Without wanting to give away too much about what went on behind the curtain in the Emerald City (actually a small garage in Venice, California), I think there's something to learn from our experience making these webisodes.  We set out to make something both entertaining and truly constructive.  In the process, we got schooled (and entertained) ourselves.  It's been a vivid reminder that the fun of moviemaking has less to do with the size of the budget than with our quality of preparation and the creative strength of our ideas.

When we started these webisodes, our plans were grand.  For Episode 2 (The 5 Luchadors Vs The Bad Essay), we wanted to film an actual LUCHA LIBRE wrestling match in Anaheim, employ real wrestlers, and shoot in many locations all over Los Angeles.  As we began to realize the reality of our budget limitations, we concluded that the more we could accomplish in that garage the better.  Coming to this conclusion was a gradual and sometimes painful process.

These limitations turned out to be a tremendous blessing in disguise (as limitations often turn out to be).  We had to figure out how to shoot most of our ideas on a small, fifteen-by-eight foot set.  We realized that using a few props can be more expressive than using too many. We got creative with the lights we had (aided by an amazing gaffer, Brent Bye, whose contribution cannot be overstated).  Basically, we loosened up our process, adapted our plans, and often came up with ideas on the spot using the resources we had rather than bemoaning the resources we didn't.

I am amazed at how much fun we had with a smoke machine, sock puppets, funny actors willing to improv, two toy cars, a wicker basket turned upside down to look like an apocalyptic thunderdome, and a little device we got from Wooden Nickel (a great lighting/grip vendor company here in Los Angeles) called the "Magic Gadget" which makes lights flicker like lightning, fire, etc.  This was only fun because we had become more effective as a team.  Even now, a few months after we finished shooting everything, I am an adamant believer in the importance of creative flexibility.  You can produce any idea for any budget as long as you are creative and flexible.

So as we approach the middle of our eight webisode series, we hope you notice us having more and more fun as we learned how to effectively use the available resources.

Best Always,

Craig Hammill
Writer/Director/Co-Editor
http://www.curiousproductions.com