How to Make a Short Film on a Small Budget
If you’re wondering how to make a short film but have limited resources, you’re in the right place.
Making a short film is still the best way to sharpen your skills, test your voice, and make something that’s yours.
When I shot my first proper short film, Swimmingpool, I had no budget. I was still in film school. Borrowing gear and filmed the entire short film in a rented cottage from Airbnb. The result wasn’t perfect — but it was finished. And I learned more in those production days than in months of lectures.
Making a short film is one of the best ways to learn filmmaking. Simply because it’s the fastest and most risk-free way of testing and developing your voice as a filmmaker. In terms of narrative, crafting a good ten-minute film is more challenging than making a feature-length movie. Mastering short-form storytelling will set you up for success in future, longer narratives.
1. Write a Script That Means Something to You
The idea for Swimmingpool came directly from my own life.
In my early twenties, I was caring for my father as he became ill and eventually passed away. It was overwhelming, confusing — and transformative.
So naturally, it became something I felt compelled to write about.
At first, I didn’t know how.
There were too many memories, too many emotions. I went through more than 100 drafts before I finally landed on something suitable for a short film idea.
I decided to write about one specific day: when he was moved into palliative care. That became the core of the film.
It’s a quiet reunion between a daughter and her dying father. No big speeches. Mostly silence, resistance, and a few unspoken regrets — the kind that hang in the air more than they’re spoken aloud.
📌 Tip: Think of your short film idea, not as a biography, but as a moment. “The Day X Happened”. Those ideas tend to work better when creating a short film. So you don’t try cramming in years of backstory.
Making a Movie Based on Personal Experience (But Make It Universal)
I usually write based on experiences from my own life.
Not because I necessarily want to share them, but because it’s efficient — and emotionally honest.
I already know the details.
I don’t have to research how it felt or what it looked like. Most importantly, I stay motivated, because I’m writing a film script that matters to me.
That doesn’t mean I’m just revealing stuff about my own life. The challenge with using your own life is turning the private into the personal — shaping your experience into something that communicates, not just reminisces.
In Swimmingpool, I wanted to show the quiet space between two people who know they’re saying goodbye. A proud old man facing the end of his life. A daughter reckoning with what they never said. No monologues. Just presence, tension, and vulnerability.
My goal was for the relationship to feel deeply relatable — and I believe the best way to achieve that is to start from something real. Your human experience is timeless, and will communicate across cultures.
📌 Tip: Real doesn’t mean literal. Don’t just tell us what happened — use the experiences you have when they’re relevant in the context of your film.
Let Images Carry the Story
If your story is clearly set up, with good exposition. You don’t need much dialogue. Film is a visual medium — lean into that.
Minimal dialogue made Swimmingpool easier to shoot. But it also made the emotion feel more raw. When people are grieving or holding back, they rarely speak in perfectly structured lines. The silence says more.
Writing good dialogue is hard. It’s one of the easiest ways for a short film to feel amateurish — especially if you’re rushing or under-resourced. So I kept it simple and let the visuals do the heavy lifting.
📌 Tip: If you’re not confident in your dialogue — or you’re low on time — say it with the camera instead.
Fewer Actors = Fewer Headaches
I’m not saying this because I don’t like actors. I love them — I’m an actor myself.
But the more actors you have, the more complicated your shoot becomes — especially in terms of communication, coordination, and emotional focus.
I kept Swimmingpool intentionally small: just two actors. That allowed us to go deeper, rehearse more, and maintain a focused energy on set.
Remember to work with your actors in advance so that you find a common language and develop a similar idea about where the characters are coming from. Even if you don’t have access to the shooting location, you can block the scene in a similar way.
I had one brief scene where my gaffer and sound recordist played extras (in the screenshot below). Using your crew can be a great way to add more production value without complicating your shoot with more people.
Once again, it was easy to bring my crew in as extras because of the way I wrote my story. I didn’t need any dialogue for exposition. I basically just needed them to stand in the shot.
And with the help of my photographer, we blocked and framed the shot so the situation was clear.
📌 Tip: For your first short film, fewer characters is almost always better. It gives you more control — and your actors more room to breathe.
2. Write for What You Already Have
I knew I could rent this house through Airbnb. So I wrote the script around that location. It wasn’t limiting — it was liberating. The house was the visual concept.
I wanted an atmosphere of nostalgia — a house that looked like it had seen better times.
The way the house looked, the surrounding forest, and how the light entered the cottage — all of it was perfect.
This also helped me with exposition, because it was easy to communicate that the daughter didn’t belong there anymore. Her costume set her apart from the surroundings.
📌 Tip: Make your film with resources you already have access to — locations, actors, props, houses, vehicles — and write around that. It’s not “cutting corners,” it’s smart indie filmmaking.
I had the goal of only shooting in one location. And we did shot almost everything there at the cottage.
Except for one scene that we filmed in my apartment’s bathroom. (The Airbnb toilet was way too small for actors and a camera operator.)
3. Build a Small, Passionate Team
No one got paid — but everyone cared. That’s what made it work.
Shooting a short film on a limited budget will be stressful at times, and handling that is part of the filmmaking process. But thanks to my crew — who actually cared about bringing the vision to life — we found solutions to the problems we encountered.
