One of the
purposes of making The Threat of the Mummy was to see just what could be
done with easily obtainable, moderately priced equipment on virtually no production
budget. Jacobs found a clearance sale on a discontinued Sony Digital 8
camcorder for about $500. He borrowed a TASCAM digital audio tape recorder,
Alesis mixer, plus several professional quality microphones, cables, and
lights to augment the microphones and lights he already had. He finally
abandoned his attempt to edit the footage on his laptop computer in order to
purchase a turnkey dedicated nonlinear editing workstation, as it was far less
than the cost of renting the necessary 200+ hours of editing time at a commercial
postproduction company. He used Adobe Premiere 6.0 on a dual-processor 1.7 GHz
Pentium 4 system with 1 GB of RAM, a 40 GB root drive, a 300 GB four-disk IBM
ATA Raid for A-V files, a Matrox 2500 real-time video card, and a Lynx audio
card for capturing digital audio. The total equipment investment, including computer,
camera, tripods, VCRs, monitors, lights, etc., was well under $10,000, and is
not included in the budget for the production itself, which was under $1000. An
additional $700 or so went towards duplication costs (blank tapes, video cases,
labels, color covers, etc.) and film festival entry fees. Roughly half the
basic production budget was spent on props and materials for a few special
costumes. About a quarter went for blank digital video and audiotapes (20
hours’ worth each), and the remainder covered laser printer supplies for all
the scripts and production forms. Thus, Jacobs notes, “Anyone with the time,
energy, and inclination —plus a few thousand dollars or so for basic equipment
(substantially less if equipment can be borrowed)— can make a full-length
movie. A major factor is an enthusiastic group of dedicated volunteers to serve
as cast and crew.”