Testament: Mastering and Transcending the Microbudget Model for a Feature Film

Testament is a feature film serving as part of Tim Ritter's thesis requirements for earning a Master of Fine Arts in the Entrepreneurial Digital Cinema program at the University of Central Florida. The film follows a bitter former follower of a marginally popular social-justice movement who must keep the movement alive after its mysterious leader is killed violently and publicly. The drama, set in an fictional land known as The Commonwealth, presents a modern-day retelling of the life of St. Peter in the years after the death of Jesus, creating a new context for familiar Biblical tales and morals while also examining the high personal costs of changing the world. Testament has been produced for well under $50,000 as part of the microbudget requirements of the UCF Film program. In creating an epic with minimal resources, innovation has filled the void left by most films' higher budgets, with the crew recycling a small number of locations to serve as several different locations and using a large cast sparingly to avoid becoming overly reliant on many actors who aren't getting paid. This document details the theories and methodology behind the preparation and planned production of the film, as well as the approach planned for its distribution.

Author dc:creator

• Ritter, Timothy

Contributors dc:contributor

• Mills, Lisa

• Entrepreneurial digital cinema
• testament
• microbudget film
• Film and Media Studies

Language dc:language

English

Identifier

CFE0005702

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:stars.library.ucf.edu:etd-2300