The budget for Absentia was raised through crowd funding on Kickstarter.com, a fantastic site for no- and low-budget filmmakers to raise the funds needed for their projects. The original budget for Absentia, as listed on Kickstarter, was $15,000, but after the 30 day funding drive, the filmmakers had exceeded that amount, raising over $25,000! I highly recommend going to their Kickstarter page (http://thefivedrive.blogspot.com), reading their pitch to potential donors, and watching all the promo videos they put together. The videos are hilarious (nothing is more appealing than truly talented people who can make fun of themselves) and show what’s possible with a little imagination and clever selling techniques.
As to how the money was used, I think all the movie’s donors got their money’s worth. Using a Canon 5D Mark II, Flanagan and his DP, Cerveny, were able to create a cinematic look using primarily available light. And while the Canon is able to capture a nice depth of field for that extra “movie look”, this technique wasn’t overused. Along with the Canon, money was spent on a camera package that included a 35mm Lens adapter, Steadicam, Glidecam, and a homemade DSLR rig.
Additionally, a third of the budget went to that most important of areas—sound. The money was spent on both production and post-production sound, and it goes without saying (although I’m about to) that a film can only benefit from great sound. A movie with subpar images (see Paranormal Activity or The Blair Witch Project), but excellent sound can win over an audience. However, if the reverse is true, and the movie has great images but crappy sound, you’ll lose your audience every time.
Besides camera and sound, the budget also included location permits and another important category craft services.
I know, I know. We seem to drive this point home a lot here at MicroFilmmaker, but that’s because many of us have either worked on a set where the only available grub included stale bagels and questionable cream cheese, or made the near-tragic mistake of not feeding those good folks who so generously gave of their free time to help us on our projects.
