Can low budget sci-fi work?

I'm working on an indie sci-fi film I am Evangeline. The film follows the story of a clone trying to become a real human and reflects on the writer's own feelings and experience being adopted as a child.

I'm interested to know how viewers react to low-budget sci-fi: should we try and avoid any special effects or do people still enjoy non-CGI action?

I love movies with practical effects. It adds to the flavor.

It depends on how low you consider 'low-budget' to be...

__________________
Oxfords not brogues.

Good point, the movie operating budget is about $30,000 AUD partly raised through crowd-funding on pozible.

If the material is strong enough then it should shine through superficial flaws depending how forgivable your audience is. Then again you don't want to undermine the subject matter with inept production values. From your brief synopsis it sounds like you'll be able to keep special effects to a minimum and make this more of a human drama. Probably advisable considering the budget.

I'd imagine CGI would be a cheaper option for effects these days, especially if you know someone half decent on a laptop, who owes you a favour. Having said that cheap CGI always looks a hell of a lot worse than cheap practical effects to me. You can make models and prosthetic makeup look pretty amazing with the right lighting. I guess it all depends on the style and tone you are going for.

Yes low budget sci-fi can work; sometimes better than big budget films when the source material is outstanding, and exceptionally creative film makers are forced to use their imagination to adapt.

Your synopsis sounds a little like Bicentenial Man, A.I. Artificial Intelligence, D.A.R.Y.L., Android, and even Demon Seed. I wonder what your take will be.

__________________
100 Favourites From The Future: REWIRED

Yes, the synopsis is a bit like A.I. or Bicentenial Man, the latter wasn't a huge, special effects driven movie at all. With your budget at 30,000, you have the chance to create a more human sci-fi experience. Do you need the use of special effects, CGI or practical? Only use them if necessary.

Of course it can work but then the content of the film must be strong.

__________________
"Anything less than immortality is a complete waste of time."

Have you seen Liquid Sky (1982)? It was a low-budget sci-fi film - 500,000 dollars - that definitely worked for me.

Primer only cost $7,000 and had no F/X. I didn't really care for it, but plenty of people did.

__________________
It's what you learn after you know it all that counts. - John Wooden
My IMDb page

Ask the people at the SyFy channel. All of their movies look terrible.

__________________
You are no Vader. You are just a child in a mask.

Avoid the need of special effects that you can't pull off better not to have than to have it cheap

I think that is a good point - I know the director is really into experimenting with lighting and camera work, which is on the cheaper end of effects.

low budget sci fi is a tough thing to master I'd imagine...nothing comes to mind though.

Yeah i totally love primer.

Well, what I believe to probably be the best science fiction film of all time was a low budget film: Nausicaa was made on a budget of only 1 million dollars.

Though it was animation. If done in live action it would have cost at least 30-40 million dollars (given that another film set on a desert planet, Dune cost 40 million dollars and was made in the same year) and would have to sacrifice many of the elements used in the movie.

Here is the so you can check out the look and feel we are currently working with.

Hey, that looks good....enticing.

The plot seems Blade Runneresque with a spin.

If you are creative with locations and sets, you can do some cool stuff -- look at Sleeper by Woody Allen, he did very nicely with some locations that looked like futuristic sets-- some Universities, Corporate buildings etc look very futuristic.

__________________
Under-the-radar Movie Awesomeness.
http://earlsmoviepicks.blogspot.com/

I would avoid special effects if can't be done properly don't do it let the story just ride out. Nothing more distracting than bad special effects

ScyFi channel anwers the question with an unmistakable NOOOOOOOOO! Cheap=bad