Hiring local film students for your filmmaking projects, be it short or feature-length, can reap many benefits. Two major benefits of hiring local students include budget savings and reliability. That’s because students work for cheap, oftentimes for free as interns, just to get their feet in the filmmaking industry.
The amount of resources required to get a film on the silver screen can be intimidating for a newcomer. Savvy industry experts understand just how much work it takes to create an awesome movie. Budget aside, every film requires:
- Crew
- Editing
- Actors
- Transportation
- Equipment
- Locations
- And much more…
It’s impossible for any budding filmmaker to achieve all of these goals solo. There are many reasons why hiring local students for filmmaking projects on a low budget is worth considering. Here are a few you should keep in mind.
Keeps Your Project in Line with Your Budget
Budgeting is necessary for your movie projects, no matter how big or small. It encompasses the costs of what is necessary for completing your film. You need to keep track of the resources needed once filming is over. There will still be things to do, such as editing and funding to enter your final project into film festivals.
It’s highly recommended not to edit your film yourself, especially if you’re not skilled at it. Overworking yourself on your movie-making project will harm the quality of your final product. Hire local editors for the video and local mixers for the sound. It adds value to your project’s budget.
Local college and trade school students are eager to get to work doing what they’ve been trained to do. They actively pursue and improve their crafts and have yet to make names for themselves. Yet, they have the potential to become great film editors with enough experience.
Cost-effectiveness is important to you. This is why hiring local film students to edit can be a blessing to your wallet. They work for cheap, and you may even be able to find reliable interns!
Maybe the lower price causes you to doubt hiring local students is a worthy investment. Well, it’s a compromise to save you a bit of money and a ton of stress. You may find a student editor with potential and want to bring him/her onto your next project or hire her/him full-time!
Passion Is Key to Success
How you produce your project is determined by where your passion takes you. The desire to see your final vision completed is tied to the effort you put into it overall. This may sound basic to you, but the energy you radiate pursuing your passion inspires the people working with you as a whole.
When you invest in your film crew, they invest back. The people you seek should be looking for opportunities to help their careers in the long run, not just for today. They look for projects to help them improve their skills and find their places in the film industry.
That is exactly what you get when you hire students from local colleges. Students feed off of passion and use it to inspire them and help them transform your visions into powerful films. They won’t find an opportunity in a project that oozes laziness or apathy.
Instead, you’ll find that you’ve hired someone with drive and a desire to work hard. It’s important to them to see a successful finished product they can brag about being a part of in the end. When you work to transform a creative vision into something great, you will find that your crew, including your students and interns, are just as excited.
Plus, hiring local students for your filmmaking projects allows you to give back to your community. Now, that’s something to be passionate about!
Limitations Reduce Unpredictable Factors
Many people believe the more money a film has to work with, the better it’s going to be when it’s complete. No film is guaranteed to be a success based on the budget alone. Its success is based on the quality of the script and the direction.
There’s something to be said about the power of limitations in the creative process. Jack White, previously of The White Stripes, believes restrictions help create something memorable. Anyone can make a CGI dinosaur nowadays.
But, doing something in the film industry on a lower budget catches people’s attention more if you do it cleverly. Style is a major way to embrace the limitations of your film.
Limitations should be kept in mind when you look for actors for your project. Filming fresh new actors can be a bit hands-on and time-consuming. Focus on their strengths to help your creative vision through an emphasis on style rather than rigid realism.
Play your actors’ strengths. Don’t try to change them into someone they’re not. This helps them and yourself to better understand their goals in playing their characters. Your style creates a better project because of you are thinking under pressure.
If the entire idea of creating casting calls and interviewing potential actors sounds like a long, tedious process, you’re absolutely right. That’s why many film producers turn to interns and students to handle this for them.
Quality, skilled film students know how to look at the skills of an actor. They understand the casting process and how to choose the right actors for your cast.
You can allow them to handle all the mundane tasks related to the initial casting process, including eliminations. Then, you simply swoop in and help once the potentials have been limited down to just a couple of candidates per character!
How to Find Local Students for Your Filmmaking Projects
Interested in looking into this underrated demographic of hiring students for your filmmaking project? There are a few ways to start your search for local students and interns to get your movie project up and running.
Teaching Is Networking
One way to find students to help produce your movie is to teach or volunteer at a local film school. You can build relationships with your students to aid their understanding and enthusiasm for the field of filmmaking. This can also drum up interest in your project. Your students will be more than eager to help, even as unpaid interns.
Having summers off is an additional plus to have time to film and produce your projects. Best of all, most film schools allow you to use their gear. And, if it’s a quality film school, the gear will be cutting-edge. This saves you money on buying production equipment and software programs.
Contact Your Local Film School
Calling a local film school will get you in contact with some of its best students who are already prepared to get to work. Most have job boards and internship programs you can get involved with or hire through.
Film students are looking to improve their resumes during their educational experiences. Listing your project as something they worked on helps them in the long run. It adds to their professional portfolios while improving their filmmaking skills.
This is especially true if you have the passion behind your project to make it a big deal. There are many benefits of working with interns and students. They have true desires to learn and work efficiently while they try to prove themselves in the industry.
Hire Local Film Students Near Orlando, Florida
F.I.R.S.T. Institute of Orlando, Florida, trains its film students through actual filmmaking projects. The film school’s Digital Filmmaking & Video Production program teaches students broadcast, video production, and HD cinema production. Students learn in a hands-on environment using cutting-edge technology.
Every student must create a movie from start to finish, working in teams and solo. Hiring local students and interns from F.I.R.S.T. means gaining quality crew members who really know their stuff.
Ready to find out what F.I.R.S.T. Institute’s students and graduates have to offer your Florida filmmaking project? Our Career Development Counselors are available to answer any questions you have. Call F.I.R.S.T. at (888) 9-FIRST-1 or click here to contact us online now.
