I watched a documentary over a decade ago which followed Gareth Edwards as he was making the film Monsters. It was pretty revolutionary at the time as he was one of the first people to take advantage of DSLRs being able to shoot HD video and MacBook Pros getting to the level of computing power where you could do your own VFX. He managed to make a film that looked like it came out of Hollywood on equipment that in total cost less than $15,000. The on-set crew consisted of only seven people: Edwards himself, the two lead actors, a sound operator, a line producer, a fixer and a driver.

One of the documentary makers asked him why he had a dedicated sound guy; the rest of the production was so stripped back, there was no lighting guy, why a sound guy? Edwards responded that, as long as you’ve got a good story that keeps them hooked, the audience will forgive bad visuals but they won’t forgive bad sound. It’s a sentiment that I believe was also echoed by Robert Rodriguez in his low budget filmmaking days. Good sound is essential to keeping people tuned in and immersed in your video. It’s why the number one thing recommended to any YouTuber starting out is “get a good microphone”.

The graphics are 80% of the way there now. Weather and character animation still needs work but the most bang for the buck might now have swung round to sound design.