Movie magic can happen surprisingly fast. Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re looking at movies that were shot in a month or less, but left an impact that would endure for years.
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00:00Hey, you're supposed to be the fastest thing in the valley, man, but that can't be your car. It must be your mama's car.
00:05Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're looking at movies that were shot in a month or less, but left an impact that would endure for years.
00:12Rushing or dragging?
00:13Rushing.
00:14So you do know the difference!
00:17Number 10, Birdman, shot in 30 days.
00:20You're doing this because you're scared to death, like the rest of us, that you don't matter.
00:25And you know what? You're right. You don't.
00:28Birdman is shot to look like one continuous take, with characters constantly on the go.
00:32As such, production was anything but sluggish.
00:34Business Insider and The Hollywood Reporter claim it was a 30-day shoot,
00:38although producer John Lesher says it was more like 29.
00:41Either way, the turnaround was quick, but the movie wasn't mapped out overnight.
00:44Each action had to be meticulously staged, with every participant, from the cinematographer to the actors, in sync.
00:50What? We cannot do that!
00:52Of course we can do that! It's our show!
00:54If you flubbed a line or missed a step, it ruined the whole shot.
00:57The filmmakers spent months blueprinting and blocking the film, while the cast had ample time to rehearse.
01:02That's not to say the shoot went flawlessly, but the careful planning paid off with a Best Picture Oscar.
01:06This is weird, but it's kind of cool.
01:08Yeah, what do you think?
01:09Yeah, I think people liked it.
01:10Yeah.
01:11Number 9, Rocky, shot in 28 days.
01:14Why do you want to fight?
01:16Because I can't sing or dance.
01:18Ay-yo!
01:19Struggling to find work, Sylvester Stallone wrote himself the role of a lifetime.
01:23Fueled by Muhammad Ali and Chuck Wepner's championship match, Stallone scribed the first draft for Rocky in about three days.
01:29The script evolved over time, but it wasn't long until Rocky was being shopped around.
01:33Stallone had one demand, he would play the titular boxer.
01:36Hey, you gotta be a moron.
01:38You gotta be a moron to want to be a fighter, you know what I mean?
01:42Although United Artists wanted an established actor like Robert Redford, the studio ultimately agreed to Stallone's terms.
01:47Without a bankable star, Rocky was given a budget of barely $1 million and filmed in 28 days.
01:52What Stallone described as the gestation time for a water bug.
01:56The underdog movie went the distance, becoming 1976's highest grossing release, winning Best Picture and starting a franchise that's still going strong.
02:03I love you!
02:04I love you!
02:05I love you!
02:06I love you!
02:07I love you!
02:10Number 8, Moonlight, shot in 25 days.
02:13That right there, you're in the middle of the world.
02:18The genesis of Moonlight traces to 2003, when Terrell Alvin McCraney wrote a semi-autobiographical play.
02:24About a decade later, Barry Jenkins used the play as a basis for his script, incorporating many of his life experiences.
02:30Although Moonlight spent years coming to fruition, the shoot lasted 25 days.
02:34Andre Holland, who plays the adult Kevin, had 5 days to film his scenes.
02:37Naomi Harris had even less time, shooting her scenes as Chiron's mother in 3 days.
02:42So you ain't gotta love me, but you gonna know that I love you.
02:47The most iconic moment where Mahershala Ali's wand teaches Chiron to swim, wrapped after 90 minutes due to unforeseen stormy weather.
02:54Like Chiron, Moonlight went a long way in a relatively short period, winning Best Picture and making back over 40 times its $1.5 million budget.
03:02At some point, you gotta decide for yourself who you want to be.
03:08Can't let nobody make that decision for you.
03:11Number 7, Get Out, shot in 23 days.
03:14You know I can't give you the keys, right babe?
03:16Jordan Peele's evolution from comedian to master of horror began with Get Out, which showed how the two genres are closer than we assume.
03:23Unable to take advantage of a California tax rebate, Peele moved production to Alabama, where principal photography occurred over 23 days.
03:30Peele spent more time crafting the screenplay than he did behind the camera.
03:33The idea came to him almost a decade earlier, while watching the Democratic primaries.
03:37By the way, I would have voted for Obama for a third term if I could. Best president in my lifetime, hands down.
03:44He spent the next five years fleshing out the story.
03:46It wasn't until he met producer Sean McKittrick in 2013 that Peele was commissioned to write a script, finishing the first draft in two months.
03:53The final script won Peele an Oscar, while Get Out grossed over $250 million on $4.5 million.
03:59You were one of my favorites.
04:02You hear that, Chris? Huh? One of my favorites.
04:07Number 6, Clerks, shot in 21 days.
04:10You're just trying to scrape out a living.
04:12Excuse me, I don't mean to interrupt, but what are you talking about?
04:15Clerks was shot in black and white on an initial budget of $27,575.
04:20Writer-director Kevin Smith didn't have to spend much time location scouting, using the convenience store he worked at as the main backdrop.
04:26So it's not surprising that Smith wrapped the shoot in 21 days, plus two extra for minor additional footage.
04:31Smith probably could have finished the film even quicker if it weren't for an exhausting schedule.
04:35You're not even supposed to be here today.
04:37I know. I stopped by your house. Your mom told me you left like at 6 or something.
04:42Since the Quick Stop was open during the day, Smith could only shoot there between 10.30 p.m. and 5.30 a.m.
