My first feature - will it be any good? Was yours?

G

gorillaonabike

When I started shooting shorts and music vids in earnest, I had a plan. The idea was to shoot some shorts / vids and if they were considered to be half-decent by the musicians / music fests, that I should then move to make a few more shorts followed by a feature in 2015.

My first short was 4 / 5 different shorts all stitched together and was a tremendous learning experience. Which is another way of saying that although it had some good elements, in general I would not rate it as being particularly good.

I was therefore wondering whether my first feature would be any good. Does anyone out there who has shot a feature have an opinion on this? My definition of 'good' would be 'in with a shot of being distributable.' The question I always ask is 'would someone pay money to see this?'

The reason I ask is because I have a half-decent screenplay which I believe is good. It is not perfect but it is good enough that I met with the head of a small, independent but multiple Oscar-winning production agency on the strength of it. As a completely unknown film maker, I was surprised. Sure, it needs to be re-written and is not good enough... yet... but he spent some time with me, explored the possibilities including multiple re-writes and then binned it in favour of a couple of other movies (one with Vin Diesel). However, he sent me a bottle of whiskey and told me the story and characters are good.

Frankly, I was surprised as this production agency has financed a series of high budget, award-winning productions and I think I was in the wrong place. I think I should have been in front of more of an 'Indie' producer, particularly as the CEO of this production company described this feature as 'original.'

My goal is to raise the financing for this and realistically I believe I can have a low budget production in place for summer, 2015 with a 'local' British 'name' actor. It wouldn't be an 'A' list actor but someone with local recognition. However, I don't want to shoot it and make a complete fool of myself.

My first short wasn't great and I was wondering if I should therefore make a no-budget feature or 2 first before shooting this screenplay. What is your experience of your first feature? Was it any good? Was it good enough for distribution?

What is your opinion of someone with a few short films (accepted in festivals), music vids etc... shooting a feature? On balance, is there a chance that it is likely to be half-decent?
 
Last edited:
Sort by date Sort by votes
Don't settle for a half decent screenplay. Perfect it, and improve it as much as you can.
If your first short wasn't that great, make some more short films. If you cannot make a good short film, you will most likely not be able to make a good feature. Practice and perfect being a filmmaker, and a screenplay writer.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
ChimpPhobiaFilms said:
Don't settle for a half decent screenplay. Perfect it, and improve it as much as you can.
If your first short wasn't that great, make some more short films. If you cannot make a good short film, you will most likely not be able to make a good feature. Practice and perfect being a filmmaker, and a screenplay writer.
Click to expand...

My shorts are beginning to be festivalled. i.e. other people (not me) say they are half-decent. The screenplay is half-decent and will be worked on.

So how was your first feature? Would you recommend shooting a couple of no-budget features first or just launch into the first feature?
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
I am currently in preproduction with a 10 min. short, and a 30 min. short. I don't feel I am ready to do features yet. In your post, you had said you do not think your first short is particularly good. Have you done anything since then?
 
Last edited:
Upvote 0 Downvote
Honestly,

I launched into my first feature with only film school under my belt. I did the pompous Kevin Smith route where I paid for it entirely myself with a little help from friends and family.

I never really had interest in shorts, personally because my mind works on a much more grand scale. I don't get excited by them, I'm not passionate about them. I'm a big fan of character and while it is entirely possible to have awesome characters in a short - I prefer to take awesome characters and put them in as many situations as possible - thus I'm feature minded. I like to exploit all their flaws and their best abilities and really define them in ways that are harder in a shorter format.

While a 2 hour run time on the internet seems to having people avoid watching my flick on this forum - I've premiered it in theaters to sold out audiences and standing ovations and DVD / Blu-ray sales that put us into profit within 3 days of going on sale

It's not a perfect film, but it's a hell of a lot better than anything I would do that's short format, I can promise that.

I would say, however - you need a strong screenplay. While I'm an impatient MOFO myself, once you get on set, if the script is falling apart you can hit many problems:

1) People realizing a scene is un-necessary.
2) Lack of cast / crew morale - which hinders both time and performances.
3) Despair within yourself.

etc.

Even with a strong script you'll hit those hurdles, but at least when the film is completed it'll have been worth it.

I admit - shooting my first feature was hell. But man, was it combat zone training like no other.

I say aim high, expect low and work as hard as you effin can.

And then still be prepared for people to not give a crap. lol

- Jow
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
ChimpPhobiaFilms said:
No, I'm talking to gorillaonabike. I could only find videos of gorillas riding bikes when searching for him on vimeo and youtube. I easily found Jow Films on Youtube.
Click to expand...

No, not yet. I will pop up a website in December with links, a few music vids etc...

The idea is to get a bunch of decent content on there, list festivals where my stuff has screened. At the moment, there isn't enough content. And I'd like to think I helped all those gorillas onto those bikes... :)
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
What is your opinion of someone with a few short films (accepted in festivals), music vids etc... shooting a feature? On balance, is there a chance that it is likely to be half-decent?
Click to expand...

The best predictor of future performance is past performance. The question you need to ask yourself is have you changed enough yet that would alter the quality of your future work.

Of course you could have stumbles upon a gold mine and may make money despite your best efforts. If you properly identify your market, keep your costs way down, keep your production value high enough that your target market will accept your product, you may profit from your first movie.

