Ranjanakiran Productions

I started my involvement in films as an actor, turned into a writer and then decided to make short films on my own amusing stories. As a writer I created a character of Billy Moore, a jolly old man now. He had many amusing stories in his life. I wrote 8 stories-4 to be shot indoors and 4 to be shot outdoors. There was nobody to finance me as I had no background as a film maker. Nobody listened to me being an international award winning actor and a writer with good stories which can be easily filmed with minimum of casts, scenes, locations and other requirements. Hence, I had to invest my hard earned money. Though filming in India is relatively economical, even to put $ 800 for 3 short films with a total duration of 12 minutes of screen time was a strain on my resources.

So, I started writing the scripts with great care. It has to be performance oriented, with just me as a lead character of Billy Moore and few other characters, a single location for all 3 films and to be completed in a day. I had to minimize on camera hiring expenses but it has to be a HD, on crew, and all other expenses. But not to compromise on lighting. Took young  directors, just passed out with a single credit and  DP with a similar background.

We started with a call time of 6AM, camera rolling at 8AM, no retake (we had decided earlier and hence had numerous rehearsals) and finished at 9.30PM.

2 out of these 3 films- "Billy & The Kid" and "Billy Goes Out" are here on this site and the 3rd one will be loaded soon. Some of you may comment on the technical aspects and excellence but every film maker doesn't have thousands and millions though he/she understands what a technological excellence is.

Therefore, my conclusion if you have limited resources: 1/ A good gripping story based on few scenes, locations(eg indoors) and few characters 2/ Screen play with minimum of shot divisions, dialogs, focusing on the characters and scope for a great performance.3/ Few costumes and props. 4/ No makeup. 5/ Number of good rehearsals at your/friend's house. 6/ Minimum or no retake. 7/ Rationalizing on technological requirements and finally great pre and post production planning.

http://amusingfilms.weebly.com