MovieChat Forums > Witchville (2010) Discussion > Don't have a budget? Then write a good s...

Don't have a budget? Then write a good story.

posted 15 years ago by sleeping_gorilla
8 replies | jump to latest

In the words of director Samuel Fuller:

"What makes a good movie? A story! What makes a good story? A story!"

I've seen movies with little to no budget that have pulled off good stories.
Recent examples would be M. Night Shamylan's movies The Sixth Sense and The Village. Both these films sport no big action scenes or special fx and yet tell very memorable human tales.

Most of Clint Eastwood directed movies would be considered low budjet. High Plains Drifter was filmed in 4 weeks.

A lesser known example would be the low budget movie TimeQuest. A film about a time traveler who creates an alternate timeline by stopping the JFK assasination.

Most Famously would be Star Wars, a low budget movie filmed with models and blue screen. Made with 10 million dollars. The first and greatest blockbuster ever?

What are your thoughts?

[–] 15 years ago

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[–] sleeping_gorilla 15 years ago

"Look beyond the end of your nose and actually appreciate things for what they are."

You really think Witchville was that good?

I invite you to look at the television series "Legend of the Seeker" Easy to be turned off by a painfully low budget show. The choreography and effects are about the same as Witchville. They don't even have as good a cast as Witchville had. However the show manages to suprise every episode with well realized characters and unexpected plots.

A good movie starts before the camera rolls.

[–] 15 years ago

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[–] tbonesays 12 years ago

I invite you to look at the television series "Legend of the Seeker"

sigh

[–] andreas-263 15 years ago

You have a very warped sense of what constitutes low budget. That being said, you are quite correct that story is king. If you have a good story, all you have to do during production is not *beep* things up. Normally this can be achieved by hiring decent actors and staying out of their way.

I'm about to have a look at this film, but can't say my expectations are very high.

[–] YanderePrime 14 years ago

You do realize this is a Syfy Original movie right?

"Fate rarely calls upon us at a moment of our choosing."

[–] Radalan 13 years ago

I've seen movies with little to no budget that have pulled off good stories.
Recent examples would be M. Night Shamylan's movies The Sixth Sense and The Village. Both these films sport no big action scenes or special fx and yet tell very memorable human tales.

Sixth Sense had a budget of 40 million and The Village 60 million.
That's not little to no budget. Neither was 10 million in the 70's.

What clichés? Thats a word the wannabe critics use when they want to whinge.

[–] sleeping_gorilla 12 years ago

"Sixth Sense had a budget of 40 million and The Village 60 million.
That's not little to no budget. Neither was 10 million in the 70's."

(looking through old posts)

I don't know why I mentioned the 6th sense which is obviously not a low budget movie. My point was that with a shoestring budget the 6th sense would have still been a very good movie because it had a solid script behid it

To be fair to this movie I made the effort to find Teo Perry's other film "Necromentia". Again, it has some great visuals, and looks much more expensive than it is. The story is slightly more coherent, but not by much. If you read the plot synopsis on wikipedia it still makes no sense and is almost a different film all together.

I think this guy is a talented second unit director but seriously lacks when it comes to telling a story on camera.