I am going to direct and DP my feature lenght.

[Guest Alexandre Lucena]

Dear People.

 

I am a Cinematographer. I am 33. I am about to complete a feature lenght script. It was conceived to fit

a very small budget indeed. I have decided to direct and DP it. I would love to learn from people who have

gone through similar experience, and hear their dos and don'ts.

 

Alexandre.

 

P.S I live in Recife, Brazil and I make a living shooting tv commercials for the local stations.

[Paul Bruening]

Hey,

 

I do what you're about to do. Where do you want to start with the discussion?

[Gordon Highland]

I'd suggest picking the one you feel most passionately about, and letting someone you trust handle the other task. Especially at feature-length, it's too hard to maintain objectivity over visual quality versus on-screen performance. Especially since you wrote it as well. It's certainly physically possible to do all three, but I think there's too much risk the finished work will be compromised (frustrating in hindsight considering your personal time investment). BUT if you absolutely insist, the best advice I'd give is to hire top-notch actors.

[Keith Mottram]

I'd suggest picking the one you feel most passionately about, and letting someone you trust handle the other task. Especially at feature-length, it's too hard to maintain objectivity over visual quality versus on-screen performance. Especially since you wrote it as well. It's certainly physically possible to do all three, but I think there's too much risk the finished work will be compromised (frustrating in hindsight considering your personal time investment). BUT if you absolutely insist, the best advice I'd give is to hire top-notch actors.

 

I'm not sure, it totally depends on the style of the film. think about documentary work, if you are work with exceedingly simple lighting and/or natural light and want an intimate set...then? if you have good AC's and great actors and crew and it really is a simple shoot then it could work, but as I said it is totally dependant on the films structure. Peter Andrews might be a good cinematographer for you to look at!

 

Keith