When's the time to tackle a feature?

[Ewan]

I'm really thinking of doing a feature next year, and taking it seriously. I'd be on the budget of about $1500-$2000. I'll be 15 then and have done some shorts. I've been making films for a couple of years now, but only recently have I started taking it seriously. I was wondering your opinions regarding when the right time to shoot a feature is?

Thanks!

 

[PaulGriffith]

When you're ready to, and when you've done all the preproduction and legwork to pull it off. If you think you can do it, then get all our prep work and people ready and do it!

 

[Ewan]

When you're ready to, and when you've done all the preproduction and legwork to pull it off. If you think you can do it, then get all our prep work and people ready and do it!

Thanks for the advice. I feel I'm going to need a good bit of a year to build up the knowledge in order to shoot it. But I'm getting there ( I think ).

 

[LasVegasIRA]

The best way to gauge is to ask yourself how your shorts turned out and give yourself an honest answer. Do you think an hour and a half of your last short film would be something that others would be able to watch and enjoy? Because a finished feature will probably end up about as good as the stuff you've most recently made. If so, then go for it. If not, make more short films until you get to the point where you think your abilities will get you there.

Also, make sure that whatever story you end up with has enough story to tell. Nothing more boring than watching what should be a 50 minute film that's been stretched into an hour and a half. If you only have a 50 minute story, cut it to be 50 minutes and don't worry about it being feature length.

My humble opinion...

 

[Ewan]

The best way to gauge is to ask yourself how your shorts turned out and give yourself an honest answer. Do you think an hour and a half of your last short film would be something that others would be able to watch and enjoy? Because a finished feature will probably end up about as good as the stuff you've most recently made. If so, then go for it. If not, make more short films until you get to the point where you think your abilities will get you there.

Also, make sure that whatever story you end up with has enough story to tell. Nothing more boring than watching what should be a 50 minute film that's been stretched into an hour and a half. If you only have a 50 minute story, cut it to be 50 minutes and don't worry about it being feature length.

My humble opinion...

Thanks for the advice. I'm learning new techniques everyday in filmmaking. My recent shorts have been ok, but nothing special at all. I realize I'll have to step it up a lot if I'm going to keep the audience engaged for 90 or so mins.

 

[DeJager]

Making a feature length is a collaborative process. The stronger team you put together the better your movie will be. Once you can put together a crew that can ultimately handle all the aspects of movie making then I say go for it! Organizational, communication, and social skills are some of the most important skills to have in this field.

 

[GuerrillaAngel]

Making a feature length is a collaborative process.

Not always. A determined filmmaker can make a feature with just a couple of PAs if he/she thinks outside the box and passes on many of the comments/suggestions in this forum (especially gear and crew-related "suggestions").

Go for it Ewan, a $2k feature is doable. Make sure you have a great story and that you have your audience sitting at the edge of their seats.

Good luck.

 

[Ewan]

Making a feature length is a collaborative process. The stronger team you put together the better your movie will be. Once you can put together a crew that can ultimately handle all the aspects of movie making then I say go for it! Organizational, communication, and social skills are some of the most important skills to have in this field.

Thanks. I'll have about 3-4 hopefully, not a big crew I know.... Hopefully it should turn out ok I'll have lot's more people however in post for it though.

Not always. A determined filmmaker can make a feature with just a couple of PAs if he/she thinks outside the box and passes on many of the comments/suggestions in this forum (especially gear and crew-related "suggestions").

Go for it Ewan, a $2k feature is doable. Make sure you have a great story and that you have your audience sitting at the edge of their seats.

Good luck.

Thanks! I'll probably try and use as much DIY things like reflectors as possible, so I don't go over budget. I'll have a few people on the set helping me out by holding the boom mic, reflectors, operating lights/camera etc... I'll have a few more in post however for doing 3D work.

 

[Phil_UK]

Let me tell you:

When you think about a feature, it sounds like much work!

Now take the amount of work you think you will face and multiply that by 10!

There is so much stuff you have to account for! It's unbelievable! Have you thought what might happen if an actor drops out halfway through the film? What if your soundguy won't turn up? These are all things you have to consider!

Also, where do you want to show your feature? There is a much smaller audience for an unknown film maker, who is making a feature. A short can be shown on the internet. A feature is kind of critical!

Consider your production time as well! We shot a scene from one feature film, to use as a promotional scene for funding purposes. 3 Pages in the script, not too many lines. One single location, bedroom and hallway. 8 hours shooting day! Consider what you have to do on set! Relight scenes, plan your camera moves, DIT work, slating each scene to make the edit go smooth, caring for your cast and crew and making brakes.

It's all something to consider! It's a lot of work, but I am confident that you can do it!

 

[Ewan]

Let me tell you:

When you think about a feature, it sounds like much work!

Now take the amount of work you think you will face and multiply that by 10!

