Lately, we keep hearing the advice to grab an iPhone and just start shooting a movie. Well, that’s exactly what the team behind The Mountain Murder Tapes did. Not only was filming very simple, but they kept post-production really scrappy and distributed their project on TikTok!

In today’s episode, No Film School’s GG Hawkins speaks with Jacob Seltzer, Benjy Steinberg, and Spencer Levin to discuss:

The inspiration behind the project - “Blair Witch meets Ski Mountain”
Why the actors were the cinematographers
The natural progression of events from different character perspectives
Having a digestible number of POVs in the project
Using improvised versions over the scripted versions
Their very low-tech process of filming and editing
Using a hook in each episode versus a cliffhanger
Why a project like this is so accessible for scrappy filmmakers

Memorable Quotes

“We were in touch with the creepy nature of nature.” [3:35]
“We wanted to get back to the roots of our indie filmmaking and get scrappy.” [4:19]
“It was an experiment in cinematography as much as storytelling.” [5:15]
“So many shots were stolen. We upped the production value of the project by going into places we probably shouldn’t be.” [14:17]
“Within the first second, you have to hook the audience.” [22:56]