Mind Blowing F/X for Cheap in “Monsters”

A student in Film School Secrets just told me about an impressive indie movie called “Monsters” by Gareth Edwards. The film is a sci-fi action flick about an alien invasion in the Earth. Now, that’s not a terribly original concept and would probably spell “crappy movie” for most indie filmmakers.

What’s amazing about this movie is that is was done for well under $500K and it looks like a studio movie. Director Gareth Edwards did most of the Special Effects himself using Adobe Zbrush and Autodesk software that you can download yourself for less than the cost of one class in film school. The film equipment itself cost LESS THAN $15,000. (Less than a semester at New York Film Academy, USC, or NYU).

The movie was shot on location in South America, which definitely added to the production value. But the innovation and balls this guy had to just make his movie and do the effects himself, rather than hoping to get a big budget and a studio to do them for him, is remarkable.

He literally had to create over 250 effects shots alone, in his bedroom, hunched over his computer. We’re talking major effects shots of MONSTERS, alients, the kind of shit you see in big budget movies released during the summer. What’s amazing is that he pulled it off. I’m not suggesting you have to do this for your movie, but it should shift your perspective. If you’ve ever had a project that you wanted to make but used money as an excuse, that excuse is out the window. As Edwards himself says “”You can go in the shop now and you can buy a laptop that’s faster than the computers they made Jurassic Park on”.

If you want to think like Edwards and start making your own movies now instead of blowing your budget on a class in film school, make sure to check out Film School Secrets.

And here is a trailer of Edward’s movie, which was eventually released through Magnolia pictures:

And the link to the movie’s official page is monstersfilm.com.

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