There is so much stuff you have to account for! It's unbelievable! Have you thought what might happen if an actor drops out halfway through the film? What if your soundguy won't turn up? These are all things you have to consider!

Also, where do you want to show your feature? There is a much smaller audience for an unknown film maker, who is making a feature. A short can be shown on the internet. A feature is kind of critical!

Consider your production time as well! We shot a scene from one feature film, to use as a promotional scene for funding purposes. 3 Pages in the script, not too many lines. One single location, bedroom and hallway. 8 hours shooting day! Consider what you have to do on set! Relight scenes, plan your camera moves, DIT work, slating each scene to make the edit go smooth, caring for your cast and crew and making brakes.

It's all something to consider! It's a lot of work, but I am confident that you can do it!

Thanks!

I'll have a lot of preparing to do, in fact I've already started some preparing such as funding and distribution planning. The longest short I've ever made was 24 mins and I can see it's going to need to step up a lot. I'll have a few people on set, mostly just friends. I'll be looking out for people in my area in the meantime who are experienced with any aspects of filmmaking. I haven't yet thought about how long it will take to complete, but probably a good part of the year! It will take a while in post as the movie requires some heavy VFX work. So I'll be hiring more people for that than on set.

 

[rayw]

Who's the audience?
Literally.

Who will and who will not want to watch the final product?


When you have a pretty darn good idea about who's going to want to spend two hours of their lives watching your creation - that will be - a pretty good indication of WHEN is the time to tackle a feature length film.

Your experience and technical know how have not near as much to do with the decision as "Do I have a good enough story worthy of their valuable time".
Forget about expecting them to pay. Back burner issue for now.

 

[Ewan]

Who's the audience?
Literally.

Who will and who will not want to watch the final product?


When you have a pretty darn good idea about who's going to want to spend two hours of their lives watching your creation - that will be - a pretty good indication of WHEN is the time to tackle a feature length film.

Your experience and technical know how have not near as much to do with the decision as "Do I have a good enough story worthy of their valuable time".
Forget about expecting them to pay. Back burner issue for now.

I'm thinking about releasing snippets of it at the time here and for other people to see so I can get feedback on how its going on. The story is a bit different from normal, and focuses around 1 character mainly.

 

[finderskeepers]

Ask yourself "When am I ready to be broke, humiliated, stabbed in the back, enraged, frustrated and depressed to a dangerous level." Just kidding
Frankly, you are not ready to do anything until after you actually do it once.
So get the best info you can, plan, plan, plan. And give it your best. My first feature was an ordeal but I have to say the education was priceless!

 

[harmonica44]

Wow, when I was 15 I just didn't have the brain for knowing how to shoot certain angles to convey emotions, certain sound tones, to convey emotions, etc, etc. Wish I had it at that age. But if you feel you don't, DON'T.

 

[Phil_UK]

Well here is the idea:

If you have a script, pick out one scene and shoot it! Show it to other people. If they like it and tell you they would watch a whole film, go for it!

 

[harmonica44]

As director do you know a lot about what types of shots, for what type of effect, and emotion?

 

[Ewan]

Thanks everybody for the advice.

REPLY to harmonica44: I know a fair amount about this. I know how to use shots to manipulate viewers emoticons towards characters and objects. I have a lot of room for improvement in this area though, and I generally find myself using too many close ups when shooting. I'm working on shooting angles for action/fast paced scenes as I sometimes have trouble with this.

 

[Flicker Pictures]

2 cents here. The best time to tackle a feature is probably when the script is as tight as it can be.

Have the screenplay read and reread and do a table read with actors then fix what needs fixing before moving forward. Work out all (or as many) kinks and weak links as you can before committing to a shooting script.

I learned this lesson with my feature when it came time to edit. Just made it more difficult to carve out a story when there was so much fat to trim.

But it's all a learning process and sometimes you just gotta jump in and see what works and find out what doesn't by doing it.

Good luck!

 

[Ewan]

2 cents here. The best time to tackle a feature is probably when the script is as tight as it can be.

Have the screenplay read and reread and do a table read with actors then fix what needs fixing before moving forward. Work out all (or as many) kinks and weak links as you can before committing to a shooting script.

I learned this lesson with my feature when it came time to edit. Just made it more difficult to carve out a story when there was so much fat to trim.

But it's all a learning process and sometimes you just gotta jump in and see what works and find out what doesn't by doing it.

Good luck!

Yeah, I've got a basic outline of the script. I'll just have to see what happens I guess, after I've got the script as good as possible.

 

[harmonica44]

Thanks everybody for the advice.

REPLY to harmonica44: I know a fair amount about this. I know how to use shots to manipulate viewers emoticons towards characters and objects. I have a lot of room for improvement in this area though, and I generally find myself using too many close ups when shooting. I'm working on shooting angles for action/fast paced scenes as I sometimes have trouble with this.

Out of curiosity what types of action scenes will be wanting to film?