Microfilmmaking is the production of ultra-low budget movies. These films generally are made by impassioned filmmakers operating outside the Hollywood mainstream. While a "low budget" Hollywood film can cost millions of dollars, 80% to 90% of all independent films are made on budgets of $30,000 or less.
Without the backing of a major movie studio, microfilmmakers have to be resourceful in raising even their modest budgets. They often hold regular jobs and fund their film projects out of their own pockets. Many begin the filmmaking process by approaching friends and family for donations of money or services.
Microfilmmakers are often the first to adopt new technologies and techniques, economic necessity leading to creative invention. The lack of money leads them to try new ways of doing things, or invent new techniques. Microfilmmakers were among the first to shoot movies on video.
History
Beginning with the home video revolution in the 1980s, Hollywood and mainstream media companies have undergone a radical transformation. The number and variety of platforms for producing, distributing, and viewing films have expanded with the development of technologies such as the Internet, DVDs, high-definition video, video on demand, digital video recorders, and mobile devices. The rapid evolution has wreaked havoc with the traditional Hollywood model and has opened the door for new talent.
As recording technology advanced, cameras became less expensive, more accessible, and easier to operate, leading to more widespread adoption among American households. This development reflected a shift in filmmaking that Francis Ford Coppola commented on, stating, “The great hope is that...some little fat girl in Ohio is going to be the new Mozart and make a beautiful film.”
Home video camcorders and the 1980s VHS rental boom also let micro-budget directors shoot feature-length shot-on-video (SOV) films, particularly horror movies, with neither film stock nor studio money; for instance, Chester Novell Turner recorded Tales from the QuadeaD Zone (1987) on consumer video gear and distributed the VHS tapes himself.
Independent film company Troma Entertainment (founded in 1974) also backed do-it-yourself production and resource sharing; co-founder Lloyd Kaufman published Make Your Own Damn Movie! (2003) as a low-budget filmmaking manual, while Troma's TromaDance Film Festival (founded in 1999) screened independent entries with no submission fees.
Affordable digital cameras, home editing software, and online video sites such as YouTube further fueled “do-it-yourself” user-generated video production, and the micro-budget film was born. Producers and directors began making full-length feature films on budgets as low as several thousand dollars, usually borrowed from friends and family.
Financing
Stacey Parks, author of The Insider's Guide to Independent Film Distribution, talks about using a wide variety of tools to help micro-filmmakers finance their projects. There are four main ways: private equity, crowd funding, tax incentives, and sponsorship.
Market impact
The success of the micro-budget film Paranormal Activity in fall 2009 has given a stamp of legitimacy to micro-filmmaking. Given the contraction of advertising revenues in television, the severe decline in DVD sales of major motion pictures (which generally results in approximately 50% of a film's revenues), the reduced markets for Hollywood products internationally and the skyrocketing production costs of some mainstream films, translates into a reduction in movies made.
