Making a feature: What does it take?
My first feature film ‘Are We Monsters’ is in pre-production and it has been a lot of work so far, but we’re almost ready to shoot! I can tell you first hand what you will need to do to bring your feature together in 5 key steps.
1. Finding your idea
The hardest part to making a feature in my opinion is finding the film idea that you want to make. You have to choose something that you feel passionate about that can lend itself to your own Directing style. You may find this story from another source of inspiration like an alternative medium, or you can write your own from scratch, this is what I did.
2. Communicating your idea
After conquering the hardest first step, now we need to be able to communicate your idea with the rest of the world. How else are you going to get other people interested in your project to help you. You need to be able to communicate your idea. I find that the best tool is to write a “10 page” treatment. Outline the story in a couple of pages. I started this off as bullet points and drawings of key moments then expanded this into a mini story.
I took this one step further which helped me a lot with setting a story tone. I took that 10 page treatment and laid it out into a story book with illustrations. This helped me massively in refining the tone I wanted for the film and it allowed cast and crew to understand the tone as well, very quickly. I would highly recommend doing the same.
3. Use sketch books
As mentioned in a previous blog post and video essay, using books to develop your idea is an excellent habit to get into as a film Director as you create a consistent tone and idea that you can use as reference. This has helped me for that very reason. I am now on my 4th sketch book for my first feature film.
4. Be resourceful
If your making your feature on the cheap, you have to consider your budget. As mentioned in many previous blog posts, writing for what you have available is highly recommended as it increases the chances that you’ll actually be able to get your film made in the end immensely. Outline all the technical, location, actor and prop resources you have. What can you make from those? This can lead to the most creative films, creativity is fostered by constraint.
5. Want it
The road to making a feature is going to be exhausting and painful. Some things won’t work out and some things will, it’s an emotional roller coaster. You have to want to make a feature film. Like really want it. I for example have been making short films and commercials for 16 years… I have found my style and what I like in my films, now I want to learn the next step and follow the Directing dream and make a feature.
Just make sure you have chosen a topic that is something that you’d want to make, and something that you would like to share. You do have to consider “what the people want” to an extent if you want it to be consumable in the market, but if you don’t, make whatever you want providing your cast and crew are on board!
If you’d like to save yourself a read/want an in depth look into how I’ve been doing each of these steps, take a look at the video below:
