and that doesn't cost a lot.

Ignore any negative comments about this not being worth doing. There are many small production shorts that have had great critical success. Follow your dream and just enjoy the journey.

Hi. No, it is certainly true I am not familiar with movie production. I have certain ideas of the themes, scenes etc, but I have not worked specifically with narrowing it down to something concrete. It was rather the case that I thought if it could be fairly cheap to do it in Chiang Mai, that could perhaps provide a motivation to do something about it, knowing that it would be financially possible to make it happen... Because I am planning to stay in Chiang Mai at least one year, arriving next summer, and devote a lot of time to creative projects. I guess you are right that the word script implies dialogue, or I do not even know. Since I am also recording my own music, I was thinking of making a music video, but with the film supplementing the themes of the lyrical content rather than showing a band or something.

How much do you think I would have needed to pay for a decent ten minute movie, that being for the filming and editing, not for actors etc..?

[Andreas84]

You can try Chris at Livingfilms: http://www.livingfilms.com/contact/

A very kind guy who most probably can answer your questions or lead you in the right direction.

Thanks!

[sticklebrick]

On the other hand there was very recently a guy (maybe from Argentina) who made a short film for $300 and sold the concept to Hollywood for millions. It was on the web recently and reminded me of Transformers.

I'm not even sure if the OP was interested in making any money of of it. Working with film can be a lot of fun.

I think your idea is worth a shot. I know a wannabe director here but he is only interested in making his own film.

here it is, I read about it too ( below )

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8417919.stm

I know nothing about making short films but its pretty unbelievable that it cost $300 to make.. Top notch getting $30M to make the feature length version.

[newbie001]

I doubt that it cost 300 dollars to make. He had a crew of over 50 people who worked for free. The software to make such things cost several thousand dollars unless you use illegal software.

A full editing job even for a 10 minute video would cost probably around 20,000 baht minimum.

[Andreas84]

I doubt that it cost 300 dollars to make. He had a crew of over 50 people who worked for free. The software to make such things cost several thousand dollars unless you use illegal software.

A full editing job even for a 10 minute video would cost probably around 20,000 baht minimum.

And how many hours work do you estimate that to be?