How to Make a Low Budget Horror Film

Making a low budget horror film is a great way for an aspiring filmmaker to gain experience. Depending on the film’s distribution, it may also be a way to get noticed by a producer with deep pockets and powerful contacts in Hollywood.

Instructions (Difficulty: Moderately Challenging)

Things You’ll Need:

* Screenplay
* Actors
* Video camera
* Financing

Step1
Figure out what kind of budget you have to work with, and plan your film around it. Decisions must made early on regarding what type of horror film you can afford to make. Above all, do a high estimate of costs to avoid going over budget.

Step2
Find a good script that you can work with, or write one yourself. A decent script is the backbone of any film, and this is no exception with horror movies. You can spend all your time on blood and gore, but without a good plot and believable characters your audience won’t care. Keep your locations to a minimum, and make sure you have access to locations. Get creative, and avoid the typical clichés found in the horror genre.

Step3
Cast your film according to the script you have chosen. If you’ve decided to make a campy, cheesy horror film, grab any actors who are willing to follow you on this journey for little to no pay. However, if you’ve chosen the high-concept horror script that depends on quality actors, then take the time (and what money you can afford) to nab the best actors you can find.

Step4
Purchase or rent a decent video camera that you are comfortable using. Some great horror movies have been shot on video instead of film, which is far more expensive. Research all of the cameras that are in your budget, and be sure to account for all of the filming situations called for in your script such as low lighting or wide angle shots.

Back in the days of “Clerks” and “Reservoir Dogs,” all action was shot on film and if you lived in places like Boise, Idaho, you were screwed because no one rented pro-level cameras. But now, almost every small-budget indie film is being shot on handheld digital hi-fi cameras—you can get a great rig at your local electronics store—you don’t even have to rent them anymore, you can just buy them. The other advantage to digital is no traditional film, and you can ask any film producer and they’ll agree, film will drain your budget almost immediately.

With digital, you can shoot and erase whenever you want.

Step5
Gather the materials needed for your special effects and make-up. Fake blood is easy to make with most recipes that you’ll find on the Internet consisting of food coloring and corn syrup. Get creative with your effects, like using ground beef to simulate mutilated flesh or condoms full of fake blood to simulate intestines and entrails.

Step6
Storyboard your film, and create a feasible shooting schedule that works for your cast and crew. Many horror movies are set at night so you need to account for some late night shooting schedules.

Step7
Edit your film using one of the computer-based editing programs out on the market today. Make sure to set the tone of your horror film during the editing process.

If the indie film you produced was shot on film (and if you’re a smart producer, it was), you don’t even need to rent an editing bay. If you have a good computer (it has to be a Mac in this case), you can load it with Apple’s Final Cut Pro. You’ll be able to professionally edit your film with synched sound and everything–it’s an amazing program. It’s a little difficult to learn at first, but if you can master it, you’re in business. It’s also expensive and if you don’t have a Mac, you can rent a editing suite with a Final Cut Pro rig and rent by the hour, day or week.

Tips & Warnings

* Using your friends for your cast and crew will cut down on production costs, and will also prevent you from having to deal with the attitudes of people you don’t know.
* Try to put your own flavor into your film instead of just duplicating what you’ve seen before in your favorite horror movies.