Making a film now is not difficult and does not require large investments compared to the times when this required a large number of highly specialized specialists. The Dream Factory worked to its fullest and released masterpieces not as often as the audience would like. Now the barrier to entry into a feature film has dropped significantly. Even a beginner can raise a small amount of money, a team of like-minded people and start filming a movie. Yes, of course it will not look like those masterpieces of Hollywood. But it can be an author’s film, which will be evaluated in Cannes or Berlin.
Either way, you don’t have to sit still. We need to go ahead and create non-cringe content. You can shoot a full-length film on average in 20-50 shifts, depending on the result you need. If there are big tasks, then the budget and production time increase. Sometimes only the budget increases, but the work itself needs to be filmed quickly due to the busy schedule of the actors. As with shooting a series, shooting a movie requires a command core. In most cases, this is a director, cameraman and artist. Additionally, a second director, a line producer and other members of the film crew are selected.
Order a corporate film
Sometimes large companies can order a corporate film about themselves, their place in the market or their history, product. It rarely looks like an advertisement, but such works increase customer loyalty to the brand, increase trust and work like commercial. Only they act not so quickly and not so aggressively. Making a film to order is not an easy task, because in some cases there is no creative motivation of the director. The preparation period before filming takes up most of the team’s time. He is usually paid as half of the estimate of the filming period, but then as the producer agrees.
This is essentially work in a large number of frames and the creative approach in this case almost completely depends on the desire of the customer to entrust the result into your hands. Usually such works are stimulated by the owner or top management of the company and their creative potential is laid in them. The film crew just works for the money. This is also good, but not as interesting. It is very difficult to order a corporate film that is different from each other. Each of them will have an owner or a top manager who will tell you how difficult it was for them at the very beginning. Then he will tell how good the product that they have developed and offer to the market is.
Shoot a feature film
What’s next? And then some chief engineer will come out and confirm the words of the boss about the difficulties and overcoming. All this is accompanied by beautiful shots from the enterprise or office, possibly in rapid speed (for some reason, they often like to insert rapid speed at these moments). Remember Apple presentations when Johnny Ive, sitting on a chair against a white background, talked about his new products. And then he got tired of acting in the same presentations, and he left for his company. But, of course, that’s not the only reason. Especially novice directors make one big mistake. For some reason, everyone wants to make a feature film. Why they need it remains a mystery.
After all, you can spend the same budget on a short film and get much more beautiful and well-developed material. Take it to festivals, receive a couple of awards (or not a couple, but more) and subsequent filming orders from film studios. Of course, you won’t get the latter in the CIS. Here, big orders usually go to the video production company that knows how to share, or the one whose relative works closer to the director of the film studio. So far, unfortunately, this is the only way, or not only? Sometimes there’s no time for laws, but it’s only shameful when you can see it. If he’s not caught, that’s not it. Although no, of course he’s a thief, but until he’s caught, you won’t see any orders.
Shoot a movie to order
The team’s second big mistake was underestimating the budget. Of course, now the entry threshold for feature films is no longer what it was before. All you need is a couple of Blackmagic Pocket 4K or 6K cameras, a few inexpensive (preferably expensive) lights, a couple of colored flexible panels, and modifiers. It will be better if there is a good cameraman and gaffer on the set, and even better if the director and cameraman are different people. A director is a very bad idea, especially for a feature film. Having shot your film with such a team, you will most likely not get a cinematic picture at the end. The work will be more voluminous and the estimate for video production and editing services will not be able to hire good specialists. Although there are exceptions to any rule.
But you can definitely expect that it will be similar, or even better, than the serial picture of the crunchy NTV series about cops and bandits. Although your picture should be better, because at least you want to make a movie, as opposed to the staff in the serials about cops. When a person is on fire with the idea of shooting something well, often the result is also good. However, for burnt-out artisans, the entrance to the sphere should be closed until the desire to create a good product wakes up in them. Otherwise, we run the risk of watching only stubborn TV shows about cops, hucksters and bandits.