how long did your first full-length feature take?

[non]

I ask because I've just staretd my first ever about 3 weeks ago. Due to work and toher people's schedules, i've only shot 4 days(averaging about 4-6 hours each of those days-done in order to not push non-piad people and so they'll come back!). I have alrady missed 1 big scene due to snow, and 2 days with the lead actress due to her having kidney stones and being rusghed to the emergency room.
I realize that all the shots/scenes I thought I was jsut going to bang out in 1 month is far from what I was able toa ccomplish. Sure, I probaly could have done more but it would have been rushed and it would have looked pretty bad.
I plant o strech it out over the next few motnhs.

[MajicMan]

One year and going my friend.

Welcome to no-budget filmmaking!

Trials and tribulations will arise aplenty.

Stay true to your course.

For inspiration check out my progress.

www.mutantville.com/

Keep the faith.

[thundy]

Forever - and ever and ever!

It took a year to get it in the can shooting on weekends - it took another year to edit it.

It took another year until we could hit the festival circuit.

The whole time I was tired, and broke. THat was four years ago.

Now I'm working on another Screenplay, and I plan on shooting that in ---

You guessed right about a year

[fearmaker]

The reason Death4Told is a horror anthology is exactly for this reason. I knew the budget would be tight and people who were working cheap or pro bono would only be available on weekends. So instead of shooting over months and months worrying about continuity issues, haircuts, weight gains / losses, travel, you name it, the film became 4 separate segments. We shot each segment over two weekends and each segment had a completely different cast. After the third segment we landed a terrific investor and there was more money to work with. That allowed us to attract Margot Kidder, Tom Savini, Alicia Goranson and KC Armstrong. Prior to that we were shooting under $10K per segment.

[shadowed_images]

Oh man......... Years......... I've actually gotten 2 other flicks completed before my debut film

I initially started shooting my first flick back in '98 (friggin 1998!!!!)... After shooting for about a month, the lead actor up and decided to flake out.... He QUIT on us! A month of shooting for NOTHING...... Everyone's efforts wasted due to one egotistical...... twit.

Cut to about a month or 2 later....... The project is back in action (but it's pathetic on every level).... Ya see... I rushed the project back into production without the proper pre production... This happened because I had no experience in making a film AND because I was humiliated to have seen my work fail so badly.... I just wanted to rush back in and prove that my failure was a fluke..... Anyway.... To make a long and pathetic story short.... The project failed even worse the 2nd time around.

Cut to a year later........ This time I put in the proper time for pre production and I put together an EXCELLENT team to make the flick and guess what........ Maybe 3 years later it was finally completed.... Why so long? Well the main reason being that I used out of state actors in the lead roles so we were very limited in when we could arrange shoots etc... There were also the usual share of problems that delayed things (one that comes to mind was when some idiot submerged my camera in Florida sand (which severely screwed it up and it took me over 6 months to be able to afford to get it fixed)...

Anyway... The film is done (though I may actually grab a couple additional pick up shots for the hell of it) and it's sitting on hard drives waiting to be edited but guess what........... I can't edit it because I need to add more hard drive space which probably won't be possible for like 6 more months.

So there ya have it......... The actual film took parts of 3 years to actually wrap but even though it's done...... It's still waiting to be edited.

So..... PREPARE ( and cover all your bases!) for what could be a long haul..... Maybe you'll luck out and everything will go just great but be prepared going in that you could be living that flick for YEARS to come...... Be sure that it's a story you totally LOVE and that you believe in 100% as that'll keep you with it no matter what kind of BS you're faced with.

[rodvcpetrie]

Hi.

I know a similar experience relating to what you went/are going through with your first feature, shadowed.

My first film (a short , mind you, haven't filmed a feature length...yet) was a breeze to shoot. The cast included myself and my four cousins. We had a prep of 2 hours, in the afternoon and that night we shot it in three hours.

We didn't have any rehearsals. No was dialogue written, it was all made up on the spot. We didn't have any tests for make-up. I had to use a toy gun, lol for the main character. We didn't use blood at all.

Now as I said, filming was a breeze. Three hours is a short amount of time. However the editing process would take MUCH longer. It took me 5 months to edit together on account of these problems:

1. I had to experiment with different editing programs to see which could put out the best quality.

2. I had to add blood effects and muzzle flash etc, with a paint program.

The reason I had trouble with the editing programs was because I only had demo versions of many different editors.

That is in no way worse than what you have had to go through shadowed.

The second film, we filmed in three days. Blood effects were used on set. I edited a rough cut in two hours, capturing time included. The scoring took about three weeks because I took my time with the editing of the final cut. I had done a pre-final cut which I decided wasn't right, sound wise so I changed it and finally finished the movie.

I have written the script for the next short I will be doing, which I put together in one day. I hope to film either tomorrow or next week.

I wish you the best of luck with your film shadowed. I want to also wish the others good luck with their film projects.

Regards


Rod

[shadowed_images]

rodvcpetrie said:

Hi.

I know a similar experience relating to what you went/are going through with your first feature, shadowed.


I wish you the best of luck with your film shadowed. I want to also wish the others good luck with their film projects.

Regards

Rod

Hey Rod,

Much THANKS for the good word! Good luck to you as well!

[RottwielerPro]

Well we've just finished our first full length this fall. (October). We started last March 2004. It tooks us around 6-7 months because of certain complications. Working around everyone's schedule was one of our biggest weaknesses. Then there was trouble in the editing room. Finally after a bunch of effort and struggle we got our first full length into a local theatre to a sold out crowd. And it's getting pretty good reviews.
Good luck with your picture man, if you want to exchange links. Take it easy.
Dusty + Rottwieler Productions +
www.projectdoomsday.com

[steelweb]

8 days :-)

[construct]

it's been a year and a half & we're looking at 2 to complete.
it's worth it though! every bloody second of it.

[thecrawlingchaos]

I worked as a grip for a college prof. who specialized in broadcasting and mass media and it took him about two years to complete the film. The shooting schedule took alot longer due to the fact that we had to work around everyone's schedule and when you rely on folks who aren't getting paid but doing it for the experience, you can't really complain to much!
Post production -there were so many problems with the sound and then we had to go back and reshoot certain scenes.

[zombiecrew]

So... as a future director.. I just read all this. At first I was kind of like... f*ck me.. but independant film making... Man, I can't fucking wait to make it my life.