by Simon Aldous

Earlier this year, with my film-making partner Robin Morgan, I completed my second feature film Life Classes, made in my spare time for £10,000. Twenty years ago that would have been something to truly brag about. When Robert Rodriguez made El Mariachi for $7,000 people were disbelieving. But with the availability of inexpensive video cameras and editing software, the price barrier to making a feature has melted away – now all you need is an idea and stamina. Lots of stamina.

From initial concept to finished film, Life Classes took five years. Somewhere in the middle of that was a 15-day shoot, which is where most of the money got spent. The first two and a half years comprised the writing and the planning; the last two and a half have been spent in an agonisingly slow post-production process.

Eight years previously we made a feature for £1,500. These Are Your Creams was set in Norfolk at the self-styled national pub quiz finals. It was the first film we’d made, and something we could have only done from a position of complete naivety about the vast scale of the task we were attempting. Continue reading Life Classes – Making a Low Budget Movie →