Sketches from Adema's work. Working with a low-budget and limited equipment is problematic. But there are ways to get around it and make your first professional film a success. We talked to animation filmmaker Rene Adema about his film, "The Great Mind", and how he tackled problems about financing during producing his first success. F.A. Let's talk about "The Great Mind". A great animation with great music. How did you start working on it? R.A. Working on "The Great Mind" was an unforgettable experience that made me enjoy every single aspect of filmmaking. For the first time in my career, I was working with a budget. At first, I was only able to spend a few hundred dollars in order to buy some tools and equipment. Most of the financing was done by some close friends and myself. When I realized that there wasn’t enough money to produce an ambitious project like The Great Mind, I set out to seek some additional help. F.A. What did you do? R.A. At the time, I was working at a very small studio that produced corporate films. My boss was personally interested in this project. We started to meet every week to work on the project and I was allowed to use the studio equipment like the AVID editing station and a nice sound mixer on the weekends. Because I had a very limited amount of money, it was crucial that I worked in every department to produce this film. I did all the animation, editing, and sound mixing myself. F.A. What was the outcome? R.A. The experience I had with making this film gave me an entirely new vision and understanding on how to produce a complex project with incredible low costs. A few tips from Adema: "My new vision that makes my productions successful" * Enlarge your social circle – From my experience, producing films on a voluntary rather than a commercial basis leads to creating more social contacts. After a few years, I got a wide group of contacts. Once you become part of a filmmaker community, many things are within your reach and possible to achieve without depending on large budgets. You can do more with less money...and that is great. * Be in control – Since there is a limited amount of money, I have to do a lot of things by myself. So, as a producer and director, I have a wide-angle view on all aspects of the film. This way, it’s much easier to solve problems at an early state. * Work with different talents – During a production, I work with many different talented people. This leads me to learn a lot from other departments of filmmaking. Of course, we all get paid a little, but the knowledge you acquire on one project adds so much to the next one. You can watch "The Great Mind" here: www.filmannex.com/movie/independent/ReneAdema/the_great_mind/601 Interview prepared by Eren Gulfidan: www.filmannex.com/erengulfidan