Awesome Low Budget

Movies and TV shows about space travel usually have a big budget for visual effects. Not so with this short film by Caroline Klidonas, who shot an entire short film about a doomed space mission without leaving her apartment. It’s the low-budget, low-gravity effects and Caroline’s commitment to the performance that really sell it. (Thanks, Rob!)

Anyone who’s watched Netflix has seen their familiar intro with their logo and the “ta-dum” sound. Animator Kevin Parry challenged himself to recreate the logo using stop-motion. He used yarn as his primary material for both the logotype and the colorful lines that emerge at the end of the sequence. Money shot at 5:27.

Independent filmmaker Danny Donahue set out to make a movie about time travel and dinosaurs. Despite having virtually no budget, he created an impactful short film that relies heavily on sound effects to build dramatic tension. Even more impressive is that Danny did the CGI himself with no prior knowledge of the tech. (Thanks, Rob!)

Ridley Scott’s 1979 film Alien still holds up as one of the best and scariest sci-fi movies ever. But what would it look like if he only had one minute and basic household objects to tell the story? The guys from Folks Films did just that, and we have to say they managed to capture all of the important plot points.

Stephen’s 8×6 Workshop created this silly low-budget short film about a man who protects a prehistoric creature who also happens to be a tool from his workshop. But when the baby calipersaurus cries out, its parents aren’t too happy with the situation. We love the TARDIS sound effects. (Thanks, Steph!)

Nebula-75 brings back the style of classic puppet serials like Thunderbirds and Fireball XL-5. Working with a remote pre- and post- production crew, a team of three from Century 21 Films is shooting the series in their small London flat, since they were living together when the lockdown started. Catch Episode 2 here.