Motivating an unpaid cast and crew is tough. You need people who:
- Actually like your story
- Handle stress well
- Are conscientious — they take pride in their work
📌 Tip: You don’t need a big crew — you need the right crew. Filmmakers who believe in the story and want to collaborate.d the right crew. Filmmakers who believe in the story and want to collaborate.
4. Embrace Natural Light
We relied heavily on natural light, which helped us move quickly. But be warned: you need to plan around sunlight and weather. A few scenes ran late, and we lost our light.
Thanks to our gaffer, we could continue and mimic the dimmed sunlight with our lights.
There are many disadvantages to using natural light — for example, you’re very exposed to weather conditions. But in my opinion, the advantages of moving fast between scenes and having minimal setup time outweigh the disadvantages.
📌 Tip: Prioritize audio. Bad sound will ruin your film faster than shaky footage.
5. Plan Like Crazy — Then Let Go
I had a shot list. A schedule. Rehearsals. But of course, things went wrong.
We got stuck in traffic and lost several hours of shooting time. A prop broke. Someone got sick.
What saved us was the prep work. Unlike past projects, I actually used almost every scene we shot. Why? Because I’d spent so much time on the script, there was no fluff. Every scene had a purpose.
I also had a few scenes I knew I could live without if I had to. Thankfully, that didn’t happen — but knowing what scenes to remove in advance kept me from having to make hasty decisions on set.
📌 Tip: If you’re low on budget, be rich in preparation. Tight scripts save time — and time is money.
6. The Shoot: What Worked, What Didn’t
Some moments came together beautifully. Others… not so much. I learned how quickly time disappears on set, and how important it is to keep everyone focused and energized. I also learned that sometimes the most spontaneous shots are the best ones.
Learn to Look at the Takes
One of my biggest regrets? Not double-checking takes on set.
Some seemed fine — but in post, I saw soft focus, missed cues, and even birds drowning out key dialogue.
Don’t just keep moving. Check. Then move on.
And it takes nerves to be fully present, when looking at takes. Because everyone is waiting for you to tell them what the next move is.
📌 Tip: The most valuable 30 seconds on set might be the ones you spend reviewing playback.
Keep Your Crew Alive (Not Literally, But You Know)
Tight budget + high ambition = burnout, if you’re not careful.
Film shoots are exhausting. Your crew is giving up their time — so respect it. Keep days short. Feed people. Take breaks.
My shoots did run overtime on one of the days. And if that happens — fine. But make sure to compensate your crew in some way. Having good food on set is definitely a good start.
📌 Tip: The vibe on set will shape the final product. Good energy → better performances → better film.
7. Edit Like the Story Depends on It (Because It Does)
I think it’s good to leave some time between shooting and editing. That way you can look at the material with fresh eyes — because most likely, you will edit a new version of your film.
And if something isn’t advancing your story, you have to remove it — regardless of whether you spent half your budget and time on that single shot. The story is what matters in the end. Your audience doesn’t care how many resources you spent on a shot.
In filmmaking, there are always three versions of your film. You write the first one. Shoot the second. And the third is the one you edit.
Editing Swimmingpool was surprisingly easy. Probably because the script was so tight, which kept the shape mostly intact.
The first thing I noticed was that I could remove a lot of exposition from the dialogue. Thankfully, the pacing had a lot of pauses, so it was easy to trim.
I edited it myself in Premiere Pro — learning the hard way how rhythm, silence, and shot choices shape emotion.
It’s humbling to edit your own material. In the beginning, I felt like it didn’t hold up to my vision. But it was also thrilling.
Should you do the editing yourself? That’s a no-brainer for me. You wrote it, directed it, and probably produced it. You should have the final say — and most importantly, see what worked and what didn’t.
I actually ended up doing all the post-production for the sound as well. Which was less fun, but I had no other option. I recommend paying someone to help with that part, because it can get quite technical. You can hire someone pretty affordably on Fiverr, for example.
I didn’t use a lot of music or sound effects — I didn’t have the resources. And I didn’t feel like I needed them. My style of filmmaking is more minimalistic.
📌 Tip: Sleep on every cut. Watch it fresh the next day. Your future self is a better editor.
8. What I’d Do Differently Next Time
- Planning more time between takes
- Storyboard more clearly
- Record way more b-roll from the house and the closeby area
- Rehearse dialogue with actors
- Stress less. It’s supposed to be fun
9. Watch My Short Film: Swimmingpool
Here’s the result of that first experience:
It’s not perfect. But it’s done. And that’s what matters.
The film ended up winning the short film competition at Prague Film School, where I studied. And picked up awards at festivals across the US and Europe. More importantly, it led to creative collaborations that are still going strong today.
Some people who saw the film even reached out to me. Expressing how the film meant something to them. That feels so valuable.
10. Final Thoughts: Just Start – It’s Worth It
Making short films can be very hard — especially if you put yourself in a mess by not planning or organizing the project well.
But it can also be extremely fun, challenging, and lead to unexpected rewards and opportunities.
So start where you are. Write your own script. Tell the story you can tell. Make mistakes. Finish the damn thing.
That’s how you become a filmmaker.