My best suggestion. Work out what your deficiencies are. Surround yourself with people that cover your weaknesses and people that play to your strengths. Film making is a team sport. The most important decision is your choice of your team mates. To build the team to best ensure your success.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
JowFilms said:
Honestly,

I launched into my first feature with only film school under my belt. I did the pompous Kevin Smith route where I paid for it entirely myself with a little help from friends and family.

I never really had interest in shorts, personally because my mind works on a much more grand scale. I don't get excited by them, I'm not passionate about them. I'm a big fan of character and while it is entirely possible to have awesome characters in a short - I prefer to take awesome characters and put them in as many situations as possible - thus I'm feature minded. I like to exploit all their flaws and their best abilities and really define them in ways that are harder in a shorter format.

While a 2 hour run time on the internet seems to having people avoid watching my flick on this forum - I've premiered it in theaters to sold out audiences and standing ovations and DVD / Blu-ray sales that put us into profit within 3 days of going on sale

It's not a perfect film, but it's a hell of a lot better than anything I would do that's short format, I can promise that.

I would say, however - you need a strong screenplay. While I'm an impatient MOFO myself, once you get on set, if the script is falling apart you can hit many problems:

1) People realizing a scene is un-necessary.
2) Lack of cast / crew morale - which hinders both time and performances.
3) Despair within yourself.

etc.

Even with a strong script you'll hit those hurdles, but at least when the film is completed it'll have been worth it.

I admit - shooting my first feature was hell. But man, was it combat zone training like no other.

I say aim high, expect low and work as hard as you effin can.

And then still be prepared for people to not give a crap. lol

- Jow
Click to expand...

That is awesome! Certainly, the characters in my screenplay are strong, there is a good ending and an original enough story. Probably need to work on certain elements within it for 2015 when I plan on shooting.

What's interesting is you managed to pack out theatres and sell DVDs. That's something I need to learn all about. How did you manage to do that? And most importantly, where can I see it? I'm intrigued!

I also want to get a quality level where it can be screened to potential distributors. That's important to me.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
I did my first feature and the experience was great, altough there was a lot of work.

Is it any good? Well, I like it:) Does it going to get distribution, no way.

Now I am doing my next feature and previous one did teach me a lot of about writing a scirpt, editing, producing etc. 1200 euro well spent, I think.

I did learn more from one feature than 9 short movies that I made before the feature.

But I think you should not spend a lot of money to feature, before you are sure that it is good enough. Otherwise it is just better to create really low budget one.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Sweetie said:
So you're not a potential distributor?
Click to expand...

Sure, but I was thinking about organisations with direct distribution - online, cinema etc.... Personally, I can go to companies which have distribution in place and am researching this. For example, I met a lady over a coffee recently who works with people who distribute the end product. She was doing me a favour and told me how it works for them. They were a major name in the UK until recently and it was extremely useful to know how to go down that particular avenue.

It's amazing who you know when it comes down to it. To give you an idea, I was with a friend of mine floating in the Dead Sea out in Jordan and I asked him what he did for a living. I've known the guy 30 years but never asked. Turns out he has produced a number of Hollywood movies and his former boss is now head producer at one of the world's largest and most successful movie outfits (studios..? - don't even know what to call them)!!!!!

D'oh!!!!!
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
itarumaa said:
I did learn more from one feature than 9 short movies that I made before the feature.

But I think you should not spend a lot of money to feature, before you are sure that it is good enough. Otherwise it is just better to create really low budget one.
Click to expand...

This is incredibly useful for me. In terms of general areas, what did you learn about?
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
baoliun said:
Nice to see people venturing into features ;p

What is your budget? Are you going to be looking for investors or crowdfund mostly?
Click to expand...

The number I want is for the lead actor or actress depending on who is around at the time and how much money I can drum up. This is the tricky bit because I have a 'fighting fund' already which a couple of other people are willing to drop a few grand into and if I can supplement this with crowdfunding to increase this number then it would be good. My plan is to go for UK distribution and anything else will be a bonus so I will look for someone locally 'famous.' I don't have a clue around this yet but am working on it.

The 'kit' element (camera, lighting, editing etc...) is pretty much taken care of and I have been experimenting with sound and will want to work this out over the next few shorts. Also, at this stage, a couple of the primary locations have been secured so I am comfortable there.

However, I'm torn between going for it and maybe shooting a 'learning' feature inbetween. I will definitely be shooting more shorts so maybe write and pop in a feature towards the end of next year and then do a little fundraising for the 'big one.'
 
Last edited:
Upvote 0 Downvote
The main thing I did learn from feature is planning the whole process.

When you have 7 actors and approx 10 shooting days, it gets much more complicated to actually finish the movie than when you have 1-2 shooting days and couple of actors. And how to shoot the movie based around scenes (I hope this is the correct term, since I write the scripts in finnish).

So when I go to shooting day 1, I know, I need actors A and B for this time period and I need to shoot these scenes. The location is specific and also I need to have a list/plan of what actors are wearing and what items I need for the shoot .

Planning is everything when making the feature. Also before my short movies were shot in same order there were in script, but in feature you have to think another approach.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
A director friend of mine was in the situation of having several shorts under his belt, but not having luck at getting financing for his feature project. But then he was hired as a DP on another production and took over as director after the first three days when the original director was fired for not being able to handle the responsibility. He finushed the shoot, did a first edit, and got the movie pretty close to its final cut before having to leave the productuon. Basically, he had gotten to do a "practice film" where he could focus on efficiency and time-management because all the creative components were already worked out when he took over. This helped him with his own project.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top