The Change Mariner

Digital Filmmaking and Low Costs

Wired News

Filmmaker Robert Rodriguez:

... His high-profile decision is groundbreaking for a simple reason: He spent a fraction of the money studios usually spend on films. Spy Kids 3-D cost $29 million -- less than the $37 million he spent on the original Spy Kids-- despite the fact that it had 1,400 effects shots and 90 percent of it was shot in 3-D, something never before attempted on a major-release film. To see it, you'll have to don special glasses handed out at theaters.

Mexico cost about the same and was shot in just five weeks -- an unheard of time frame for shooting an epic film.

The average Hollywood film costs as much as $60 million to make. Terminator 3 starring Arnold Schwarzenegger cost $175 million. It will likely make a handy profit -- domestic box office is $118 million so far, and that's not counting sizable foreign sales, TV rights, DVDs and video -- but Warner Bros. would have taken a bath if it had flopped. And many big-budget films do.

... The real reason he loves high-definition tape is the creative freedom it gives him. Since he can see how a shot looks in real time, rather than waiting for the film to be developed, he can dispense with re-shoots or shooting a scene 17 times to make sure he nails it. Tape is so cheap he doesn't have to yell "Action!" He can just keep the camera rolling and let actors feel natural