Your First Feature

[J Costantini]

Hi, everybody.

 

Actually, this is just a space that I´ve opened so that I could hear a little bit from those who have photographed feature films. No matter their budgets or formats.

 

I don´t underestimate short films. I love them and that´s what I´ve been working on for the past 3 years. I don´t see them just as a school but as a type of film. A compressed type in terms of time not of ideas.

 

But features tend to have bigger budgets, crews and longer shooting periods thus bringing more responsibility to all the members of the crew. Some like to call it pressure.

 

I would like to hear about your feelings and fears on your first feature film.

How was it to photograph a feature film for the first time? How did you feel?

 

Thanks. :D

[Mike Brennan]

Hi, everybody.

 

Actually, this is just a space that I´ve opened so that I could hear a little bit from those who have photographed feature films. No matter their budgets or formats.

 

I don´t underestimate short films. I love them and that´s what I´ve been working on for the past 3 years. I don´t see them just as a school but as a type of film. A compressed type in terms of time not of ideas.

 

But features tend to have bigger budgets, crews and longer shooting periods thus bringing more responsibility to all the members of the crew. Some like to call it pressure.

 

I would like to hear about your feelings and fears on your first feature film.

How was it to photograph a feature film for the first time? How did you feel?

 

Thanks. :D

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

Since I had only a few days notice I was on cloud nine. All care and no responsibility you might say.

Production team couldn't believe why I was so cheerful, under the circumstances of having zero prep.

Had I had 2 months in pre production I would have been a wreck!

 

With 20 years of shooting things other than features I was confident that I could do it and aware that I could easily overstreach, so I focused on getting the bare bones right, ie communicating with director and crew, continuity of lighting style and camera moves that were telling rather than distracting.

 

We finished on schedule even with typical modest budget ($2M) production disasters.

 

 

Mike Brennan

[Sam Javor]

I guess I might as well reply to this...

 

I am finishing preproduction on my first feature and I've only done a couple shorts. The best thing is that I have a good production group to work with, nobody really cares about titles and there is no "this is my film" mentality. Infact I was directing until one of the others was told by a professor that they need a directorial credit to enter their intened graduate program so volia they are now directing and I am DPing and we have the same picture as we three are all "producers" .. it's mostly the creative idea of the writers anyway and I just make it happen. Our production budget is about $2500 :)

 

My hopes: Things are running smoothly (mostly) and this is a large production ...about 30 speaking roles and 18 locations so we should achieve some local noteriety out of it if completed successfully. Auditions went well last month and most roles are filled.

 

My Fears: I am the technical guy... choice of crew and equipment is my "duty" and we've already run into some weird local production "talent" . I am ghetto rigging a system together which will do the job and be impressive but there are a number of people running around ohio with 1CCD cameras calling themselves "film companies" which is a joke... Also the "fix it in post" mentality is firmly entrenched with these people. On such company that came higly recommended actually suggested useing the sound off of the built in camera mic of their 1CCD camera...and said "We've always gotten good sound"... I about died...

 

My expectations: problems pop up and there are delays. We are scheduling shooting over 6 months so we should not be pressed for time. Most locations that havn't been secured yet are not critical in that they can be shot at a different but similar location. The entire crew will have to be trained and sessions will be scheduled with actor rehersals. Crew will be around 6-10 people... some are the cast in small roles. We expect to start production in December and be finished in June.

 

I also expect the nervous breakdown from the emotional release in June to last a week... where I will just lock myself in my audio studio and cry :)

[David Mullen ASC]

I did around 20 short films before I did features (about 28 to date.) I disagree that with features you have more time & money generally because obviously you NEED more time & money, because you are shooting more pages, so it works out to be about the same. It makes a bigger difference as to how many pages per day you have to shoot regardless of whether it adds up to a feature or a short film. I've done features with 6 or 7 or even 10 pages on the call sheet and that's a lot harder than a short with only 3 pages on the call sheet. So it just depends.

 

My first feature was really a long student film shoot, with the same director I had worked with in film school. The main difference is that on a short film, you generally don't work with a crew almost every day for a month, excepting days off. So it's a different sort of experience (i.e. a lot more tiring over the long haul.)

 

I just wrapped on my latest feature and I wonder when they stop getting so darn exhausting! Almost four weeks of night photography, working until dawn, in a heat wave -- it was like over 80 degrees and humid at 3 AM! I was operating, as well as running around helping set lights, c-stands, even wrapping gear sometimes.

[Jayson Crothers]

David~

 

How'd the feature end up - are you generally happy with the work/experience?

 

I'm certain you're happy to be returning to a normal schedule of sleeping when it's dark and be awake when it's light.....................

[Guest aartaxx]

My first feature was a no budget DV film called Much Ado. The budget was so low that i actually went with the producer to junk yards and scrounged up window screens for nets and other makeshift grip equipment.

 

Ironically, the coolest thing about it was working with actors who were heavily theater trained. They really knew a lot about performing and the director had very clever instincts for blocking. The fact that we could shoot unlimited coverage really freed this talented troupe to explore options. This changed my perception of DV and I began to view the medium as something that would create possibilities as opposed to limiting them.