Can no budget = Qualtiy entertainment?

I watch a lot of no budget films and have been part of making many myself, so I get excited to see what these independents can create and put out there. I truly believe you can make an entertaining film for next to nothing if done properly. This is where I take issue with Dead Moon Rising. The first issue I have is with the video quality. I have no idea what they used but it looked like a basic consumer 1 CCD DV cam. Looking past the cam itself I think they could have got some better shots even with the low quality cam but that is just my opinion. I will say they did a good job with the stock footage they used and I liked the weak signal TV transmission effects they incorporated throughout the film. Another issue I have is with the audio. There are many forgivable issues with quality when it comes to no budget films but if you can't hear or make out what the actors are saying without having to crank your volume up then it really makes it hard to follow the story. A more forgivable complaint is with the lighting. I was really expecting to read in the credits lighting provided by the sun. There are some scenes that are really hard to watch due to no lighting coverage.

Nagging aside I know that a lot effort must have went into this and a lot of time must have been volunteered. I guess that is why I would hope that all parts in the film making process were handled with a little more thought, out of respect for the all the time and effort everybody had put forth. I think the zombies were decent enough and the end scenes with all the extras were impressive if even just for the ability to organize such a gathering. The thing that got my money was the DVD cover. Very nice work on the cover design.

I wish the best of luck to the film makers on their future projects.