r/LowBudgetFilmmaking

Boris celebrates his 1 year anniversary with his girlfriend Katie but there's a problem, she's somehow transformed herself into an earthworm.

Hey everyone! I’m a filmmaker in Texas, and my team and I are currently working to produce a sci-fi western short film called PARAGON.

The basic premise: a mercenary on a brutal wasteland planet gets caught up in a dangerous situation that forces him to confront the people and choices that brought him there.

Visually, we're going for a blend of classic westerns and grounded sci-fi — dusty frontier towns, practical costumes and props, wide-open landscapes, gunslingers, and a little bit of futuristic weirdness.

The goal is to shoot in West Texas, primarily around the Marfa/Terlingua/Big Bend area, which gives us a huge advantage when it comes to creating an alien-looking environment without having to build massive sets.

The interesting part: we're trying to make the film for around $25,000.

We've launched an Indiegogo campaign to help fund production, and we're currently raising money for locations, equipment, production design, costumes, transportation, food, post-production, and all the other wonderfully expensive things that come with making a movie.

We've already got several key pieces in place, including our core cast, cinematographer, AD, and producer, and we're currently pushing through pre-production.

Indiegogo:
https://www.indiegogo.com/en/projects/theparagonshortfilm

I'd love to hear from other low-budget filmmakers:

If you had $25K to make a sci-fi western short, where would you spend the money and where would you cut costs?

We're especially interested in hearing ideas around VFX, production design, locations, camera/equipment, and post-production.

Trying to make something that looks considerably more expensive than it actually is. 😅

Happy to answer questions about the project or our production approach!