04:47Smith had to be back at work by 3 p.m., giving him a narrow window to sleep.
04:51Yet, Clerks was a cultural awakening for every aspiring filmmaker with limited resources.
04:56See? It's important to have a job that makes a difference, boys.
04:59Number 5, Halloween, shot in 20 days.
05:02You know, it's Halloween. I guess everyone's entitled to one good scare, huh?
05:05Before becoming a decade-spanning franchise, Halloween was a scrappy little production.
05:09It had no established stars, although newcomer Jamie Lee Curtis wasn't a stranger to Hollywood royalty.
05:14The film cost roughly $300,000.
05:16$1.98 of that budget went toward a Captain Kirk mask for Michael Myers.
05:21John Carpenter had four weeks to complete principal photography, shooting for 20 days.
05:25I have the feeling that you're way off on this.
05:27You have the wrong feeling.
05:29The film's opening from Michael's POV would be the last scene they shot.
05:33It was also possibly the hardest to shoot, with the crew doing nearly 20 takes over 16 hours.
05:38They likely would have done more if the sun didn't come up.
05:40While the sun had set on production, a new era of horror was rising with Halloween,
05:44still being the gold standard for slashers.
05:46What's the Boogeyman?
05:53As a matter of fact, it was.
05:56Number 4, Whiplash, shot in 19 days.
06:00There are no two words in the English language more harmful than good job.
06:07Everything about Whiplash goes together harmoniously,
06:09from Damien Chazelle's direction, to Tom Cross's editing, to the pitch-perfect performances.
06:14We can't imagine the film without J.K. Simmons or Miles Teller.
06:17Neither could Chazelle, but because of Teller's tight schedule, they'd only have 19 shooting days.
06:21This gave Teller little time to learn the drums.
06:24Not quite my tempo. It's all good. No worries. Here we go.
06:28The casting crew made the most of their 18-hour work days.
06:34Nothing would slow Chazelle down, including a car accident that gave him a possible concussion.
06:38Even after shooting, the filmmakers had just about a month to edit Whiplash
06:41if it was going to meet the deadline for Sundance submissions.
06:44As stressful as the production was, the $3.3 million film made it to Sundance, and eventually the Oscars.
06:49Lehman, you weren't a part.
06:58You know, during the day, people want to hear songs they know, just songs that they recognize.
07:02I mean, otherwise I wouldn't make any money.
07:04Once is about as humble as movies get.
07:06Just as the central characters are trying to make beautiful music with what little they have,
07:09something similar could be said about the filmmakers.
07:12With an $150,000 budget, director John Carney invested some of his own money
07:16and even forwent a salary to pay the leads.
07:19That would be nice.
07:21Would it?
07:22Be interesting.
07:23Would it?
07:24The only thing tighter than costs was the 17-day shooting schedule.
07:28Carney said,
07:32This shines, though, in the finished film, which is equally intimate and passionate.
07:36The little movie went far, showing a profit of almost $20 million at the box office,
07:40receiving Oscar gold for the song Falling Slowly, and inspiring a Tony-winning stage musical.
07:45A f***ing fantastic story.
07:48That'd be it, no question.
07:54Life becomes habitual, and it is today.
07:57For many audiences in 1981, this $475,000 arthouse film redefined what cinema can be.
08:04The film is essentially a long conversation between two people.
08:07Sometimes it's not even that, with the titular Andre doing most of the talking,
08:10as Wally nods along, hanging on every word.
08:13You know, in Sanskrit, the root of the verb to be is the same as to grow or to make grow.
08:18Huh.
08:20According to director Louis Mal, the film took 16 days to shoot,
08:24but the actors spent six months rehearsing.
08:26Even with all this prep time, shooting days could take up to 12 hours
08:29with every scene being done multiple times.
08:31By the day's conclusion, actor Andre Gregory says he was hyperventilating from all that talking.
08:36The film also sparked numerous conversations,
08:38receiving critical acclaim, grossing over $5 million,
08:41and ushering in a new age of experimental storytelling.
08:44In other words, I'm adequate to do any sort of a task,
08:47but I'm not adequate just to be a human being.
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09:12Did you go get the camera first?
09:14Yeah, well, I thought it was a ghost or something like real scary.
09:18I'm nearly losing my mind and you're grabbing the camera.
09:20When people think of found footage,
09:22the Blair Witch Project and Paranormal Activity immediately come to mind.
09:25Both proved that this genre could not only be extremely profitable,
09:29but these movies could be produced in a snap.
09:31Blair Witch Project was shot in eight days.
09:33Paranormal Activity beat it by one.
09:35For a week, stars Katie Featherston and Mika Sloat
09:38basically lived at director Oren Peli's house with the crew.
09:41While shooting, Peli also kept busy editing and developing the special effects.
09:50Although the actors returned for additional shoots,
09:52the bulk of the film was shot in those seven days.
09:54It'd be a couple of years until Paranormal Activity received a wide release,
09:57but once it did, the $15,000 film exploded into a phenomenon.
10:01And I'm sorry, I don't mean to burst your bubble,
10:04but the camera hasn't helped and the stupid footprints haven't helped.
10:07Do you think that thing would have left footprints if it didn't want to? No.
10:10Can you think of any other successful movies with rapid production periods?
10:14Waste no time telling us in the comments.
10:16I have to believe in a world outside my own mind.
10:19I have to believe that my actions still have meaning,
10:21even if I can't remember them.
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