When should I make my first feature film?
I hear this question many times from enthusiastic emerging filmmakers. The answer is as follows.
Once you’ve made a successful short film, it’s time to 10 mins – 20 mins, win a film festival and be seen on major online platforms this could very well be your 2ND movie, maybe even your third short film. This also assumes that the filmmakers attended and participated in real Great film course.
Some amazing people might be able to crack this code in their first short film. Once you achieve the above goals, stop making short films. Move on to your first feature film or documentary as soon as possible. 
The most important thing is that you learn how to make a feature film on a very cheap budget. Today, streamers are looking for as much content as possible. If you can make a cheap movie, streaming companies like Prime Video Apple TV, Roku, and Tubi will happily make more movies without stars. Why not spend very little money to make your film and have it seen by audiences around the world? Once you make a feature film, you also get respect.
Here are ten important factors when shooting an ultra-low-budget film.
1 Take a quick shot. Shoot for 5 minutes every day.
Taken within a maximum of 16 days. 80 minutes of shooting.
2 On your first feature film, it’s relatively easy to keep shooting.
Keep the cast small and tight. You can always have 2-4 main actors and then some supporting actors in supporting roles.
3 different locations, provided you keep one location for each day you shoot.
You can change locations, just avoid changing locations during a day of shooting. In other words, if you’re shooting inside a house, stay there for at least a day and maybe mark a street scene that can be shot directly outside the house at the end of the day or a scene in a park 200 meters away. Keep a base every day. Moving location will take one to two hours.
4. Don’t shoot the film in one go. 
If your budget is super low, shoot four days every seven weeks. You can shoot during the holiday weekends of Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday. There are two reasons for shooting over the weekend. People work, so your team won’t want to give up their paid work in four days.
Minimize disruption to the crew’s daily routine.
Second, you can break each shoot into four days.
There may be 4 locations in a shoot, and you only need to find 4 locations. You’re in labor for 4 days at a time, which is much easier than 16 days. It’s like making four short films with the same cast and crew. It’s much easier because each production is seven weeks apart.
example
- A photo taken on January 2ND – January 5th
- Two pictures taken on March 2ND – March 5th
- Three photos taken on June 2ND – June 5th
- Photographed April 2 AugustND – August 5th
I spaced them out by 9 weeks, but you can shorten this to 7 or even 5 weeks. I’ve been on both of my feature film Everyone loved it and really wanted to stay in the movie.
4. Recruit a small, efficient team.
If you shoot with your phone, your budget will be small. Keep your team small, and one way to ensure this is to shoot with your phone. Look at me post here
No one asks you what you shot with, and there are plenty of examples of feature films shot on mobile phones with great success. Make a great movie and see it everywhere.
Keep staff small
- Make sure you shoot with your camera and shoot straight. Saves the need for a video village.
- Behind-the-scenes camera crew, sometimes acting as camera B
- A clap/gaffer combination.
- a sound person
- Make-up artists also serve as production assistants and errands.
5 Shooting with a mobile phone still requires equipment.
You will need a tripod and a stabilizer. You will need great sound equipment and an inexpensive lighting kit that will feature 3-point lighting and background lighting. The photos on this page are mostly from feature films shot on mobile phones and are very successful
6 Best Casting
You’re going to want the best casting possible. Broadcast and cast. We teach this on oyour filmmaking course
7 Pay cast and crew 20% of first dollar return.
You’re going to spend years filming and spending money on the movie. You deserve a generous 80% return.
Your cast and crew will spend 16 days and several months on this film and have a lot of fun filming it. If you make a feature film, You’ll make money, especially if you go great courses like this.
In this course you’ll learn exactly how to do Maximize your returns. Pay your actors from the first dollar of returns.
This means that if your first quarter return is $5,000, Pay 20% to cast and crew. That’s $1,000. Every quarter for many years to come, they can expect some money, such as the first quarter’s return. These actors have most likely never acted in a quality feature film before. This will be a huge reward for them and you.
8 Learn to edit and post-produce your own movies
This is crucial for filmmakers to learn how to do. You must learn to edit in a great course Key points to learn about editing Learning how to edit yourself means you can save a lot of money and make movies in the comfort of your home or on the road in your free time.
9. Show the film to film festivals and find an honest distributor.
One of the most important things is to get the movie noticed. There are techniques to do this, and one must learn from those who understand the market. Do all of the above and you can make your first feature film very cheaply on a super low budget and within the next year make a feature film that will be released around the world, like our recent film Tabernacle 101 Same.
Colm O’Murchu is an independent filmmaker He regularly produces feature films and teaches filmmaking. his new 5 month filmmaking course About to start
