Film Courage: What's the fastest you've ever made a feature film?
J. Horton, Filmmaker/Youtuber/Podcaster: The fastest I've ever shot a feature film is in a day.
I've made one…two…three, I did three one-day features and one two-day feature. I was working
for a company directing movies for them. I did about 10 or 11 projects for this company
and their budgets were typically between $65,000 down to as low as $30,000- $25,000 or $30,000. We
would typically shoot these in five to eight days so they had a filmmaker friend that was
doing these filmed plays in Atlanta basically setting up three cameras and just shooting the
plays and they would kind of release it as a feature and I was talking to him one day
and we were talking about that thing and I'm looking at it and I'm I'm an editor and I was
sitting here thinking about it and I was God if we had the sets real sets like I could I could
do this and make it a real movie not a filmed play do it with coverage I could I could make this work
and so he was and he started thinking about it and so their big thing was they would get a kind of
a fallen like B actor they would put him in the movie just those Bruce Willis things where he's
in the movie for five minutes and it's starring Bruce Willis so they were doing that kind of thing
and but they were gosh though if we did this in one day we can just meet this person's day right
and they can be in the entire movie they could really legitimately start in it and we can get a
few of them so they're yeah we're gonna cast this person this person this person we're gonna do it
in a day so I would basically we would run these things we would do them on sound stages so sets
and there would need to be all the company moves would need to be within that sound stage so like
cafe they have a cafe they have a bar they have an apartment okay it's got to be in a cafe a bar
and apartment so then we would set up the three cameras and I would do kind of a basic wide shot
I do a a maybe two over here and maybe maybe three people over on here one piece of cover
three pieces of coverage run the scene so and then we we do the scene once or twice until we
get all the way through it and then move the cameras and start punching in on people and do
this may on an on average two times per scene so you'd have six pieces of coverage for every scene
sometimes more depending on how shorter long the scene was and on that second one I'd have good
operators and they would be fishing close-ups and then in between takes they'd be popping inserts
and and we did it we shot at 85 pages in a day and just just knocked them out and we did there
was one month with those with that company where I shot four movies in a month we did a five day
two one days and a two day and just bam and then and then I'd have three or four weeks to edit them
so does the talent know that they're getting their day rate but then they're in every scene
yeah oh yeah okay yeah because on on indie films it's almost all about all the negotiations with
Talent are usually based upon time on set so now I was not privy to those negotiations so
maybe there were some bumps because they were all the way through it I I don't know I didn't I
wasn't a producer but I would assume though that they were pretty much getting their day rates
how is that on the actor especially for these shooting a feature in one
one day so it can be very hard on the actors and and the director and the crew
it takes a very and this isn't just one day features either when you're making a extremely
low budget short shoot movie whether it's one day or five days or ten days there's specific types of
actors that can deal with that kind of situation and there are some that can't it's not necessarily
a matter of talent or ability some just can't work under those circumstances so one of the it wasn't
one of the one days but it was it was a five day feature we were working on and one of the actors
was a name actor and they could not handle the the pace and nothing there it was a very good talented
experienced actor but they kind of broke down halfway through the first day and took me aside
and just tears streaming I can't do this I can't get to where you need to me to go they
couldn't they just couldn't do it so they ended up having to find someone else to do that part
and that's the only time that ever happened to me but but it's a very specific type of actor can do
that so when I'm when I'm casting a movie one of the as a low budget quick schedule movie I look
at their experience have they shot other movies this do they understand what this set is going to
be do they understand that this is going to be Bam Bam Bam Bam Bam that you're only gonna get
even on the five day features you're gonna get an average of three takes two and a half maybe it's
and some actors can't get there in three takes they they need more they're they need a longer
rehearsal period or we even on the one days we do camera rehearsals but they're they're they're
quick so it's not like long blocking rehearse or a long camera rehearsal and if you're in the same
space sometimes the camera rehearsal will start getting 86 and you're just you're just rolling
through it and they they they they have to do it so it's there's some people that thrive on that
I used to describe shooting features really fast as kind of shot clock pool it's you don't really
have time to line up and agonize over the shot you just take it you just take take it take it
take it and I personally I thrive off of that I that I the challenge I wouldn't I wouldn't shoot
a one-day feature again like ever I did them I'm happy I did it but I wouldn't recommend it they're
not the best movies that I ever made but they're better than you would think but anyway I the I do
the challenge of it in a situation that is there a place for the main actors to go to collect
themselves or they're all in one space wardrobes here everybody's just out in the open together
yeah no it's like they would typically these would typically be regular sound stages so there'd be
green rooms and holding and that I have been on sets where you know you're on a practical set and
there basically is no holding I did a talking dog movie once and we had some name talent and they're
okay we have to have this room set aside for them because in their writer or whatever but I forget
what happened but they didn't have the room and the person was totally cool but here was this
like person that you'd seen in all of these movies growing up and they're they're sitting there on
the floor in a corner between takes but they're but they're totally down and I think that even
name actors when they're working on something that they they know what they're getting into
or they should and honestly I think with that as long as you are communicative and you don't
promise something that it's not and you're really upfront about hey this is what this is and this is
how it's going to work and we're gonna do our best to make you comfortable but this is the situation
most of them will roll with it and and if you get a little pushback or hesitation go to somebody
else sure and sometimes they might be fine but as an extra or or another smaller actor may want
to go and talk to them yeah and during downtime and that's kind of their time to replenish and
then they don't really okay they're always on so I think that could be a problem and I found you even
in those cases those practical locations we still try to find even if it's not their official room
we try to find Space to where they can be or it doesn't have to be name actors even the movie I'm
getting ready to do now we have a lead actor and he's very good and he needs like he needs about
he said he needs two minutes before each new setup that he needs to be alone and not messed with and
that that's that's totally a valid process sure it's just sometimes on Independent really really
indie films you you have to make some concessions and sometimes you just you can't cast that actor
it's not in in this case I'm able to make it work but on another movie maybe maybe I wouldn't and I
would look for someone that that's why whenever I'm casting to an auditions I always ask people
how do you to be directed how do you to work and you can start getting an idea hey are we gonna
Jive is this person going to be able to handle the rigors of a twenty thousand dollar five day shoot.