Make your own movie for free

April 22, 2:48 PMDenver Indie Movie ExaminerAngela Fleenor

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Don't worry if yours is smaller. Buy a fancy car and no one will notice.

Movie tickets are still expensive.  According to the National Organization of Theatre Owners, the average ticket price in 2008 was $7.18.  That’s 30 cents more than 2007.  

Movies do well in economic downturns.  It has been hypothesized that this is because people feel the importance of entertainment and distraction when they have monetary worries.  If you don’t want to go alone, however, and you want a bite to eat, one evening’s worth of entertainment could cost you around $20.

What’s a person to do?  Money’s tight, but boredom is still a factor.

Make your own movie!  Not only will you spend hours filming and putting the movie together, but you could also spend hours writing the thing, which will probably cost you absolutely nothing but time and effort.  

You only need a few things to get you started, and you can find them all for free:

1) A camera.  This is pretty important.  Got a webcam?  That’ll do ya.  Do you have an old-school camcorder?  Perfect!  You can even buy a digital camcorder for $17 nowadays—that’s less than a night at the movies.  If you’re really feeling adventurous, you can even use your cell phone.

2) Someone to operate said camera.  You could do it, or you could enlist a friend for added entertainment value.

3) Actors.  Again, you could be your own thespian, or you could make a friend do it.  If you can laugh at yourself, then act.  If you prefer to laugh at others, make someone else.

4) Ideas.  You don’t need to explore the inner darkness of Nazi war criminals, although if you do you get a bonus gold star.  Some of the most popular YouTubers do silly, ridiculous comedies.  There’s a place for all sorts of things.  You also don’t need script-writing software.  A script can be anything you want it to be, as long as it communicates some basic idea of what you want.  You can even go without.

5) A way to edit.  You can edit on camera by recording takes over each other until you are satisfied.  This is messy, but doable.  Otherwise, you can use iMovie if you have a Mac, or Windows Movie Maker if you have a PC.  You can also download a program.  Here is a guide.

That’s all you need.  Assemble it all, and meet me back here later for more ideas.